Category Archives: Android

Runaway Trains now at version 2.5

Runaway Trains has been updated to version 2.5 in BlackBerry World, and Google Play. This update adds ten new levels and makes some improvements to the app’s active frame on BlackBerry 10 phones. Additionally a few of the early levels have been redesigned to give an easier start to the game.

IMG_00000047

About Runaway Trains

Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.

This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.

Links & Information

Android app on Google Play
Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Runaway Trains

Another 10 levels for Xploding Boxes

IMG_00000017Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.5 with an additional 10 levels. This brings the total number of levels in the game up to 390. This update also brings a few other improvements to the app as well. On Android devices (including the Nook) improvements were made to the fonts used in various parts of the app. On Windows the live tile for the game was improved, while the active frame on the Q10 also got an overhaul.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes gets even more levels

IMG_00000064Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.4 in BlackBerry World, Google Play, the Amazon AppStore, the Nook Bookstore, and the Windows 8 store. This new version adds an additional 10 levels to the game, as well as improving the sharing options on BlackBerry 10, and improving the in-app payment system for the Google Play store.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, PlayBook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

Posting elsewhere

8350iThis past week I have had two posts over at the Gadget Masters with an explanation on Why the Facebook Phone is Doomed, as well as a look how PlayBook upgrade rates may help predict How quickly Z10 owners will update to OS 10.1 on their new phones.

Yesterday I also posted on BerryReview about The Amazing Resiliency of the 8350i. A Nextel branded phone from 2008 on the iDEN network, that stubbornly continues to persist in the monthly download logs for my games.

Android, BlackBerry

Runaway Trains adds support for the Q10

Level53smallThe colorful strategy game, Runaway Trains has been updated to version 2.4 for BlackBerry and Android. This new version has ten new levels, as well as adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.

About Runaway Trains

Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.

This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.

Level21The first 25 levels are free, while the rest of the game can be accessed following a one time in-app purchase of $2.99.

New in version 2.4

Version 2.4 of Runaway Trains adds levels 171-180, as well as new and improved menu icons. BlackBerry 10 phones also now have a new easy way to share high scores, and the app now supports the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10.

Links & Information

Android app on Google Play
Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Runaway Trains

Xploding Boxes adds 10 new levels

indexXploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.3, adding ten new levels bringing the total up to 370. This update also improves the app’s handling of square displays, adding support for the soon to be released BlackBerry Q10, and providing better support for the Windows 8 version when in three-quarters snapped mode. The menu icons for the app were also refreshed on Android, Nook, and Playbook versions of the app, in order to match the style that was recently revealed on the BlackBerry 10 version of the app.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

Guest Posts

I have spent the last few days with guest posts on other websites.

Android, BlackBerry10

Why you should use the captive runtime for your Android apps

For Android apps compiled against Adobe AIR, it is best if you include the entire AIR runtime as part of your distributable .apk file. It may not be as nice from a programing standpoint, but it is far better for the end user. I have three Android apps in the Google Play store (Xploding Boxes, Runaway Trains, and Black Out), at first I relied upon users to download AIR for themselves, but have since realized that bundling the runtime gives a much better experience for Android users.

For developers the idea of having the AIR runtime as a separate installation presents a much prettier (and more loosely coupled) architecture. It allows the app to have a smaller file size, and to share the AIR platform with any other apps that need to make use of it, while also allowing the two installations to be updated individually.

However on Android (unlike the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Barnes and Noble Nook) the AIR framework is not preinstalled on the OS, so if the captive runtime is not used to bundle AIR into your .apk than when users first launch the app they are presented with a screen asking them to go download and instal Adobe AIR. This is just giving your users another chance to quit, and ignore your app, and even resulted in a poor review for one of my apps from a user who did not understand what Adobe AIR was.

Instead if you bundle AIR into your app using the captive runtime you result in a larger distributable file, but when the user goes to launch it for the first time it is guaranteed to just work.

Android, code

Second anniversary of Xploding Boxes

IMG_00000064It has now been two years since Xploding Boxes was originally launched for BlackBerry phones in 2011. The app has grown much since then, and in the past year alone has added an additional 90 levels, as well as adding support for Android, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Nook, Android, and Windows 8, in which the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve. The first 25 levels are free, while the full 360 levels can be accessed by making an in-application payment and requiring no further downloads. This game is available for the BlackBerry PlayBook, most BlackBerry phones running OS 5.0 or higher, BlackBerry 10 phones, the Nook Color and Nook Tablet, most Android phones running OS 2.2 or higher, as well as Windows 8 tablets and laptops.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

Version 4.2 of Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.2 across all platforms. This version adds ten new levels as well as adding sharing options to the Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 versions of the game.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, Windows 8, and BlackBerry 10 where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

New in Version 4.2

IMG_00000063In addition to the ten new levels, version 4.2 of Xploding Boxes adds some sharing options and fixes some bugs. While the BlackBerry version of the game has included BBM sharing options since version 2.1 this update allows Windows 8 users to easily share their in-game progress through the share charm, and BlackBerry 10 users can share their game progress through an option on the menu.

The BlackBerry 10 version of the game also has a redesigned icon set.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

Runaway Trains expands to 170 levels

Runaway Trains has recently been updated to version 2.3 across all platforms. The new version of the game adds 10 new levels, and also adds the use of active frames on BlackBerry 10.

Level163

About Runaway Trains

Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.

This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.

Links & Information

Android app on Google Play
Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Runaway Trains

Black Out released for Android

device-2012-12-18-142328Black Out has been updated to version 1.4 adding support for Android and BlackBerry 10. This strategy game is played by flipping the tiles one at a time until all of the tiles are ‘blacked out’. This is trickier than it sounds because whenever you tap to flip a tile, it also flips all of the tiles surrounding it. In order to accommodate different difficulties, the game supports board sizes from 3×3 all the way up to a 10×10 grid. Versions of the game on the already supported BlackBerry PlayBook, and Barnes and Noble Nook platforms were also updated.

Links & Information

Android, Black Out, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, PlayBook

Xploding Boxes gains more levels

Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.1. This new version adds an additional 10 levels, bringing the total number of levels up to 350 for the full game.

New in version 4.1.0

In addition to the new levels, this version of the app also improves the smoothness of the screen transitions in the PlayBook, Nook, and Android versions of the app. Additionally, for Android users, the app no longer requires you to download and instal the AIR framework. On the Nook, the app now adds support for the newly released Nook HD models. For BlackBerry 10 DevAlpha users, the app now supports an active frame for when the app is in a minimized state.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, and Windows where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes

10 more levels for Runaway Trains

Runaway Trains has been updated to version 2.2 adding an additional 10 levels to the game. Also the level selection screen on the Android and Nook versions of the app have been updated to match the look of the BlackBerry version of the game. Additionally the Android version no longer requires a separate download of the Adobe AIR framework.

About Runaway Trains

Runaway Trains is a colorful strategy game for all ages where you must route the trains to the proper station. Each level progresses in difficulty and presents an unique puzzle which you must solve by finding a way to guide the coloured trains causing a collision or running out of track.

This is done by touching the intersections to toggle the open path of the tracks. If at any time the trains crash or end up at the wrong station, you will have lost and have to try again.

Links & Information

Android app on Google Play
Android, BlackBerry, Nook, Runaway Trains

Xploding Boxes version 4.0 – new levels, new shapes, new devices

Xploding Boxes has been updated to version 4.0, bringing with it a collection of new features. This update comes with 20 new levels, increasing the total number of levels to 340. These new levels also support a new ‘Diamond’ shape in order to add more variety to the levels. Also the range of supported devices has expanded to include BlackBerry 10, and Windows 8 in addition to the existing support for Android, the Nook, BlackBerry phones, and the BlackBerry PlayBook.

New Diamond shape

The levels added in this version (321-340) introduce a new diamond shape. Unlike the boxes (which explode out in four directions), and the triangles (which explode in only one direction), the diamonds explode into two directions. As such their effect on a level is usually somewhere between that of a box and a triangle. This additional variable results in more level variation, and will allow for more creative levels to be designed.

New device support

Xploding Boxes started out exclusive to BlackBerry phones. Then a year ago, support was added for the BlackBerry PlayBook. This was followed by support for the Barnes and Noble Nook last December, and Android devices this past summer. Now version 4.0 adds in full support for BlackBerry10, and can even be downloaded from AppWorld today for those with the BlackBerry DevAlpha. Support has also been added for tablets and computers running Windows 8, however actual availability of the game in the Windows Store is dependent upon Microsoft’s whims.

About Xploding Boxes

Xploding Boxes is a strategy game for BlackBerry, Android, Nook, and Windows where the goal of the game is to start a chain reaction that will explode all of the boxes on the screen. Each level gives you a different number of touches, and requires a different strategy to solve.

The game itself, and the first 25 levels are available for free, while an in-app purchase can be used to access the rest of the levels for just $2.99 while maintaining your progress from the free levels.

Links & Information

Android, BlackBerry, BlackBerry10, Nook, Windows, Xploding Boxes