Sneak Peek to Daylight

promo_phone1DaylightSo was working on a location based & aware App. The coding went good somedays and bad on other days. But guess that’s the life of an App Developer. You miss one line of code and everything literally breaks down.

NSLog is my new best friend a real life saver when it comes to  error checking and application progress checker.

The other thing that’s weird for a non Developer, after weeks, months or more time coding something….you have to spent another additional time to think of ways that a user can break the App. Start the App and refusing to give location permission. Let the App run and put it in background, turn of internet access. Change time settings and other things. Really why… would someone do this. So any way I think Daylight is pretty robust now after all the error checking that I’ve done. It’s a good thing in the end I guess.

So what can I tell about Daylight? The name “Daylight” was taken in the AppStore… by the movie Daylight itself (which was kinda boring in my opinion. Vampires yeah!! Future & Vampires…bweehhh big no on that). So in the AppStore Daylight is submitted as –> Daylight Timer

And that name gives a lot away, doesn’t? Yep it tracks the daylight. More about it in a couple of days when it’s approved…or maybe not. Rejection still always a possibility.

Rules

Guess I’ve been away for a long long time. What can I say… I’m not really a blogger. Just updated 3 Apps on the site, not new apps but old ones that are already out on the AppStore but didn’t had an entry on the site. Hmm….bad. So site not really up to date then 🙁

All that I can say MysteryFiles.nl is run by a one man team. I can’t do everything at once can I. Anyway currently I’ve some free time so hence these blog updates etc.

So what’s on my mind? Just uploaded a new app and now… a week nothing and waiting for approval. App approval is still long as ever…or one week…is reasonable in a way considering all the updates and new apps that Apple has to review and check.

But still sometimes really annoying. For example a couple of weeks ago I updated QuickFlip with gestures and IAP (do have to make money somewhere :|). After a week the App was live. Good…but when I checked the IAP. That wasn’t, this due to some weird error while the App was submitted the IAP wasn’t apparently. So had to submit another version of QuickFlip just for the IAP. A week later IAP rejected…WTF… turns out. A rule being “non consumables” needed a restore button. Oh dear…..resubmit again for just one button.

So the lesson I learned from this: rules are rules.AppStore rules are RULES to be followed otherwise a big red rejection sign.

rejection

QuickFlip

Icon-144QuickFlip is a simple and easy to use photo editing App with just one function: to reorient a photo.

This can be done with a simple gesture.

Swipe left or right and the photo will be mirrored.

Swipe up or down and the photo will be flipped.

Rotating the photo is also possible with the rotate button at the bottom of the screen.

Quick and simple. Nothing more and nothing less of course 🙂

Best of all it’s a free app.

AppStore Link

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Description text in the AppStore

QuickFlip is a photo editing app which allows you to flip or mirror an image with a simple finger swipe.
Press rotate if needed and hit the save button That’s all to it.
Simple and easy.

new_promo_iphone1new_promo_iphone2

 

Diablo 3 two weeks after release

So I’ve been playing Diablo 3 for two weeks now. The result so far I’ve got an level 60 Demon Hunter called Buffy. Hell yeah I do. If she’s not a vampire slayer, then she’s a demon hunter 😉

Currently I’m in the first act of inferno and pffff the elites are hard. especially the invulnerable minions with fast movement coupled with arcane, jail or frozen orb. Still can’t beat them or out run them. Sigh grinding for better gear. Farming for gold and go to the AH to look for some cheap and affordable stuff. Still can’t and won’t pay over a million gold pieces for a single item. Prices are indeed sky high.

So far I have changed some of my playing tactics by switching some skills. My first setup was to use strafe with drifting shadow for running away from enemies while placing caltrops with jagged spikes. I say running but it isn’t really running because I’m still fighting and doing damage this way. My main form of attack was hungering arrow with scatter. Really like seeing the arrow split in three and going back to the enemy. What homing missiles? As a secondary rapid fire with high velocity. And at last evasive fire with displacement if the enemy got to close and shadow power with gloom for life and defense. This was good in nightmare and hell. In a way but in the later levels of hell and especially inferno. It’s not fast and mobile enough. After some careful thinking and experimenting with the skill setup. Thank you Blizzard for this. Back in the Diablo 2 time, you have to start all over again :S

People keeps saying with out smoke screen inferno is impossible. Ehmm to be honest I’ve never really used smoke screen before. And after hearing that it has been nerved. I thought why? Then I saw some video’s….ahh I understand. In a way constant being invulnerable that’s good but cheesy isn’t it? Plus not really my style and in a way it does feel boring. The hit and run tactics is more my way and it feels engaging. You have to be alert all the time and no slaking off. Pressing some buttons and yawning.

In my new skill setup hungering arrow with scatter and caltrops with jagged spike remains. Those two I really like. While exploring a new area shoot a hungering arrow ahead and seeing it automatically going to the nearest enemy. That’s fun and also cool. The caltrops is for defense and attack. Certain enemies and targets remain immobile place a caltrop next to it and it will do constant damage to it. Like before the skeleton king, you have to do the four pilar thing with lots of skeletons. Placed for caltrops at the pillars. stand back and fire some hungering arrows while using rapid fire and the skeletons. I completely ignore the pillars because thanks to the caltrops they got destroyed. In later levels when fighting elites use bombs running away not a good way to survive. Instead do the opposite strafe to the enemy until your face to face. Put down a lot of caltrops to slow them and also doing damage to them. Fire you attack skills for life steal. That’s my way to deal with them. And it really works. The catch is you have to withstand a blow or two. So these two skill a must for me (hungering arrow and caltrops). In the new setup I’ve picked elemental arrow with nether tentacles. In the early levels I used ball lightning and really cool to deal with packs of enemies. This is a cooler version with life regeneration. By choosing the nether tentacles, I dropped the shadow power with gloom. Don’t need the life steal effect for this. But for some tricky boss fight the life steal and added defense of gloom is a must… so my spare change of skill by choice then.

Next up  a second secondary skill impale with over penetration. Discovered I needed a hard hitting skill and with 250% weapon damage this is the skill of choice and it’s s good crowed control when the enemies line up for you in narrow passages. By choosing impale, I dropped rapid fire with high velocity. Used this for the same effect. Impale works faster and doing more damage. When it hits. Not saying it’s better then rapid fire. You fire less often and if you’ve got certain effect bonuses as slow, bleed, chill, knock back or other effect on hitting enemies. Using rapid fire is the way to go. More arrows means more changes those effect will be triggered.

Another skill that I’m keeping is evasive fire with displace. Not doing this for the weapon damage but for survival. This skill is on my primary mouse button. Click on the primary button and character will move to where you want to go and if there is an enemy evasive fire is triggered. The good part now if the enemy is to close you will backflip to a save distance. From there do your worst with elemental arrow and impale.

My last skill is vault with tumble, this is really a lifesaver. It increases your survivability and your movement speed. Plus is gives you more control over your movement then evasive fire. You know the elites with the wall ability? With vault you’re no longer trapped by them. With two times vault and you’re out of harms way. Oh vault why didn’t I discover you earlier?

As for passive steady aim and sharp shooter for focusing on more damage. Brooding for life. Which fits well in the hit and run tactic.  You run and vault to a save place while recovering your health and sharp shooter increases the critical hit chance on the next attack for damage. And in the meantime put some caltrops down to slow the enemy while dealing damage. Your running, but it doesn’t mean you stop fighting!!!! So fire some nether tentacles and hungering arrows back to your foe.

 

 

Diablo 3 & paying for digital content

Like a lot of people I saw that wonderful 3003 error when trying to access the Diablo 3 Beta on friday (20th april). I tried for hours… a real stress test indeed.

Any how on saturday I did got access and how wonderful it was. First played the Witch Hunter. Which was cool, a real improvement from the rogue and amazon. Which of course I also had played from previous Diablo and Diablo 2. The bummer is a level cap at 13. Really wanted to see the more advance skills. I got the taste and wanted more…but not able until may 15th. Sigh. It’s like fishing you put out some bait and get them hooked before you wheel them in. So needless to say I preordered it. I wanted to wait first but I guess I gave in to the temptation. I foresee a future nights playing Diablo 3.

So the question that wondered into my mind is can you make a living out of playing the game? The in game auction house does seem intriguing. Auctioning your loot for real money. So my first aim and goal is to earn back the 60 euro I paid for the pre-order. Price wise it’s ok for a game like it, but for a digital version….it does seem and feel high. Doesn’t it?

Downloading the game now…

112 Meldingen

112 Meldingen is a Dutch app, focussed on 911 calls in the Netherlands. Which is why I’ll switch to dutch in this entry.

112 Meldingen is mijn eerste App dat ik specifiek heb ontworpen voor de Nederlandse markt. Hoe ik op het idee kwam? Ik liep op straat en een brandweer wagen reed voorbij met sirene aan. Dus als ieder ander persoon komt de vraag binnen: waar gaat ie naartoe? Zo simpel is het. Als voor het antwoord zelf… dat is iets moeilijker. Want wat kan je eigenlijk doen om daar achter te komen? A/ er achter na gaan. Logisch toch of niet? Maar als je te voet bent of eigenlijk de tijd ervoor niet hebt. B/ zoek het op met je iPhone. Met bepaalde google zoektermen, online p2000 meldingen sites of twitter kom je daar dan uiteindelijk achter.

Met de 112 meldingen app gaat dit dus veel sneller. Haal je iPhone te voorschijn en start de 112 Meldingen App, ga naar meldingen en zie het resultaat. Wat ik er nog wel erbij wil zeggen is dat dit helaas niet “instant access” is. Je moet helaas wel wachten totdat de melding is verwerkt en beschikbaar is voor de 112 meldingen app. Hoelang dit duurt is afhankelijk van de drukte op het systeem en het aantal 112 meldingen dat binnen komt.

Functie 2 of meer functie 1 van de 112 meldingen app is om 112 te bellen. Start het app en druk op de grote ronde knop “bel nu”. Dat is dan alles. Voor minder dringende gevallen zijn er andere alarm nummers beschikbaar. Kies de gewenste optie en druk op een knop, dat is dan letterlijk alles wat je hoef te doen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

info beschrijving App Store:

Met de “112 Meldingen” App kunt u direct 112 bellen met een druk van een knop.
En voor de niet levensgevaarlijke situaties kunt met de “112 Meldingen” App ook specifiek die instellingen bellen die u nodig hebt. Denk hierbij aan de regio brandweer als uw kat vast zit in de boom of de dieren ambulance als er iets anders aan de hand is.

Een ander optie van de “112 Meldingen” App is dat het 112 meldingen laat zien in uw omgeving. Nieuwsgierig waar de brandweer vanochtend naartoe ging? Of waar die sirene’s van gisteravond voor waren? Geen probleem. Afhankelijk van de regio/provincie is dit snel op te zoeken.

De meldingen in de “112 Meldingen” App zijn afkomstig van het P2000 systeem die de eerste hulp gebruikt (brandweer, ambulance en politie). U zult hierbij vaak afkortingen en termen tegen komen die een leek niet snel zal begrijpen. Ook hier biedt de “112 Meldingen” App een antwoord door u te voorzien van een handig digitaal woordenboek op uw iPhone.

mocht u vragen of suggesties hebben, stuur ze gerust naar:
support @ mysteryfiles.nl

Days Till My Birthday

With this App I learned more about the local notification system workings in iOS, which is pretty cool. And just as Steve would say: it just works.

With this in mind the whole App is designed for easy use and just one general purpose: showing the days till your birthday. Without the notification and pre iOS 4, way before backgrounding. This App would just only work when you open it. But now it works even when it’s not active. The counter just goes on. Day after day, until your birthday of course. Then it resets. Pretty amazing right. Open the App, enter your birthday and you don’t have to think about it again. Every you see the App icon with the badge number you’ll know the current days count until your birthday.

The design of the App itself is straight forward: a counter which counts the day, hour, minutes and seconds until your birthday. I used clipboard images. The only problem is that I couldn’t get the flip animation working the way I want. So no real flipping effects when the time counter runs. Just changing numbers. Next update then.

Then the biggest part of design is the icon. This is in my opinion the hardest. It should be simple and also clear in its meaning. With no distractions. I first put the whole title in the icon itself. Which made reading it hard, deepening on the font and letter size I picked. And then there is the App Title below the icon itself. Which I couldn’t ignore. I couldn’t delete it….so make use of it. The result I could use bigger letters with fewer words. On the iPhone screen it’s fine and readable. About the birthday cakes that’s hardly visible on an iPhone 3GS or 3G but on an iPhone 4 or 4S with retina display, it’s ok. On the AppStore itself, the cakes are clear and visible. And this way it’s better than just two words in the icon and some empty space above it. This is of course for the number badge icon. On the App icon I also put a small round red template with # in it. So visually let people know something with numbers is going to be here. The “#” sign is the general sign for number right?

So this is it then. Or not have to say something in the line of: oh there is one more thing! When your birthday comes the “Days Till My Birthday” will sing “Happy Birthday” to you. And that’s amazing right?

Description in AppStore:

Days Till My Birthday App keeps track of the number of days till your birthday.

When you open the app you’ll see a counter that keeps track of the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until your birthday.

On your home screen you’ll see the number of days in the App Badge Icon.

for more information & suggestion:
support @ mysteryfiles.nl

ps. when the days comes this app will even sing “Happy Birthday” to you.

5 October 2011

It was a sad day for me and for everyone who has a feeling towards Apple and the person who represent Apple to the core, Steve Jobs.

Where was I when I heard the news? Where were you? I was in bed, sleeping. And then I woke up due to a certain buzzing sound. Yes I hate mosquito’s. At 2AM or something in the morning. Certainly not pleasant. So turned on the light to do some hunting, but couldn’t find it. So after sometimes I just sat there on my bed. I was tired, but couldn’t sleep. Or somehow, something bothered me. It was like a small voice in the back of my mind telling me that something has happened.

What I did then was sigh deeply. I thought okay I’ll reed something before I try to go to sleep again. Opened the Reeder App on my iPad for some RSS feeds and there was something about Steve Jobs. A link to an old video about him. Then another feed with some other video’s of him. Then another one… hmm… this…  don’t know how to put my finger on it. Then the dreaded feed with the announcement. NO…… I couldn’t believe it. I can’t be true. It has to be some media buzz thing. But unfortunately… I was wrong. Apple putting an statement on there site. Tim Cook’s email statement. President Obama’s statement. And a lot more evidence pointing to the same conclusion. The coin dropped in my head. I was wide awake. I can’t sleep now. It was around 3 or 4 AM in the morning 6 October. Time difference between Europe on the States. So it really just happened. I’ll remember this as 6 October in the morning. A sad day…

note about: Been There, Done That

So I just got a mail from Apple saying my app: Been There, Done That has been approved and is ready for sale. I’m happy and excited to see how it will do in the AppStore. It’s one of my biggest app with a lot of time investment. So naturally I’m hoping for a good reception.

And what is this Been There, Done That App about? It’s a travel App that lets you keep score of where you have traveled to (with free choice of the user, developed this way before the location gate). What country you have visited. It displays this in formation in a map, so you can see it with a quick glance.
Beside this it also offers you easy access to information about your travel destination.
And then there is there it the Game Center support to keep track of your travel achievements. Compare with your friends or learn what they have done in travel achievements.
Then there was of course the flag game (which is fun and also informative). My real first game. Although a simple one, but still a game. This kinda took a while to complete. Not as much time as the other features of the app but still it took some time. With a lot of crashes and rewrites of the general frame work. So I’m proud that it’s up and running.
So for the person reading this. What are you waiting for go and download it. Try it out. It’s free!

* update 1 *

So developing is never finished. Just after the app went life I tried to install the app on my iPhone 4, but it kept crashing. And I didn’t know why. Stupid thing was that app runs perfect on my iPhone 3GS (running the latest iOS). Then after some debugging and digging it turns out that iAds was causing some issues on iOS 4.1 (which my iPhone 4 was running on). Update for the fix was made and submitted the next day. So my fastest update ever for an app. But that’s not all currently working on new options, which hopefully will be ready in a week or so. That’s after Apple approves the update fix.