Spins 3D Development

Some nice reviews

2011-05-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

Spins 3D has gotten some good reviews at gaming sites, and I'm happy to link to those reviews here:

FindMySoft: Excellent (5 out of 5 stars)
Nine Over Ten: "Mind-boggling Goodness" (rating: 4 out of 5)
The Best iPhone Puzzle Apps and Mechanical Puzzles

Thanks to the reviewers for taking the time to write it up!

(This post edited 9/8/11.)

100 sales, and an update coming

2011-05-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Two nice pieces of news to be able to relate: So far, Spins 3D has (approximately) the following sales figures.

100 paid downloads
675 free downloads

Cool! Not the most popular app in the store, but I'm happy about those numbers. :) I also see several people on the high score charts, so some folks are doing a good job solving puzzles!

I'm working on an update (v1.1) that I'll submit to Apple in the next week or two with these improvements:

Bug fixes from the various users who have reported them
Ability to get scores and achievements and unlock new levels even when not online, or not logged in to Game Center
Unlocking higher levels without beating every puzzle on the lower level
An options screen for various preferences

I'll post here again when I have successfully submitted the update to Apple. And thanks for all the suggestions from users! Feel free to keep 'em coming.

Free version available in the App Store

2011-04-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

Try it out here (link goes to iTunes). The differences are:

Full version	Free version
120 puzzles	28 puzzles, with previews of the rest
Game Center (online high scores, achivements)	No Game Center

Why am I trying to charging any money for this? Mostly just to make back the cost of being in the iOS Developer Program ($99/yr.). If this hobby pays for itself, great. If not, enjoy the free one! :)

I'm changing the link on the top right of this blog to go to the free version, and people who try it and like it can follow the link within the app itself to buy the full version.

Free version submitted for approval

2011-03-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

The free version has been submitted to Apple, and therefore should be in the App Store roughly one week from today. It will let you see all 120 puzzles of the full version, but only play 28 of them (some from each level) and will be lacking Game Center integration (sharing high scores and achievements). But...it will be free!

Approved! It's in the App Store!

2011-03-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

To download a copy, click the badge:

If you want to try a free version, I'll be putting one out as quick as I can send it through the Apple system (a week?).

Yay!

Successful submission!

2011-03-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

Spins 3D is now in queue for review at the App Store!

That's far more satisfying than it sounds, because of the labyrinthine nightmare that is the "code signing" process. If you are curious about the depths of today's pain, Google "app store invalid signature" and read the weeping and gnashing of teeth of developers everywhere.

And after much despair, I am releived to have emerged victorious, and have a successful submission! The $0.99 version of the app is under review, and the lite version will come after the full one is out, so that it can include a link to the full version on the app store.

Updates will appear here as things progress.

Wrangling with Apple...some success!...?

2011-03-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Got off the phone with Apple earlier today. Turns out (long story short) that they have little or no motivation to fix my problem in what I perceived as "the right way," but the phone-answering person I talked to was actually very helpful in suggesting to me some alternate ways to fix my problem. (Thanks, Mel!) Consequently... (drum roll)...

THIS APP MAY BE COMING OUT SOON!

I'm setting up Game Center and doing the final bits of testing on my device right now, and hoping to submit to the App Store later today! Of course, I'm a phenomenally incurable optimist, so I'm quite aware that won't happen according to plan. BUT that has not sapped my motivation!

Just to have something besides text to post, I'm also including in this post the icons for the achievements I registered with Game Center earlier today. This is public domain clip art, tweaked with my own meager Photoshopping skills.

Trophies for I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII are for conquering levels of puzzles.

Brains with 1, 2, or 3 light bulbs are for solving puzzles efficiently.

Solve lots of puzzles on "hard" level, where locks and keys are involved.

And other things too...

But I won't reveal all the secrets here. Check out the release for more!

Demo Video

2011-01-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

Here's the promised demo video. I'll have to later make a video of playing the game on an actual device, but this is a starter.

Status update #1

2010-12-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

I'm starting this blog because other iOS developers recommend using a blog as a simple game website. Here is the current status of development on the game Spins 3D:

The game is 99% written.
The game has been to beta testers and their feedback has been incorporated.
I cannot yet submit the game to the app store because I accidentally messed up my developer account over the summer and Apple Customer Support is in the process of helping me fix it. In some ways, they're very helpful. But sometimes they take a long time to get to an issue. This has been a bottleneck. Of course, it was my fault for messing up my account in the first place.
The only code I'm still finishing up is leaderboards and achievements in Game Center. I cannot fully test this until the account issue is resolved.

Soon I'll post a video of what it's like to play the game.