Tag Archives: app store

May 1, 2014 · 12:27 pm

African Countries

A new addition to my geography collection is the app about African Countries. Do you know that there are 54 independent states in Africa? This quiz is hard comparing with European Countries, for example. I consider myself good in geography but I don’t know a half of African capitals and flags.

The English description of the game is the following:

Learn all 54 independent African countries, including South Sudan:
* All flags
* All capitals
* All maps
* African Challenge
* Time Game

*****

The lion’s head for the app icon was taken from the coat of arms of Burundi.
After it was approved, the app had the status “Processing for App Store” for 1.5 days. Usually, it takes no longer than 30 min. I don’t have good explanation why it was so delayed this time.

Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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March 29, 2014 · 1:42 pm

Days of the Week and Months of the Year in 7 Languages

The app Days and Months was approved on Monday but I decided to experiment with postponing the release day. I chose Saturday, because the most successful starts of my apps happened on this weekend day.

Its quiz mechanics generally follows the Learn Numerals app. However, both Days and Months modes are open from the beginning.

The English description of the game is the following:

Today you’ll learn the names of all 7 days of the week and all 12 months of the year in 7 important languages. Please choose the learning method that suits you the best.

* Tables
* Flashcards
* Quizzes

– Spanish
– French
– German
– Italian
– Portuguese
– Russian
– English!

*****

One problem that I didn’t have with numerals was how to ask the question on the user’s language. How do you ask an American to translate “Monday” from English to English? It sounds like a stupid thing to do. So for the user’s own language, I change the names of days and months to their order: 2nd day, 9th month. And preparing this app, I learned a lot of things about the calendar. It seems that the US is a rare place where the week starts on Sunday. The standard now is to start it with Monday.

The icon is a fragment of the Aztec compass. But it was also a calendar, so it is relevant to the app.

3. Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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February 9, 2014 · 8:58 pm

SI Unit Prefixes

The idea of an app about SI Unit Prefixes came to me several months ago. I registered it at the iTunes Connect in September. At last, it’s here for everyone to enjoy.

The English description:

How many meters are in 1 nanometer? How many vertices does Dodecahedron have? Is 1 Mebibyte bigger than 1 Megabyte?
This app will help you to answer these and many other questions about decimal, binary, and number prefixes. It has a complete list of prefixes approved for SI units.

Please check 5 Tables and 5 Quizzes:
* Decimal Multiple: kilo-, Mega-, Giga-, etc.
* Decimal Fractional: milli-, micro-, nano-, etc.
* Number Latin: uni-, bi-, ter-, quart-, quint-, etc.
* Number Greek: mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, etc.
* Binary: kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, etc.

A quick reference and an easy way to learn this information essential for everyone studying math, computer science, physics, and chemistry.

*****

1. This app was uploaded several hours after Heterocyclic Compounds, they got into the review simultaneously, and SI Prefixes were approved 7 minutes before Heterocycles.

2. New features:
– This is my first app in the category Reference. Actually, after analyzing how the main page for each category is filled on the App Store, I’m leaning towards publishing all my apps as Games. To get on the first page of Education or Reference Apps, your app has to be picked up by Apple editors. In case of Games, all new free games get into the “New Free” bar.
– Tables show all question / answer pairs. It’s not only convenient for users, but helped me to check all errors and typos quickly during the development.

3. Acknowledgements:
icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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January 31, 2014 · 6:15 pm

Hydrocarbon Chemical Formula

Word World

My first chemistry app Hydrocarbon Formula has been approved and is on the App Store. I plan this to be a start of a series of apps based on the model “Letter Quiz” where the player sees a picture or a formula and has to build its name from the given letters. There will be both chemical and non-chemical quizzes.

The English description of the game is the following:

This application is essential for students learning the basics of organic chemistry, for teachers, graduate students and professionals checking their knowledge of the subject. There are more than 175 structural formulas: fun to guess – easy to remember. Hydrocarbons are the most fundamental class of organic compounds, so it is very important to know their chemical names.

Questions are logically divided into 6 topics covering all possible hydrocarbons. Begin with crucial structures such as methane CH4, benzene C6H6, and octane C8H18 and then proceed to advance topics learning about benzopyrene C20H12 and cubane C8H8. In each question, guess the name of the hydrocarbon or use the hints.

The compound database is prepared by a PhD chemist. 178 structures and names of:

* Alkanes
* Cycloalkanes
* Alkenes / Alkynes
* Dienes, and Polyenes
* Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Arenes)
* Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

***

1. This app was twice rejected because of too-long name (the reviewer asked to move all those “dienes, polyenes” to keywords) and because of failed (?) in-app-purchase. According to the attached screenshot, the IAP did work. So I wrote a letter to the Resolution Center and the app was quickly approved without any additional comments on their side or actions on my side.

2. New features are:
– “Watch Ads” button showing an AdMob interstitial and giving the player 20 hints
– Send an email to the author (asmolgam@gmail.com) button in the app
– 40 hints are given for sharing the info about the app on Twitter or Facebook
– Localization to 5 languages besides English and Russian: German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

3. Acknowledgements: icons for buttons were downloaded from iconmonstr or were created with Font Awesome.

Thanks!

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November 16, 2013 · 4:32 pm

Circles: New Version

Circles

I’m glad to report that a new version Circles is available on the App Store. If you solved all levels in the first version and are looking for more challenging ones, here they are:

– 12 New levels (totally 21 levels in the Game) divided to three Circles;
– New topologies requiring completely new strategy. In some levels you slide two sectors simultaneously, it makes the puzzle a 2D analogy of a Sphere or a Klein bottle in addition to the Torus topology of original 9 levels;
– Levels with 4 Rings: match three internal sectors by color as you did before and make all tiles in the external fourth ring of the same color too;
– A better control of tiles during rotating and sliding;
– Comprehensive Leaderboards in the Game Center summarizing your best times in the first 9 levels or in all 21 levels.

Please contact me if you have questions and suggestions. I promise to make timely updates of Circles based on your valuable feedbacks. Thanks!

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November 5, 2013 · 10:53 pm

Review Times for Apps [FruitoMarathon: Day 3 – Peach]

The third fruit in fruHarvest is a peach. It’s also on the app’s icon. Today I’ll write about the review times for applications submitted to the App Store. It usually takes about a week before the status “Waiting for Review” changes to “In Review”. This website shows daily estimates: between 2.99 days on Aug. 9 and 8.45 days on Jan. 7 in this year. Let’s compare with waiting times of my apps:

Monster! What Color is It? Take a Quiz!
Version 1.0 – Submitted: Jun 7, 2013 – Reviewed: Jun 14 (7 days) – approved
Version 1.1 – Submitted: Aug 7, 2013 – Reviewed: Aug 12-13 (5-6 days) – approved
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August 13, 2013 · 5:42 pm

Monster! is Ready for Sale


So my first update has been approved. I wrote about it in the previous post and now Version 1.1 called Monster! What Color is It? Take a Quiz! is ready for sale on the App Store. It’s exactly two months since the 1.0 was released on June 14. There are several points I’d like to emphasize:
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July 31, 2013 · 3:14 pm

Greek Letters and Alphabet

Greek Letters and Alphabet

After an intense week of the development, waiting for the availability of Apple certificates, and initial rejection due to unchecked IAPs, Greek Letters and Alphabet are finally available on the App Store.

Let me copy the description of the game (game? or an educational app?) here:

From Alpha to Omega. We guarantee that you’ll learn all Greek letters after finishing all 8 training and entertaining game modes. Essential for those:
– Learning Greek and reading Homer in original;
– Joining a Greek fraternity or sorority (ever wondered what those ΦΛΥ stand for?);
– Studying science classes (math, physics, chemistry – there are Greek symbols in every formula!);
– Traveling to Greece or Cyprus (to understand signs and names);
– Wanting to learn more about other cultures and impress buddies by knowing letter ω.

The application features:
– All 24 Greek letters: uppercase and lowercase;
– 8 game modes to learn Greek letters quickly and happily;
– Tutorial with all letters arranged in an alphabetical order;
– Eye-catching design in traditions of the red-figure pottery of Ancient Greece.

Can you distinguish Chi and Xi? Test yourself right now!

Enjoy the game! Learn Greek letters with my app!
I’ll write more about the development, uploading, and first downloads later in this blog.

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July 4, 2013 · 8:54 pm

@asmolgam – Apple Badges – Testing Next Games

Yesterday, when I added the post to a developer blog, I noticed that WP allows you automatically share it on Twitter. When I registered asmolgam.com, I also signed for @asmolgam. Now they are connected. I’m not sure how effective twittering is for game marketing but let it be: I don’t have to feed it thrice a day. I suspect that nobody reads game-oriented blogs, or twitter, or fb (unless you published a blockbuster). I’m a bit reluctant to add asmolgam to Facebook. This guy’s design scares me.
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July 3, 2013 · 9:02 pm

WCiTM? – Meet Asmolgamrus – AdMob Mediation – and some personal stuff

The major achievement today is the transfer of What Color is This Monster? from its blogspot home to this site. I played briefly with WordPress and I’m impressed how better it is than blogspot for my goals. The heroes of the game (Lamper, Clocker, Stump-axer, Visitor, and Dragoner) now inhabit the top bar instead of the default picture with old books.

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