Why make Memory Blast

ok.. I was bored.

I thought, if I'm gonna kill some time, better do something productive. Hey, few bucks per week is better than sleeping my time away, I'm still hoping 1 day the return will cover my investment.

This one took me more than a month, part time, making games is getting easier.

How my friends like the game this time?

The feedback is pretty positive, with some really good suggestions.

First, a friend complaints the game is too intense, so I lowered the starting speed, then some other friends are getting impatient for the slow pace... then I think, why not give user the option to add cards manually and to be rewarded for being fast? Woala! Time balancer!

After my bro tried the game with his big fat fingers, he strongly recommend the cards need to be bigger.. ok, 2 card sizes, just for him.

Many players seems to be obsessed with the score, suggest the game should keep the top 10 scores instead of 1 best score, but I think what they really want is to compete with others, "take this! my memory is better than yours!"

Hmmm.... shall I add the wifi feature so they can play with each other head on? let me see how well it sells, there might be version 2, good luck to myself.

Memory Blast

Play the classic memory match game with a twist!

Memory Blast is a different memory game with interesting gadgets, which will make you stay focus from beginning until the end.

How to play:

Select a card by tapping on the screen. When you match 2 or more cards of the same pattern, tap the cards again to make them disappear. The more cards you eliminate, the higher the score.

iPhone (or ipod) puts cards in the play area while you remove them. The pace and number of pattern increases as you advance to the next level.

Keep playing as long as you can. Game over when the play area is full.

Memory Blast

Memory Blast Lite

Why buy full version:

Waiting impatiently for next card to pop up? or prefer to play in more relax mode?

Wish have more control over timing? Find cards too small for you? you may enjoy the full version.

Full version contains the additional features:

• Card bombs. A bomb is rewarded when you eliminate 5 or more cards. Tap the bomb to clear all cards of the same pattern in the play area.
• Time balancer. Add cards manually. The time saved can be accumulated for later use.
• Play with 3 difficulty/speed levels.
• More colorful themes to choose from.
• 2 card sizes available.
• Turn sound on/off.

iPhone App Development -- where to start?

A little background,

I have never used Mac before this. I'm a Java developer who know nothing about Objective C.

In my career, I have picked up many technologies by my own, java, sql, C#, javascript, css, python, jquery, hibernate, spring... you name it. My point is, learning a new technology is not something I haven't done before.

Here is my learning experience...

iPhone Dev 1.2.3:

• Buy the hardware
• Learn Objective C.
• Get use to Xcode.

Hardware

• Mac
• Test device (iPod Touch or iPhone)

Yes, you must use Mac. You can't install Mac OS on PC, even if you hack it, what you develop would be illegal.

You also need a test device. The development kit contains a simulator, but it doesn't guarantee your app will run the same on iPhone/iPod Touch.

Objective C

Objective C is the programming language. If you come from C/C++ background, it might be easier for you. For someone used to java/C#, memory management is always a pain.

Frankly speaking, picking up Objective C and iPhone SDK is not hard (I had worse), you just need to overcome the document hell first.

Apple's documentation is baaaaaa...................aaad! In my opinion, it's probably one of the worst I have ever seen.

After reading documents recommended, I still find it hard to start with. You can't always get a clear answer from documents, many info are missing, blur, lack of explanations and warnings. Now I only use the API as references, if I run into a problem or want to perform a task, I rather go to iPhone dev community.

Besides, every time you think "thank god I almost finish this document!", it suggests you to read some other document for details. This is extremely frustrating! Feels like you are burning in the study hell for eternality.

Xcode

Xcode is the IDE. Is it good? It's not bad......... if you get to know it (again).

I have used several IDE before, Eclipse, Netbean, Visual Studio.... most of them are self explanatory --- you may not know all the functions, but most people can do basic functions without reading the manual.

Xcode is a different story. The UI is very confusing, especially interface builder. By looking at it, I couldn't figure out how to link a button to its handler, I don't know what it means by adding a Controller to xib.... yes, you can't skip it, you must read the manual.

It got many cool tools though, which makes development easy, but again, only after you get familiar with it.

Licensing

After you bought the hardware, learned objective C, get used to Xcode, and stumble through your first app, there is one final challenge----- licensing.

What a pain in the a...... !!

There are so many hoops to jump through it took me a week! Request this, download that, setup teams, fill in forms, build with different licenses.... you did one step wrong, the whole thing is gonna fail..... it's totally frustrating!!!!!!

Maybe it's just me, I reckon set up the right license is much harder than development process itself.

In Summary

There is a big learning curve, once you stumble through your first app, the second app is easy.

So, is it worth it?

I bought a MacBook, a iPod Touch, a license.

A year of my holidays and weekends are gone.

Look at the money I have made (to give you a rough idea, if I use the money on dog food, my small size dog would starve to death), what do you think?

Besides, Objective C is not that popular in the job market (at least not now, not where I live). Regarding to my investment return, I rather learn how to whistle.

Can I make money by creating iPhone Apps?

Unfortunately I didn't ask myself the question a year ago.

With all the successful stories, I was so naive I believed once I submit my app, money will keep on flooding in.

I'm not saying you can't create a hit, but if you think you can create any app and just sit there to collect your share, think again.

iTunes never made the number of downloads public, nor most of the developers. Many new developers join the program with the $750k in 3 weeks and "I am rich" legend in their mind.

Here I'm telling you, WAKE UP, THE TIME IS GONE!

Today there are almost 100,000 apps in App Store, most apps are making nothing... well, almost nothing... the pay is so shabby, if you see that sort of money on street, you may not even bend over to pick it up. I probably can make better money by singing carol on street.

Here is my own experience:

When iphone landed on China last Oct, I released my first few Book apps (in Chinese), the "Funny Couplets" soon hits the top 50 Books in China, I was so excited I've all the future plans ready overnight.

7 days later, the sales report was out, 1 copy sold in China.

Yes, 1 copy!

I couldn't believe my eyes, it was on the top 50 for god's sake!

I got another similar app "Funny Poems", it's only 1/6 in size so it's free, it's has been doing very well since, but it gives me no joy. (yeah, 10000 downloads is not hard, as long it's free)

So I moved to games, people keep on saying that's where the money lays.

Soon I released Golden Pyramid in 6 language. (special thanks to my friends, they are now jumpy when they hear me say: I need a translator... again)

The result? sold 2 copies in first week, then forever buried in the mountain of apps.

MR. EDISON was once asked to give a definition of genius, he replied: 2% is genius and 98% is hard work. A friend once said something similar about software: 2% is good programming, 98% is marketing.

What's marketing? I'm a programmer, I know nothing about marketing! The best I can do is to create a lite version of everything. I did that, and I haven't seen any sales figure since -- The sales report only displayed the top 50 downloads from different countries, my report is 100% occupied by free downloads, and the financial report will not be available for another month.

Will I ever get my investment back? I doubt it.

Will the new iPad help the sells? I can only hope.

So my advice is, if you have a great idea, and confident it can make to the top-whatever chart (most importantly, a popular genre), then go for it. But remember, most of the 100,000 apps didn't make it.

Otherwise, forget the money, do it for fun.

Important Annoucement

Important Announcement:

I must apologize to whom download Connect3 Color and Connect4 Plus between 1st - 5th Jan .

The description in App Store lists Color Eraser and Universal Balls, which is not available in v1.0.

The story is, when I submit v2.0 to App Store (with Color Eraser and Universal Balls features), I was confused by its submitting system. I falsely believed the description I put in for the updates will only be displayed when updates are available, which apparently is not the case.

You would see the advertised features when you upgrade to v2.0.

Sorry about the confusion. enjoy the game!

Connect4 Support

Connect4 Plus is a game package of classic 4-in-row game + a bonus game Connect3.

Tap on screen or drag orbs to put the orbs into play area.
In Classic Connect4, You win when 4 consecutive orbs with the same color line up.
In Bonus Connect3 Color, any 3 consecutive orbs are eliminated from the play area. You can tap on orbs to change order. The game is over when the play area fills up.

	Connect4 Plus	Connect4 Lite	Connect3 Color	Connect3 Color Lite
Classic 4 in row Hard Medium Easy	all 3 levels	Medium only	nil	nil
Connect3 Color color range universal ball color eraser	8 colors, universal ball, color eraser	nil	8 colors, universal ball, color eraser	5 colors

Important Announcement:

I must apologize to whom download Connect3 Color and Connect4 Plus between 1st - 5th of Jan.

The description in App Store lists Color Eraser and Universal Balls, which is not available in v1.0.

The story is, when I submit v2.0 to App Store (with Color Eraser and Universal Balls features), I was confused by its submitting system. I falsely believed the description I put in for the updates will only be displayed when updates are available, which apparently is not the case.

You would see the advertised features when you upgrade to v2.0.

Sorry about the confusion. enjoy the game!

Golden Pyramid Support

Golden Pyramid is a strategy game like Tic Tac Toe and Connect 5 (aka Gomoku).

The rules are simple:

Take turns to swipe across the golden orbs to eliminate them.
In one turn, you can eliminate up to 5 orbs in a continuous row.
The player who eliminates the last orb loses.

You can choose to play solo (3 difficulty levels) or play against a friend.
To win the game, you'll have to think ahead of your opponent. This is a real fun brain teaser.

See Golden Pyramid in AppStore

3 difficulty levels

See Golden Pyramid Lite in AppStore

medium level only