Fruit Basket Frenzy

Available now on the iTunes App Store

The sky has opened up and fruit is raining down on the land. Your mission is to catch as many fruit as you can while avoiding the bombs that are mixed in. Grabbing a PowerUp clears the board of the same kind of fruit, bombs, or if you're lucky enough to grab a star it will clear everything.

Move your basket anywhere on the field, but don't get too greedy or you'll catch a bomb instead. The longer you go, the more the fruit numbers multiply, and the faster it comes down.

Fruit Basket Frenzy is my first attempt at iOS development, and it quickly becoming a popular game for all ages. As a seasoned software engineer with 10+ years of experience in the .Net world in both Winforms and Web applications, I decided to expand my skillset to include Objective-C used by Apple for Mac OS and iOS development. Coming from a primarily C# background, the learning curve was bearable as I dove into the Apple realm to see what I could do. This initial idea was to come up with a simple game to "test the waters" of iOS development, and to familiarize myself with the XCode IDE and Objective-C language.

I started off exploring Cocos2D as the primary framework, mainly due to the cross-platform capabilities. I wanted to be able to write one code base and distribute it to both iOS and Android (my current phone of choice). In the end I chose SpriteKit for the initial development, firstly because of the documentation and tutorials that I found covering the framework, and secondly because Cocos2D for Android requires knowledge of C++...one language that I have yet to dive into full force

After a few short hours of exploring SpriteKit, I was off and coding the core parts of FBF and had a semi-working app shortly after. I went through a few iterations, trying to balance my lack of experience in game development with the fundamental aspects that make a game fun to play. The overall objective was to create a simple game that our 3-year-old could play, while keeping it challenging enough for teens and adults as well. Over a 3-day period I was able to successfully put everything together, and managed to come up with the game that is available today

As stated in the app description, the objective is simple. Move the basket to catch the falling fruit while avoiding the bombs. Various powerups are included for each type of fruit, as well as the bombs, and a star which clears the entire playing field. A powerup is visible by a rotating, flashing icon of the fruit, bomb, or star, which when caught sets off a sparkling explosion of the items that it cleared. The longer you go without catching a bomb, and the higher your score climbs, the faster the fruit falls, and the more of it there is. There is a point where the fruit stops multiplying, but the speed at which it drops continues to increase.

I decided to release FBF as a free game which is ad-supported using the iAd framework. The ads appear at the bottom of the screen, and do not interfere with the overall gameplay. I figured this would be the best option for monetizing the game, and didn't think that anyone would appreciate it if I forced them to watch a 15-second video ad after each game played.

In the end, I hope you enjoy my first attempt at iOS development, and tell others about it. You can post your scores on Facebook using the link on the Game Over screen so that others can see your accomplishments, and as a link for them to download it too.

As part of the official launch of Fruit Basket Frenzy I am holding a competition from now through April 1, 2014. The top 3 high scores will receive a gift card of their choice valued at $50 for 1st place, $25 for 2nd place, and $10 for 3rd place. To qualify you must post your high score on Facebook using the link from within the app, and then notify me on my Facebook page for verification. Only those scores which are posted through the app will be valid (i.e. no screenshot, photos, or videos will be accepted). In addition, the first person to score 1500+ points will win a 16gb iPod Touch. Again, to qualify you must post your score using the link provided in the app, and notify me for verification.

Visit the official Fruit Basket Frenzy Facebook page and tell all of your friends about it.