Rullaan - Great Retro Styled Tilt Game

My blog is 99% about Android, but as I have confessed in some of my past blog posts, I am also a Apple fanboy as well as an iOS app developer. (However, the problem is that I prefer to play with my kid during evenings, so I rarely find out enough time to really progress my own iPhone app projects - nor Android app projects, of course).

I would like to introduce to you my friend Jari Karvonen who has worked really hard for several months to complete and to release his very first iOS app to App Store. His first application was finally approved yesterday to App Store - kudos and congrats to Jari!

Jari has developed a cool retro styled tilt game called Rullaan. I am big fan of puzzle games and I really like this game. I have followed how Jari has been progressing with his game project, and I also had the possibility to do some beta testing before the game was submitted to App Store.

The game features minimalistic and retro styled 3D graphics which I think are simply awesome. I also like the sound effects which are minimalistic, but fit greatly to retro styled atmosphere of the game. Tilt based controls are very well implemented, and I have to say that Jari has managed to avoid to create frustrating gaming experience which are quite typical in similar tilt games where the task of the gamer is to guide a rolling ball to solve puzzles or to reach given goals. By the way, for those who do not speak Finnish, the name of the game, Rullaan, can be approximately translated to "I'm rolling".

Jari describes his game as follows:

"Explore the world of Rullaan!

Orbiting the distant planet of Rullaan there remains mysterious structures left behind an ancient civilization. You need steady hands to steer the spherical recon droid through all the levels."

Here is the App Store link for the game, and here you can find the supporting web pages for Jari's app.

And here is a short video trailer for the game:

Give a try for Rullaan, I hope the game will be very successful, so that Jari will be rewarded for his hard working, he would stay motivated to further develop the game, and he would buy me a couple of beers (in case I manage to contribute the success of Rullaan with this blog post ...).

Angry Birds has been holding the #1 position long enough ...

I guess Jari is really interested to receive any feedback and proposals for his game. You can contact him using the email address that can be found on his Rullaan web site.

Quick Nexus S Review

Here is a quick review of Nexus S running Android 2.3. The review video is provided by Intomobile.com:

Android 2.3 a.k.a. Gingerbread released

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) was finally released today. Some of the feature highlights of the new platform version include:

• Enhancements for game development: New concurrent garbage collector, optimized event handling, more extensive set of native APIs exposed for NDK developers, support for several new sensor types, including gyroscope.
• Rich multimedia: New video formats VP8 and WebM. Audio effects such as reverb, equalization, and bass boost.
• New forms of communication: Support for front-facing camera, SIP/VOIP, and Near Field Communications (NFC).

Also SDK tools have been updated to provide more efficient and powerful tools, such as new UI Builder (preview).

Watch the following official video as a quick introduction to highlights of the 2.3 platform release:

Tagxedo, tag cloud with styles

A very interesting visual way to create a tag cloud: Tagxedo

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Sony's Android developer site

If you are interested to develop and publish Android apps for the Google TV platform, here is one new developer web site to get started: Android Developer Site by Sony. The official event for launching Sony's first Google TV product will be arranged in NYC, October 12.

Google expanded paid apps market to a number of new countries

This is something that many Scandinavian Android developers (including myself) have been waiting for almost too long time: Google has expanded the list of countries where paid apps are available in Android Market. This list includes now also Finland! More importantly, Google has also added new countries where developers are accepted to distribute and sell their applications via Android Market. The list of current locations supported for selling paid apps is published in here.

I am really happy that Finnish Android developers are finally given the possibility to sell their apps through the official Android Market. I am now more motivated to finalize my Android apps :)

Do Androids Dream of LEGO MINDSTORMS?

Lego has released an Android application that can be used to control Lego Mindstorms robots using Android 2.1+ devices. The MINDdroid app is a remote-control application that allows you to create a wireless Bluetooth connection directly with your NXT, and once a connection is established, you can tilt and turn your phone to make the robot move forward, turn to the sides, and by pressing an action button on the phone's screen, activate the Action motor. I

To download the MINDdroid application to your Android phone, you can scan this QR code with your scanning application, or visit the App Market through your Android phone. More information about the MINDroid application is available in here.

The MINDdroid Application has been developed by some dedicated AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) and software specialists Günther Hölzl and Shawn Brown, in collaboration with the LEGO MINDSTORMS team.