iPhone Dev

Well, its official, Togolon 1.1 is out the door and approved! The new version adds support for Scoreloop, providing an online leaderboard and allows you to issue and respond to challenges from players the world over. And still for the low price of £0.59 ($0.99)!

Scoreloop gives Togolon players access to an online community of mobile gamers, where you can:

• Compare scores
• Challenge players to races on single levels or whole episodes
• Publish scores and big wins on Facebook
• Make new friends through Buddy Lists

I'd also like to offer a huge thanks to the beta testers who volunteered to try out this new version of Togolon before it was submitted.

[Get Togolon 1.1 from iTunes]

Work is powering ahead on the next version of Togolon, and I've got some really great new features lined up. So I'm after a few people to help me beta test the new version to make sure it's stable, fast and as easy to use as possible.

Perhaps the most common comment I've had about Togolon 1.0 and 1.0.1 is the lack of a global scoreboard. Well, I've been playing with the ScoreLoop API lately, and not only can it give Togolon a global scoreboard, but it also offers challenges and a raft of social features.

What Am I Looking For?

I'm after about 10 people to try out the new version of Togolon for about a week or so. If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, and a sense of fun, you're already more than qualified.

What Would A Tester Do?

Play Togolon! Then tell me about any crashes, quirks, or niggles. If anything breaks, make a note of where and when you saw it, and drop me an e-mail. Something not make sense or just not feel right? Let me know.

I'm not going to give a big formal list of stuff to test, but 10 heads are better than one for this sort of thing. And someone else might play the game totaly differently to me, and uncover a crash that might have frustrated a whole load of people.

Not only that, but you can be first to get your top score online for everyone to see!

Then What?

When we're all done, and the final build of version 1.1 is submitted, I'll send you all a finished copy of the full game for free. And if you've given me some useful comments or ideas, I'll be sure to post my thanks to the Togolon iTunes page.

 If you're interested, drop me an e-mail: tom.w.elliott@gmail.com and I'll get you set up.

Well, hot on the heels of the recent price drop of Togolon, Apple finally got around to approving the latest update: version 1.0.1!

The new version includes:

• Add Lite levels to the full version
• Add a retry button to the pause menu
• Bug fix - stop the screen going dark after a period of pay
• Web link on main menu

This version is available for download right now in the app store [iTunes Link]!

Forums

Most of the changes in update 1.0.1 are based on suggestions made by current players, so please keep the feedback coming!

To make sure this is as easy as possible, I've added some forums to this site, so you can meet other players and blog readers, swap hints, high scores, thoughts, jokes or just have a bit of a natter.

[Forums - NEW]

I've got some exciting new updates coming for Togolon, with 1.0.1 fixing some general bugs and tidying things up a little, and 1.1 adding some awesome new features (more on that later). But as the review process is taking a while, I thought I'd make up for it by dropping the price for the full game to a mere fifty nine of the Queen's pence!

So if you haven't picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for? Boogie on down to the iTunes app store, for 60 levels, its an absolute bargain!

[Togolon Download]

 Yesterday saw the release of iPhone OS 3.0, with a raft of improvements and new features. Excitement was such that a misreported delay in the release resulted in a flurry of angry tweets, followed by a series of slightly miffed corrections. Despite this, the release went ahead as planned, for most people.

iPhone developers had been given beta versions of the OS, so they could test their apps and make use of new features from day one. As a developer, I had been working with the betas, and was keen to install the release version for any bug fixes that went in, and to be sure apps on my device would work the same as for everyone else.

However, upon trying to update through iTunes, I was presented with a dialog telling me that "3.0 was the latest version", as far as it was concerned, 3.0 beta 5 was the same as the final release. Not only that, but Apple had removed the GM seed download from the developer site.

Luckily, there was help available in the developer forums. I've condensed these tips below:

Instructions

1. IMPORTANT! Sync your iPhone in iTunes, to make sure you have all your settings backed up. You will be wiping your phone later, so make sure you have all your media and applications in your iTunes library, too (I forgot to do this and lost a day's notes and text messages!)
2. Unplug the USB connector from your iPhone and power it off (with the red slider).
3. Make sure iTunes is open on your Mac. Hold down the Home button on your iPhone and reconnect the USB connector.
4. Keep the Home button held down until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen on your iPhone
5. iTunes will bring up a dialog: "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode". Click OK to start the recovery process. iTunes will download and install the latest version of iPhone OS.
6. Once your iPhone has been recovered, select your backup to restore your settings
7. Sync your iPhone to restore all your applications and media

And you're ready to go! For more detailed instructions for steps 2-5, see this support article.

This seemed to work great for everyone in the forums, but I should add a disclaimer that you do this at your own risk, and I'm not responsible for any lost data, etc.

Now I can get back to work on version 1.1 of Togolon!

Well, after much fiddling and twiddling with level designs, the Lite version of my iPhone game, Togolon is now available for download in the iTunes App Store. Click here to download.

The Lite version features 6 sample levels, and all the gameplay elements of the full game, and all for the low, low price of FREE.

Togolon is a bit like a cross between Labyrinth and Light Out: roll your ball around the maze to turn all the red tiles green - but be quick, you don't have long! Try to beat your top scores and level times, and if you get a call, or need a break, just pick up where you left off last time.

So, fire up those iPhones and iPods and give it a try!
Still not convinced? Check out my little promo video on Youtube.

I'm hard at work on version 1.1 of Togolon, and I'm really keen for some feedback to make it even better, so please feel free to pop a review on iTunes, even if you didn't like the game.

Enjoy!

I'm really rattling off these resolutions! Last week, I finally finished my first foray into iPhone development: Togolon!

Given incessant ranting on the blogosphere, I was expecting this process was going to take anything up to a month to complete, but to my surprise, Togolon was approved in a mere 5 days. This left me in a bit of a flap, as I haven't finished the website yet, but still, a nice surprise.

Togolon is an accelerometer-based puzzle game, the aim of which is to "toggle" all the red tiles green before the time runs out. Simple concept, but has been driving my beta testers (read: friends in the pub) mad :-)

Its been a great way to learn the API, too. Nothing like having a project to help you pick up a new skill. Must say I've been consistently impressed with how complete and easy-to-use the tools are.

Downloadable from iTunes Today!