One Of The Best Years Of My Life - 2013 Recap

Thursday, December 19, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here. Hope you are all doing well. I'm so sorry for not updating the blog as often as I would like to. You may or may not know that since My Little World came out, I've been focusing a lot more on my new startup TeachWare, but that doesn't mean I'm not working on Casey Games anymore, and like last year, on December 30th I will be announcing my plans for the new year. Also last year I did a "Year In Review" post and this is exactly what I'm going to do now. I never expected this year to be as amazing as it turned out to be, this is one of, if not the best years of my life.

Last Year I did bullet points, But this year I'm going to arrange everything in monthly order. Let's get started

January

The year started with a bang. In early January we launched our first game of the new year, Food World. It turned out to be a great success. We took a hiatus on the project however due to our designer, Aidan and his import GCSE exams. With all that's going on at the moment, I can't really try and fit this project into my current active ones, but this is one of the games I wish to try and resume in the new year.

I also got the amazing opportunity to speak at the BETT conference in the EXCEL in London. t was amazing!  This is the first of many trips to London in the year, and I really really really love the city. It's definitely the top place I'd like to live and set up my business in.

February

February was a great month too. I started trying out a radio station entitled "Casey Games FM" but that didn't go too far. I also announced the development of our main game of the year, My Little World.

I got the awesome opportunity to attend the "Casual Connect" Conference in Hamburg for 3 days. It was a really really really benefiting conference, as I got to meet some awesome people from the gaming industry.

March

March, like all the other months was great too.

I got the opportunity to speak at the Games Ireland Gathering in the Aviva Stadium and I got to show My Little World for the first time.

But, March was a very busy month as I put all my focus on My Little World and I made a lot of progress on it.

I also tried another media project, this time being a gaming network, "CGN" but that, like the radio station didn't go too far.

April

April, April, April... one of the BUSIEST and BEST months of the year by far.

On the first of April, I ran a King Of The Web campaign. I finished in an incredible 15th place!

I won the "Best Innovation" award at the Student Enterprise.

I had the amazing opportunity to go to Amsterdam where I spoke at both The Festival of Games and The TNW Conference, both of which were AWESOME!

And the big thing was appearing on Junior Dragons Den on RTÉ. The experience was absolutely amazing! I got a €2000 bursary to work on my company from Peter Casey. It was all amazing! It was amazing exposure for my company, at one point I was the most trending topic on the internet in Ireland:

I gained 300 Twitter followers in 30 minutes and also got a lot of amazing opportunities out of it, but we will get on those later.

May

May was an awesome awesome month! One of the best of the year. Not a lot of things going on at the start of the month, as I was studying for exams, but for the end of it: I got the opportunity to go to Silicon Valley! The tech capital! I got the opportunity speak at the TiEcon event in Silicon Valley, I got the opportunity to visit the HQ of one of my favourite companies: Adobe and I got to meet some amazing, AMAZING people. It was also the first time I've been to the US, It's THE country I've always wanted to visit, so it was amazing on that part too.

June

June was a somewhat quieter month. I did get the opportunity to go to London for the Apps For Good Awards but most of the month I was enjoying my holidays going out to play football with my friends and then working on the game.

July

July on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Busiest month for me. It started off when I was asked by the European Commission to speak at The Digital Agenda Assembly. Now, this event, this was awesome! It took place in Dublin Castle, and the conference was just so so great! I got to opportunity to speak on the same panel as the COO of Rovio (Creator of Angry Birds), I got to meet some amazing people, such as Neelie Kroes (VP of the Commission) and Lord David Puttnam (Oscar winning film producer and Ireland's Digital Champion) Also, thanks to being at the DAA I met a person who asked me to speak at an event in London organized by the Guardian. Also, while there I got the opportunity to visit "Moshi HQ" or Mind Candy's HQ (Creators of Moshi Monsters) and also got to meet Michael Acton Smith or "Mr Moshi" , the founder of the company. For me, this was a massive honor, as when I started getting into technology and computers Moshi Monsters was one of the main games I played, as well as Club Penguin. So, to get the opportunity to meet the creator of one of my favorite games was a dream come true! 

And, one of the highlights of my year was when I was invited by The Irish International Business Network to speak in New York City.. at the Apple Store in SOHO! I saw this as a perfect opportunity to launch My Little World there, and so I did. 

New York is to me, one of the best cities in the world. I loved it so much! At first, we didn't think we were going to make it, as our flight was cancelled, but thankfully, thanks to some amazing people, we did get there in the end. It was just amazing! To get the chance to speak in the Apple Store and to launch an application is just unbelievable and I am so grateful to the IIBN for giving me this chance.

August

August was the month I really started to focus on TeachWare, my latest startup. I'd been working behind the scenes on it for a bit, but it became my main focus in August. I launched the testing versions for the teachers. I also got to speak at the European Pirate Summit in Cologne, Germany again. A unique startup event, this was the second time I had the honoring of attending.. It was great.

September

September came around fast, and I was right back in school.. Yay! 

Another highlight did however take place in September when I spoke at the Campus Party in London.. It was techie heaven! I got to see amazing talks, play the Xbox One early and play people in FIFA, :). Great, GREAT event.

October

October was another busy month for me. At the end of it, the Web Summit event took place in the RDS in Dublin. To coincide with the event, I saw the opportunity to launch TeachWare to the public there. I heard it would be a perfect place to launch a project, and it was indeed. I got a lot of exposure for the product, met a lot of contacts and I also got to speak there.

November

November was here, ALREADY! This year had flown, it had really flown. After launching TeachWare, I decided to take it easy for this month, I celebrated my 14th birthday and I also spoke at the WebCongress event in Miami, Florida, which was another amazing opportunity for which I am very grateful for. Other than that, quiet month.


And so, with that we end another roller coaster of a year... a very fast one as this year absolutely flew... But time flies when you're having fun.

2013 I can honestly say was one of the best years of my entire life, but I wouldn't be where I am today without some help, particularly from my family & friends. I am also extremely grateful to everybody who has helped me and my business this year, whether it be inviting me to a conference, giving me some exposure for a product or giving me some amazing advice, I thank you and am extremely grateful.

And with that, we end another great year. Thank You So Much Everybody and Merry Christmas to all of you! 

-Jordan :)

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My Little World: Out Now!

Monday, July 29, 2013

My Little World is out! Is it with great pleasure to announce that My Little World is now available for download on the app store! To celebrate we are giving away 5 copies of the game to some our lucky Twitter followers! The official launch will take place in New York this Wednesday but you can still get your copy right now! What to expect with this game?
  • A Fun, Awesome, Chapter telling the story of a tiny creature called JC!
  • A Level Creator which allows you to create your very own levels and enter them into a competition to have your levels featured in the game!
  • Lots More Planned!
Thank You to Everybody who Supported us, Click Here to Download the game and Click Here to follow me on Twitter! Thank You So So much guys and I hope you enjoy the game!


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My Little World DEFINITELY launching this Wednesday

Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here. Back with a quick update on the My Little World launch in New York City next Wednesday. I can officially say that the game has been accepted and you can all download it on your Apple devices from the App Store next Wednesday. In the meantime, if you want to get yourself an early copy and for free, just Tweet me @CaseyGames, and I'll pick a winner. ;)
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My New Startup.

Thursday, July 4, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here, back with some extremely exciting news that I've had to kept secret for some time: I'm starting a new company, It's called TeachWare. TeachWare is a web application for Teachers to easily manage all the information about their students, e.g: Profiles, Absence, Exam Scores and lots more including Making Report Cards and Tests.Our first version will be made for Primary School teachers, but soon we plan to create specific versions for Secondary School Teachers, and School Secretaries.

Hopefully in September we will begin tests with a handful of Teachers who sign up to the service.We want to choose the best of the best who can give us feedback and things to add and or remove.

The service will be completely free and will be ad-supported.For Teachers who work offline, we will sell an offline client.

For Teachers to get more information we encourage you to go to our website Teach-Ware.org or to follow us on Twitter @Teach_Ware. We will launch the registration forms very soon, but if you have any further questions, please Tweet us or email me: Jordan@teach-ware.org

Thanks guys! And Don't forget to spread the word to your local teachers. 
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Best.News.Ever

Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Hey Guys, best.news.ever

Casey Games are extremely proud, extremely  honoured and extremely grateful to announce that we have been invited by the Irish International Business Network to speak as the only speaker at a special event being held in Apple's Retail Store in Soho, New York City.

We are so grateful to the IIBN for inviting us to this event which they are organising and we see this as a perfect opportunity to officially launch the iOS version of our latest mobile game, My Little World.

So, hopefully you guys will be able to play the game on July 31st, we plan to release the other versions for other platforms in time for October.The game will cost 89c/79p/ (Tier 1).What to expect? The First chapter of the game, a shop and a level editor!

To tie in with all this we are launching a level design competition, the winners of which will have their levels featured in the second update.

Once again we would like to thank the IIBN and Apple for this amazing opportunity!

Talk soon and I will keep you guys updated



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Updates!

Monday, May 6, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.Haven't updated in a WHILE! So, today I thought I might do it.

  • In Early April I spoke at a College conference in Portsmouth, England.
  • In Mid April we won the Best Innovation Award in the Junior Category at the Student Enterprise Awards in Croke Park - I was completely thrilled!
  • I spoke at both the Festival of Games and TNW Conference in Amsterdam in Late April.Both amazing conferences and I made AMAZING contacts! You can check out an awesome interview I did with NOS 3:



  • And Last Week I had the absolutely amazing opportunity to face the Dragons on Junior Dragons Den! I was on last and I got the €2,000 bursary from Peter Casey, which I am so grateful for.Every single project on the show was outstanding and Everyone in my opinion was a winner.Not only did I get the bursary, but I also got a HUGE amount of exposure! I met a number of different contacts, sold a ton of copies, Received 500 Twitter mentions in the space of 10 minutes & made 330 followers within a day, which is amazing! Also, for about 20 minutes, I was the #1 Trending Topic in Ireland:



Next week is a pretty huge week for me for 2 reasons:
  1. I have Summer Exams that week which should be fun :)
  2. I am going to Silicon Valley! I will be speaking at the TiEcon event next Saturday in the heart of the county! I am HUGELY excited and I have a lot of other things planned while I'm there.It is amazing opportunity and I couldn't get there without the support of the City Council, Enterprise Ireland and The City Enterprise board! 

Update on My Little World and Projects
So, My Little World, how is that going? I know I haven't gave you an update for a while.First things first, I am delaying the release until October, again to give me more time to work on the game, I plan to launch it at an event.

So how is the game development going?
Well for the past month or so, I've really been working on back end stuff.Such as: A Save and Load System, A Pause Menu, Main Menu upgrades, animation, I've developed a collision system.
So, I've taken a break from the game for the next couple of days to focus on exam studying without the worry of the game.But, what I have been doing in other development is:
  • Thought Jotter: A Note Application for iOS and Android which I plan to work on over the Summer.It is the basic germ for a Social Network I'm building
  • A web browser series codenamed "C-Browse" The motto is: "Straight to the Point... and Click" It means it doesn't distract you from anything other than web browsing, it saves all your passwords and cookies, etc. I have a Windows pre pre Alpha test written in C# and I plan to write the Mobile & Mac Versions in Flash.I will update you on this
So, what's the one game I've been working on that hasn't had an update in a while? That's right... Food World! 
Well, as you may know we launched the Food World Feedback Test in Early January and I said Feedback was very positive.We took all of your advice and we are currently very close to Full launch.This will include:
  • A revamped website
  • A hugely revamped, bigger game
  • A Food World Animated Series
  • A registration system
We are hugely excited to launch Food World soon and we think it can go places! We currently can't work on it a lot at the moment as Aidan (Our Artist) is doing his GCSEs and I have my Summer Exams.We will keep you very informed on future Food World updates.

Well guys, that's it for now, I will keep you updated as much as I can!

Thanks Again guys!
-Jordan





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Student Enterprise Awards

Friday, April 19, 2013
Hi guys, Jordan here.Just a quick update.Just thought I'd tell you we got Best Innovation at the Student Enterprise Awards on Wednesday in Croke Park!
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King Of The Web: Second chance

Monday, April 1, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.Back with a very quick request.

"I'm running a second campaign for King of The Web (Last year I was too young) King of the web is an election based thingy ma do hickey where you vote a person to be the king of the web.If you register you get 10 votes per day (Divided or on person of your choice), so if you want to vote me you can vote for me 10 times per day.The top prize for King of The Web is 1,000 second place is 500 and third place is 250 dollars.Either way, if I win one of these I have officially pledged to donate 50% of all my earnings to Water.org! It would mean so much if you could take a minute to vote, all you have to do is CLICK HERE! Thanks so much guys!

-Jordan!!
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CGN: Casey Games Network

Monday, March 25, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.Back with a unique new announcement... We've launched a new YouTube video network! We call it CGN.CGN is a very unique network in that unlike most other network it covers range of different topics, such as: gaming, tech reviews, unboxings, short films, parodies and much more! And the best part, a video every day! So, our first video is available now

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CHANNEL!

And, if you make content rather than watch it, we now accept applications to APPLY as a content producer on our channel!

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT!

Well guys, thank you guys and I hope you enjoy our videos, if you do please subscribe!

-Jordan
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A bit more information on My Little World

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.

So, a couple of weeks ago I officially announced my latest game, My Little World.I also told you I couldn't really say much about it on account that I was going to be first showing it off at GIG 2013, which I did.


Since GIG, I have been working very very very hard to get as of the game done as possible, for a reason that unfortunately, I can't say much about yet.What I can say is, I've been giving the opportunity of a lifetime which regards My Little World and something huge! But, I have to have a version of the game done for March 31st.I hope this version of the game done for the Easter Holidays.But, for those of you wondering when the game will be released on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows 8, I can now reveal: June 15th 2013 for iOS, Android and Mac if all goes to plan (And possibly a bit earlier) and then a month or two later for Windows as I have to completely rebuild the game for it 
Reason: I write my games using Actionscript 3.0, which iOS, Android and Mac support.Unfortunately, Windows 8 does not.But, it's not all bad, as I can convert the Flash version of the game to HTML5 and add the functionality and then wrap it as a Windows 8 app.

Pricing:
iOS - 89c & free lite version
Android - Free (With advertisements)
Mac - €2.49
Windows 8 - around the €2.49 price point.

Extras:
by July, I am trying to get an e-book version of the My Little World story on the iBooks store.It will be free! This is to encourage our players to not only play, but read the story too.This is also because I think the My Little World story could be very interesting.

For the press:
We will also be releasing a Press Release for people who are interested in featuring the game.For people who are interested in reviewing the game, we will release test copies about a week before release.(P.S We will also be giving away iOS copies on Twitter when it's released)

I know we've still got some time to go, but I'm very very excited.I will obviously update you guys on the development of the game!

Thanks guys

-Jordan
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Working with a deadline

Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.Im starting a new daily dev-log post over at http://JordanCasey.com I will be posting progress updates and screenshots of my little world
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My Little World - Announcement & More News

Thursday, February 21, 2013
There once was a creature, he lived in the back, no bigger then the smallest piece of the smallest piece of grass, his name was JC, he was lonely you see, he was the only one of his kind. And to the big world out there, he was blind.He wanted to know what he was missing, "Adventure, here I come", so he packed for and mapped out his journey, goodbye My Little World

Hey guys, Jordan here.Sorry for not posting as frequently as I would have liked to, but I have been really really busy.I was at the Casual Connect conference in Hamburg last week, was featured on VentureBeat.com on Monday and yesterday won 1st place in the junior category for the Waterford Student Enterprise awards.As well as that, myself and Aidan are working on an upcoming Food World project.Oh yeah and just to be clear on Food World, Food World is still in the testing stages.You can still play it, but we don't plan to fully launch until a month or so.Ok, before I get into the new game announcement, let's talk about some more awesome news.I'll be at GIG 2013 in the Aviva Stadium next week & I'm going to be speaking at the Festival of Games in Amsterdam in April! Which I'm soo excited about! I would also like to thank you to everybody who voted me in the Shorty Awards! We came in an outstanding 7th place (Just one place off from being an official nominee).We finished with an amazing 32 votes!

Ok, awesome, new game announcement! So, I can't say very much yet but what I can do is "announce" it.My Little World is an upcoming, very much cross-platform (iOS, Android, Windows 8 and Mac) Adventure game about a tiny creature named JC who lives in a back garden and wants to see the real world.Hopefully, the first ever gameplay of the game will be shown next week at GIG, but expect a trailer in the next couple of weeks.This is probably the hardest I've ever worked on a game and I'm aiming for a June release.

The first screenshot of the game is on the VentureBeat article.

Will update you guys soon

-Jordan

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Announcing Casey Games FM: The tech radio show

Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.Today I am officially announcing a brand new project: Casey Games FM, a live radio show every Tuesday and Friday.I just finished the "pilot" episode & I think it went well :). So, now let's make it an actual project! Every Tuesday and Friday at 7:30pm.I request you send in your requests before each show, the easiest way is to Tweet: @CaseyGames Hopefully, we can get a show in every week! What can you expect?
  • Music
  • Tech and Gaming news
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Specials
Next week is the Casual Connect special.See you next week.(Be here on this website at 7:30pm on Friday to listen right here on the website)
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Upcoming Events

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here. Do you want to meet up with me or connect or network or something? Awesome, here are a few of the conferences I will be attending:


  • BETT 2013 this Weekend, I'm speaking on Saturday at 12:30 at the BETT Arena (Excel) as far as I know, BETT is free, so if you live in London.. come say hi!
  • Casual Connect 2013: I will be attending Casual Connect 2013 in Hamburg.I would love to meet you guys! If you are going, Tweet me: @CaseyGames
Thanks guys! For up the date on Food World, click here to read the official blog
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Food World BETA launching tomorrow: What to expect

Thursday, January 17, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.As you may have read, Food World went  into Alpha last Friday and so to celebrate we hosted an Alpha party.The whole reason of the Alpha party was to find bugs & receive feedback from the yours. 99% of Feedback was amazing, and we are very proud of that.What we had planned to do was close for a week (but we decided to keep Alpha online), work on bugs and new updates and launch Beta the following Friday.So, yes that's exactly what we are doing.Tomorrow, we are launching BETA and yes... we probably will be hosting a party.So, http://foodworldvw.tk is Food World's temporary domain.The BETA version will be pushed to the main game at about 7pm. What can you expect?
  • A new avatar
  • 2 new rooms (basically 1, as 1 of them is under construction)
  • ALL the major bugs have been fixed, expect a 99% bug free version of the game.
  • Unfortunately, we haven't had time to create a registration system, but expect that in the next week.(P.S to know whether it's me and not some im-poster, I will have an exclusive avatar of me, here's what I look like:




Cool, huh? So, what do I get out of the BETA party? Well, we will keep a list of all the people who attend this party and when Food World goes out of Beta and has registration systems, you will receive the exclusive BETA item.Also, we will be announcing some MASSIVE GIGANTIC AMAZING news at sed party.See you tomorrow :)
-Jordan

P.S Food World Alpha is available now: http://foodworldvw.tk
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Important update: Food World new launch date

Monday, January 7, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here.I have a very important update.Food World's Alpha party will now be taking place THIS FRIDAY.How will you be able to play? Easy, at about 7pm GMT on Friday, the Food World website will be live and there will be a BIG play button on this website right here.Or if you follow me on Twitter I will be tweeting the link. ( If you want to talk about Food World on Twitter please use #FoodWorldCG ) Now, the party.Here are the details

When: Friday 8pm GMT (UK time)
Where: The Party Room
Why: Food World Alpha Party

I hope to see you there guys, thanks again!

-Jordan
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Food World Launch Date + Alpha Party Details!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Hey guys, Jordan here. Happy New Year! (B.T.W tomorrow, January 2nd is Casey Games' first anniversary) and this post is just giving you an update on where Food World is at.Currently we plan to launch January 12th.The Alpha party will take place sometime that night (announcing later). Thanks guys.
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