Nowhere IS somewhere

Development on this remains stagnant!  I did have two interesting anecdotes on my Android apps, however, and here they are.

First is pretty simple, but it means a lot to me:  There are people who use my app!  I am really thankful for the comments I've received about them; it really motivates me to continue to do what I love to do despite the perceived cost of doing it.

Second is an email I received from Google!  It was a warning about my application and how I had a spam/fraudulent description on one of them and they were in danger of being taken down!  So I said to myself "what the..." and checked.  There was nothing fraudulent about what I said; I had wrote a simple description, but then I saw at the end of the description that I stated that the app would be updated soon.  I had to laugh at the irony.  I hadn't touched that app in about two or three years, so I could see what Google was talking about!  Needless to say, I changed it.  Thanks Google!

Another Story

I've been working on an app that will hopefully generate some revenue for me, but in the meantime I've thought a lot about the D&D application.  I'm not sure which direction to go as far as charging money for it.  At the heart of it I'm against it; the app is for a special community that shouldn't have to pay for a resource like this.  But the alternative driving force is that being able to charge for it would drive it's release a lot faster than if it remains free.  I think for now, however, I will keep the app free.  On to the status update.

I've gotten hold of an electronic version for all of the AD&D 2nd Edition materials!  That is really good news!  The hardest thing for the app is definitely the "data entry" part, as people might have guessed.  Well, perhaps "hard" isn't the best word.  Let's use "tedious" instead!

The biggest portion of the remaining work is the formatting of the material to be added, i.e., how to insert it into the app's in-memory database in the same way the original spells appear.  Aside from that, I've mapped out a few ways in which the new material can be incorporated into the flow of the application from a visual standpoint.  I want to shy away from just a million buttons linking the user to each individual resource, but it still has to be intuitive since there is no help section to the application.

More on this to come as I explore it further!

Beginning... again!

I've started this blog to update interested parties about the progress of the AD&D Spellbook application that's on the Android market.

A little about me:  I've been playing D&D since I was about 10, but to be sure of my actual age when I started I'd have to ask my dad; my older brother might know too.   Now I'm a lot older (34!) and am a Software Engineer.  Unfortunately for me, programming Android apps remains a hobby and not a full time job, so time is in short supply when it comes to updating applications already released to the market (#firstworldproblems, right?).

Anyway, I hope to update this blog regularly with my progress (or lack of), and I'm really happy that this particular application has brought joy (any emotion, really) to the people who have used it!