e4c solutions

Apple has acknowledged the bug on the developer forum under my thread “Is there a problem with submitting ratings” and they are looking deeply into it.  Hopefully we’ll have resolution soon!!  I don’t believe ratings work at all but I have been told that reviews can be submitted only on the iPhone/iPod Touch app store — not PC/Mac iTunes.  If you have a review for Zanshin, please submit it on the iPhone/iPod Touch device app store.  It will post correctly!!

I’m trying to resolve an iTunes issue with Apple where folks from the U.S. can’t leave reviews/ratings for ZANSHIN.  iTunes complains that the app is not “on sale” in the U.S. store but, of course, it is.  I haven’t heard from folks in other countries but someone presumably outside the U.S. was able to leave our lone review.  We’ve gotten great response for our martial arts game and I wanted to ensure that folks can leave us feedback.  I’m hoping this gets resolved quickly as reviews/ratings are part of the app marketing on iTunes.

We are working on ZANSHIN version 1.1 and hope to get it out for review very soon!  It contains a new mini-game called “Dodge” and the game will feature an expanded fighting move list.  Throws will be introduced in this release.  (Hint:  one of them is an iconic throw from a famous TV character)

If you have any feedback for us on the game, we would definitely welcome your comments.  We hope that the iTunes ratings/review issue is resolved by Apple in the near future.

Thanks again for your support!!

Just wanted to tell everyone that our newest iPhone/iPod Touch app, ZANSHIN 1.0, has been released on iTunes!!  It is a martial arts strategy combat game.

Here is the iTunes description text:

Welcome to ZANSHIN – the newest martial arts strategic combat app for the iPhone and iPod Touch!! Zanshin (zhan-shin) translates to “post-action mind”…a state of mind one must have of continued awareness after a technique has been executed. It is an underlying concept that is universal in the martial arts regardless of origin. It describes a way each practitioner must behave during combat in order to achieve victory.

In the game, players must train and compete against competitiors from other schools to prove their skill, knowledge and mastery of the martial arts. Fight in the dojo or around the countryside settings to see who the best is. Are you ready?

Features:

• Colorful Graphics and Deep Gameplay Mechanics
• 25 Unique Directional and Combat Moves to MOVE, EVADE, ATTACK and BLOCK
• Take on a Friend in Two Player Mode (over Bluetooth)!!!
• Play against the AI in Single Player Mode!!!
• Three (3) gameplay modes: Tournament, Free Play, and Marathon (Survival)
• 6 Different Control Configurations (Beginner to Expert) for gradually learning gameplay and strategy
• User Customizable Controller Configuration exclusively for FL (Expert) Game Controllers
• User Customizable Sound Effects (Add/modify Taunts and Fighting sound effects for your character)
• Practice Screen to learn the controls effectively
• Three (3) levels of difficulty – Easy, Medium, Hard
• Use strategy to defeat your opponent. There is a counter to any favorite move
• Included QUICKPLAY instructions so you won’t have to go to read the full instructions to begin. Detailed instructions are at www.e4csolutions.com/zanshin.

Important Info:

• In Zanshin, players may compete in single player mode (against the A.I.) or in two player mode with a friend (via Bluetooth) in point style or free style competitions. Single players may also compete against an unlimited number of opponents in Marathon Mode to see how long they can last without succumbing to a hit. Two player gaming IS CURRENTLY NOT SUPPORTED ON FIRST GENERATION iPHONE and iPOD TOUCHES. IT IS SUPPORTED ON ALL OTHERS.
• Six (6) different controller configurations can be used to play the game. Beginning and intermediate players can use the EZ and LT versions of the D-Pad Buttons or Swipes controls to fight with a small but highly effective set of 8 directional and attack moves. Advanced players will use the D-Pad Buttons FL (FULL) or Swipes FL (FULL) controls to access the complete set of twenty-five (25) directional and attack moves. The FL (FULL) controls allows re-mapping of control gestures to preferred attack moves. WHEN FIRST INSTALLED, THE CONTROLS ARE SET TO THE BUTTONS EZ CONTROLLER!!
• Sound effects for each character can be customized for a more personal playing experience. Custom audio is NOT SUPPORTED ON FIRST GENERATION iPHONE and iPOD TOUCHES. IT IS SUPPORTED ON ALL OTHERS.
• Quickplay instructions can be found by pressing the “Help” button on the lower right corner of the main title screen. Detailed instructions can be found on http://www.e4csolutions.com/zanshin.

Wow!  How have you all been?  It’s been quite a while so I thought I’d try to keep you all updated on what’s been happening with e4c.

Let’s start off with recently submitted apps to the iTunes app store.  There have been two new apps released (three if you count a free “lite” version).  The first app is called Elementary Math which I originally built for my son to practice his multiplication tables.  In time, the app grew to encompass multiplication, division, addition and subtraction (MDAS).  It became a jumbo app with many features:

1.  Practice MDAS with flash cards.

2.  Practice MDAS with multiple choice answers.

3.  Practice MDAS with number entry via a calculator keypad.

4.  Same as #3 but timed!!  The user is given 3sec, 5sec, or 10sec to enter an answer for a given problem before a horn sounds and it moves on to the next question.  I have fun setting this @ 3 sec per problem and I find myself breaking a little sweat sometimes.

5.  Practice MDAS with a math wheel.  If find this especially useful to teach my son sequence patterns in multiplication so that it reinforces the idea that it’s just repeated addition.

6.  Memorize the “old school” multiplication and addition tables.  These tables are scrollable and zoomable by standard iPhone touch gestures.

7.  Choose which operator or operators to practice from multiplication, division, addition or subtraction.

8.  Choose how many problems to be tested on.

9.  Choose the range of numbers to be tested.  For example, the user can enter a preference to be tested on the 4’s and 5’s for multiplication.

We hope that folks find this app very useful for their children.  I plan to update the graphics a bit to keep ahead of other math apps out there.  More about updates a bit later.

There is a free version called Elementary Math Free.  It is meant as a preview for the full version of Elementary Math and it allows only a range of numbers from 1 through 4.  We’ve gotten some feedback but it is mostly that they are looking for a wider range of numbers on the free app so that it is more functional.  I’m considering doing that with ad support but we’ll see.

The next app is fun application called “You Suck”.  The inspiration for this app came from my old college lab class.  Well, there was this one lab where we took measurements for a transistor so that we could describe the electrical characteristics “the hard way”.  To make a long story short, our data was bad.  I’m sure we got a bum transistor but that’s life.  Instead of “faking” our data, we worked with what we got and kinda explained how the data got so bad.  Well, when we got our lab writeup back, we got the most humorous surprise.  Our TA who ran the lab bought a stamp for us with the word “bull****” and stamped it in red ink all over our writeup!  I personally couldn’t forget that as it was the most hilarious thing I’d seen at the time.  Later, I’ve seen newspapers stamp people’s pictures (and their cartoon bubbled infamous deeds or quotations) with similar stamps as our TA (in good humor, of course).  That’s where the idea of the app came from.  In this app, you can have up to 20 subjects (take their picture or use a downloaded picture, your choice) and you can enter your personal top 10 quotation for each.  Then create stamps.  You will see their top 10 quotations in a nice animated presentation.  When you can’t take it anymore, stamp away with your favorite stamp (remember, our old TA had a stamp with the word “bull****”, which you could use too) and magically see the rubber stamped word show up on the photo.  You can even use two fingers to choose the angle of the rubber stamped word.  We hope that everyone enjoys it!  It was made for folks to be creative with it and have fun!!

As far as upcoming stuff, we are planning to release some apps on other hardware platforms.  Also, we have an interesting game (the one I promised back in March) coming out in the September/October timeframe.  We have a few targeted for the holiday season and I’ll post when we’re ready to talk about them.

There will be upgrades to the following apps in the late October/November timeframe:

Conversational Tagalog, Filipino Phrases – User interface and organizational upgrades.  I think customers will be very happy with the changes.

Elementary Math – User interface upgrades that will make things easier for children and parents to navigate the app.

That’s all for now!  Thank you very much for your business!  If you have any questions or comments for us, we would like to hear from you!

Hello!  It’s reaching the end of March and I wanted to leave you all with the most updated roadmap and upcoming stuff.

First of all, let’s talk about released stuff.  Filipino Phrase of the Day was released for sale on March 4, 2009 by Apple.  We’ve received a nice warm response from iTunes folks and we hope to expand on it in the future.

Also, the long awaited Conversational Tagalog version 1.3 was released in early March as well.  Version 1.3 expanded the word list to 2500 words and the sentence list to 250 sentences.  It also included the first phase of user interface changes as a bonus (UI changes were supposed to happen in version 1.4).  In version 1.4, I’ll complete phase 2 of the UI changes and add 500 words (mostly nouns).  Conversational Tagalog 2.0 will be “expansion pack-ready”.  

Conversational Tagalog was our very first iPhone app and it was a very nice welcome into iTunes.  For the last 5 months it’s been in the iTunes Top 100 unit sales list in Education.  We’ve been proud of this feat considering there are over 28,000 apps now in iTunes (and growing).  It continues to be in the Top 50 revenue sales list.  In fact, in its first three months, it hit as high as the Top 10 revenue sales list in Education and remained strong in the Top 50 unit sales. 

Now for some upcoming stuff….  

I’ve got some fun stuff coming up (assuming I can get time to do them).  One of them may come out in a couple of weeks timeframe.  It’s an entertainment app that’s fairly simple but useful to some folks.  When you see it, you’ll know what I mean.  There will be a new game app around the June timeframe using some of the cool stuff in the iPhone 3.0 OS.  I really can’t wait for it to be finished!!  It’s been a HUGE project so far!!  In the middle of those are some smaller apps.  As soon as they are released, I’ll do a write-up on them as well.

That’s all for now.  Thanks again to all our customers!!!

I have been away from the site a bit due to some other work obligations outside of e4c.  But I’d like to take the opportunity to write and say “Thanks!” to the many folks who have supported our products.  We wouldn’t be here without you!!!

Here’s an updated roadmap of what’s gonna happen in the near future:

1. There is a new app called “Filipino Phrase of the Day” which will be a nice pseudo-entry app for folks curious about Tagalog/Filipino.  It should be available on iTunes by Wednesday 2/25/09. Each day, there will be a new educational phrase that will be shown on the screen.  The user will be able to hear the native speaker speak each phrase.  Each phrase contains a language lesson about that phrase in the comments section.  Each phrase will be saved to the “History” page as the next day arrives.  As the days go by, the user will realize that they are growing a mini phrase book.  Eventually, they’ll max out at 100 phrases which were carefully chosen for both educational purposes and phrase book utility. 
2. Conversational Tagalog 1.3 will be sent for review hopefully by the end of the week.  We’re almost through with the changes and it will soon be in the test phrase.
3. In March, Tagalog Word of the Day will be getting a small face lift to match the rest of the products in the product line.
4. There will be a fun OpenGL app coming in May.  Details will be in the blog in the coming months.

That’s all there is to report for now.  Thanks again for your support!

We’ve just released our newest title “Filipino Phrases:  How to Argue, Use Slang, and More!”.

There were a lot of requests from folks who wanted to know some of the popular phrases, slang, and Tagalish (Tagalog/English) that they’ve heard but couldn’t understand.  While I’d say our Conversational Tagalog app teaches you the more “right” way to say and put together words, this app teaches you all those popular phrases that are NOT quite “the right way”.  A good portion of the phrase book concentrates on this.  If you’ve spent any amount of time at all absorbing the Filipino culture, you’ll realize that a lot of these popular phrases are said during arguments/complaints (hence, the origination of the app’s title).  

This was meant to be a fun app.  Don’t be surprised if you’ve heard a lot of these phrases before.  I’m sure in a short time, you’ll be a pro at a lot of these.

What’s a phrase book without the “standard” situational phrases like greetings, shopping, health and emergencies?  Well, they’re included too for “completeness”.  

Don’t expect any “R” rated phrases!  Apple doesn’t tolerate that and since they have to approve every app….  The phrases in this app are PG rated.  I think you’ll find that you’ll be able to hold your own in a lot of situations with these phrases.

I hope you all have fun with the app as we had building it.  If you have any suggestions or feedback, please email at support@e4csolutions.com.  Thanks for your support!

Happy New Year everyone!  I haven’t had time to write for a while especially with the holidays and all.  I’ve switched over to a different blogging software as well.  I’ll quickly run down what’s happening in the early part of 2009.

I have a quick point release version 1.2 for Conversational Tagalog submitted for review.  Here’s a quick roadmap for Conversational Tagalog:

• 1.2 adds a global search feature that should be released for sale in the next few days.  I’ve ultimately decided on this so that if there is any word in particular that you wanted to find a meaning or sentence examples, you could simply type a search string.  I think you will all find this handy.
• 1.3 is currently being worked on and my goal for this release is to finally add to the vocabulary list and sentences.  My target is to add close to 1000 more words and double the current number of sentences/phrases.  Please look for this around February.
• 2.0 will be a complete UI overhaul.  I’ll comment on this as soon as planning is firmed up.

I will be adding an update version 1.2 to Nanobot as well.  It will add game settings/control options as well as some UI updates/fixes/optimizations.  With this, I think we’ll have a mature game.  Please email me if you have any other things you’d like to see:  support@e4csolutions.com.  I will probably have a very stripped down version of 1.2 (no settings/control options) as a trial version called Nanobot Lite with ads so that folks can try it before they pay for the full version.  At the same time, existing users will have a highly customizable full version that I think they’ll have fun with for a long time.  Thank you for your support!  As I mentioned before, Nanobot was my first OpenGL game and I’ve learned alot from the experience.

Tagalog Word of the Day will be seeing an update around February timeframe.  It will have an updated user interface.

Just as a quick update on my last blog, Parol was announced (to be released fairly soon after the blog post).  However, Apple has kept it in the “IN REVIEW” state and I haven’t heard anything back over the last month.  Obviously, I’ll probably be taking it down now that Christmas has passed.  Maybe next year?

COMING SOON!!!  There are a number of things I have planned for the immediate future.  A couple of new educational software apps, one new OpenGL app, and maybe an entertainment app if I have the time (currently looking for a server software team replacement).

As always, if you have any comments, feel free to email:  support@e4csolutions.com.

Happy 2009!!!