So I took a couple days and some late nights and did a little project that I had wanted to do in order to make my first OF game something I’d really push. I took the TriPeaks engine (already ported to iPhone in Metal TriPeaks), a game that I am truly addicted too, and re-used a lot of the Jezster Assets and some new All-In cards and created a more “Happy World” version of TriPeaks. I then revamped the engine so that I could make any board layout I want that fit the rules and then did a few boards. Then just a little ‘achievement check’ coding and I added in the OpenFeint API…

…………And WOW!!

I have a TriPeaks game that is in my opinion way more fun (and cute) than any of the other Solitaire games out there. TriPeaks just ends up feeling so much more like a a puzzle/action game than a solitaire game, and this is no exception. Initial Beta testing is over, and yet I still find myself playing this game… And I can’t wait until I can be competing against all of you on the OF global leaderboards.

Thank you OpenFeint for making a product that has helped take this game to the next level.

The process was so easy, that Im happy to say Ive also already added it into Jezster. With the existing goals and high score system already in there, it was less than a couple hour project. And Ive spent a bunch more time optimizing the application to get rid of the slowdown issues on 3.x devices. So It now works on 3.1 like it originally worked on the 2.x devices…. Why oh why did the performance get hit that hard while they “improved” the OS…. So, JEZSTER is in the Approval process and is coming back swinging with OpenFeint too… Lets have some online Domination.

See you on the leaderboards…

Get TriPeaks Explosion now

I had a really great group of Beta Testers in private forums on this site that helped steer the initial XA for WM to make it such a great product. (and if any of you have since picked up an iPod Touch or iPhone and want to participate just let me know, that goes for all XA for WM converts to iPhone).

Well I want to take that to the next level. So I have created a Facebook Group that will allow complete interaction along with Sneak Peaks, design input(and more), and eventually will be Ad Hoc Beta Testers if they want to be. All I ask is for feedback on what you are thinking on what we are doing or should do, and how you would use it…

Just drop an email and if Im still wanting more and I can find you on FB Ill throw you an invite….

Thanks

My recent example. I have a nice little PokerTimer program that I wanted to upload for FREE on the AppStore. Thing is it got rejected not once, but Twice. Why? Well the first time is because they have changed their policy and are now rejecting for a ‘private API’ that really isnt dangerous and in fact should be public. Original iPhone 2.0 OS builds actually EVEN needed it to work correctly. And Ive used it in at least 5 applications!! It basically tells the device, ‘hey you are in Landscape.’ But now using it got my App rejected. Ok. So I take it out and re-submit.

After another week and a half, rejection #2. Why, because I used a Standard “compose” icon (still visible in the screenshot of PokerTimer) as a button to enter when you EDIT the blinds. Yes, it seems that it might confuse some users because its for EDITING MESSAGES not EDITING BLINDS. You’ll see the trivial change to the icon that I did in order to fix this. C’mon APPLE, this icon has been used for EDITING of all types for YEARS!!!

AND Apple, how about if its going to take 1-2 weeks to even complete the Approval Process, that you actually complete the first review and tell me on the first rejection that there is more than one infraction. How hard would it have been for the reviewer to do a complete review and say, “Hey, change this icon and remove this API call”, both of which are ridiculious to be rejected for in the first place, but at least it would have knocked the approval of a nice little application down to a couple weeks from a month.

[End Rant]

All-In 3.0 has been doing very well, and I encourage Windows Mobile users to check it out. Of course Microsoft is going the way of Apple with their submission process and has rejected it once due to some weird “hopper” test that they use to try and crash your application over 2 hours of random input. The thousands of people that have played the game dont run in to too many real world crashes or I would have heard about them. But I will be attempting to get that resolved and re-submit soon…

PokerTimer iPhone has not yet ‘cleared customs’ as now Apple do to their ridiculious submission testing has rejected it twice. The first time was from a private API that doesnt even make sense to be private and I have used in at least 4 other applications. The 2nd time I used a ‘compose’ icon (they maybe could have mentioned it the first time) that is a piece of paper and pencil to access where you ‘Edit’ the Levels. Well its not for composing or editing Levels but rather messages and may confuse the users to use that icon, so I have since re-submitted again for the 3rd time with a slightly altered icon.

All-In Poker Lite is also in the submission pipeline, which will offer a FREE and rather unobtrusive game of All-In with only Limit Hold Em and Omaha included.

We have some other projects in early stages for the iPhone including Poker Timer Pro, The update to All-In, another poker related title, and initial work has been started on another possibly recognizable title….

Extreme Agenda iPhone

Yes, plans are in the works to bring Extreme Agenda over to the iPhone in stages. The plan is to first bring a lot of the calendar functionality over as the iPhone calendar is rather weak. Then Task/Todo’s and Sync/Contacts/Projects and as much feature parity as we can possibly hit while creating this new interface. We’d LOVE to hear feeback on what you really want to see.

So Yes, we are rather busy…. Hope you are having a great Holiday Season.

We are pleased to announce that we have finally released Version 3.0 of All-In Poker. It has a bunch of great new features including the game of Omaha, Multiple Careers, and a slick new interface. We have also put a lot of effort into making it better on the new classes of devices with VGA and WVGA screens and even 320×320 screens for the Treo users out there. Bigger Fonts and making it more finger friendly are just some of the things we tried to do for you. We hope to agree that we have taken the best Poker game for Windows Phones and made it even better.

And we hope that our current users will be willing to pay the small upgrade fee to start enjoying the game with the great new features. We know our competitor’s charge that same price for just a limit version of their game or just an Omaha Version. Why not continue to have it all in one place. Previous users can install the trial version, and if they want to revert back to a 2.x version they can download that off our product page to re-install right over the new trial.

Thanks and we hope you enjoy All-In 3.0 for Windows Mobile.

We have completed and submitted our next very quick project and we really like how it has turned out. An absolutely FREE PokerTimer for iPhone. We went for beauty and function on this one. We created it to have all the functionality that we use in our monthly poker league, so it should be a great choice if you don’t want all that other “tournament” stuff getting in the way. Its just a nice clean easy to use Poker Clock.

We do plan to possibly advance it to add a ton of extra features in a PRO version that might cost a buck or two. We obviously have a big list of what we can add to make it worth while, but we would love to hear feedback on this as well, so if you are interested please drop us an email….

Sorry Folks, it will not have any compatibility with the Desktop or Windows Mobile Version at this time. It does have some of the same neat time saving features though…

The long awaited Version 3.0 of All-In Hold ‘Em for Windows Mobile is just about complete! Im hoping it will be done and depending on how the Windows Mobile Marketplace submission process works be ready for the grand opening in just a couple weeks… Its really that close.. What’s in it??? Well, some cool things including a new interface, and ……. Multiple Careers, and ……… Omaha!! Watch for it the beginning of October.

And All-In Poker for iPhone now has a minor update that is planned with a bit of the work already done. If you call this a minor update. The plan is to allow the choice of a couple tables and about 6-8 card backs, choice to rotate screen the other way, a few more pretty it up things, some AI updates, swipe to fold, and Pot Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Hold ‘Em and a new game!! Badugi!!! Watch for that soon as well.

We hope to see you in the AppStore and new WM Marketplace!!

Back to work…

That being said, we went right out and did our first update!! And what does it contain: NO LIMIT Texas Hold ‘Em. We ported over all of the top notch AI from All-In for No Limit including having the computer players go on tilt…. People just expect NL Hold  ‘Em and I understand!! I fell in love with it too!!

 I would have put it in the original release had I thought of the way I now implemented it. The idea is to expand the game, and so I want to be able to offer Pot and No Limit versions of all the games. But that will be a ton of work in the AI department for all 7 games, and I needed to get the game out. So temporarily in the game selection list there is a “NL Texas Hold Em” and a limit “Texas Hold ‘Em” which solves this. And we left it easy to modify so we can actually go in our original direction very quickly!

 What does that do for us!? Well for one …. Our franchise poker game name is “All-In”. But that didn’t make sense without a no-limit game you could go “All-In” in… Well now you can, so the game is being re-branded to “All-In Poker” so people further connect it with the franchise and know more of whats coming and what to expect!

So for the next update, say hello to “All-In Poker”….

Thanks and we hope you enjoy our game!! We’re All-In!!

(Perfect timing with Metal Poker being in the AppStore review queue)