Day 1369 - The Cheer Chick Charlie App

I am officially now an iTunes developer! 

Today my Cheer Chick Charlie app officially goes on sale on the iTunes App Store. And I am listed as the creator and designer! Don't get too excited.  I didn't actually write the binary code to create such genius, but I did conjur up the app inside my mind and design the overall vibe of the thing.  Today is the culmination of six months work where a vision slowly slowly slowly became a reality.



There were challenges of course.  There were days we didn't think it would be worth selling.  We kept coming across glitches and funny little foibles.  I also managed to "break it" a few times during the extensive test phase. But lots of to'ing and fro'ing with our wonderful producer and programmers eventually fixed all that.  We also worked with a creative consultant, artists, animators, visual designer, music guru and sound effects wizard. Plus the beautiful voice of Charlie (who wishes to remain nameless on account of her age).

It was one thing to see my book(s) in print for the first time. But this is different. This has had me step well and truly outside my comfort zone and invest in something completely out of my area of expertise. This whole App thing is a biggie!

So what's it all about? Well, kids get to choreograph their own cheerleader routine with cheer motions, kicks and jumps, then dance with Charlie as she performs the routine at the venue of their choice. Kids can earn ribbons, medals and trophies.  The idea is to not only give children something to entertain them, but to encourage them to get up off the couch and move their bodies.  To play they choose how long their routine will be, which music they would like, and the speed of the music.  Then just like creating a movie sequence they choose the dance motions and drag them into the routine until all the boxes are full.  They then select whether they want to perform it on the competition floor, in Charlie's bedroom or on the school oval. The longer the dance, the faster the music and the trickier the dance move combinations, the more points they get.  When they are finished they can save the routine to play over and over which also allows them to view their awards in the Trophy Room. The easiest way to master the routine is to learn the motions in the "create routine" section of the app before they choose their venue. That way when they hit "play routine" they will already know the routine well enough to dance along with Charlie.

So there you have it.  Today is launch day and we're very proud.

I would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.  It will of course go through a number of improvements in its life time so customer feedback is important to us.  You can buy it in the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

I sign off today while jumping up and down and clapping excitedly.

Can't jump around for too long though. It's time to get to the Aussie Gold Cheerleading Championships so I can launch this thing for real.

Happy Friday!