A user has brought to my attention the fact that the latest BB10 OS update breaks Drinki. Therefore, I have withdrawn it from BB World.
If you're looking to try one of my apps, I suggest How Puzzling. It's fun, and it's free!
Showing posts with label Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Development. Show all posts
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Friday, 20 December 2013
BlackBerry World Featured Data
Thursday, 21 November 2013
What can Built for Blackberry do for you?
Two of my apps now carry the once-coveted Built for Blackberry designation: Completionist and How Puzzling. But, what exactly does that mean?
Well, I think it means I get some priority in search results, and I get the little Built for Blackberry icon on the apps' info pages on Blackberry World... and that's about it. Oh, they also might be sending me another Z10. But otherwise, BfB has been completely worthless to me. I haven't seen any increase in downloads or in-app purchases for either app. The simple fact of the matter is that not nearly enough people have purchased BB10 phones to make it a viable platform in the long term, and the ones who did just don't seem to care about BfB. I certainly don't.
Well, I think it means I get some priority in search results, and I get the little Built for Blackberry icon on the apps' info pages on Blackberry World... and that's about it. Oh, they also might be sending me another Z10. But otherwise, BfB has been completely worthless to me. I haven't seen any increase in downloads or in-app purchases for either app. The simple fact of the matter is that not nearly enough people have purchased BB10 phones to make it a viable platform in the long term, and the ones who did just don't seem to care about BfB. I certainly don't.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
How Puzzling
How Puzzling is both a puzzle game and a bit of an experiment for me.
The puzzle aspect is fairly straightforward: Each level of the game presents you with a set of coloured shapes and a series of clues that explains how those shapes fit on the game board.
I've always liked these particular kinds of puzzles, but I wasn't aware of any apps out there that featured them exclusively. They show up in Professor Layton games and things like that, but they usually only have one or two per game; I wanted a lot. So, I had to make the game myself. Unfortunately, that means that I know the solutions to all the puzzles, but we can't get everything we want.
The experiment portion is a little different for me. Rather making the game paid, using ads, or selling paid upgrades, I've decided to let my users pay whatever they want. After completing the final puzzles, they'll be presented with a screen congratulating them on finishing the game and asking them to kick in a few bucks if they'd me to make more levels. If the response is good, I'll make more, if not, then I won't.
That's all there is to it. How Puzzling, available now for Android!
Friday, 26 April 2013
Drinki
 |
| Click the logo to get it on BlackBerry World |
Do you need a special event permit and don't know where to get one?
Are you up at the cottage and wondering exactly when the beer store closes?
Then Drinki is the app for you!
Now you can find the locations of LCBOs, Beer Stores, and Wine Racks all across the province. Search by city, GPS location, or just find the nearest open store. Then you can check its hours, find it on a map, and get driving directions all from the palm of your hand.
Searches happen completely offline so you don't waste time or bandwidth. Find a location as fast and as easily as possible, then save it to a list of favourites, so you can check it out even faster!
*This app is not endorsed by or affiliated with the LCBO, Beer Store, Wine Rack, or the Government of Ontario. Please drink responsibly.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
The $10k Developer Commitment
In preparation for the launch of their BlackBerry 10 phones and OS, RIM is running what it calls the $10k Developer Commitment. The gist of it is that they wanted to have as many apps as possible available at launch, so to encourage developers, they made the following offer: If your app is available on launch day and achieves a minimum of $1000 in sales over the course of the next calendar year, then RIM will top you off to $10,000. For example, if you had sales of exactly $2300, they'd give you $7700. This seems like a pretty good deal until you get into the details.
In order to qualify for the $10k deal, your app must receive the Built for BlackBerry designation in time for launch and retain it throughout the calendar year. So, if they change the rules partway through the 12-month period and you fall out of compliance for a period of 120 days, then you get nothing, regardless of how much your app has already earned.
Further, the total amount available for disbursement is only $10 million. Assuming an average payout of $5000, that means only 2000 developers will get anything. If you manage to creep above $1000 on January 29, 2014 but the fund is already exhausted, then you get nothing.
Of course, the real issue is qualifying for the Built for BlackBerry designation in the first place. The list of criteria covers seven areas from 'User Benefits' to 'Security'. I submitted 'Awesome Sudoku' just to check out the process; I didn't expect it to pass, but I wanted to see how the approval process works. It took so long to get any feedback that I wound up submitting pretty much everything I've made for BB10 regardless of my expectations of success. Then, when I finally did get a response, it wasn't terribly helpful. I got an email this morning telling me what changes I could make to qualify. It included the following three bullet points:
· Improved game play
· Better graphics
· More Feature(sic)
As far as I can tell, that basically translates to 'Make your game better'.
Now, Awesome Sudoku is by no means the most exciting app out there. It's sudoku; there's only so much you can do. However, it's polished enough that if its sales translate from the Playbook to phones, it should cross the $1000 barrier. So, I have to wonder just exactly what the point of the $10k Commitment is. If my little sudoku app can clear a thousand bucks, anything with enough flash and pizazz to qualify for BfB designation should easily cross the $10,000 mark on its own.
Ultimately, I think it was a good way to attract developers, but I don't think the program will turn out to be terribly good for the developers themselves.
In order to qualify for the $10k deal, your app must receive the Built for BlackBerry designation in time for launch and retain it throughout the calendar year. So, if they change the rules partway through the 12-month period and you fall out of compliance for a period of 120 days, then you get nothing, regardless of how much your app has already earned.
Further, the total amount available for disbursement is only $10 million. Assuming an average payout of $5000, that means only 2000 developers will get anything. If you manage to creep above $1000 on January 29, 2014 but the fund is already exhausted, then you get nothing.
Of course, the real issue is qualifying for the Built for BlackBerry designation in the first place. The list of criteria covers seven areas from 'User Benefits' to 'Security'. I submitted 'Awesome Sudoku' just to check out the process; I didn't expect it to pass, but I wanted to see how the approval process works. It took so long to get any feedback that I wound up submitting pretty much everything I've made for BB10 regardless of my expectations of success. Then, when I finally did get a response, it wasn't terribly helpful. I got an email this morning telling me what changes I could make to qualify. It included the following three bullet points:
· Improved game play
· Better graphics
· More Feature(sic)
As far as I can tell, that basically translates to 'Make your game better'.
Now, Awesome Sudoku is by no means the most exciting app out there. It's sudoku; there's only so much you can do. However, it's polished enough that if its sales translate from the Playbook to phones, it should cross the $1000 barrier. So, I have to wonder just exactly what the point of the $10k Commitment is. If my little sudoku app can clear a thousand bucks, anything with enough flash and pizazz to qualify for BfB designation should easily cross the $10,000 mark on its own.
Ultimately, I think it was a good way to attract developers, but I don't think the program will turn out to be terribly good for the developers themselves.
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Port-a-thon 2 Roundup
Over the past two days, RIM held another Port-a-thon, this time for apps. I wasn't entirely clear on whether that included game apps, but it didn't really matter because I had no more games to port.
At any rate, Answer Ball, Awesome Strobe, Awesome Tips, GPS Data Master, and Psychic Test will be making their way to BB10 devices. I'm not sure I'll get the cash award for each of them, but because I'm insane, even though the PlayBook only comes in one screen size and resolution, I initially designed all of them to easily scale to different screen sizes, and I drew most of the graphical elements far larger than they needed to be, so it didn't take me very long to port them over.
I think I should also note that GPS Data Master will -at least initially- not be free for BB10 devices. Having a popular app is nice, but you know what's nicer? Not having to eat cat food.
At any rate, Answer Ball, Awesome Strobe, Awesome Tips, GPS Data Master, and Psychic Test will be making their way to BB10 devices. I'm not sure I'll get the cash award for each of them, but because I'm insane, even though the PlayBook only comes in one screen size and resolution, I initially designed all of them to easily scale to different screen sizes, and I drew most of the graphical elements far larger than they needed to be, so it didn't take me very long to port them over.
I think I should also note that GPS Data Master will -at least initially- not be free for BB10 devices. Having a popular app is nice, but you know what's nicer? Not having to eat cat food.
Monday, 19 November 2012
Port-a-thon Roundup
In an effort to have as many games as possible available at launch, this past weekend RIM ran what they called a Port-a-thon. For every game app ported over to the BB10 platform they gave away $100, and if you published multiple apps you could get things like a free Playbook or a BB10 Dev unit. It was an excellent idea, and I think if they scrapped their $10k guarantee and instead offered $100 for every app submission, I think they'd get a lot more developer interest.
My plan was to port a few apps over at some point just for curiosity's sake, but free money is a powerful motivator, so I wound up doing eight in two days. Awesome Sudoku, Awesome Word Search, Box Games, Completionist, MASH Deluxe, Scooter Wants Cheese, Scramble Master, and Word Scramble will all be available for BB10 when the devices launch at the end of January. Will they be as successful on the new OS as they have been on the Playbook? I can't see how they could be less successful. Perhaps RIM will send someone by to beat me up and steal my wallet, but that seems unlikely.
My plan was to port a few apps over at some point just for curiosity's sake, but free money is a powerful motivator, so I wound up doing eight in two days. Awesome Sudoku, Awesome Word Search, Box Games, Completionist, MASH Deluxe, Scooter Wants Cheese, Scramble Master, and Word Scramble will all be available for BB10 when the devices launch at the end of January. Will they be as successful on the new OS as they have been on the Playbook? I can't see how they could be less successful. Perhaps RIM will send someone by to beat me up and steal my wallet, but that seems unlikely.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
October Data
For a long time, I've been looking for a way to monetize my Playbook apps. It has not been going well. Anyway, since it's November, I thought I'd share my download and sales data for the month of October.
In short:
28646 downloads
142 sales
$0 in ad payouts
From October 1 to 31, my Playbook apps received a total of 28648 downloads, or around 924 per day. About 9000 came from Canada, 7000 from the UK, 3000 from the US, with the rest split amongst various other nations all over the world, including a single download in Brunei.
Mid-week days tended to produce about 30% more downloads than the ends of the week, with Thursday being the most popular day, averaging more than 1300.
My most popular app was GPS Data Master, and my least popular was Psychic Test.
On the sales front, I sold 140 apps and 2 in-app purchases. Purchases come in multiple currencies, so it's hard to figure things out exactly, but after fees I should net about $90. I sold at least one copy of 10 different apps. The top-seller this month was Awesome Sudoku, which moved 60 copies.
On the advertising front, the various ad networks I use on my blogs combined for around 10000 impressions, 100 clicks, and earnings of $1.88, which I will not receive because it's nowhere near the payment threshold. The ads on my Playbook apps had around 38000 impressions, 370 clicks, and earnings of $7.60, which I also will not receive. These amounts will roll over, and I should be eligible for some kind of payout in 4-5 months. Maybe.
Admittedly, the fill rates haven't been great, but based on the CTR and EPC I've been getting, to make a living on ad revenues, I would need every single Playbook owner out there to use one of my apps five times per month. And that's a bachelor apartment-style living, not champagne and caviar. Suffice it to say that I'm not second-guessing my decision to abandon development for RIM products.
In short:
28646 downloads
142 sales
$0 in ad payouts
From October 1 to 31, my Playbook apps received a total of 28648 downloads, or around 924 per day. About 9000 came from Canada, 7000 from the UK, 3000 from the US, with the rest split amongst various other nations all over the world, including a single download in Brunei.
Mid-week days tended to produce about 30% more downloads than the ends of the week, with Thursday being the most popular day, averaging more than 1300.
My most popular app was GPS Data Master, and my least popular was Psychic Test.
On the sales front, I sold 140 apps and 2 in-app purchases. Purchases come in multiple currencies, so it's hard to figure things out exactly, but after fees I should net about $90. I sold at least one copy of 10 different apps. The top-seller this month was Awesome Sudoku, which moved 60 copies.
On the advertising front, the various ad networks I use on my blogs combined for around 10000 impressions, 100 clicks, and earnings of $1.88, which I will not receive because it's nowhere near the payment threshold. The ads on my Playbook apps had around 38000 impressions, 370 clicks, and earnings of $7.60, which I also will not receive. These amounts will roll over, and I should be eligible for some kind of payout in 4-5 months. Maybe.
Admittedly, the fill rates haven't been great, but based on the CTR and EPC I've been getting, to make a living on ad revenues, I would need every single Playbook owner out there to use one of my apps five times per month. And that's a bachelor apartment-style living, not champagne and caviar. Suffice it to say that I'm not second-guessing my decision to abandon development for RIM products.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Snippet.java
I had a problem that was causing me no end of trouble, and today I found the solution:
If, when you try to copy a project in Eclipse, pasting it creates a new file called Snippet.java, then try disabling Skype Click to Call in Chrome. I was going insane trying to figure out what was causing that behaviour.
stackoverflow is awesome.
If, when you try to copy a project in Eclipse, pasting it creates a new file called Snippet.java, then try disabling Skype Click to Call in Chrome. I was going insane trying to figure out what was causing that behaviour.
stackoverflow is awesome.
Friday, 12 October 2012
I Hate Bugs!
I released an update for GPS Data Master yesterday, and it contained a bug that causes the app to lock on a black screen. Unfortunately, the problem only shows up when you upgrade a previously-installed version, so not only did I not catch it locally, RIM's quality control people didn't catch it, either. I've already uploaded a fix, but it'll take RIM a few days to approve the new version.
Meanwhile, there's a workaround that should fix the problem. Simply uninstall, then reinstall the app. If you can, that is. I removed it from App World temporarily so too many people wouldn't get the damaged version. You might still be able to get to it through the 'Uninstalled' tab of the 'My World' section, though.
Sorry for the inconvenience. If it's any consolation, the bug is related to a new feature I added.
Meanwhile, there's a workaround that should fix the problem. Simply uninstall, then reinstall the app. If you can, that is. I removed it from App World temporarily so too many people wouldn't get the damaged version. You might still be able to get to it through the 'Uninstalled' tab of the 'My World' section, though.
Sorry for the inconvenience. If it's any consolation, the bug is related to a new feature I added.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Top Free
So, once again I made it into the Top Free section on the PlayBook portion of BlackBerry App World. Last time it was the games section, this time it was the apps section. Here's what I've learned:
People want things for free. Moreover, they explicitly do not want to pay for things. Getting into the Top-25 Free on the PlayBook seems to require around 1500 downloads per day. From what I can recall, eking your way into the Top-25 Paid requires only around 40, or 2.5% of what it takes to get onto the free list.
Lots of downloads does not translate into lots of money. Since GPS Data Master is free and wasn't ad-supported, it didn't generate any revenue directly. As far as I can tell, it didn't drive anyone to my other apps, and it most certainly didn't encourage anyone to make a donation. If I could make a single dollar per year off everyone who downloads GPSDM, I could become a full-time app developer and give away all my other apps for free. As it stands now, I'll be exceedingly lucky if I make a tenth of a cent per person per year.
There's no way of knowing what'll become popular. I banged out the original version of GPSDM in about a day if I remember correctly. I didn't think anyone would ever use it. I have other apps that I've put hundreds of hours of work into that get maybe 10% of the downloads it does.
Many users have no concept of how apps generate revenue. I've had complaints about some of the least-intrusive ads I could find. I've had people get angry and say they're going to delete one of my ad-free apps if I don't change it in some way. I've had requests for features that would require several days of work from people who say they wouldn't be willing to pay a dollar to upgrade. It takes some cojones to ask a guy who's giving you free stuff to work for a week so you can have more free stuff, so I have to assume that there are users out there who think developers get paid if they download something or keep it installed on their device.
Perhaps most importantly, I've learned that the PlayBook is a dying platform. It's a good device, but right now no one is making apps for it. Over the last week there have been about 25 new games released. I know this because I released a game a week ago and it's still on the Top-25 New Arrivals page. They're not quality games, either. I reviewed a few of them over on my reviews blog, and they were mainly worthless; not that anything I've ever made is spectacular, but some ugly, broken stuff has come out this week. Right now, the PlayBook isn't succeeding in either the quality or the quantity of apps, and that more or less spells the end for it.
I'll continue to make occasional updates to my current apps, but I don't think I'll be making any new ones. If anyone would like to hire me to do a little freelance work, I have some time, now. The stuff on this blog should serve as a fairly good indicator of what I can do. And, apparently, I'm one of the top PlayBook developers out there. Whatever that means.
People want things for free. Moreover, they explicitly do not want to pay for things. Getting into the Top-25 Free on the PlayBook seems to require around 1500 downloads per day. From what I can recall, eking your way into the Top-25 Paid requires only around 40, or 2.5% of what it takes to get onto the free list.
Lots of downloads does not translate into lots of money. Since GPS Data Master is free and wasn't ad-supported, it didn't generate any revenue directly. As far as I can tell, it didn't drive anyone to my other apps, and it most certainly didn't encourage anyone to make a donation. If I could make a single dollar per year off everyone who downloads GPSDM, I could become a full-time app developer and give away all my other apps for free. As it stands now, I'll be exceedingly lucky if I make a tenth of a cent per person per year.
There's no way of knowing what'll become popular. I banged out the original version of GPSDM in about a day if I remember correctly. I didn't think anyone would ever use it. I have other apps that I've put hundreds of hours of work into that get maybe 10% of the downloads it does.
Many users have no concept of how apps generate revenue. I've had complaints about some of the least-intrusive ads I could find. I've had people get angry and say they're going to delete one of my ad-free apps if I don't change it in some way. I've had requests for features that would require several days of work from people who say they wouldn't be willing to pay a dollar to upgrade. It takes some cojones to ask a guy who's giving you free stuff to work for a week so you can have more free stuff, so I have to assume that there are users out there who think developers get paid if they download something or keep it installed on their device.
Perhaps most importantly, I've learned that the PlayBook is a dying platform. It's a good device, but right now no one is making apps for it. Over the last week there have been about 25 new games released. I know this because I released a game a week ago and it's still on the Top-25 New Arrivals page. They're not quality games, either. I reviewed a few of them over on my reviews blog, and they were mainly worthless; not that anything I've ever made is spectacular, but some ugly, broken stuff has come out this week. Right now, the PlayBook isn't succeeding in either the quality or the quantity of apps, and that more or less spells the end for it.
I'll continue to make occasional updates to my current apps, but I don't think I'll be making any new ones. If anyone would like to hire me to do a little freelance work, I have some time, now. The stuff on this blog should serve as a fairly good indicator of what I can do. And, apparently, I'm one of the top PlayBook developers out there. Whatever that means.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Ugh...
I guess it can't all be good news. Awesome Word Search Free got a 1/2-star review today. One of the categories of words you can search for is Bible Books, and it's caused me all sorts of trouble. Here's the comment:
Title: Really?
Review Body:
Since when is there a book in the bible called, sirach?
The answer to that question (which I cannot give because there's no way to reply to comments) is since about the year 400. The Catholic Church considers it part of the bible, but apparently most Protestant churches do not. The lesson is to never include anything even vaguely religious in any of your apps, because someone will complain.
Title: Really?
Review Body:
Since when is there a book in the bible called, sirach?
The answer to that question (which I cannot give because there's no way to reply to comments) is since about the year 400. The Catholic Church considers it part of the bible, but apparently most Protestant churches do not. The lesson is to never include anything even vaguely religious in any of your apps, because someone will complain.
Monday, 13 February 2012
Time
It's 2012, and that puts us about 25 years after the start of the golden age of the NES. Classics like Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out all came out around 1986-87.
Metroid takes around an hour to complete if you know what you're doing. Even an average player can finish Punch-Out in around 40 minutes. Heck, if you finish the game, it's not even really possible to take more than about an hour and a half in a single play-through, and a good chunk of that will be spent watching fighter intros. The Legend of Zelda theoretically takes a little longer, but it's still only really a two-hour game.
Back in the olden days, games made up for such short play times by having cheap instant kills and punishing difficulty that wasn't so much fun as it was incredibly frustrating. These days that kind of thing won't fly, so the minimum time you'll get out of a full-length retail game is probably about six hours, with most coming in more like 8-10; and that doesn't include multiplayer. Despite the increase in length and vast improvement in graphics and design, a new game will still cost around $60, just like it did in 1987, so you're getting a lot more bang for your buck. Games for handheld devices may not look quite as nice, but they're the same length and generally less than $40, so they're still a pretty good deal.
When it comes to mobile apps, things are a bit different, though. People seem to want a lot more from the play time:dollar ratio. If an app costs a dollar, then even if it's not quite as pretty as a game for a handheld device (and in some cases, they can be just as good-looking), it should conceivably be able to get away with only about fifteen minutes of gameplay; maybe half an hour. But that's not nearly enough for most people. Most people want hours of enjoyment for a mere 99 cents (and a good chunk of them are only begrudgingly paying that small amount), which means developers either have to include far more content than they normally would, or they have to fall back on that old game design stalwart: repetition. Punch-Out takes 40 minutes instead of 30 because you fight a few of your opponents twice, and Metroid is the king of backtracking; and a lot of apps will have the user do the same thing over and over and over again just to pad out the running time. It's not actually more content, but it seems like it is, and that's what's important.
Basically, what I'm saying is that apps are an excellent use of your entertainment dollar, but people don't seem to realize that, and they always want more.
Metroid takes around an hour to complete if you know what you're doing. Even an average player can finish Punch-Out in around 40 minutes. Heck, if you finish the game, it's not even really possible to take more than about an hour and a half in a single play-through, and a good chunk of that will be spent watching fighter intros. The Legend of Zelda theoretically takes a little longer, but it's still only really a two-hour game.
Back in the olden days, games made up for such short play times by having cheap instant kills and punishing difficulty that wasn't so much fun as it was incredibly frustrating. These days that kind of thing won't fly, so the minimum time you'll get out of a full-length retail game is probably about six hours, with most coming in more like 8-10; and that doesn't include multiplayer. Despite the increase in length and vast improvement in graphics and design, a new game will still cost around $60, just like it did in 1987, so you're getting a lot more bang for your buck. Games for handheld devices may not look quite as nice, but they're the same length and generally less than $40, so they're still a pretty good deal.
When it comes to mobile apps, things are a bit different, though. People seem to want a lot more from the play time:dollar ratio. If an app costs a dollar, then even if it's not quite as pretty as a game for a handheld device (and in some cases, they can be just as good-looking), it should conceivably be able to get away with only about fifteen minutes of gameplay; maybe half an hour. But that's not nearly enough for most people. Most people want hours of enjoyment for a mere 99 cents (and a good chunk of them are only begrudgingly paying that small amount), which means developers either have to include far more content than they normally would, or they have to fall back on that old game design stalwart: repetition. Punch-Out takes 40 minutes instead of 30 because you fight a few of your opponents twice, and Metroid is the king of backtracking; and a lot of apps will have the user do the same thing over and over and over again just to pad out the running time. It's not actually more content, but it seems like it is, and that's what's important.
Basically, what I'm saying is that apps are an excellent use of your entertainment dollar, but people don't seem to realize that, and they always want more.
Sunday, 1 January 2012
Inches and Miles
There's an old saying that says "Give them an inch, and they'll take a mile." Basically, it means that people are greedy and if you give anything, they'll just keep taking and taking. In terms of app development, it goes more like "Give them an inch, and they'll complain that you haven't given them a mile."
For example, I have an app that uses some random images as the background just for colour. It would be reasonably simple for me to give people the ability to snap a picture with the camera on their device and use that as a background. I won't, though. While the vast majority of people would be either happy to have the new feature, or at the very least, indifferent, a small minority would complain that they can't just use any image file on their device as the background. And, unfortunately, that minority is far more likely to rate an app than other people.
As a developer, I need to constantly be aware of people comparing what they have to what they could have. Right now, I have a dozen or so backgrounds, and most everyone seems to compare that to having no background at all, so I come out on top. But, if I let them snap a picture and use that as the background, then suddenly they'd be comparing that to using any photo they want as a background; a comparison which does not favour me.
Sure, some people might wonder if it would be nice to use their own photos as backgrounds anyway, but as long as I'm doing my best not to put that idea in their heads, it'll be a much smaller number than if I gave them the new feature. Essentially, some people are never satisfied, so it's best not to let them know what they don't have.
For example, I have an app that uses some random images as the background just for colour. It would be reasonably simple for me to give people the ability to snap a picture with the camera on their device and use that as a background. I won't, though. While the vast majority of people would be either happy to have the new feature, or at the very least, indifferent, a small minority would complain that they can't just use any image file on their device as the background. And, unfortunately, that minority is far more likely to rate an app than other people.
As a developer, I need to constantly be aware of people comparing what they have to what they could have. Right now, I have a dozen or so backgrounds, and most everyone seems to compare that to having no background at all, so I come out on top. But, if I let them snap a picture and use that as the background, then suddenly they'd be comparing that to using any photo they want as a background; a comparison which does not favour me.
Sure, some people might wonder if it would be nice to use their own photos as backgrounds anyway, but as long as I'm doing my best not to put that idea in their heads, it'll be a much smaller number than if I gave them the new feature. Essentially, some people are never satisfied, so it's best not to let them know what they don't have.
Monday, 26 December 2011
Privacy Policy for BB Apps
Your privacy is important to you, and it's important to me, too. In general, I have no need of or interest in your data. However, to make things more explicit...
I will not, under any circumstances, collect, sell, trade, transmit, or otherwise make use of any personal or identifying information for personal purposes.
In the event that certain information is required for an in-app purchase or other type of purchase on BlackBerry World/BlackBerry App World, such information will only be transmitted in whatever manner is necessary to complete the purchase.
Under some circumstances, certain applications may require access to your device's file system beyond simple storage of application data. In these cases, explicit permission will be requested, and only files related to the application will be read/written.
This policy is subject to change from time to time at my sole discretion. Your continued use of any applications will constitute acceptance of these changes.
I will not, under any circumstances, collect, sell, trade, transmit, or otherwise make use of any personal or identifying information for personal purposes.
In the event that certain information is required for an in-app purchase or other type of purchase on BlackBerry World/BlackBerry App World, such information will only be transmitted in whatever manner is necessary to complete the purchase.
Under some circumstances, certain applications may require access to your device's file system beyond simple storage of application data. In these cases, explicit permission will be requested, and only files related to the application will be read/written.
This policy is subject to change from time to time at my sole discretion. Your continued use of any applications will constitute acceptance of these changes.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Two Kinds of 3D
I am in no way a great artist. Sure, I can cobble something together if necessary, but most of the time I'd prefer to farm my art work out to someone else. However, since artists can be fickle, I've been working on improving my art skills, so that one day I can truly be a one-man design house.
For my latest app, I found it necessary to create some 3D graphics, which was a challenge because I'm not terribly good at creating 2D graphics, so adding an entire extra dimension was quite daunting. Fortunately what I was doing wasn't too complicated, but it still required two entirely different techniques, which is surprising since all I wanted to do was flip two things: a coin, and a playing card.
Flipping a coin and flipping a card actually aren't as similar as one would expect at first glance. Whereas a coin is always either heads or tails, a card has 52 different possibilities, and although it's relatively flat, a coin is a full 3D object and a card is more or less a plane.
The coin took a bit of learning, but was fairly simple. All I had to do was create the appropriate model in Blender, skin it, create a simple rotation animation, and then output the frames. Ultimately, drawing the faces of the coin took longer than creating the animation.
The card was a different matter, though. With 52 possibilities, it would've been far too time-consuming and required too much storage space(although that's a relatively small matter nowadays) to pre-render every card, so I had to make them during run time. Luckily, there are a few tricks available to make things easier.
Since a playing card is roughly rectangular, and fairly thin, it can be treated as a 2D rectangle for rotation purposes, and one way to fake rotation of a rectangle is to simply change its scale in one axis: as it rotates, less and less is visible, so shrinking it in one axis gives the same general effect. But, it still won't look quite right. As a rectangle rotates, one edge gets closer to the viewer, and the other edge gets further away. To simulate that effect, you can subtly skew the rectangle as it 'rotates' so that the 'forward' edge is slightly lower than the 'rear' edge. It took a little tweaking, and a bit of math to make sure the card rotated around its midpoint, but with those two tricks, achieving the desired effect wasn't terribly complex. Generating the appropriate faces was kind of a pain, but once I had that down, it was a simple matter of swapping the back of the card for the front while it was midway through its rotation (and thus scaled down to 0) and then reversing the process.
All in all, I'd say I prefer the Blender method for its simplicity, but using trickery and a little math to flip the card was a lot more satisfying.
For my latest app, I found it necessary to create some 3D graphics, which was a challenge because I'm not terribly good at creating 2D graphics, so adding an entire extra dimension was quite daunting. Fortunately what I was doing wasn't too complicated, but it still required two entirely different techniques, which is surprising since all I wanted to do was flip two things: a coin, and a playing card.
Flipping a coin and flipping a card actually aren't as similar as one would expect at first glance. Whereas a coin is always either heads or tails, a card has 52 different possibilities, and although it's relatively flat, a coin is a full 3D object and a card is more or less a plane.
The coin took a bit of learning, but was fairly simple. All I had to do was create the appropriate model in Blender, skin it, create a simple rotation animation, and then output the frames. Ultimately, drawing the faces of the coin took longer than creating the animation.
The card was a different matter, though. With 52 possibilities, it would've been far too time-consuming and required too much storage space(although that's a relatively small matter nowadays) to pre-render every card, so I had to make them during run time. Luckily, there are a few tricks available to make things easier.
Since a playing card is roughly rectangular, and fairly thin, it can be treated as a 2D rectangle for rotation purposes, and one way to fake rotation of a rectangle is to simply change its scale in one axis: as it rotates, less and less is visible, so shrinking it in one axis gives the same general effect. But, it still won't look quite right. As a rectangle rotates, one edge gets closer to the viewer, and the other edge gets further away. To simulate that effect, you can subtly skew the rectangle as it 'rotates' so that the 'forward' edge is slightly lower than the 'rear' edge. It took a little tweaking, and a bit of math to make sure the card rotated around its midpoint, but with those two tricks, achieving the desired effect wasn't terribly complex. Generating the appropriate faces was kind of a pain, but once I had that down, it was a simple matter of swapping the back of the card for the front while it was midway through its rotation (and thus scaled down to 0) and then reversing the process.
All in all, I'd say I prefer the Blender method for its simplicity, but using trickery and a little math to flip the card was a lot more satisfying.
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