Hello everyone!
I recently got myself an Android phone and decided to dive into development. This app is what I came up with after a few days of work. It's very rough, but it appears to work.
The app lets you browse through a database of other peoples' quizzes and challenge yourself with them. If you get tired of answering trivia questions, you can make your own and upload them for others to try.
Obviously this is nowhere near finished. There are still a bunch of features I have to add (like being able to edit your quizzes once uploaded, heh) and heaps of polishing to be done. In the meantime, I would really appreciate any feedback I can get .
A couple of notes for anyone who's brave enough to give it a whirl: it currently requires Android 2.1+, to be able to upload a quiz you must have registered and/or logged in before going into the create quiz section, and there are no actual quizzes in the database at the time of this post (except for a test one) so whoever goes first, please be creative .
Hi
A bit about me:
I've just started uni to do software engineering and after the first week of "bonding" and stuff, we've been put into groups of 6 to develop an android app and market it. We're students of the Preston campus of the university of central Lancashire aged 18. My group has next to no programming experience, with only me having done anything before although it's mostly been python, I also did some C++.
I've been on XDA for a few years, since I got my first android (a HTC Desire HD, now on a galaxy note) and have mostly been a lurker, not really saying a huge amount because I don't want to get in the way of developers and annoy people, but also because I don't know a huge amount about android, although I have provided some logcats and advice where I knew the answer and could help. I often also use alpha or beta releases as a daily driver as I just text a little and love fiddling with the android operating system.
Our task:
Our first task as a group is to create a android based quiz-type app that will eventually double up as a GPS located treasure hunt app. We have to build this in appinventor as few of us know a programming language and it's a good introduction in how a program is built up and the logic behind it. The app is built up over a few weeks, as we learn how to do different things. It starts as a quiz app with hard coded questions, then we have to develop it into a quiz app that uses a server to get questions and finally into a treasure hunt that uses GPS locations and questions to lead us around the city of Preston to get points.
All throughout the 4 weeks we have to do it, we gain points which transfer into the grade we will get for this module of the course.
The catch:
During these 4 weeks, we have to market our app and our brand, to try "sell" our app and get it out there. As I'm the programmer of the group, mainly building the app, I'm not so involved in this process but I thought I'd ask on here for feedback and to ask you to help us out.
What I'm asking:
So, please will you go follow us on twitter and retweet us, spread the word on facebook about us and our app and (when it finally gets put up) view our "viral" YouTube video.
Go to our website if you want to download our app and have a look, any feedback would be fantastic, thanks. It won't be up for a few days, but if you can please follow us on twitter and facebook for now and when it's uploaded we'll update everyone.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrustrationTeamSkittles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UclanSkittles
Youtube: *Coming Soon*
Website: http://www.teamskittles.co.uk/
Thanks,
Joe
We all want to never forget important things, don’t we? But we are only humans and humans have limited memory. We keep trying out different ways to keep up with staff or to people that are important to us and we still keep forgetting. And it’s only natural.
Not anymore! Namely, this is why we developed MarkO, who can remember everything you ask him to and remind you whenever you want to be reminded. MarkO’s latest version is made to extend your memory, to give you SUPERPOWER, to memorize things that you can’t or you might forget, giving you more time to focus on what is more urgent at the moment. With this intelligent and input free reminder, you can have your peace of mind since you will never forget anything anymore!
The app was first launched in November 2014 and has been progressing real fast ever since, constantly becoming more user friendly and with improved futures. It is available for download as a public beta on the Google Play Store [MarkO - Reminders & Tasks] while its team is working on its iOS and web version, too.
Check it out and tell us what do you think!
Hi XDA!
I am a developer and C.S educator.
Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn the "C.S"
(C.S means computer Science like 'code.org' or 'scrach' program)
As I was teaching, I received various feedback from school teachers, students, parents, and private tutors.
Based on that, I decided to develop and educate myself
As a result I launch app called "Commoncoding Builder"
This app is not limited to education, adults can be availble too !
Are you interested in this app?
plz join it!
******* search for "commoncoding Builder" on google Playstore
Thank you :laugh:
Hi everyone! I’d like to tell you the story about the creation and release of our first game. I will tell you a little about our company’s background and the difficulties that we encountered during the development. I hope our story might be useful to you too.
It all started a few years ago when my brother built up a team of like-minded people who were eager to create, and this was then expressed in the creation of animation and computer graphics for various projects. The team eventually grew, as well as the number of orders from clients. Then there was a point when we decided to create our own game project. Thus, we began a long preparation process. Unfortunately, our existing knowledge base was not enough to start the project. New volunteers joined the team, the learning process started, and the project began to acquire its first outlines. The result was a prototype of Crocks Hunter, a 2D platformer.
The plot of the game was as follows: Crocodile-aliens arrive on Earth to steal the Moon from earthmen. The main characters of the game (a boy or a girl, depending on player’s choice) must go through six different locations (desert, jungle, lava, water world, ice jungle, and fairy forest), and catch — not kill, the game is absolutely violence-free and child-friendly — all the Crocodiles into boxes which are used sometimes for some puzzles, and then defeat the final boss. One of the graphics features of the game is that 3D character models were rendered into 2D to make more complex, natural and fancy animations and to keep the high quality of the overall picture, along with a light-weight installation file.
Initially, the project was planned to be released for mobile platforms, but as the development progressed, it was decided to release it for PC, and then for Nintendo Switch. This was due to several reasons. Firstly, mobile game publishers are into the free2play game model, for which platform games are not quite suitable, although we figured out how to monetize the game, and to draw the player’s interest to micro-transactions. Secondly, in order to enhance the visuals of the game with various effects, we would have to sacrifice the performance. Therefore, it was more interesting to release the game on PC and consoles but at a set price. One of the publishers suggested that we release an update with six levels and two bosses once a month. Thus, it would be possible to retain the player for a long time, but so far we have not tried this model. Although, who knows, maybe you will?
We temporarily froze the Crocks Hunter project but did not abandon it. We are writing new documentation, and designing new levels. We are open to cooperation with investors and publishers to make a global bestseller together.
Currently, we are working without an office, so the whole team works remotely. In order to complete the project and make it at a high level, we would need to gather all the team members in one place, and this requires funding. So we started looking for investors. Many publishers appreciated the great potential of the game but would invest in the project after it being fully fledged and ready for release. As it turned out, Russian investors are afraid of the gaming industry, and they are completely unready to invest in it. Perhaps, this is due to their not understanding the potential and the specifics of the industry. Many foreign investors simply don’t work with Russia. At some point in our search for investors, we were stumped. The team could no longer work on pure enthusiasm. Some team members quit. Some began to slow down the main process, saying that they’d prefer to take orders as before than “work for the fairies and unicorns”. But some determined team members still believed in the project and continued to create it. So this is how the PUSHINGAMES company was created.
Unfortunately, there is no “book for dummies” on how to achieve success from the beginning to end in video games industry. The information you may find on the Internet is very superficial. Therefore, look for according courses, literature, or even better, find some competent mentor who will guide you. Our mentor was a game designer Konstantin Savochkin
One evening, when we were discussing some details, we decided to create a little something to distract ourselves, and came up with the “Quick Week” project. The main goal of which was to create and release one mini-game within a week. It took a couple of days to write game design documents and calculate P & L. Meanwhile, our artists already made the first sketches and prototypes.
We really like the examples of the Nintendo and Marvel universes when the story of one character is woven into the story of another, thereby creating fascinating endless worlds. Maintaining the heritage of the “Crocks Hunter”, we chose the main character to be a crocodile. The result was Jumping Crock: Jellyfish Attack, an arcade retro jumper for mobile platforms, designed in the style of space comic books of the 80’s .
Download link on GooglePlay: Jumping Crock Jellyfish Attack
In total, we spent around $600 to create the game, excluding licenses and developer accounts. We spent most of the budget on localizing the game and its description in 12 languages, including Russian.
To do the translation job, we chose a small but very responsible team — Locnloader a pool of freelance video game translators with 8 years of experience and voice over actors collected in one place. They specialize in indie-games and such small teams as ours, and that affects the price in a good way. For a reasonable price, they did us translations within 2 days. Moreover, they helped us with the ASO description text and edited it to sound a little more adequate, which is sometimes hard when it comes to repeating many same keywords in one small text. What I personally liked is that their team manager had some understanding in game design (and even took a course in it), and a little in ASO. That’s what I call speaking the same language!
We are very proud of the music in our arcade in particular. We love rock! There is 8-bit Space Rock music in the game. It was written by a wonderful musician, composer, and our cousin Yevgeny Protopopov. The music takes you back to the past, especially if you played Battle Toads and Tanks as a child.
Since we created the project with our own money, the payment to our specialists for the work done was extremely symbolic and incommensurable with the level of their professionalism. Therefore we are immensely grateful to our team and believe that without them we wouldn’t succeed.
In order for the project to be successful, it is very important for the team to have a Team Lead, who could drive this train, per aspera ad astra. In our team, that would be my brother Nikita.
Many companies could have achieved well-deserved success, but they never reached it, stopping halfway through. The history of the company with the fruit on the logo is the lodestar for us on how to do things.
Of course, you always want to do something unique and ambitious like Crash Bandicoot. You might want to make the game more complex by adding many different features and mechanics, but it’s better not to do so. Make it easy! The process of creativity absorbs you. You always want to add something else, when almost everything is ready. It’s best to concentrate on the main idea and actually bring it to life, and after the release, just make an update. By making game updates after the release, you maintain players’ interest and make your app appear at the top of the search results in application stores. In the long-term development of your project, it’s very important to take a detached view. Do beta and alpha testing. Of course, this is a bit like parent-teacher nights at school, when they scold your beloved child, and it can be painful, but it will be good for you.
We made our game free-to-play. We were looking for ads SDK for a long time, and we stopped at the companies:
● Appodeal
● AdMod
As the saying goes, “Creativity is great, but sometimes hunger takes over”. The most important thing is to remember who we are doing this for. We believe that a player should stay immersed in the game as long as possible, without being disturbed by ads in the heat of the moment. And of course, you can’t go without them at all. Use all available services of GooglePlay and AppStore, in-app ads, Achievements, and Leaderboards.
After we published our game in stores, the hardest part began — promotion. Promoting the project itself is also very important. You can create a masterpiece, but in order for it to become a bestseller, you got to try your best. How can you do it when there is no budget? To accumulate link mass, you can write articles in the media and various forums. But as practice has shown, there is nothing better than word of mouth. Bloggers, YouTube and streamers are such goodwill ambassadors. Each of them makes game reviews in their particular style. Find the one you like and persuade them to do a review for free. However, you are unlikely to have luck on this one (we haven’t). Russian bloggers ask for two to three times more money than their foreign counterparts, by the way.
Before releasing your game, create your info channels and use cross-references between them. It works! We use:
● Facebook
● Twitter
● Youtube
● Instagram
● Yunoia
● Bridget Loker
● Telegram channels and chats.
Now let’s get to the final part — working with app stores and how we published our game.
Google — everything is quick and easy. The main thing is to make an agreement with your conscience and not to sign Coppa.
AppStore —an application is being checked for a long time. It feels like an eternity. But in fact, it takes a week for them to check it, despite them saying 24 to 48 hours.
Amazon — quick and easy.
AppScater — as soon as you publish on the main stores, you can start invading Greater China. Appscater is there to help you.
So it goes.
P.S.
Once again I want to say thank you to my team. And please, don’t forget to try and play our game
The author of this article and chief marketing officer, one of the brothers, Artem Pushin.
Love your journey from starting to till today. Thanks for your post. :good:
Сongratulations on the release! I would like to read about promotion steps, if you did any, except social networks cross-references..
Love it!