I rarely play games on my phone. I prefer developing apps: Kapil Balagopal

‘Simple yet addictive’ is the easiest way to describe 17-year-old Kapil Balagopal’s application ‘Numero Slider’. As per the App store description, “the pointer on the slider is all that matters”. The goal is to place the pointer as close to the target value as quickly as possible. But to get the target value, you need to do some quick, simple Math—addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. That done, slide the pointer as close to the value within three seconds and triple your score. Points are based on speed and accuracy.

“App development technology has existed for years,” says Balagopal. “There’s also an Apple Design Award, which I’ve known about for two years. So, I found the idea of developing an app, interesting, but since last year was my first year of Engineering, I had to focus on studying,” says the NMIMS student, currently in his second year of a six-year course (straight after Class 10).

Balagopal created Numero Slider in 20 days (including learning programming languages), during his break after the fourth semester. “I had studied some programming languages in engineering, so it wasn’t tough,” says the  Mumbai  resident. Initially unsure whether to create a game or an app, he “spoke to a developer (and winner of the Apple Design Award),who suggested starting with a game. He said it would be tougher than designing an app, but it would give me a better idea of the system, the development environment and how it works,” he shares.

Already aware of the slider concept, Balagopal “improved its operation and added a timer. He checked how it looked on Xcode, an integrated development environment (IDE), containing a suite of software development tools developed by Apple for developing software for OS X and iOS. “They have multiple interfaces and simulators to check how the app looks on different size screens. On January 1, I uploaded it onto the app store, where itwas reviewed by a team. The review process takes 1 to 30 days. It was made available for download on January 3.” A budding developer, Balagopal first wants “to be known in the developing community, before he charges people to download his game,” says the teen, who is already planning the next game, which “will be animated. I don’t know when or what exactly it will be, it depends on how the next semester goes”.

Inspired by Apple, it’s no surprise that Balagopal’s game was first made for Apple devices; it requires iOS 10.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.“As a company, I like Apple, but I cannot say that Steve Jobs inspires me 100%. I look up to him, because he changed the technology world. At a time when technology wasn’t growing much, his idea of putting design into technology and making it work better, is brilliant. Now the whole world is trying to implement it,” he says.

Balagopal, who wants to pursue genetics engineering, definitely sees technology in his future. When he’s not studying, he’s watching tech news, reading reviews, tech books and biographies, learning about new software, or playing football, badminton or cricket. He has 250 apps on his phone, but “I rarely play phone games. I prefer the idea of developing apps,” says the teen, who spends not more than 45 minutes a day (on a holiday) on games.

When it comes to the future of technology, he likes “the concept of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VRAR). It may take a while, but that will be the next thing”.