Sometimes the events just seem to blur together. It didn’t feel all that long ago when I suggested to ArenaNet that they should have an RSS feed. Today, I’m monitoring six different Guild Wars related RSS feeds from NCsoft / ArenaNet. From the ArenaNet blog an interesting message hit my computer. It was from David Campbell. It stated, “Make sure to check back with us next week when we explain what we mean when we say Guild Wars 2 is YOUR story!” This is rather interesting to me, as I have one rather large gripe with the sequel – CHOICE! From what I’m reading of the lore, it doesn’t seem like you have a whole lot of freedom. Is ArenaNet actually going to address this issue and restore my enthusiasm in the sequel?
Typing Special Characters on Android and the iPhone
My next game has foreign language in it. I’m currently in the process of adding German and Polish to… my secret project. Yet, it’s a bit frustrating to type special characters. I usually launch Windows Character Map and I try to locate the letters with little hats, dots, accents and slashes. From there, I copy and paste the letters that I need. If this process seems archaic, I was even more bewildered when I wanted to send special characters via text messaging. I wondered if it was even possible. Generally, I have low expectations for mobile device performance. Yet, it was actually much easier to type special characters on Android than it was on my PC.
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ArenaNet's Official Blog Is Live
If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been too enthusiastic about Guild Wars lately. This week, ArenaNet is celebrating the 5 year anniversary celebration for Guild Wars… but I haven’t even logged into the game to check it out. I ran out of patience. Originally, I thought that the sequel would be in beta during the second-half of 2008. As the calendar hit 2010, I became discouraged. Where is it?! WHERE IS THE BETA?! How long does ArenaNet expect players to wait? From what I’ve seen of the sequel, I was wondering if I should simply give up on the sequel. But today, some encouraging words were found on the official ArenaNet blog. Mike O’Brien made the first post.
Back to the Drawing Board
So OK, I’ve created and published four different apps for the iPhone OS… why am I not rich yet?! Ha ha, I expected to have a bit more success by now. But unfortunately, I’m still learning about Apple’s mobile market. After warding off discouraging feelings, I decided to head back to the drawing board. I may not be making a ton of money on the App Store, but I have learned some valuable lessons. I’m impressed with the apps that I’ve made so far, but I’ll have to do a lot better in order to succeed in this ultra-competitive battleground. Developers from all over the world are vying for success. What makes me special?
Photics: Toolbox
The Photics: Toolbox also contains a chalkboard. You can use it just like a real chalkboard. But unlike a traditional chalkboard / blackboard, there’s no dust. Simply move your finger across the screen to draw or write on the chalkboard. You can also use it to play games, like tic-tac-toe.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
There’s also the Photics: Toolbox – Lightbox. It’s late at night and you’re hungry for a snack. But if you turn on the lights, you’ll disturb the other people that are sleeping. The lightbox can help. Simply set your brightness up and turn on the Photics: Toolbox – lightbox. By turning your screen white, you can point your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad towards the ground – illuminating your way.
The lightbox could also be used in a pinch to view slides or negatives, but there’s more to the lightbox than just a white screen. Press the slider icon to bring up the Red, Green, Blue and White controllers. This enables you to change the color of the lightbox. If you see a color that you like, the numerical values are displayed on the buttons.
THERE’S STILL MORE!
With the Photics: Toolbox – Level, you can turn your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a digital protractor. By visualizing the data contained in the accelerometer, you can use the level for all sorts of applications… like straighten a crooked frame or measure the incline of a hill. The degrees are displayed on-screen. For greater precision, the Photics: Toolbox allows you to calibrate the X & Y values of the accelerometer. Once calibrated, the adjustments are saved for the next time you use the device.
THERE’S EVEN MORE!
With the Photics: Toolbox – Tally Counter, you can tick off numbers like you would with a real Tally Counter. Touch the plus button to add one and touch the minus button to subtract one. With five digits displayed on-screen, you can count all the way up to 99,999. If you close the Tally Counter, your number will be stored for later use. The numbers move in a realistic fashion, to simulate an authentic Tally Counter. Once you’re done counting, touch the minus button for five seconds to reset the digits back to zero.
That’s six tools for the price of one. If you were to buy real world versions of these tools, you could spend hundreds of dollars. But that’s not the case with the Photics: Toolbox. It’s not $100… it’s not $50… it’s not $19.95… it’s not even $9.95. No, the Photics: Toolbox is available for only $1.99. That’s six apps for the price of one. The educational value and usefulness of these tools could be immeasurable, but they can be yours for less than the price of a box of cookies. And while I like cookies, the knowledge that can be unlocked by the Photics: Toolbox could easily cover the cost of the app itself.
The Photics: Toolbox reduces clutter by keeping these helpful utilities in one central location. The Photics: Toolbox can also be an excellent educational tool, to teach counting, time-tracking, measurement keeping, drawing and more! So what are you waiting for?!