endloop blog

We’re extremely excited to announce our first game which is called Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers! Our mission was to take the old, stuffy Solitaire and add great graphics, addictive and fast-paced gameplay, in-game leaderboards and just great arcadey goodness! We set out to bring Solitaire to the 21st century and believe we’ve made the most addictive, best Solitaire game yet!

It’s fully integrated with OpenFeint 2.2 and has almost 50 achievements. We’ve packed it with over 30 unlockable skins and decks! It’s got everything you’d expect from an Endloop product!

Here’s what some of our beta testers have been saying:

“Arcade Solitaire is an intense and challenging game that has caused many missed bus stops, late appointments, and arguments with loved ones.” - Jon Lim, MustTap.com

“The only downside to this game is that you’ve created digital CRACK!” - Neil Warner, Beta Tester

Here’s the trailer for Arcade Solitaire - TriTowers :

And here are some screenshots:
Read more…

Unity3D is coming to Toronto to launch their Unity Users Group chapter here and they’ve been gracious enough to offer our followers 50% off their mixer/networking event AND their workshop next week.

Here’s the info:

TORONTO - MIXER (November 10th)

50% off DISCOUNT CODE: endloopUnityNW

To kick off the Toronto UUG Chapter, dimeRocker will be hosting an afterwork Mixer at the Gladstone Hotel on Tuesday, November 10th.

The event will featuring a keynote by Tony Garcia (Unity 3D Business Development):

5:30pm - 6:30pm Reception, drinks & appetizers at the Gladstone Hotel
6:30pm - 7:30pm Keynote followed by Q&A with Tony
7:30pm - 9:00pm Networking social, raffle of Unity Pro or iPhone license

Admission includes a drink, eats and a chance to win a Unity Pro or iPhone License (valued at $1,500)!

TORONTO - WORKSHOP (November 11th)

50% off DISCOUNT CODE: endloopUnityWS

The next day, Wednesday November 11th, Amir Ebrahimi, (Unity Developer & Field Engineer) will lead a 3hr Unity Workshop at George Brown College on the St. James Campus.

12:30pm - 1:00pm Registration and refreshments
1:00pm - 3:30pm Unity Skills Workshop
3:30pm - 4:00pm Workshop Q&A

Register now - space is limited!!

So, first off, I have to say that I wasn’t even planning to go to 360iDev in Denver. Budget and time constraints prevented me from even considering going.

Then a funny thing happened - I won a free ticket! Thanks to Fernando Barajas for giving up his ticket (he wrote the app, Skatr - get it now!!). Thanks to Dan Grigsby and MobileOrchard, an awesome blog for iPhone Developers, for posting the ticket giveaway (and for the great marketing advice) and finally, thanks to Tom and John for organizing such an amazing event!

So it was really a no-brainer for me to go now, so I went - but with the thought that this would be just like any other conference I’ve been to.

Boy, was I wrong.

This event may have been the single best experience I’ve had in my professional (and independent) career. And I say this without any hesitation - it was THAT good. So, why was it that good? As some others have already said, it wasn’t any one thing but rather a perfect storm of great talks, events and people all coming together to create this life changing experience. Let me briefly go through the list.

The Talks
I have to say the talks at 360iDev were all great and there were so many that really opened my eyes and struck a chord with me. I can’t possibly list them all but here are, what I thought, were the best of the best.

David Whatley - How to make Mad Money with an iPhone Game
Critical Thought Games (geoDefense and geoDefense Swarm)
For me, this was the best talk of the entire conference. I know the title sounds a bit cheesy, but his talk was FILLED with great tips on game design and business strategy specific for the iPhone platform and market. Great speaker, tons of great information and experience and success to back it all up.

Matt Drance - Keynote
Bookhouse Apps (and former Apple iPhone/Mac Evangelist)
Matt gave a great keynote about how to improve your chances of success on the app store. He talked about building relationships with Apple, how to build quality apps and how not to get screwed by the App Review process (well, insomuch that you can). Incredibly informative, especially the tip about adding Apple as a contact in your phone! (FYI, he suggested putting Apple’s number (408)996-1010 as “OMG APPLE” in your address book and lol and behold, a few short hours after I got the OMG APPLE call!)

Dan Grigsby - Warm, Clothed and Fed: Developer Run iPhone Business
MobileOrchard.com (Founder)
Dan was one of the best speakers at the entire conference - energetic, informative and great slides! His talk was practical and loaded with real numbers and statistics from the industry of iPhone development as a business. Standing room only for his talk, but it was worth it as the room was riveted the entire time.

Henry Balanon - Lottery you can influence. iPhone App Marketing for Devs
Bickbot (Founder & writer for TheAppleBlog.com)
Easily the funniest talk of the conference, Henry is also a great speaker. His talk was about how you can try to maximize your chances of getting that big “hit” and making it into the Top 100 - which should be your ultimate goal. Great information and entertaining throughout, Henry kept the whole room in stitches.

Rana June - Return to Quality Keynote
Medialets (Co-Founder and VP of Marketing)
Rana caught me off guard with this one. It had a controversial twist to it, but her talk cut through the BS and resonated with a lot of people, including myself. Luckily, it was recorded and you can watch her great talk here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

The Events
So, besides the great catering, the free beer and the Rock Band parties, there was one event that spontaneously occurred that really made the entire conference for me, and that was the iPhone Game Jam. The idea was the brainchild of Noel Llopis (Snappy Touch) who came up with the idea and organized the event.

A Game Jam is where a bunch of developers get together and try to build a game or games in a limited time span. In this case, it was from 7pm at night until 8:30am in the morning. I know, it sounds like a brutal exercise but it was one of the most fun events I’ve done in a long time, and it was entirely because of the people I was with and the amount I learned in a short period of time. The results that came out of the iPhone Game Jam were incredible! You can check them all out HERE.

For me, I had never played with a physics engine before so I really wanted to learn something new, so I played with Box2D and in 9 hours I managed to crank out Gravity Vs. Ladybugs.

It doesn’t look like much, but it only took 9 hours and is completely physics based so I’m extremely happy with it! Basically, the premise is that you use your finger to create gravity wells to keep the ladybugs away from your player while he automatically seeks out the gems. Pretty simple, but sorta fun too!

Anyway, as I said, the game jam was one of the best highlights of the whole conference. The energy and the people in the room really inspired me to forge ahead and build something cool while under the pressures of a ticking clock.

The People
And last, but not least, the people at 360iDev were amazing. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, from the speakers, to the organizers and to all the attendees, were all so friendly and open. Some of the people there were genuine stars in our industry but NONE of them were hard to approach and strike up a conversation with. They let me pick their brains for advice. They shared a few beers with me. They ENGAGED in genuine conversations and genuinely wanted to help others achieve the same success as they had. It would be too hard to name them all, but I can honestly say that I am grateful to have met and made new friendships with all the people there. And I really hope that we’ll be able to maintain these great relationships going forward because I’m sure that every single person that went to 360iDev had the same experience that I did.

And that’s it, the best conference I’ve ever went to. And if you missed it, I feel for you. And if you don’t believe me that it was really THAT good, check out the links below and see what they have to say about it because I know that I’m not the only one who felt this way.

[Updated]
TouchArcade - 360iDev Game Jam: 10 Hours of Game Development Insanity
Critical Thought Games Blog - 360iDev and Apple & App Store
MobileOrchard - iPhone Game Jam report
ByteClub - Surviving the iPhone Game Jam
Riptide Games - A night to remember

Yay! After 2 rejections and 1.5 months of waiting, the 1.1 update to TweetCapz was finally approved and with it comes a whole bunch of new features as well as a new name!

Yes, we decided to rename our app to PhotoCaps. After being on the App Store for over a month, we came to realize that TweetCapz wasn’t really evocative or meaningful when it came to describe the app. It’s important to keep it simple and descriptive but at the same time, not to pigeonhole your app into something that it’s not. PhotoCaps is primarily a photography app, not a twitter app. We’ve learned our lesson.

We also decided to update the icon. This new icon is much simpler and less cluttered than the previous one (our first one was way too generic). I’ve posted all three iterations so you can see how it’s evolved. We definitely like this new one the best, but we’d LOVE to hear your opinions on them!

Here’s our first icon:

At first, we liked it because of its simplicity but we quickly realized that there are probably hundreds of apps with the same icon. Also, it doesn’t really show you what the app does.

Here’s our second icon attempt:

This icon was an attempt to cram all the features of the app into the icon. Of course, when shrunk down to 57×57, it becomes a cluttered mess. While we thought this was better than our first icon, ultimately, there was just too much going on.

And finally, PhotoCaps’ icon:

We really like this icon because of its simplicity but also its uniqueness. It’s obviously a photography app and although it doesn’t evoke much more than that, it’s eye-catching enough (at least we think so) to potentially draw you in to at least click it to find out more.

What do you think?

I just got my ticket for 360|iDev! The show will be going down September 27 to 30, 2009.

You can find more details at the conference website: http://360iDev.com

It’s being organized by the folks who put on the 360|Flex shows, which is a crowd favorite. Tickets are cheaper on a first come, first serve basis!
So buy your tickets asap at http://360idev.eventbrite.com to get the best possible price. I did! See you there.

Let me know if you’re going!

We’re happy and honoured to have been profiled by UnlimitedMagazine.com this month. Shockingly, we’re on the front page! (w00t!)

The article is entitled “Toronto iPhone App Developers get with the program” (weird title but journalists are a wacky bunch ) and can be read here.

Great to see them give some props to Dark Horse Espresso Bar, they still have the best iced latte and butter tarts in town.

The “How to start, build, launch and market your first iPhone App in 28 days” series so far:

• Part 1: The Enrollment
• Part 2: The Prep
• Part 3: The Design
• Part 4: The Build
• Part 5: Coming soon…

Part 2: The Prep

Ok, so now that you’ve got all the paper work done (which you can do in a few hours) and you’ll be waiting for Apple to approve your Developer Program application, it’s time to start learning Objective-C and all things iPhone SDK.  But first, what do you need to buy?

Read on…
Read more…

Bear with us as we renovate our site. We’re in the midst of reconstructing this blog so I won’t write much other than - stay tuned!!

Oh, I am happy to be able to iHeartRate - our first iPhone App! It’s currently under review but should be ready very soon (I hope). Once it’s officially on the app store, we’ll talk about it some more. If you want a sneak peak, then head on over to the main Endloop home page.

If you know me, then you’ll know that I haven’t disappeared - I’ve just been largely silent on this blog.  It’s a shame really, but Twitter is just so much easier to keep up with.  I will try to do my best to update this when I have something to show for and I honestly hope that will be sooner than later.

I’ve added a new Labs section to the Endloop site in anticipation of providing a home for the projects I’m working on.  I don’t want to say when because I honestly don’t know, but like I said - I hope it will be soon.

In the meantime, I can say that I’ve taken a temporary break from the main project Ken and I are working on to experiment with some iPhone apps.  I hope to have my first iPhone app ready before summer, but we shall see.  I’m still waiting to here from Apple as to whether or not I’ve been accepted into their Developer’s Program.

I haven’t been too good with this blogging thing lately.  I find Twitter much easier to keep up with and generally a better platform to use.  When I actually sit down to write a blog entry, this sort of expectation to say something meaningful bubbles up and almost prevents me from writing anything at all.  Which is probably why it’s been so long since my last entry.

Anyway, the platform has been chosen (RoR) and development is chugging along.  We haven’t had as much time to spend on it (we’ll call it Lookahi for now) as we’d have liked, simply because of our existing obligations as consultants to our clients, but we still get to work on it part-time.

I spoke to Raymond Luk from Flow Ventures, a startup accelerator, the other day and asked him, when is it too early to speak to them about our ideas.  He told me, “It’s NEVER too early,” to which he quickly corrected himself and said, “Ok, sometimes it’s too early but when you have an idea that is clearly formulated and you know the path that you need to take it, that’s a good time for us to talk.”

Well, we’re pretty sure we’ve got all that but I’ve still got that feeling inside that I would feel better if I actually had a working Alpha ready at least before I spill the beans on the project and start looking for funding.  Any thoughts on this?