Greetings!

The main purpose of this website is to support Android indie game developers with tutorials, reviews and promotion of their games. The main difficulty for the developers is not to make the game, but to get exposure. To get it out there. If you find anything useful here, please spread the word. Like my page on Facebook, follow me on Google+ or Twitter. Thank you!

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Friday 17 July 2015

General programming blog - sm4.github.io

Recently, I don't have much time to work on any games, but I still programming as part of work.  I still hope to get back to making games, but in the meantime, I will be posting interesting findings from my non-game development here: http://sm4.github.io/

I am currently focusing on AWS and I hope I can later use this to create multi-player games!
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Friday 24 April 2015

Yomimaru - Japanese reading website

I haven't posted anything recently. After finishing my book, I have decided to put 100% effort into my other hobby and that is learning Japanese. I started from zero and now, after 6 months of school and another 6 months of daily use, I can say I can communicate with Japanese native speakers.

However I always had troubles finding something to read on my level. So I decided to start a website that will help beginners, elementary and pre-intermediate Japanese learners with reading.

Please welcome yomimaru.com.
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Friday 26 December 2014

AndEngine Community New Forums

Since AndEngine old forums have been overrun by spammers and the moderators did not have enough power to stop it, the community started a new forum at http://andengine-community.com/

The new community is alive and kicking. Maybe it's the impulse the AndEngine needs to survive. If you are working with AndEngine, it's definitely worth a shot.
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Friday 7 November 2014

Jewels Combo - Classic connect three game review

Sometimes I get a really simple game or a remake of a notoriously know game for review. It can turn up to be a great piece and therefore I am not quick to judge. In this case, it is a newest addition to the connect three genre with a classic diamond visuals.

Jewels Combo from Micri-M is exactly what is seems to be. If' you have ever played any of the similar games before, you will immediately know what to do.

Well, it's not that hard to be honest. Simply tap areas where more than three diamonds of the same shape and color line up to remove them from the game. New diamonds will fall from the top to fill the gaps. Get as many points as you can in a short time limit.


 

So what does this game bring new to the genre? It seems that there is nothing. Apart from the gems there are a few power tiles that can break a whole line or a cross and add time, but that's it. It goes back to basics.

The game visuals are sort of outdated as well. Players used to Candy Crush Saga will certainly feels like this game is a downgrade. There are the necessary sounds and a nice tune playing in the background.

Summary

Jewels combo is a remake of a classic game that unfortunately doesn't bring anything new to captivate the players.

Google play link
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Friday 31 October 2014

Vocal Hazard Pack - free vocals for your game

Recently, Volterock released a second part of the Vocal Hazard Pack. It contains many high quality original vocals such as screams and shouts and can prove very useful to gamedevs. A the license? CC-BY!.

Visit the official website for more information: http://www.volterock.com/

The download links were posted on Reddit, you can join the discussion there.
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Saturday 11 October 2014

Did you buy Learning AndEngine and made a game? Let me know and get free ad here!

My book will teach you everything about Android game programming with AndEngine. It describes the publishing as well. If you have bought the book and want to get some free promotion, here's a deal.

1) Take a picture with you, the book (Kindle is fine, just pick a page with some screenshots I can recognize) and your game, and post it anywhere in social media.

2) Review the book on a website, where did you buy it, or Amazon if you have bought it on Packt website.

3) Send me the link to your photo, link to the review, link to Google Play and a small 125x125px button-banner with your advertisement. Use my email android@kul.is.

I will put the ad to the right panel with the link to your game and if there will be more games, I will write an article about submitted entries.

Right now it's a perfect time to publish a game. Christmas is coming and with millions of new Android phones to be sold to new gamers, perfect chance to get your game out there.
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Wednesday 8 October 2014

Killer Ant Empire Game MMO Review - Ever wanted to command an army of ants?

What sounds like a title of a B-movie is actually a nice little MMO game from Umz Games. Umz specializes in multiplayer and such games can be a lot of fun given you get somebody to play with. Because the main focus of the game is on skirmishes between ant colonies, Killer Ant Empire stands and falls on the number of people playing the game.

The single player part is quite simple. Grow your colony by foraging food and killing prey. Some prey is docile and easy to get rid of, some fight back.

There are many different types of food, but they work pretty much the same. After your scouts automatically discover food, send a number of foragers to the food source. The more foragers you have, the faster you can gather the food. There's also a limit of foragers on a single food item.
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Friday 3 October 2014

Learning AndEngine ebook Giveaway

Learning AndEngine book cover
I have written this tutorial style book for AndEngine beginners and it was published last month. Packt has given me 6 copies for a giveaway contest. The contest ended on 12th October.

All you have to do is fill in your email in the contest form. You can also post about entering the contest on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or your website. In the post, tell me why do you want this book and include this link: http://bit.ly/1udi1vz. It leads to the book page on Packt website. Don't forget to change the visibility of the post to public so I can actually see it.

Please go to the form and submit all required information. The contest will run from 4th October until the end of 12th October. Good luck! Any questions? Just use the comments below!
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Monday 15 September 2014

Learning AndEngine - New Tutorial Style Book about AndEngine Finally Published

My book about AndEngine has finally been published. If you are interested in getting a copy, you can get one at Packt website or Amazon. The book is really basic. It teaches everything from downloading AndEngine to publishing the game. It covers most of the basic aspects of AndEngine and it does that by slowly developing a doodle-jump style game. The game is available in Google Play store.

While reading the book, you will learn a bit about game design, how to design entities and also which software development pattern to use to make the code more readable. Moving sprites, getting input from user, using physics and playing sounds and music; this all is described as well.
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Saturday 23 August 2014

Tiny Helicopter Review - Flappy Bird Minus the Frustration

Tiny Helicopter by Micri-M is a simple game that can be categorized as tap-to-fly horizontal scroller. It is very small and starts very fast without any splash screens or menu screens. Right in to the game as you would expect from a simple game like this.

The game itself probably doesn't need any further explanations. But just in case it's the first time you've ever played tap-to-fly game, the rules are very simple. You pilot a tiny helicopter through a horizontally scrolling level full of stalactites and stalagmites. The helicopter flies right on its own and it's up to you to control the vertical movement. You have to tap the screen to propel it upwards, and it falls downwards thanks to gravity. Crashing in to the pillars, floor or ceiling means game over.
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