Moo Cow Fury (Written by 12 Year Old Nicholas Weintraut)

MooCowFury was written by my 12 year old son Nicholas completely and entirely by himself, with no programming help from me or anyone else. He accomplished this goal after he spent 2 weeks dedicated solely to reading through the first 150 pages of "Programming in Objective-C" by Stephen Kochan and then following the wonderful examples and tutorials outlined in the amazingly excellent book "Beginning iPhone Development" by Dave Mark. He then spent many weeks working through his code, fixing bugs, getting feedback from friends, and staying patient as he learned how to debug problems (he got a little bit of help from dad on how to use the debugging tools). I hope his efforts to produce this game stand out as a good example of what a child is able to accomplish when they receive support and encouragement by their friends and family.

Here is Nicholass Description of the Game

What can a cow do besides being eaten, and giving milk? A cow can join the MooCow racing league! In order to set a new record, cows must race to get as many laps as possible before time runs out. Hold down the Fast button to run across the screen. However, if you run, your cow will give you a little brown surprise. Press the "avoid" button to quickly move past the poop. You can clear this surprise by pressing the flame button when in front of the poop. But if you get too close, you will step in it and lose points. When you just avoid the poop, you will get a 5 point bonus. You will also, in turn, lose energy. To gain energy, Destroy poops and you will see grass grow. When the grass is fully grown, it will have its blades farther spread out, and you can eat it for energy.

Now it gets interesting. There are also many challenges in the game.

Challenges:
* Race 6 laps without stepping in poops reward: +10 time left.
* Avoid poop reward: +5 points.
* Destroy 10 poops reward: +50 points at end of round.
* Destroy 20 poops reward: +100 points at end of round.
* Avoid more poops than slipping in poops reward: +20 points at end of round.
* Run 30 Laps reward: +70 points at end of round.

Features:

* Race your cow in the game that will forever be a classic!
* Race against the time to get the new high score!
* Avoid slip-ups and collect energy!
* Has 2 detailed artistic themes you can switch back and forth from right in the middle of the game!
* Boasts wonderful cartoon graphics!
* Features multiple animations!
* High quality 2d graphics!

Future Plans

PowerUps
Costumes
More Themes