Garrett Tanzer Designs an App

It’s never too early to start innovating. Garrett Tanzer, an eighth grade student in Butler House at Scarsdale Middle School has created an app for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad called "Space Laser Race." The game went on sale worldwide in the Apple Store on November 10.

Space Laser Race™, the first-ever space simulator game developed by a 13-year-old is available for $.99 on the App Store. The young developer is dedicating a portion of his proceeds from the sales of his game to food allergy research.

In this virtual game, you can spacewalk like an astronaut with only a jet pack to propel you in zero gravity. This unique and challenging game let’s you race through space while racing against time to align your laser onto a target. Dual sliders simulate double joysticks astronauts use to maneuver through space. A radar at the top of the screen provides directional point of reference.

We asked Garrett a few questions about how he came to design an app, and here is what he told us:

Ever since I started playing video games, I wanted to be able to create one myself. Once the App Store was launched, it made it possible for me to develop a game. All I had to do was learn programming and come up with an idea. I took an online programming course to learn some basics.

Is there are course at Scarsdale Middle School or a teacher that guided him?

Scarsdale currently doesn't offer a programming course at the middle school level. However, my mom helped me figure out how to learn to program. Whenever I got stuck, she helped me to find resources and kept me going when I encountered obstacles.

How long did it take you to develop Space Laser Race?

Six or seven weeks

Where did the idea for the game come from and who designed the graphics?

I came up with the idea from watching space movies, and designed all the graphics myself. I figured out how to use photo shop and designed all the graphics with it.

How did you bring it to market and have it sold as an app?

I had to submit Space Laser Race to the App Review Process at Apple. It took about ten days for approval.

How many apps are now available for the iPhone and iPad and iTouch?

As of now there are 297,000 apps and about half are games. About three quarters of the games are free and most are not good.

Are you the youngest person ever to develop an app?

No, but I am perhaps the youngest to develop a universal game, which means that it is optimized for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

How will you channel the profits towards food allergies?

Once I have enough sales, I plan on sending a portion of the proceeds to an organization that supports food allergy awareness and research.

Do your friends at SMS have iPhones and are they playing the game?

Yes, you would be surprised how many kids have an iPhone

Do you know how many have sold to date?

That’s confidential!

To learn more about the game and download it, go to Garrett's Website, http://www.tanzerine.com.