Typing Defender

I just released my newest game.
It's called "Typing Defender" and is a twist on the castle defense genre.
Now you'll have to win by typing different words.

You can download it here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solirify.typingdefender

Full description:

Enemies are attacking!
You work as a wizard and it is your job to defend the castle. 
Use different spells and attacks to keep the enemies away.

If you enjoy typing games and castle defense games then this game is for you! Defend your castle by typing the enemy-specific spells or by using powerful attacks.

Upgrade your spells to become even stronger. As the game progresses the enemies will become stronger and stronger and more difficult to defeat. Upgrade your castle, skills and spells to be able to beat them.

FEATURES:

- Play for FREE!
- Defend your castle
- Upgrade your spells
- Become faster at typing
- Use your hardware keyboard
- Amazing music

Type your way to victory in this amazing typing game!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solirify.typingdefender

Review

I just got my first review for Math Trainer!
It was from Will at DroidIdols (www.droididols.com)

You can read the review here:
http://www.droididol.com/applications/math-trainer-2

I agree with Will on all the criticism he had about the game (although users are no longer asked if they'd like to see the help before starting a new game).

DroidIdols is a site with normal reviews but each sunday they also have a small contest where they announce the best app of the week that they've reviewed. Be sure to check their site out.

Math Trainer Pro

Pro!

Not gonna make a long post about this.
Just wanted to let you know that there is now a Pro version available.

Differences between Pro and Free version:
- No advertisements!
- Customization (change background colour on every screen).

So if you're feeling sick of either the advertisements or the background colours, then download this pro version! Only USD 1.05!

Math Trainer

And it's out!
Actually the game has been out for almost a week now.
You can download it from the Google Play market here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.solirify.mathgame

Description:
Is your mental math as good as it used to be? Do you think you are better than most other at math? Are you just learning math and need a way to practice?
Then this is the app for you!
Use this app once a day and you will be better at mental arithmetic than you've ever been.
FEATURES:
Test your skills in addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.
Try how many questions you can answer in 1 minute.
Play the neverending mode: The game is never going to end. Unless you answer three questions incorrectly.
Practice the times tables.
Many different difficulty levels.
Compete in online leaderboards or against yourself.
This is the ultimate app for both adults and kids wanting to practice their math skills.

More features to come soon!

That's all for now.

Over and Out,
Solirify Games

Update

I'm getting closer to the finish!

I've been working on the game ever since I last wrote. And now it's actually starting to look more and more like a finished game. I'm going to try to get a first version out in a couple of days. This is of course just a first version and a ton of updates will be added as time passes by.

I have also stopped reading the book completely now as I'm working on the game. I feel that I'm learning a lot more than what I learn when just reading (it's also a lot more fun ;) )

What you can expect

So like I've already said it's going to be a math game. It's going to be one of those "Flash card" type of games, but I have also tried looking up what people are missing at the other apps/games and implemented them in mine. Currently there are 4 modes: Addition / Subtraction. Multiplication / Division. Times tables. And also a time challange (how many questions can you answer in 1 minute).

It's not gonna be the next "Game of the Year" but I think it's a good start for a first game.

What about updates?

There will be updates. Those four modes are just the start. I already have a couple more modes thought out which I will try to implement. Of course if you may have some mode that you feel is needed in this type of game, then feel free to comment/contact me.

That's it for today. If everything goes as planned I'll release it on tuesday. If there fails, then before the end of April.

I hope you enjoy reading about my route to becoming an Android developer.

That's all for now,
Solirify Games.

Update

Thought it was time for an update now.

What's new?

I decided not to continue working on the map game as I'm far too inexperienced for something like that. Instead I started working on a new project. It's still gonna be about education, but this time about math. I think this should be a fairly simple project to have as my first one.

Why a math game?

Well, since I couldn't make the map game I had to think of a new project. I wanted it to be pretty simple so that I could make it pretty much all on my own. I also didn't want to make one of those useless entertainment apps (you know, like the fart apps and fake shaver apps, etc). I then got the idea of the current apps. I started thinking about how to implement it and, although it's not the easiest app to make, it shouldn't be too hard for me.

When will it be done?

It's really too early to say. I can tell you what I have done currently:
I have implemented a splash screen.
Made part of the menu.
A lot of the game logic.

All this in 2 days time. But there's still a lot to do.
Also this was during the weekend, on weekdays the progress will most likely go slower.
I'll keep you updated.

Final words:

As a final statement for this blog post I'd just like to make a shoutout to the IRC channel #android-dev (at www.freenode.net). I encountered a problem yesterday and went there. They helped me and it turned out that I had only missed one little line of code.

I think that's about it for today.
I'll keep you posted about the progress.

Feel free to leave a comment.
For example, what do you think about the way I present you the changes now (the "FAQ" kind of layout)?

Have a nice day,
Solirify Games.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Introduction

You might wonder what kind of a blog this is. As the description up in the top bar says, this will be a blog about my route to Android development.
Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Axel and I'm from Sweden.
Currently I haven't got a lot of experience from the developer's world.
Before I have been programming in GML (Game Maker Language), which, as I've understood it, is not all that impressive in the development world. I've also tried out both HTML and Objective-C programming.

Why Android?

So why did I start programming for the Android platform?
Well, I've always had an urge to create applicatoins and games.
I started with a program called Game Maker and actually got pretty good at it.
After I had created a couple of games I felt that it wasn't really as much fun anymore.
When I later on won an iPod Touch I felt that it would be great to be able to create applications and games for this platform. Sure enough, I started looking through the options of how I could create some application for my iPod. And I was very disappointed. Turned out that the only way you could write applications for the iOS system was by using a Mac! (Not anymore though). I didn't have a Mac, and I didn't really wanted to buy one either. So I started looking around the net and found a solution, running it through a virtual machine. After many fails I finally got it working.

Yet, this was not ideal as I felt that the virtual machine was pretty unresponsive and it really bugged me. I followed the Stanford iPhone development class on iTunes U and created a calculator with tons of different functions.

A couple of months later I bought myself a new mobile phone. I bought the ZTE Blade which has Android 2.2 installed and I have to say it's the best mobile I've ever owned (also my first smartphone...) Now I completely gave up on iOS (after getting disappointed once again when finding out that you have to pay an annual fee of $99 just to test your own game on your own device) and started looking into Android development instead. I quickly felt that this seemed like a great OS for me.

Where am I now?

I haven't gotten very far into the Android development world so far.
I bought a book which took me through the basics. About half way through I stopped reading it though. I felt that it just gave me code but didn't explain why the applicatoin behaved like it did.
I have now started reading "The busy coder's guide to Android development" instead from www.commonsware.com
I am currently on chapter 8 and so far it feels like a great book.

What about the future?

I have already got an idea for the game/application I'm going to make.
Right now it feels very hard (if not impossible) to make, but I'll try to take it one step at the time and implement the different parts of the game as I learn. I will not reveal exactly what kind of game it will be, but it will be about education and geography.

If I find the project to be too hard I will try to make something a bit easier first, so I won't get frustrated and quit.

How often will I update this blog?

This is actually the first time ever I'm using a blog so I'm not sure how much time it's going to consume but I'll try to update it at least once a week (but don't be surprised if there comes an update almost every day ;) )
The blog will be mainly about how I'm progressing but I might also post about other stuff (relevant stuff, of course)

PS. Like I said, this is the first time I'm using a blog so any tips are welcome. What can I improve, what about design, layout, etc. Any suggestion is welcome!

That's all for today.
I hope you'll enjoy the blog,
feel free to post comments and questions etc.