Beta, it's not You, it's Me...

Well, in 24 hours I had around 300 downloads (though the developer console is very data sparse and doesn't update all too often).

So far I've had nothing but 5 star ratings and not a single complaint about crashes or instability so I pushed out an update a few minutes ago which brings NF: Envoy out of beta and up to v1.0 with an improved about screen.

Also, I considered dropping the price of the "tips" version to €0.50; I'm really going to need to think about the business model a lot more (0 downloads at the €1 price point is a little disappointing and won't exactly attract other writers).

Aside from that though, I'm really chuffed with the feedback, all of it is positive so far and to see all the downloads, even if they're just the free version, it kicks ass.

NF: Envoy Pro

NF: Envoy

Edit: clarified some details/typos

Almost There

Well, after a long hiatus, I can post again!

I've been hammering away like a mad thing and learning a lot about application lifecycles and stability as well as a bit of graphics!

I have developed my first app and in the next two weeks you should see it popping up in the market.

Currently in v0.8 and private beta, it's an Interactive Gamebook in the same vein as the adventure stories where you choose what page to turn to, thus controlling your character's story.

The application itself is called "Navigate Fate" and the first story is called "Envoy", thus the app will be called "NF: Envoy" in the Android Market, but I hope to use the same engine for several user-submitted stories.

I'll be doing a more complete run-through of the app with screenshots during the week.

Check out the links above and if you'd like to participate in the short-running private beta or even submit a story, just email!

Waypoint Reached

As previously mentioned, my plan to get into Android development is pretty methodical.

1. Get comfortable with Java.
2. Get comfortable with Android.

Pretty thorough, right? :P

Today, I finished working through the resources mentioned in my previous post. I've typed through every tutorial; hit countless bugs; pimped many of the tutorials with my own additions; hit more bugs and done all kinds of other exciting things! Adding it all together I've probably gone through about 100 to 150 hours of work to get to where I am now. (My girlfriend being away for a fortnight helped! :P )

While I'm a long way from actually being able to call myself a developer, I feel that I have enough of a grasp for the basics that I can now move onto step 2 and start working through the Android tutorials. 

Not much of a blog post I know, but I feel pretty excited about the momentum I've maintained and at the same time a bit annoyed that I haven't been able to post many updates during that time. 

I hope to post more now that I'm moving onto Android proper and start to work through any of its particularities. 

So, time to get back to work and say "Hello Android"!

How to Help Developers

I noticed something when I first went onto the App Market; a lot of 1 star ratings were for bugs in the app. I figured "Uh-oh, there's a dev who doesn't act on their bug reports".

But then, I came across a bug in an app I had downloaded (it would force close at a certain point). So, as the email for every dev is given with the app I sent off an email to report the bug. This was the first bug report I'd ever made on Android. The dev got back in touch within an hour and very helpfully taught me how to get a log* and send it to them to help solve the problem. All told my bug was squashed and I had a perfectly working app in 48 hours or less. Now that's service! 

The dev then thanked me for helping out, explaining that a lot of people just leave a bad rating when a bug crops up. That was weird. It wasn't the first time either, just last week another dev with another app said exactly the same thing after I sent off my log.

The app in question was FaceBook Sync:

Facebook Sync for Android on AppBrain

As you can see from the screen capture below, both one star ratings are for bugs that maybe could have been fixed had these guys just bothered to send an email. 

This ain't rocket science, if you just thumb your nose, the problem'll never get fixed, if you have enough motivation to bother rating an app then just send the log. If the problem isn't addressed within a few days/a week then you can think about leaving a bad rating. 

The success of any modern phone relies on the success of its third party apps. Android reduces the barrier for app development, allowing more people to innovate and produce apps (hence all of the top-notch free apps) but if people don't submit bug reports, the Market will just be a wasteland of alpha/beta quality projects backed by very frustrated developers. 

So, if you've ever given a one star rating for something that could've been a bug, try to just send an email next time and wait a week or so before your review. 

*If you want to get a log, try this app:

Log Collector for Android on AppBrain

It'll let you collect and send logs, works a charm for me.


EDIT: The developer for Facebook Sync also has a blog post about this. (I only discovered this on 18/5/2010)