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.
Monday 26 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
Psychic Test
Psychic Test keeps a running tally of just exactly how psychic you are from 0-100%.
Now with three ways to test your psychic abilities:
Pick a card from the standard 52-card deck and see if you get the value, suit, or both correct.
Or, pick a number from 0-9 and see if you can get the number right, or even just whether it's even or odd.
Or, just flip a coin!
This is the app that features not one, but two kinds of 3D graphics. And it's only 0.99! How can you beat that deal?
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.
Friday 9 December 2011
Reviews
I'm going to share with you a review I recently got on BlackBerry App World. It was a 1/2 star review, and it looked a little like this:
how does this work?
there are no instructions. i am at a loss
Now, not having instructions is usually a valid criticism. However, this review was for an app called "Awesome Sudoku" which, as you can imagine, is a sudoku app. I figured that anyone who had any interest in purchasing a sudoku app would already know how sudoku works. Apparently, I was wrong.
The low rating wouldn't bother me if not for the fact that it appears directly on the app's purchase page, and there's no way for me to respond. App developers kinda get hosed when it comes to reviews. With movies, TV, music, and video games, you generally need to have some sort of cachet before people will take your opinion seriously. With apps, pretty much everyone's opinions carry equal weight, regardless of how ill-formed those opinions might be.
There certainly needs to be a way to rate apps so unsuspecting people don't get conned into buying poorly-made crap, but there must be a better way of doing it than what's out there right now. Maybe removing the ability to rate something anonymously, or giving the creators a way to respond would help because, as it is, ten people (or even one person with 10 accounts) can pretty much torpedo an app by giving it low scores the moment it comes out. Competition's not a problem if spending $10 can ensure that no one will ever buy competing apps.
I don't want to seem like I'm whining just because I got a bad review. I've gotten others in the past, and I've learned to live with them. This one just seems completely unjustified to me, and really sticks out as evidence that the current system is broken.
You can check out Awesome Sudoku by clicking below.
how does this work?
there are no instructions. i am at a loss
Now, not having instructions is usually a valid criticism. However, this review was for an app called "Awesome Sudoku" which, as you can imagine, is a sudoku app. I figured that anyone who had any interest in purchasing a sudoku app would already know how sudoku works. Apparently, I was wrong.
The low rating wouldn't bother me if not for the fact that it appears directly on the app's purchase page, and there's no way for me to respond. App developers kinda get hosed when it comes to reviews. With movies, TV, music, and video games, you generally need to have some sort of cachet before people will take your opinion seriously. With apps, pretty much everyone's opinions carry equal weight, regardless of how ill-formed those opinions might be.
There certainly needs to be a way to rate apps so unsuspecting people don't get conned into buying poorly-made crap, but there must be a better way of doing it than what's out there right now. Maybe removing the ability to rate something anonymously, or giving the creators a way to respond would help because, as it is, ten people (or even one person with 10 accounts) can pretty much torpedo an app by giving it low scores the moment it comes out. Competition's not a problem if spending $10 can ensure that no one will ever buy competing apps.
I don't want to seem like I'm whining just because I got a bad review. I've gotten others in the past, and I've learned to live with them. This one just seems completely unjustified to me, and really sticks out as evidence that the current system is broken.
You can check out Awesome Sudoku by clicking below.
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Awesome Sudoku
Awesome Sudoku is the awesomest Sudoku app in the world!
With a near-infinite number of puzzles, it's sure to keep you busy... forever!!!
Three levels of hinting, the ability to place multiple guesses in one box, and automatic saving so you can shut it down and get a snack or take a nap. Awesome Sudoku has it all!
Buy it now, play it forever!!!
Friday 2 December 2011
MASH Deluxe
More features. More functions. More MASH!
Who will you marry? What kind of car will you drive? Where will you live? The answers to these and many more questions can be yours through the magic of Mash Deluxe. It's hours of fun for young and old. Just what will your future hold?
With more than 15 different categories, there are thousands of possible futures awaiting you!
Thursday 1 December 2011
Answer Ball
Is your favourite team going to win the big game?
Does that cute guy or girl at the coffee shop know you're alive?
Will your company get the Fowler Grant?
The answers to these and many more questions are now yours through the magic of the Answer Ball!
Legally distinct from any other question-answering balls, Answer Ball knows the answers to all the universe's most hidden secrets (and any other questions you'd like to ask it), and it'll give them to you without hesitation. You have but to ask.
Just push the button or shake your tablet, and all will become clear.
So, should you buy Answer Ball for your BlackBerry PlayBook?
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Awesome Strobe
Then Awesome Strobe is the right app for you!
Featuring adjustable colours, timing, and optional untz-ing, Awesome Strobe is the awesomest strobe light app out there.
Epilepsy warning: Do not aim at people with epilepsy.
This hasn't been one of my more popular apps, but as far as I know, it's the only one out there that does what it does. There are random flashing lights and flashlights, but Awesome Strobe is fully controllable, and it has sound. What more could you want?
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Awesome Word Search
Awesome Word Search is the awesomest word search app in the world!
Features:
-Over 12,000 words in over 40 different categories including "Things in My Room" and words that "Rhyme with Corey"
-Puzzle sizes from 8x8 to 16x16
-3 modes of play
-Customizable colours and backgrounds
-All the awesomeness your PlayBook can handle
All that for under a buck. How do we do it? Volume.
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