[APP] SudokuTouch - A touch input friendly sudoku app - Windows 8 Development and Hacking

I've tested many Sudoku apps on Windows 8, but most of them are just very awkward to use. Neither mouse nor keyboard were really fun - although the touch input offered so many new possibilities. Partly the sudokus aren't really good, because they often had multiple solutions.
Finally I decided to do this better. I liked the result, but I think, you could judge this way better. Of course I would be pleased to get feedback and suggestions.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/de-de/app/sudokutouch/b1eb968c-f551-40d8-af8b-e131f798514e

it looks good, but i see room for a few improvements.
a message comes up at the start of a game, and the button to dismiss it is tiny and tucked away in a corner.
the button should be closer to the center of the screen, and it should be a bit bigger(wider)
the difference between generated squares and filled-in squares is too distracting.
perhaps it will work better if all squares are white, generated numbers are black, and filled-in numbers are dark-grey.
the close and move buttons overlap with the 3 and 6, this looks unprofessional.
i suggest you add a little "titlebar‘ on top like with windowed windows in Windows...
perhaps you could add a "game over" if you fill the field with a mistake.
it took me a while to realize that an extra 3 was the reason the clock didn't stop in my first game.
and last one: a paid version.
the ads are very distracting, and in a paid adfree version you could also use this space to display a permanent keypad.

thedicemaster said:
it looks good, but i see room for a few improvements.
a message comes up at the start of a game, and the button to dismiss it is tiny and tucked away in a corner.
the button should be closer to the center of the screen, and it should be a bit bigger(wider)
the difference between generated squares and filled-in squares is too distracting.
perhaps it will work better if all squares are white, generated numbers are black, and filled-in numbers are dark-grey.
the close and move buttons overlap with the 3 and 6, this looks unprofessional.
i suggest you add a little "titlebar‘ on top like with windowed windows in Windows...
perhaps you could add a "game over" if you fill the field with a mistake.
it took me a while to realize that an extra 3 was the reason the clock didn't stop in my first game.
and last one: a paid version.
the ads are very distracting, and in a paid adfree version you could also use this space to display a permanent keypad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback!.
Many of your suggestions are great and are going to be released in the next version

Btw. there's an option to mark error's in the application bar - so if you don't find your mistakes, you could mark all wrong numbers red

Related

TERMINATOR 4: SALVATION - a new notification style

Just inspirated by the first trailer of T4
www.terminatorsalvation.com
(btw: who's afraid the next movie? ;-) )
I've made a new notification of message.
It covers and manipulates of whole screen of any Windows Mobile device
(PPC or Smartphone), no matter what is on the screen,
at the moment when the new message received.
I like the idea of this trailer, when title music and video frames, try to break our normally wathed screen.
It's fun to have something similar in personal computer. To have some spice in mobile device.
Of course, if we aren't afraid, this will happen in the future. For real.
So, this notification replaces the default notification of message,
in a style of the above T4 trailer.
Several screen deformations and manipulations are built-in.
Below screenshots are samples only.
In reality, the smooth animation of visual effect is playing,
together with the title sounds (music).
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
It plays a sound, only when your Profile allows you, and the alerts volume is more than zero.
Functions:
You can switch directly from this notification to reply to the Sender of message: UP/DOWN KEY or TAP-MOVE vertically.
You can switch directly from this notification to the Inbox: LEFT/RIGHT KEY or TAP-MOVE horizontally.
You can play the notification again: ACTION.
To close this notification: ANY OTHERS buttons, or just tap on the screen anywhere.
Because of Warnerbros. copyright, I realized this version as freeware.
And I have no deal with them.
Another way, I think this is a good example,
how the advertising could be positioned (placed) into mobile devices, without users action needs.
This program (notification) user installs on your device, and that's all.
There is no settings, no user-enable application, no dialog, nothing to use.
Then user will not see any icon or running program.
It displays on the screen, and become enabled, only when new message is incoming.
Imagine, the top content of this notification could be downloaded from some network server,
and automatically. What I have not included in this version.

			
				

			
				
Finally, it displays the last received message (scrolled up from the bottom of screen).
In the background, it displays (some time) a Sender photo, if it's found in your Contacts.
The above screenshot is just a sample, you will see there some photo from your Contact.
And the text of message will scroll up from the bottom of screen, till a whole message will display.
Eeee... freeware files:
http://www.jgui.net/t4.notification/T4.NOTIFICATION.SETUP.exe
http://www.jgui.net/t4.notification/T4.NOTIFICATION.SETUP.cab
(please do not copy theses files, only link to these url if you want)
Due to reason of notification, it's recommended to install in main memory.
This is alpha version, I just tested in a few devices a week only.
I don't know if everything is fixed there now. Please try.
Uninstaller is included.
You cannot just break this notification. You have to unistall.

G1 Wallpaper Template in PSD Format

I just got a G1 a few days ago and wanted to make a wallpaper for it. As you know there's several screen breaks: three when viewed horizontal and three more when viewed vertical. I tried downloading a couple templates from various blogs and forums, but none were very thorough, so I made my own.
It's a tradition of sorts that I make a wallpaper for my phones featuring Keith Olbermann, so I named it after him cause I'm a big gay dork like that.
The template has two color coded Layer Sets: Each set of layers has three sub-layers that highlight the screen breaks and viewable area that occur on either of home screen's orientations.
I also included a layer of bars that align with the bottom row of icons for each orientation. I got the idea from another wallpaper I downloaded, I don't remember which but I tweaked it a little since it wasn't quite right when viewed horizontally.
The part at the bottom with my website link on it is never visible on the phone, so you can replace it with your credit there if you use it.
Some screenshots:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
And the link to the template:
http://drop.io/olbermann
From one nola geek to another, good job!
or use any image thats 800x600 in res.
k34m0n said:
or use any image thats 800x600 in res.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You missed the point of the template. It has overlays that let you see beforehand exactly which parts of your wallpaper will display on all the Android "screens" whether landscape or portrait. Nothing worse than picking a wallpaper, no matter the res, and not being able to see the best part of it unless you open the keyboard and flip left.
k34m0n said:
or use any image thats 800x600 in res.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but when you're viewing in landscape mode about a third of the image is cut off. Plus, some of us like to use something other than just 'any image'
... and the resolution is 640x480.
Over 200 downloads so far.. just wondering if anyone is using it and if they are if they have any suggestions?
I'm downloading it now. I'll let you know if I can think of anything useful to share! Thanks for the template.
Thanks! I'm thinking about adding a layer in the horizontal set that gives you letterbox style bands on the top and bottom so you can see what gets cut off when the orientation is flipped.
Just updated it (the 1.5 version) to add letterbox style bars on the tops and bottom to make obvious what will be viewable in each orientation.

[WIP] OrthoGun

Hey guys,
after developing my App "Remote", I nearly immediately started a new project.
Not an app, a game it should be.
So I began about 2 months ago and now I want to present the current results to you.
The game is named "OrthoGun" and it's a 2D Space Shoot 'Em Up.
Unlike other genre representatives you can't upgrade your ship in the usual way.
I build a randomized itemsystem: There are different types of items (like standard armor, a simple cannon) and from those the items will be generated which will have different attributes (so there would be a cannon which makes 10 damage and a cannon which makes 500 damage and one which shots very fastly and one which shoots very slowly). When starting a level, enemies will be randomly generated from those items. When killing an enemy, there is a chance a he drops one of his items, which you can eventually pick up and use by yourself.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
So this an actual enemy from the game. The shape and items, he has, are completely randomly generated using certain rules.
Using those items you also build your own ship. You practically just drag&drop the items to the position you like and you're done.
The game will feature about 20 levels with different difficulties and types of enemies
Plus 3 modes and bonuslevels.
I'm currently trying to convince Microsoft Game Studios to publish it, so I can integrate the XBOX Live Services, but they have a very long respond time.
You can view more screenshots on the facebookpage (see signature) (you don't have to like the page or be registered to view the screenshots, but I would be happy if you so because it's a lot easier to keep you updated because I promote this game in other forums too)
Note that the colors you see, currently depend on your accent color (I use "mango" at the moment)
Please let me now whether you like the idea or not. I will try to answer any question and I would be very happy about feedback (negative&positive).
Thank you for your attention!
Sincerely
DeathLamp
May take a while to get use to. The randomized drop of items could make the game super hard hard at times. I hope you can save progress and not have to start from level 1 the whole time. It could be quite interesting. Graphics seem a bit outdated but then I'm assuming your going for that look?
Sure all progress will be saved.
As I've already said there will be level.. each will unlock a new itemtype so you're not able to find every item right from the beginning. Currently I made enemies handicapped, so they don't get the same amount of health, damagepower and shoot speed from the items.
At the moment you will only be able to keep the items if you complete the level, but at least there are no lives, so you can try as often as you like.
Yeah I am aware that the graphics are the critical point of the game, and it actually looks kind of worse on a static picture. I will try to make video the next days.
And thanks for your feedback
EDIT: And heres the video
It's the second half of the tutorial

Triangular progressbars

Why are all progressbars rectangular? Is it possible to make them e. g. triangular or trapezium shaped (like standard wi-fi bars in Android or antenna bars in Symbian)?
Well, the quickest answer I can think of say for a triangular one, would be to use three straight progress bars and simply rotate them and 'assemble' them into the shape of a triangle, and then set each one's min/max value to a different set of the range of whatever variable you're tracking, so Bar1 would have a min/max of 0-33, next one - 33-66, last one to 66-99 if you're tracking a var that scales 0-99 etc.
And in Advanced Parameters for each bar use some logic statements to make sure the bar doesn't display any selected value if the the var you're tracking is outside its range. (i.e. to have the selected segment 'jump' from one bar to another if you're trying to make a bar that shows one particular segment highlighted instead of a steady typical progress bar that fills up as the value goes up).
No, it's not what I need. I need a triangle that smoothly fills with solid color depending on a parameter. Imagine a usual rectangular progressbar, cut it diagonally and take a half of it.
Well the same premise would still apply, you would just choose Normal mode so that the progress bar just fills up normally, with no segments, highlights, etc.
I think it's difficult to describe in words, both of what we're talking about, so, do you have a link to some images of what you're trying to accomplish. From anywhere(s).
If I could actually see it I could maybe come up with some solution(s).
Something like this.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Absolute impossible!! Cannot be done! You should just give up, buy an iPhone.
Or...
Do it like this - 60 seconds or less:
1. Make your progress bar
2. Make a rectangle slightly bigger than that, place it OVER the progress bar, make sure it is any color except one of these.
3. In the rectangle settings ROTATE IT to your angle of choosing, then....where it says "Drawing Mode" choose "CLEAR".
4. Watch the magic.
Extra Gold star if you can make something like the second two pics. Go bananas. Zooper is fun!!!
This is a better variant, but this rectangle will clear off anything under it. And what will I do if I need to place a text there?
Umm....you put the text...over it?
In the module manager you'll see the order from top to bottom of each element, they are drawn in this order, so if you want to see the text where the rectangle previously cut it out, just drag the text elements to the bottom of the list.
See attached example.
And as bonus tip - to get the jagged edge thing, or any other shape imaginable, create or download a png file that has the background transparent, then place it over your progress bar (or whatevers) and instead of "Clear" choose "XOR" and it will give you the shape as a cutout, like a cookie cutter.

Am I the only one? lol

Am I the only one with baby hands that has to move all the icons to a certain area on the home screen to be able to reach them lol. Just wonder how many others out there have the same kind of screen. My galaxy s5 was a stretch but using the G4 one handed for me FORGET IT haha
picture included
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Even though I use two hands, I still move my frequently used icons to minimize my reach for them .
I have a lot of problems typing on mine i always hit periods and spaces even with split keyboard
It takes a little adjustment period. Are new G4 owners? I am 5'6" and game from a G2. This has a slightly larger screen and took some gettig used to. I can still use it one handed with little effort.
The keyboard layout always screwed with me. The period and comma on the right side causes me to hit comma too often. I edited my keyboard so comma is on the left and the right only has period and enter. It shifts the space bar over because I am used to spacing with my right thumb.
Otherwise I use Action Launcher with no dock. I just throw my 6 commonly used icons at the bottom row. Then just a left-right swipe for the drawer. Its a vertical drawer thats alphabetical, so just scroll until your thumb can grab what you want. Pretty easy and solid setup.
I used to use Nova Prime on my phone and Action Launcher on my tabs. But since using AL on my phone I find it so much easier to use. I only have 2 desktop pages; #1 is my 6 icons, #2 has a full page twitter widget.
Homescreen
This is Action Launcher 2. For some reason I do not like Action Launcher 3.
I use my nose for hard to reach apps lol. I did this in front of people and they think i am kissing my phone
Ya like oh lg g4 i love you lol
Bahaha

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