Flush Arcade
Michael Williams is the founder of Flush Arcade. Michael lives in Melbourne and is currently helping Telstra build their first health mobile app. He is an expert in Xamarin coding and plans to release his second mobile app called Aqua Turd this year. We have conducted an interview with Michael.
Why did you set up Flush Arcade and what are your aspirations for it?
I have been a mobile programmer for almost 6 years and a gamer since I was young. Flush Arcade was originally started by myself to release my own mobile games. I am working on releasing more mobile games, and more 3d games on other consoles in the future. Our website is also now a gaming and tech blog with 3 writers to provide a running commentary on news and gaming whilst also keeping people up to date with what we’re doing ourselves.
How do you try and ensure your games are innovative, creative, and ideative?
Usually, these ideas come to me out of nowhere. In my spare time, I do love to write about non-fiction based stories and write my own music, this is where a lot of inspiration comes from. When I gather ideas, I usually do some research into the gaming market and see what equivalent ideas exist and where there is room for my own.
What can users expect from your second app Aqua Turd?
Aqua Turd is the result of an idea that myself and some mates come up with. I wanted to make it very relatable and funny, its a bit of a comical take on surfers. I didn’t think we’d actually make a game out of it, but then I thought hang on, why not?! Its an addictive game that will guarantee to chew up some time when you need to. We listened to some feedback from our users on Monkey Trippers and have implemented some cool ideas to improve gameplay. We’re really excited to see how people react to it when it’s released later this year.
What about computer science do you love and aspect you think you’re best at?
I am a big fan of problem solving, mathematics and physics, and I love applying algorithms and problem solving to programming, so that's probably also my strongest point.
What are some of your other projects and experiences/credentials?
I’ve almost completed my first book on mobile and cross-platform development with Xamarin via PACKT Publishing. I’m really excited to have it released, it's really one of the first books (that I know of) that gives a full perspective on how to go about building a cross-platform app from scratch using Xamarin.
In the past I've worked on a quite a few projects, building apps, building whole backends and architecting entire systems in the cloud. My latest work has been in the health sector (Telstra Health and Medibio) building apps to integrate with blue devices for rating patient’s blood pressure, glucose readings, weight, pulse rate, etc.
Its an exciting app because it brings in the latest technology to the health sector which is lagging behind. With this app I’ve been working on with Telstra for example, doctors can take readings from their patients without needing to see them in person. With Medibio we’re working on an app which integrates the Apple Watch for taking Pulse Rates and accelerometer data to determine sleeping patterns about the user’s mental health, more accurately than ever before.
I am also contributing to course content for Open Colleges Australia, below is an interview included for my section of the course (Cert IV: Programming):
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