As letters swirl around a black hole sucking bubble after bubble into an abyss, a player’s thumbs dart across the screen to form words, attempting to save as many letters as possible from what must surely be a dreadful fate.
“Word Blastoff,” an iPhone game produced this June by Michelle Khare ’14 and Nook Harquail ’14 for a senior thesis, marks just one among several iPhone apps developed by Dartmouth students while at the College. Students have found success in developing smartphone applications in Hanover, though some noted a lack of institutional support for their projects.
Several students emphasized that the Neukom Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation Lab funded and supported app development. Khare noted that computer science professor Lori Loeb, who runs the lab, was the pair’s thesis advisor. Khare said project funding helped them purchase software licenses and iPhones used for testing. The DALI Lab also offered technical support for “Word Blastoff” as well as an appropriate environment for the work, she said.
“The DALI Lab is a hub of knowledge,” Khare said. “The best part is that it brings together the art people and the CS people.”
Harquail, who coded the project, said the DALI Lab was instrumental in supporting his learning process, noting that “Blastoff” was the first project he worked on for iOS. The lab’s technical director, Tim Tregubov ’11, helped him find resources and start app development, Harquail said.
But Khare added that the “Word Blastoff” team had almost no Dartmouth support for the business side of their project, noting that the process of forming a company around the product — called Nebulous Games, LLC — involved filling out an online form.
Director of Dartmouth’s new Innovation Center and New Venture Incubator programs Jamie Coughlin said he has seen a growing interest in app development at the College, which he attributed to the increased use of mobile devices, along with the relatively low cost of developing new apps. The interest in app development, he said, is found in both traditional ventures, like social networking or gaming, as well as social ventures, amidst the growing reality that many people in communities across the world have access to mobile devices.
Coughlin said the College’s new effort in entrepreneurship will provide more opportunities for students developing apps. Dartmouth was ranked 10th for entrepreneurship by Forbes last month.
The new Innovation Center will provide resources to expose students to the software development process and the entrepreneurial new venture process, Coughlin said, teaching them how to create and implement ideas. The center will also offer technical resources and seed capital, he said, aiding students who do have software or other ideas to receive small amounts of funding to build prototypes or products.
Gaby Javitt ’16 had the idea for her own app, “The Ropes,” during winter term of her freshman year. The app collects information about dining at Dartmouth, including menus, meal swipe and DBA information and food ratings.
Javitt said that the most significant help she received from the College came from DALI, noting that she formed a three-week partnership with the lab at the end of last winter to push the app through the iTunes App Store.
She said that Dartmouth provided almost no initial support for her idea, especially on the programming side. She could not find a developer to code the app for iOS, and she said Dartmouth Dining Services also declined to aid app development.
Two developers outside of the College helped Javitt program the app, which launched at the beginning of spring term. One of the developers, Gabe Boning ’18, took two gap years to work as a software engineer.
Javitt pointed to the absence of a course teaching iOS development as one of the reasons for her trouble finding app developers in Hanover. The single smartphone development course that Dartmouth offers, Javitt said, focuses on development for Android applications.
She said that such a course might be helpful but could also prove inconsistent with the College’s mission in liberal arts.
“A lot of the CS courses offered are fundamental to computer science, and this is an area that is an offshoot of those fundamental subjects,” Javitt said. “It’s useful and practical, but I’m not sure that it’s a goal for the College.”
She said that if the College does not offer a course on iOS development, it would be helpful to have a workshop or provide a resource where students could get help from an experienced developer.
Javitt said she also found little in terms of advice or assistance in forming her own company, Square Knot Industries, to produce the app.
“I had no support on the business side — I wasn’t sure who to ask,” Javitt said. “I paid out of pocket to form the company.”
Gurkaran Singh ’15 came up with the idea for his “HIVE” app while stranded in the Boston Logan Airport with several other Dartmouth students during a snowstorm. He wanted to create an app through which people with a shared network could communicate based on their locations, he said, calling the app an “impromptu event coordination app.”
He said he pitched the idea at a pitch night hosted by the DALI lab last winter, where students could suggest ideas for web, software or app development and the lab would provide the resources to help realize selected ideas.
Singh said that both professors and students helped him with the development process.
“There are plenty of resources in the form of professors for how to validate an idea and create a business model for it,” he said. “There’s also an incredible group of students who are willing to talk and have experience in developing.”
Singh, like Javitt, said that iOS development was a rare skill for Dartmouth students.
“It’s been hard to find developers, but there’s been a lot more interest as of late,” he said. “It’s a growing community, but until now it’s been a little hard on the iOS side.”
Singh said the computer science department can help students obtain Apple’s licensing. With a license, students can submit their prototypes to Apple and if approved, can place apps on the market for purchase through the App Store.
Harquail is a former member of The Dartmouth senior staff.
Laura Weiss contributed reporting.
