App Suspended By Google

This app was suspended by google, and therefore cannot be downloaded onto your android phone. Google suspended the app at the request of the Rubik's Cube copyright holder.

RELEASE/UPDATE 2011 09 30

This release sports a new menu from the main Activity of the app. This way you don't need to go to the options page to change some display option, you just tap the menu button.

There's also a change where by the app doesn't go to sleep on you as it did before. This is good because when it goes to sleep it looses the OpenGL context and the cube disappears from the screen when you return to the app. It's hard to explain, so lets just say that it doesn't happen that much any more.

That's about it.

Just an aside. I noticed yesterday that Mind Orange, the company that pirated my game had vanished from Android Market. I wonder if it was my complaints or someone else's that lead to this.

RELEASE/UPDATE 2011 08 19

I uploaded another update today. If you download this app you'll find a slightly improved user interface. No changes are visible at first glance, but, in 45 degree angle mode and on a smaller screen you'll find the selection of "turning arrows" to be improved. This is especially true on the smaller screen devices. Also, in either regular or 45 degree mode you'll find that you can spin the cube by 'swiping' to the left or right.

Remember you can turn faces of the cube in 45 degree angle mode by selecting a turning arrow and then selecting the 'go' button at the bottom of the screen. Also remember that you can turn off the mirror and spinning animation, and switch between 45 degree and normal mode by going to the 'options' page. You can always select the move you want to perform by using the dropdown spinner at the top of the screen.

RELEASE/UPDATE 2011 08 06

This release adds the 'Mirror' functionality to regular mode. The Mirror option, when turned on, shows the side of the cube that's facing away from you in regular mode. This way you can get information about all six sides of the cube without rotating it. Basically you can tilt the screen to see five of the sides, and the mirror allows you to see the last side - the side that's facing away from you. Here's a screenshot:

Hope folks like this. You can turn it off in the Options page at the bottom of the Options list.

Recent Events 2011 07 30

The Android Awesome Cube game is a Rubik's Cube implementation for the Android phone. I've programmed the app up until now using an Android emulator. I actually published the program on the Android Market without doing enough tests. I found out that another company has published a version of my game without my consent or cooperation. I have blogged about this in the past. It made me pretty angry.

Testing the app from a real device is important. Since getting a hold of a real device I've found two errors, both of wich are very big. The first one was such that the game could not be played. It affected the display of colors on the screen, in the form of what open-gl programmers refer to as textures. The textures weren't displaying properly. I've blogged about this error. The second error affected the game such that a certain move could not be performed in the game without making the cube unsolvable. It is as if someone swapped pieces on you without your knowing it. People familiar with trying to solve the Rubik's Cube would understand. These are both bad errors. Both are corrected now. The first error has been corrected on the downloadable version of the game, and the second correction will go to the Android Market on Sunday or Monday.

What does this mean and why should I be pleased? When I first found out that the game I'd been working on was copied I was mad, but so far the company hasn't updated their version with bug fixes. I downloaded their version yesterday and it was unusable. This pleased me. They added some aspects to their version, like adds, and a fancy start-up screen, but it's not usable at all.

I don't know if they'll be able to follow what I'm doing to the code, now that the package name is different, but if they don't then their version is junk. They copied something unusable. And if they remedy their version in the future, how would I feel then? We'll see then. For now I'm happy with the way things have turned out.

And what if you're thinking of downloading the game? I suggest waiting for an announcement from me or download my version of the game with the automatic update feature.

COLORS 2011 07 29

Well, the colors on a regular emulator worked, but not on a device, and believe it or not I didn't have a device to test on till today. It was a problem with the open-gl textures. I did fix it, and then had a chance to try the app on the device. It seems that even after all the programming to make '45 degree angle' mode work, that the other mode, (we'll call regular mode) works better. 45 degree angle mode uses triangles on the screen that you're supposed to be able to touch to make the app recognize which face of the cube you want to turn next. Well, that works well on the emulator where your pointer is the mouse, but on the device, where your finger is sometimes bigger than the triangle itself, it doesn't always work.

Oh well. If I work on another version of the app to replace this one I may readdress this problem. For now '45 degree angle' mode is a novelty and a nice addition, but not essential.

The program version number that this post refers to is 1.0.0.20110729 .

Still Doing Testing 2011 07 27

So, what are my plans for awesome-cube? Really the next phase is to do lots of testing. Feel free to download the app and feel more free to comment or write to me about it, but try to remember that it's probably still not done. The QR Code is at right, though. That would be the place to start to see the app for yourself.

With regards to the matter of the 'Orange Mind' company, I really don't know what my next action is going to be. I don't like that they used my name (even if it was only in the package name), and I don't like that they're charging for the app. I don't know, though, what I can do about it.