Ambient Writer development thread

gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
edited January 2015 in Announce Your Game!

Hi, as some of you might know already, I'm uploading the binaries of Neko Montaaju and Sort 'Em! soon – probably a week apart – so expect those in the stores in two to three weeks time.

I've been "treading water" by working on one of my projects, which was way down the list, but it's working out rather well and exceeding my expectations, and apart from that, I'm really enjoying working on it.

So because of that, I'm "promoting it up the list" to be my next app to publish.

It's an app called Ambient Writer and I'm hoping it'll be ready to fire to Apple in a month's time (optimistically-speaking!). I won't show any screenshots or progress videos quite yet, but for the moment here's the icon - hopefully that'll peak your interest!

""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

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  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited January 2015

    Here's a teaser trailer showing the splash and menu for the app Ambient Writer; hope you like it. (Sound is out of sync with images again, though).

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822

    Haven't got a clue what it's all about ! :smile: very mysterious, but looks very nice so far.

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822

    @gyroscope said:
    . . . I'm hoping it'll be ready to fire to Apple in a month's time . . .

    Famous last words :smile:

  • gamestudentgamestudent Member Posts: 504

    What? I have no Idea what its about, but I hope to find out more.

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited January 2015

    @Socks said:
    Haven't got a clue what it's all about ! :smile: very mysterious, but looks very nice so far.

    @gamestudent said:
    What? I have no Idea what its about, but I hope to find out more.

    Thanks, guys, good to hear. :smile:

    Here's the splash and menu again, this time with a byline, which will explain more - and after, I'll explain even more about the setup/purpose.

    Let's start by mentioning NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) - it's to produce the first draft of a novel of 50,000 words (a short novel then) within the month of November. No prizes, just a sense of achievement. (http://nanowrimo.org)

    So for NanoWriMo, and any first draft novel, the majority of writers (myself included) start and plough on to the end without going back to amend, delete or change anything. Just get that first draft written, before second draft edit, etc.

    Of course, there's quite a few word processers, writing apps/programs already out there, ranging from complicated to simple - and I thought I'd add to the choice.

    Because of writing without stopping, in my app there's no cutting, copying and pasting, and only enough pages for one novel. After the pages exported as text to your email address, and the whole first draft is finished, Tables clear to start a fresh first draft of a new novel. It's like the app's limitations are its strengths, I like to think. (Same with the text font or font size which can't be changed from Courier New though the text colour can be changed).

    The user can make chapters and type on pages of average 10 words per line, 60 lines long, max. of 166 pages. This works out to about 100,000 words.

    Creative writing needs inspiration. So to that end - there's a choice of out-of-focus background images or flat colours. Paper texture and font colour can be chosen as well. Also choice of looped music tracks, as well as a sound effects to help the creative mood: wind, rain, fire, stream, ocean, birds, etc. As alternative to music tracks, i'm working on a random musical notes generator too - plucked guitar, piano, harp, etc.

    Also I'm including a row of random buttons for random backgrounds, sounds, music, etc. And including the "serendipity of randomness" by including buttons to generate random nouns, verbs or adjectives to stimulate the creative flow.

    All those things add up to the "ambient' side of the Ambient Writer app.

    One final thing - the custom keyboard keys look like those of a mechanical typewriter, each key pressed down and moving back up) giving a typewriter key sound; and the bell and carriage return sound at the end of each line. (And the type moves up a line after too).

    There we are: hope that gives a better picture of what Ambient Writer is like. I hope to show you the "engine room" scene - the keyboard, buttons, pages, etc – perhaps in a week or two's time when it's more sorted. :smile:

    P.S If anyone would like to check out my author page for interest, it's
    http://www.davidjohngriffin.com

    P.P.S

    @gyroscope said: . . . I'm hoping it'll be ready to fire to Apple in a month's time . . .

    @Socks said:
    Famous last words :smile:

    Yes, you're right, @Socks - a bit optimistic of me- OK, ready in two months then... :smile:

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited January 2015

    Hi, here's the latest progress thread - the keyboard is fully working now - about to embark upon entering chapter titles properly (shown in the top band), entering the novel title, and all the buttons to made to work properly, adjusting ones as well as random ones; finish export section too. (Oh, and the cursor isn't working properly again...)

    Anyhow, hope you like it so far.

    P.S There's no limit to a chapter's length, or novel length, all saved as chapters in the Table each time a letter is typed - but only 14 lines max. shows on the screen at any one time while your typing - this is to encourage you not to "look back" at your first draft, just keep on typing...

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822

    Looking great ! Love the idea, love the mechanical keyboard too, the sounds are also spot on ! :)

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    Glad you like, it @Socks; and thanks for the "vote of confidence" - appreciated. :smile:

    (Re: the typewriter sounds - it took a little while to get them sounding right but was worth the time spent, I think.)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    Very nice. Like it!

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  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited January 2015

    @Braydon_SFX Thanks too, Bray - hoping Ambient Writer might actually be relatively popular - can only hope... :smile:

    P.S Haven't forgotten about Sort 'Em! - just got put on the back burner for the 10th time because of my over-enthusiasm with this one - not that much to do on it so really must get that off to Apple soon.

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited January 2015

    Hi, here's an updated icon for Ambient Writer for interest:

    And here's the latest progress video - I've sorted starting fresh, inputting novel and author name and inputting chapter headings too; as well as exporting the text to email. Coming along nicely...

    I'm only using the letters Q and W in the demo vid. as these are updated programmatically-speaking and the other keys aren't yet.... my next job...

    Anyhow, hope you get more of an idea where Ambient Writer is heading and you like it! Any comments appreciated, thanks. (P.S the dreading audio delay in the vid is back again...)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • zweg25zweg25 Member Posts: 738

    Looks great @gyroscope‌! One bug I see is when you leave the writing scene and then come back to it the cursor is in the wrong position (it goes back to the beginning)

    Best of luck

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    Looking great, David! I love doing text-related projects. Dealing with tables and those 'new' text functions is interesting!

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  • gamestudentgamestudent Member Posts: 504

    Keep it up!

  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114

    Looks like a really interesting non game project.. Nice to see people doing things like this with the software.

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    @zweg25 + @Braydon_SFX + @gamestudent + @Chunkypixels

    Thanks, guys. :smile:

    @zweg25 said:

    ...One bug I see is when you leave the writing scene and then come back to it the cursor is in the wrong position (it goes back to the beginning)

    Cheers for pointing that out - it's got a mind of it's own again - will fix...

    @Braydon_SFX said:
    Looking great, David! I love doing text-related projects. Dealing with tables and those 'new' text functions is interesting!

    Thanks again, Bray. :smile: Yes, this is one of my older ideas before the newer text functions and even before Tables - was well pleased when the text functions happened so I could start to put it into reality after so many years.

    @gamestudent said:
    Keep it up!

    Thank you, will try my best! (I'll make sure this is completely finished before I carry on with any other project - that is my oath!! :wink:

    @Chunkypixels said:
    Looks like a really interesting non game project.. Nice to see people doing things like this with the software.

    Cheers -this is my third non-game app using GSC - here's the other two for interest:

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mega-clock-alarm-date-timer/id726496735?mt=8

    https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mega-conversion-calculators/id733271423?mt=8

    Right, back to it. o:)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited November 2015

    Hey, guys and gals, hope you're all well and your GameSalad projects are going well too.

    I've been away for 6 months or more to concentrate on my writing (I found a publisher for my first novel The Unusual Possession of Alastair Stubb ( davidjohngriffin.com ) so have been editing furiously) but have been back to GameSalad Creator in the past couple of weeks.

    And picked up where I left off with Ambient Writer. It's now complete ( apart from a few graphics tweaks and putting in IAP stuff) so hopefully will be ready to fire very soon.

    Here's another demo for your interest. Please note the slow speed of typing and misspellings is due to me typing with the mouse! (You can skip 1:05 to 1:50 to save watching the slow typing if you like)

    Any comments appreciated, thanks.

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • RThurmanRThurman Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 2,880

    Glad you are back working on it!

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    Glad to see you back, David! Project looks good as always!

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  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    Hey there he is!

    Guru Video Channel   | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS  

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    @RThurman @Braydon_SFX @Lost_Oasis_Games

    Thank you, RT, better late than never, as they say!

    Thank you also, Bray. :smile:

    And yes, Dave still about! I did miss GameSalad...

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • tatiangtatiang Member, Sous Chef, PRO, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 11,949

    Still remember my dad hunting and pecking on an honest-to-goodness typewriter when I was a kid. I think he'd choose that if he still could and... now he can! :)

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  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    @tatiang Good to hear, Tatian! :smile:

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited December 2015

    Well, I've finally finished Ambient Writer and it's ready to publish and upload to Apple.

    Thanks to @Armelline 's excellent IAP demo, that aspect wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be. (First time ever I've used IAP).

    Can't remember though how to test IAP whether is working or not on my iPad. make a binary and upload that via Code to the iPad, is that right, can anyone tell me please? (Should have learned that by now... :wink: )

    Also did I read somewhere that Apple will reject the app if IAP is set to Buy App/Game? Seems strange if true....

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    The only way you can test properly is by submitting the build through TestFlight which is now owned by Apple. Honestly, it's such a slow process compared to the way it use to be.

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  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    @Braydon_SFX Thanks, Bray. Oh yes, TestFlight - a few more hoops to jump through....

    I'll think I'll just upload the binary and see what happens... Apple will soon tell me if there's something wrong, won't they! :smile:

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • LovejoyLovejoy Member Posts: 2,078

    @gyroscope said:
    I'll think I'll just upload the binary and see what happens... Apple will soon tell me if there's something wrong, won't they! :smile:

    You are better than this! :)

    Fortuna Infortuna Forti Una

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598

    Ouch, @Lovejoy , I took that one on the chin! :p

    You're so right, my enthusiasm is outweighing my professionalism there.... :|

    OK, I'll investigate the ins and outs of TestFlight soon... :)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • gyroscopegyroscope I am here.Member, Sous Chef, PRO Posts: 6,598
    edited December 2015

    Hey, sorry for my slowness, but how do I upload the binary just for TestFlight and not as app store submission, can anyone tell me please? (Will application loader give me the option?)

    ""You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike." - Zork        temp domain http://spidergriffin.wix.com/alphaghostapps

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273

    @gyroscope - There is a well done tutorial video by @Thunder_Child that explains the process. You can find the video within this thread.

    My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx

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