2013 move over, make way for 2014!

Here we are again. The end of another year.

First off I’ll recap 2013. 2013 was an overall good year. There were some rough patches but what year doesn’t have those? The year started out as many do, Gun-ho about completing everything on my list. Looking back most of the things I posted as my goals last year I did not complete but I did make some serious progress. To start I have yet to finish the games but I am closer to completion. I didn’t pick my guitar back up as I wanted. However I did read a good deal throughout the year! So out of the 3 goals I came in at 1 complete, 2 missed.

Along with a recap on my goals I had a downturn in events regarding my dad. Theย leukemia came back and this time it was fatal. My dad passed August 11th. It has been pretty hard on all of us in the family but we are slowly picking up the pieces and moving forward. He would of wanted us to keep going and not let this event hold any of us back.

On the work front I took the newly created mobile department head on and developed an app utilizing the Titanium framework. After this was completed we hired on a few more mobile developers and rebuilt the app in native Objective-C and Java. The mobile team is pretty much where I am and I can now put on my resume Objective-C developer along side iOS Developer. This is a huge accomplishment and something I have been working towards for a while now. I still do work with the web team and code in PHP when needed, especially when it comes to the API that the mobile app interacts with.

On the game end of things I recently picked up Unity and am playing around with that. I may release my games utilizing Unity. I’m not 100% sure yet. Only 2014 will tell.

Now lets talk about 2014!ย This next year I’m going to keep a few old goals and add a few more.

1: Make a game darn it all!!!

For this goal I want to finally complete a game and market it somewhere. Even if it’s an old school arcade style game it will get done. Speaking of old school arcade style games… Maybe one of them could be a collection of these classics all in one… hmmm. That sounds pretty promising ๐Ÿ™‚ I also want to make some progress on a platformer style game that I have brewing in my head.

2: Publish at least 2 mobile apps to the app store.

I have a couple plain jane app ideas in the works and one already prototyped. These will most likely be iOS only apps but if I get extra motivated I may release them to the play store as well ๐Ÿ™‚

3: Blog more often.

I would like to pick up and finish something i started a while back… Making a weekly blog post about a random programming topic. I did this with a few focused on PHP but I may expand it to Objective-C as well.

4: Loose more weight!

OK OK… This is one of those new years resolutions that everyone and their pets make… As for this past year I actually made some progress. I lost around 20 or so pounds! Not too shabby I think ๐Ÿ™‚ I want to step it up for this year with increased exercise and even better eating habits.

5: Organize myself (Attempt 8,643)

Here we go again with another traditional one. I will eventually get this down ๐Ÿ™‚

Now to accomplish this I may utilize a service a friend of mine has mentioned a few times,ย Beeminder. This seems like a cool concept. You basically pledge money to stay on track with a goal. If you fall off track you have to pay the beeminder service your pledge and then the cost goes up. I might give it a go.

Anyways here is my new years resolutions/goals. Now it’s time for me to get on with the night!

Farewell 2013! Hello 2014! Have a happy and safe new years everyone!

Advertisement

Good bye 2012 and welcome 2013

So, here we are again. Another new year! I want to say goodbye to 2012 and say hello to 2013!

This past year was crazy and it went by faster then I ever thought it would. I stopped 90% of my freelance work, picked up a full time gig at a local Providence company called ShapeUp as one of their PHP developers, and started taking a few classes online again at http://www.coursera.com. I also picked up my game development and have a few iPhone and desktop titles in the works.

A few other things about this past year… My dad went into remission from the leukemia he was diagnosed with in late 2011. He is still in remission and is doing good. The world did not end in 2012, which is good ๐Ÿ™‚ It’s been a year since I’ve moved back up north ( still missing Florida though ๐Ÿ™‚ ).

So with 2012 behind me I have a new year to look forward to. With this new year I have set myself some goals that I’m going to shoot for. My main goal is going to have a couple games finished either on the iPhone or desktop by the end of the year. They will most likely be free to play games but it’ll be a start into my indie game endeavor. I also plan to be more outgoing and actually take some time off to get back into a few hobbies of mine that have been slacking. Mainly I would like to play a bit more guitar again and find more time to read a couple books here or there.

So to recap, my goals for this coming year is:

  • Complete two or more games.
  • Pick up my guitar again
  • Find time to read a few new books

Now to state some traditional resolutions. These will be more of your traditional resolutions. Well here they are ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Since I’m now officially a member at a gym I will be working on getting into shape and finally loosing a few pounds this year. I’m not going to put an amount or date on the goal. I just want to loose something ๐Ÿ™‚
  • I would like to be more outgoing
  • Get my act together ๐Ÿ˜‰

And now it’s time to celebrate the new year! Good bye 2012 and welcome 2013!

Happy new year everyone!!!

– Miah