iWorth It App Reviews:

How did you get into developing apps?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

I set up my company mid-2008 and initially was doing contracting in the mobile (Brew/J2ME) and high-end PC (C++/OpenGL/Physics) space. When the iPhone came along it was a no-brainer to get involved in it because it’s such an amazing platform compared to any other mobile platforms around. It also brings in many aspects of high-end PC development. The icing on the cake is of course iTunes, the AppStore, and the remarkably easy path to getting Apps on the deck and into users hands. I was recently joined full time by my brother, who has a very similar background to me, and right now we are exclusively focused on the iPhone.

iWorth It App Reviews:

What was your inspiration for developing this app?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

I had just completed the first draft of my middleware platform (UtopiaGL) and needed some Apps to put it through its paces to make sure it was super easy to use. I had been a long time fan of gravity games, so I figured I would have a go a developing something reasonably quickly along those lines, something that made use of the accelerometer. It was important to pick something that I had a good chance of finishing.

iWorth It App Reviews:

How long did it take to develop the app?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

All together it took around four calender months. I did everything myself except the music and sfx. Truth be told, I actually had my MacBook Pro do most of the graphics! I wrote a procedural terrain generator which created the world geometry and used an off-the-shelf procedural texture generator to create the textures. I spent quite a bit of time tweaking UtopiaGL along the way as well. Unfortunately I had to stop and start the project a few times to take on contracting work, but ultimately I managed to get it finished. I did have to drop many of the features I originally planned on having, but I may retro fit them some time soon.

iWorth It App Reviews:

Are there any hidden features to the app?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

None right now, but I have a few updates in the pipeline.

iWorth It App Reviews:

Do you have any future plans for this app?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

I just released an update that adds in-app iPod music playback, and I’m adding OpenFeint to UtopiaGL so I’ll probably put out another update to Gravity Wave with that some time in the next few weeks.

iWorth It App Reviews:

Do you plan to develop any new apps? If so when can we expect to see them in the App Store?

Kevin Doolan of Ideal Binary:

We split our time between our own in-house Apps and contracting. We just finished a contract in conjunction with another company here in Dublin for the Irish National Lottery (the App was at Number 1 in the App Store for a few days). We wrote the random number generator part of that App which is a physics simulator and OpenGL renderer for the Ball Drum that allows you to shake the handset to pick your numbers. We’re also finishing up another contract in partnership with the same company to recreate an interactive art piece for a major British artist. Apart from our contracting projects we’re also actively working on two other Apps at the moment. One is a Game and the other is an e-Learning App. We’re aiming to release the first part of the e-learning App in early 2010.

Check out Ideal Binary’s official website: www.idealbinary.com.