DeveloperNewsletter #005
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Games have been around since mankind began recording history. Looking throughout the eras we can see the evolution of games from the ancient Egyptian game of Senet, to the widely recognised Chess and now to the technological age where we can carry hundreds of games in our pocket. |
Assessing the changes in gaming over time, one can arrive at an appreciation for this area of mankind’s genius, one which is often overlooked. If you are ever at a loss for inspiration or motivation when building your applications; it may be worth while taking a stroll through the history books of gaming or even your own time line of creations, and you may just stumble across the idea that will transform into the next Angry Birds.
Speaking of change, you may have noticed the App Developers Group’s new website appearance and title. After many hours of deliberation, cups of tea and wrestling with hundreds of options, we are proud to present Baxspace.com! This shining new site allows for easy navigation and browsing of the many apps and games we have advertised on the site. You’ll be able to read the story of the new site below.
Change has become a part of our daily lives and in the special moments when we look back and realise how far we’ve come, we can only imagine what awaits us in the future.
‘Til another eight phases of the moon,
Adam Hodgson
On Saturday, the 17th of March 2012, at approximately 2000 hours GMT, the transition from the old ADG site to the new Baxspace site began. After five intense hours behind the keyboards in four countries, Baxspace.com became fully operational. Sporting a brand new colour scheme and flashing background the website provides an enhanced experience for all of those who visit. The movement to the new site was sparked when the admin team decided that it was time for a new domain name, one that was simple and friendly. Following this was a chain of events which involved deciding on a new template, customizing the look and feel and finally applying it to the website. We hope you enjoy the new site as much as we do.
More App Stores
As developers, naturally you will want maximum exposure and availability for your apps. Thanks to tools like App Game Kit which allow for multi-platform development, we can now create games and apps for a variety of devices and operating systems. Once you have finetuned and polished your app, where do you send it? There are, of course, the mainstream app stores such as iTunes and Google Play but a few gems also exist to assist in app awareness and revenue.
WildTangent, powered by HP, provides opportunities for apps made for Windows, Android and Adobe Flash. There are plans to add more categories and platforms such as HTML5 and Silverlight. Publishing to WildTangent opens your app up to thousands of HP device owners around the world!
Developing applications and games for Windows? Then perhaps you should consider Avenue Apps. This online app store focuses on applications built for the Windows OS.
Call for Beta Testers
Feel like trialling a new game and supporting a fellow developer? Then keep an eye on our Beta Testing board. Do not underestimate the fantastic ideas and concepts that you can stumble across on such a venture. Developers are often in need of beta testers and the feeling of helping a project reach the finish line is one that can be enjoyed with great satisfaction.
Remote Device Access for Intel AppUp Developers
There is nothing like testing your latest creation on hardware right in front of you, however, not all of us are fortunate enough to own all of the devices on which we would like to see our apps come to life. Intel has a solution to this problem, remote device access. Those who wish to publish on the AppUp store but lack the hardware to test their apps can now remotely connect to, and run apps on netbooks and ultrabooks. This can be a cost efficient way of testing your apps but you’ll need to book ahead as time slots fill up.
Apple Developer News
With games, it can be very easy to end up with a large package size due to the amount of media. Those wonderful background and detailed animations come at the expense of needing a larger amount of storage. This can make downloading apps on the go for potential customers difficult and so Apple has recently increase the WiFi download requirement fro 20mb to 50mb. This now allows people to download apps up to 50mb via their cellular data plan.
Blackberry 10 Prototype Giveaway
There has been a crazed rush recently for developers who heard the news that Blackberry was giving developers a chance to score a free playbook. A few of these lucky developers are sitting back with a cup of tea and their new toy in hand. However, the news doesn’t stop here. Research in Motion (RIM) have revealed plans to give away around 2,000 devices running the new Blackberry 10 software in order give developers a head start on creating apps for the new software. The prototypes will be issued out in May at the BlackBerry Jam conference in Orlando, Fla. Learn more here.
Featured Games
Tipple Topple by Steve Vink
Hold your Blackberry Playbook like a tray as you deliver drinks to your customers in order to achieve the highest tips as possible! Available on the Blackberry App World Store.
Strange and Dangerous Christmas Night by Jordi Ramon
Defend your Christmas presents from the quick, slick hands of thieves! Available on the Intel AppUp Store.
Jokes - By Chris Van Wijmeersch
A guy is sitting at home when he hears a knock at the door. He opens the door and sees a snail on the porch. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can.
Three years later, there is a knock on the door. He opens it and sees the same snail. The snail says, "What was that all about?"
Developer Question
What major advancements in technology do you expect to see over time? We have seen computers advance from loud machines that filled up entire rooms to silent devices which fit inside our pockets. What changes could possibly take place over the next couple of decades? Share your thoughts here.
Last month’s developer question
Where they exist, are app validation rules too strict and/or expensive?
Responses
“I think the issues of validation and code signing are separate. I tend to think that the validation rules of an app store are really their choice and I don't resent those. In some ways, I like validation because it's a free professional beta test of your app which I would want done anyway before it is published. When you publish to the Android Market, you certainly feel the pressure because you know that no one will check it for you - you have to have got it right. Validation provides a sanity check and improves reliability which reflects well on you as the developer as well as on the app store and is therefore a win-win situation.
However to my mind, this is very different to code signing, that has caused me nothing but pain. And I'm still not really clear what it proves? I mean, say I were to integrate some keylogger in to an app that I published through AppUp, it would be no more difficult for me to sign the malicious msi than it is for me to sign my current msi.”
“Certificates are proof of nothing and just another way for the big companies to make more money. I could easily have faked ALL of the information I gave to Comodo and written a nasty bit of code in DBPro that deletes everything on your hard drive systematically or creates a huge stack overflow to crash your computer.”
