Navigate Fate: Envoy v0.8.4

Well, my app went into private beta moments before starting to write my last blog post and I got some great feedback. In this post I'll be walking through v0.8.4 which should be very close to the final launch version visually.

The slideshow above gives a fairly clear overview:

1. The main menu is the "cover" of the book. If there are no bookmarks, the only option here will be "New Adventure". (Thanks to Julien Dodokal for that suggestion!)
2. The options available from the main menu are to see the "About" page with info on the app. Also, there's the "Jump To" menu.
3. About simply gives the credits and a link to my site for the app along with a request for story submissions.
4. The "Jump To" menu provides the reader the option of jumping to a page without necessarily reading (or re-reading) the first few pages. This would allow people to re-read the story several times to try and find the alternative endings without forcing them to retrace their steps.
5. This is a typical page (Note the custom buttons, Julien's suggestion again, my own design)
6. The In-Story menu gives two options, a "Go back 1 page" option for those times when a user accidentally taps the wrong option (testing doesn't show this to be a common problem) or simply that they weren't happy with their choice!
7. Themes is the other option, allowing the reader to change the visual style of the pages depending on their preferences.

My plan is to release a free version and a donation version at €1. I'm not a professional programmer so it's not right to charge people but at the same time, I've easily put in about 500 hours work since starting all of this, on top of my day job so tips would be nice.

If anyone would like to give their comments regarding pricing strategies (freemium, ad supported, donation etc.) just pop 'em below, I'd love to get a feel for what others think about the different pricing strategies out there.

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"!