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The Brandon News
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Programmer Gets In The Game
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Published: February 11, 2009
BRANDON - At least one of more than 14,000 special applications available for the Apple iPhone was born in Brandon.
"Aqua Pipes," the brainchild of self-taught programmer Jonathan Burget, 23, is a multi-level game that takes players through a series of water pipes configured to resemble objects such as snowmen, trees and coffee cups.
The kid-friendly game costs $1.99 to download for the iPhone from the Apps Store at www.apple.com.
The Brandon man has created several games for the Mac computer platform, but "Aqua Pipes" was his first foray into the iPhone programming interface. He said it took him three months to complete the programming, application and acceptance process.
"It's a pretty simple starter app," Burget said. "I wanted to get used to programming for the iPhone."
The process, overall, was easier than he thought it would be.
"The hard part was getting the sound working, and getting the images to work for the different screens," he said. "And there was one little thing that I forgot, and it kept crashing. That took me a little while to figure out."
His next project is to program an iPhone-compatible version of Robot Rover, a more sophisticated game he developed a few years ago for the Mac computer.
"You take a robot through this maze, and you have to go through, like, a gauntlet," he said. "You have to make sure you don't get killed by one of the spikes or electric fences, and you have to move blocks in certain directions."
Burget was 16 when he decided to program his first game, Galactic Space Junk. He taught himself about programming frameworks and techniques by reading books and various Web sites, where he electronically picked the brains of experienced programmers.
"I kind of felt my way around, and I had a lot of help," he said.
Now he wants to repay the favor by helping other aspiring programmers.
He plans to offer advice through an instant-messenging application on his Web site, www.solarfusion software.com.
"I'm going to tutor some people, because on this one Web site, they helped me learn so much about programming. I want to mentor," he said.
The application software business isn't making Burget rich yet - his most popular game sold about 50 copies at $5 a pop - so he can't quit his day job just yet. But that's OK, he said, because he really enjoys the job that pays the bills.
He takes class notes for disabled students at the Brandon campus of Hillsborough Community College.
"I take notes for people who can't write or can't see the board, or maybe they've got hearing problems," he said.
He won't rule out working for a big software company someday, but for now he is content to work at HCC and hone his programming skills on the side.
"Right now, I want to do it as a freelance thing and see what happens. If it comes to anything, I'd be thrilled."
Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523.
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