Tag Archives: iaps

April 10, 2014 · 5:38 pm

50 US States v. 1.1

50 US States was my the most successful app so far and has changed the focus of my app-making efforts from chemistry to geography. Now it gets the first update and there are three important improvements.

1. There is a new mode “Find the state on the US map”. It is somewhat similar to the previous mode with state borders outlines but it shows where exactly the state is situated on the US map. Most people will find this info quite important. For smaller states of the Northeast, I use the zoomed map. Still Rhode Island is a tiny red spot.

2. There are now 14 rather than 12 letters on the player’s “keyboard”. And the answer boxes are scaled down accordingly if the name is too long. So if the answer has 14 letters or less, you can spell it completely. If it has more than 14 letters, you can place first 14 and then there are additional letters printed with a large blue font. This is a very important improvement and now I wonder why I didn’t do it for my very first quiz of this type.

3. Despite high downloads and ad revenues for 50 States, nobody purchased an IAP “Remove Ads”. It is very surprising for me, because even in a very nerdy and unlocalized app about Heterocyclic Compounds, there was one ads-removing purchase. It seems that ads are fine for most of users. At the same time European Countries quiz has shown that people are willing to pay for an additional content. So in the new mode, I made only the first half of questions free. Then the player sees the “Buy screen” and is offered an opportunity to support the developer (i.e. me), get the rest of the questions and remove all ads: the banner and interstitials.

And as usual, there are tons of small fixes in design, localization and keywords. The new mode and main menu prompted me to change two of five app screenshots. This update is a huge step forward for this game and all my quizzes. Enjoy!

Advertisement

Leave a comment

Filed under Updates

Tagged as , , ,

April 8, 2014 · 2:59 pm

Famous Scientists

Famous Scientists is a bit different from my previous quizzes. This app has so far one linear mode. Each question is a portrait of a famous scientist or a mathematician with an option to view an addition info (when he or she lived and why this person is famous) for 10 hints or open the next letter for 15 hints. If a player makes 5 mistakes, the game sequence returns back to Einstein (question #1). If you hate to lose and want to see all scientist and all info, you may consider buying the unlimited hints in Settings.

The English description of the game is the following:

Can you guess a famous scientist or a mathematician? Do you know why he or she is famous? Challenge yourself!
More than 40 scientists from Ancient Greek philosophers to modern cosmologists and molecular biologists.

*****

1. There are 42 scientists in version 1.0. I tried to choose ones recognizable by a broad audience, not only by chemistry PhD’s. Depending on how successful this app is, I may add a couple of new faces. By the way, the longest part in preparing the app was to find and translate the info about scientists into all 8 languages.

2. Features:
– If first+last names have 11 or less letters, I put them both. Otherwise, only the surname.
– English physicists is the most numerous party in the app.
– There are 2 women scientists and 2 living scientists.

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

Thanks!

Leave a comment

Filed under Games

Tagged as , , ,

April 5, 2014 · 7:37 pm

European Countries

My second geographic app is about European Countries.

The English description of the game is the following:

If you know all European countries, you can test yourself.
If you don’t know flags and capitals of European countries, or where they are situated on the map of Europe, you’ll learn all this stuff with this simple and entertaining app.

* 50 European countries
* All flags
* All maps
* All capitals

From Finland to Portugal. From Reykjavík to Athens. The European journey begins.

*****

1. In contrast to 50 US States, where the question database was clear, the European politics is rather complicated. Besides dependent territories such as Faroe islands, there are several unrecognized states. OK, I exclude them all. But there is a map with country borders and I did my best to avoid offending anybody.

2. New features:
– Multiple-choice mode called “European Challenge” that combines all other questions and shows them in a random order. The player has three lives and after three mistakes the strike ends and best results are recorded (there is a separate Geme Center leaderboard for this mode)
– The flag mode is completely open. Two other modes have 30 free questions each and after these questions, the player is offered an option to unlock the rest of questions together with removing ads.

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

Thanks!

Leave a comment

Filed under Games

Tagged as , , ,

March 24, 2014 · 10:40 pm

Inorganic Acids v. 1.1 – an Update with Localizations

Today the Apple review team decided to eliminate the backlog of apps awaiting for the review and they approved my 3 apps and this update of Inorganic Acids and Polyatomic Ions. I submitted it just 14 hours before its status became “In Review”.

There are two major things:

1) Localization into Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish languages. It’s probably the hardest of my apps to localize because the database is vast, strings are messy, and many compounds are quite obscure, so it’s impossible to find everything quickly in Wikipedia. But I designed the first version keeping only English and Russian in mind, and I don’t want to remove any compounds now.

As for the Italian translation, I am obliged to Sandro Soldano who did a great job on translating a lot of compounds’ names and fixing my lame Italian translations that I had done before. Thanks!

2) In v. 1.0, only the simplest acids and ions (“Acids 101”) were available without buying the in-app-purchase. This is less than one third of all compounds and since the purchasing activity was quite low, I decided to make the next level (“Acids 201” – 30 more acids and 30 more ions/salts) free. However, it is required to give 100 correct answers in the first level to get a free access to this second level. The IAP opens both the 2nd and 3rd levels immediately as it did before.

When I downloaded the app today, I noticed that I forgot to add one picture (more precisely, I added it but it has a wrong name: a little hyphen is missing). So it’s likely that I will soon submit Inorganic Acids v. 1.2 with “minor bugs fixed” in the What’s New section.

About three other apps that have been approved today, I’ll write in my blog later.

Leave a comment

Filed under Chemistry, Updates

Tagged as , , , , ,

March 14, 2014 · 5:22 pm

Learn Numerals 1.1 and Hydrocarbons 1.2

Two apps have been updated today: Learn Numerals and Hydrocarbons. In Learn Numerals, I changed an icon to a brighter one, with an yellow background. In both apps, I added the Swedish localization. I consider this language the next most important in Europe after those 7 already present in my apps. The next will be Dutch. Besides the new localization, I added 5 new hydrocarbons and the “Unlimited Hints” purchase to the Hydrocarbons app. It is easier to get to the Settings now when the buttons of paid modes became active.

Leave a comment

Filed under Updates

Tagged as , , , , ,

February 24, 2014 · 10:34 pm

Inorganic Acids, Polyatomic Ions and Potassium Nitrate

My new app is called Inorganic Acids, Polyatomic Ions and Potassium Nitrate. Hopefully, it will be useful for everyone who studies inorganic chemistry.

The English description:

Learn names and formulas of all important inorganic acids, polyatomic ions and their salts. An app is suitable for everyone: from high school students to chemistry professors.
Take a quiz or use the table as a reference.

* 70+ inorganic acids: from Sulfuric H2SO4 to Hydrazoic HN3
* 50+ anions and cations: from Chloride Cl– to Hydrazinium N2H5+
* 50+ salts: from Potassium nitrate KNO3 to Ammonium hexachloroplatinate (NH4)2PtCl6

*****

New features:
– Table prepared with iOS standard elements
– Rate App button
– New smaller Open / Remove Letters buttons
– The app icon resembles a safety diamond (shows how dangerous a particular chemical compound is)
– Entering chemical formulas as answers. I even didn’t use subscripts, because in the Georgia fonts, digits are already smaller than letters.
– “Acidic” colors are used in design
– Only first 2 modes and a table are available for free. Six others modes can be purchased just for $0.99 together with removing the ads banner.

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

Thanks!

1 Comment

Filed under Chemistry

Tagged as , , ,

February 6, 2014 · 9:13 pm

Amino Acids Structures and Names

My second chemical app Amino Acids Structures and Names was approved less than in one week after the first one about Hydrocarbons. This time there have been no problems during the submission / review process at all.

The English description of the app:

Do you know the chemical formula of glycine?
Btw, the knowledge of structures and names of amino acids – building blocks of proteins and peptides – are important not only for chemists, but also for biologists, pharmacists, and just for everyone studying science and/or medicine. This app is the easiest and the most efficient way to learn the structures, codes, and properties of 20 standard amino acids and 14 related compounds.

*****

* ‘Structure – Name’ Quiz
* Flashcards – Rate each card to adjust to your level of knowledge
* All 22 proteinogenic Amino Acids (20 standard + Selenocysteine and Pyrrolysine)
* Colorful structural formulas
* Three- and One-letter codes (abbreviations)
* Isoelectric points (pI)
* Essential Amino Acids
* Polar and Hydrophobic Amino Acids
* Unnatural Amino Acids such as D-Alanine
* Dipeptides such as Aspartame*

*****

It is a perfect app for everyone studying:

* Biochemistry
* Organic Chemistry
* Molecular Biology


*****

New features:
– It can be also called my first biochemical app.
– Flashcards mode – the player sees a formula or a name of an amino acid, tries to remember what’s the missing info is, checks “Show an Answer” and finally rates how well he/she knows this particular amino acid (from 1 – not at all – to 5 – very well). The probability of this card to be shown again depends on this rating.
– The IAP is associated with flashcards. There are 34 compounds in the app and only 10 cards are available for free. To get them all, one has to buy “All flashcards & Remove Ads”.
– “Promo buttons”:
a) instead of the “More Games” list in Settings, I have a direct link to Hydrocarbons and other apps from the game. The button shows up after answers to certain questions.
b) The button “Watch Ads” was moved from Settings to the game as well. It shows an AdMob interstitial, gives hints for this, and disappears.
– So far it was localized only to English and Russian but I do have plans to add at least German, Spanish, and Italian in future updates.
– I may called it “a game” but it’s my first app in the Education category.

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

Thanks!

Leave a comment

Filed under Chemistry

Tagged as , , , , ,

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!

Leave a comment

Filed under Chemistry, Developer Blog

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

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
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Developer Blog, fruitomarathon

Tagged as , , , , , ,