Here is a 2nd preview of the new Airport Level coming soon to Train Sim. Layout is mostly done, going to start testing tomorrow.
Tag Archives: iOS
Jigsaw Puzzle X
I am very excited to announce my newest game Jigsaw Puzzle X! Featuring jigsaw puzzles with 100, 300 and even 500 pieces; featuring beautifull high definition images that were hand picked from the best photographers and artist available. Pick difficulty options such as number of puzzle pieces or rotating or non rotating pieces. Best of all its completely free, no need to purchase any of the puzzles as they are all included in the game free of charge.
Get it today for Android, with the iOS port coming soon!
Flight Sim Major Update
For a while I have been unhappy with the quality of the environments in Flight Sim compared to other flight simulators available for the mobile platforms. Many of my competitors used real arial photos to build their terrains. Even though Flight Sim offered 20 free airplanes while my competitors offered only 1-2 free airplanes (with others costing $2-$3 each), Flight Sim was failing to capture market share. I believed that the quality of the terrains (and some other bugs) was the major reason for the poor reviews that Flight Sim was getting. So over the last few months I have been working on a major update to Flight Sim, more of a redesign that improved the quality & realism of the environments available in the game.
Prior to posting any preview videos on my progress I had to first figure out how to use real arial shots of terrains in a game, without crashing the average phone. That process took a month on its own with many failed experiments and wasted hours.
However at the end I was able to create a fairly realist environment that will work on the majority of mobile devices. Since July 18th I have been posting these preview videos on Youtube documenting my progress.
Today I am happy to announce that Flight Sim for Android is now live! The iPhone/iPad version has already been submitted to the store and should be live within a few days.
As always I look forward to your comments and suggestions. Feel free to post them on my Twitter or Facebook Page.
Train Sim Update Live
Train Sim update is now live across all platforms. These include: Android, iOS, Amazon, Mac Store, Windows Store. You can now play this newest version of Train Sim, any time on any device. No Limits!
This was a large update that took me almost 2 months to complete. The work completed includes:
- Complete rewrite of the Ports of Call Scene
- Improved Rain Effect (rain drips down windows)
- Working Windshield Wipers on all trains
- Longer Trains
- Higher Resolution Textures for several Trains
- Many Bug Fixes
I would like to thank all of my Facebook and Twitter fans for all your great suggestions and encouragement while I was working on this release. I hope that you all like it.
Happy Rails!
Train Sim – Another Awesome Update
I am happy to report that Train Sim has received another awesome update. This time I focused on updating one of the existing older scenes.
I started by asking my twitter account, Which Scene I should focus on updating. The Farm Land scene was a clear winner. (I think I will be doing more of that in the future)
Initially I focused on making a larger more interesting track layout. In the old scene the track was arranged in a circle, and I received allot of complaints about that from users. As you will see from the top view of the track, the layout is much more interesting then before.
I also wanted to add some new assets to the scene, These included:
- Improved Track Textures
- Improved Horse Model
- New Cow Models
- New Large Grain Elevator/Silos
- New Farm Textures
- Improved Water Effects
However I wanted the scene to seem familiar as well, so allot of the old farm textures & small towns found in the old levels are still present in this new scene.
On top of the improved Farm Land scene I also added a new GE AC4400CW train with custom freight cars to go with it. This brings the total number of trains available in Train Sim to 47!
This new awesome new update is already available on Android & Amazon. And it is pending review in the Windows Store. I am still working on updating Train Sim on iOS.
Kids Car Racers
Train Sim New Trains and Menu
Although I had the Acela Express model ready for a while, I did not get a chance to ad it to Train Sim in the last update . Adding the Indian Scene was already a huge story and I wanted to make sure I limit the amount of changes in a single release.
So over the last 2 weeks I focused on adding the Acela Express & the Southern Pacific 4449. to Train Sim. I think you will agree that the quality of these Trains is really awesome!
I also spend some time improving the Main Menu for Train Sim. The important change here is that the scenes are now represented by text and picture, making it far more kid friendly. (This has been on my backlog for a long time.)
These changes are now live on Android & Amazon, and waiting for review on iOS. I should have the Windows Store & Phone version live within the next week or two.
Tasks the Indie Way
There are many frameworks for managing tasks for large teams, such as Kanban, Agile & Scrum and there are excellent tools managing these frameworks. However these tools can be overkill for developers like me, working alone.
In theory you don’t need allot, after all how much does a single developer need to remember. For a while I simply used a word processor on a 1985 Macintosh Plus. (Because I wanted a reason to turn it on)
This however had a disadvantage of not fitting in my pocket so I could not add things on the go. I needed an app.
Since I am a developer I could make that app, one that fits my exact requirements based on standards that I learned during my work on large software development teams, but tailored to the needs of a single Indie Developer.
The finished product is Indie Tasks, an app for recording and managing tasks for 1 Indie Game or App developer. Now available for iPhone & Android. An app made by and Indie Developer for Indie Developers. Tested & used daily by myself.
In Indie tasks you will find standard familiar terms & processes from Scrum & Agile such as:
– Assigning Effort by using Points to Stories using a Fibonacci Sequence
– Calculated Velocity based on last 30 days of Done Tasks
– Statuses such as Doing, Done
– Ability to distinguish between Tasks, Ideas & Bugs
– Backlog Reports and Views
– Twitter Share
I Indie Tasks daily in my workflow and will continue improving it based on user feedback as well as my own experiences.
Trains & Dinosaurs
Its been a busy few weeks. First I updated Train Sim with 2 (yes 2) new Trains; Class 91 & Bombardier Talent. If that was not enough I also added a new Train Selector and fixed a bunch of bugs.
I am proud to say that Train Sim now features 44 Trains. Thats 44 high quality realistic trains with full 3D cabins and custom sounds. This update is now available on Android, Amazon & iOS.
I have to say Train Sim came a long way in just over 2 years, I can only imagine where it will be in 2 more.
If that was not enough I also posted an Update to Dinosaur Sim. Although Dinosaur Sim is a fairly recent addition to my game lineup, it has proven to be very popular. So this week I added 2 new Dinosaurs (Styracosaurs & Kentrosaurus) to Dinosaur Sim. I am happy to say that this update is also already available on Android & iOS with Amazon coming soon.
I am also working on a Windows 10 version of Dinosaur Sim, I may be able to submit it next week.
To keep up to date on what is going on at 3583 Bytes please follow me on Twitter. I try to post every day so you should always know what I am working on.
Publishing to multiple platforms
Ok so I have spent the last week porting the new versions of my games to various platforms. Here is my list of accomplishments:
- The newest version of Train Sim got ported to iOS & Amazon Stores
- The newest version of Flight Sim got published to iOS & Amazon Stores
- Paint the World has been submitted to Amazon and is awaiting release.
- Dinosaur Sim also got submitted to iOS and is awaiting release.
I still have to build the new version of Train Sim for Windows Store & Windows Phone.
Need More Coffee!