Exactly one year ago I wrote a posting called Now you have an app. So, what’s next? talking about some things many developers tend to forget while creating their applications. Having seen so many Kwik made storybooks (the words below are valid for non-storybooks as well) since then, I think it is time to provide some more insights to people willing to create their own stories. Great story, features, ideas, excitement… Stop! You can’t start yet! It is very common, Jane (our fictional user) has this nice story in her head (it could be an original one or a personal visit to one of the old classics) and a few sketches, that she thinks are great for a storybook app. She searches and discovers many…
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Migrating from Kwik 1
With the upcoming release of Kwik 2 on September 18th, you may be asking how compatible is the new plugin with the current one. This post tries to clarify some anxieties 🙂 As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, Kwik 2 brings several new features that are not compatible with Kwik (you cannot create a project in Kwik 2 and expect to import/work it back in Kwik 1). Also, due its focus on full apps (not comics), some features available in Kwik are not available in Kwik 2. Let’s talk about what is NOT available in Kwik 2: Comics: some of you already know that Kwik 1 can create comics projects using the old Corona Comic SDK. This SDK was never updated and lacks…
Getting ready to take-off: Showcase, new tutorial and other updates
Showcase: Since we announced the Kwik Showcase, 3 new storybook apps were added: Frederik Spin, tell us the story of a little spider who loves to create webs using gorgeous illustrations; Hello World Idodo’s Dreamy Adventure, allow us to travel with the little Idodo around the world; Oho the Monkey, brings us to the jungle to meet their friends. In all the cases above, no external code was added (pure Kwik apps as I like to say), confirming that Kwik can do its job no matter the experience of its users. Here goes Sparky again! This week Ansca’s announced Sparky the Shark as App of the Month (May) which is amazing for Mark Newell and his team. This is the second time a Kwik made…
New iPad projects or not?
The new iPad is here and it’s Retina screen is really great (I have mine in hands at this moment). The big question now is: should you build your projects or not for the new device? Wait before simply answer “Of course!”. You will see the answer is not that simple. Let’s start with some facts first: – due the size and resolution of the screen, your projects will grow (average) 3x in size; – only 6% of the iPad market is running the new device at this moment; – projects made for the old iPads will automatically be re-scaled by iOS 5.1, with no need of rewriting code (you will need to update your current app using one of the Corona builds mentioned below)….
Now you have an app. So, what’s next?
For many people, especially the ones who just published their first app, the excitement of building and seeing the application icon shining at Apple’s or any other store is enough to satisfy their feelings of accomplishment. Honestly, having published some apps in the past myself, it is really pretty cool. However, the “emotion” drains day after day, when the sales do not come, the ratings are not the expected ones and/or the reviews never show up. The purpose of this posting is to provide a few tips on how to build a simple marketing plan for increase your app chances of survival, and keep you excited for the next ones. 1) There’s work before you launch, and it is not coding… Let’s be very clear…
It’s not about features…
Last week, two apps made with Kwik were awarded by two different sources. Their success not only make me proud for, somehow, being part of their stories but mostly because they are a clear examples that, having (or not) feature A or B is not the most important thing when you have a good story to tell. Every day I receive several requests about “missing feature A” or “feature B should do more than which it currently does”, etc. Last month I was in some meetups with Carlos Icaza and he mentioned in his sessions about the “benefits” of not having all 5,000 APIs provided by iOS SDK into Corona. He reminded us that with “only 500 APIs”, people have done amazing things. Less, sometimes,…
Holiday’s gift!
First of all, I sincerely wish you are having a great holiday’s days and an amazing 2012! For me, 2011 was an interesting year, with Kwik reaching downloads that I never expected when I stated to code it. Thanks to you all, the product is maturing and (I hope) getting better and better each version. Due your support and recent comments that your apps are sometimes bigger than you expected (especially for Android markets), I decided to give you a end of year gift with version 1.8.1 (just uploaded): a new feature under the Tools panel, called Export layer as JPG. Any time you have a layer that does not need transparency (a background, for example), simply select the layer and press the new button….
Creating a multi-language project with Kwik – Part 3
In the past tutorials, we checked how to configure a multi-language project and how to setup images and audio. In this posting, I will cover how to defined animations and buttons. Working with animations First of all, I created a simple linear animation for the kwkwitch layer (the witch in black, which needs to appear only in the English version of the storybook. These are the parameters I set: Still in the same layer, I used the Tools->Set language to a layer button and created a new group: After that, I selected the layer witchspa (the witch in white, to show up only in the Spanish version). Without creating a new animation for it (this witch will “consume” the same animation from its counterpart kwkwitch),…