Icethetics releases free app with new mini-game
/If you read Wednesday's blog post about the new Icethetics mobile app, you were understandably suspicious. I may have gotten a bit colorful with the description, but that's the fun of April Fools Day.
At its heart though, that was no joke. Icethetics officially has its own app now. You can read the blog or check out the daily concept posts — as you'd expect. But the real fun is in the new mini-game, Five Hole Frenzy.
You control your goalie by touching the screen. Block pucks to earn points and get bottles to keep your energy up. Keep trying to set a new high score to watch your goalie go nuts!
Even better, you can customize your goalie's jersey. Choose from 40 existing IceHL team designs or create your own with the built-in jersey creator!
Why release an app?
Over the years, a lot of you have asked me about doing a mobile app to complement the site. I've always said I didn't see the need since the site was already formatted for your mobile browser.
But over the holiday break, I started talking with my youngest brother Mark about an idea. He was just getting into programming.
After earning his college degree in hospitality and working in restaurants for a few years, Mark realized he'd started down the wrong career path.
He's always wanted to entertain the masses, but seating guests at an upscale Manhattan restaurant wasn't exactly fulfilling. So he quit his job and started teaching himself how to code.
His first app, Elite Trainer, was released last December. It's a handy calculator for fans of Nintendo's Pokemon video game series.
Over the next couple of months, we started bouncing around ideas for a new Icethetics app — something that would be a bit bigger than his first project. Something he could put on a resume.
The app needed to be more than just another way of looking at the website though. It needed to have its own value. He came to me with an idea for a mini-game that became Five Hole Frenzy.
And because he knows how much Icethetics readers love jerseys, he decided he would build a basic jersey creator into the app that would allow you to outfit your goalie however you wanted.
So this app was all Mark. I contributed some graphic design and a few ideas here and there, but this experience is all him.
What's next?
Mark already has a few ideas in mind to improve the app in a future update. No timetable yet, though. But he'd love your feedback so leave a comment below if you have any suggestions.
He's also looking at ways to make the game available to Android users. But his self-taught coding knowledge has limited him to iOS work for now.
Enjoy the game and be sure to tweet your high scores with the hashtag #FiveHoleFrenzy!
