I managed to finish up Pyrus and get it submitted to the App Store. I’ve been thinking about the concept for Pyrus for a very long time, and have done several other projects before getting around to this one, but I’m proud of how it turned out. Pyrus presents the player with five letters and requires you to hold down each letter of a word in their proper order, and then release all fingers to submit the word. Letters that are used in a valid word are instantly replaced with new letters, but a special algorithm makes sure that a five letter word is possible at all times. The whole combination makes for a game that feels faster paced and more dynamic than other word games.

Pyrus rewards words with time to the clock rather than points to the score– in fact, the score in Pyrus is a direct function of how long the game has been in play: it’s all about keeping the game going. Incrementally, you’ll see the level change which means the clock is now ticking away just a touch more quickly. After you’ve played for a bit, you’ll likely be struggling to keep that clock above 0:03 as frantically as you can.

I’m embarrassed that I was just a little too eager to release Pyrus. I left in one line of debug code I was using to test the high score system… it was to make sure I got a high score every time I played so I could quickly tell how the high score system was working. So, for now, high scores don’t work right, but 1.01, with that blasted line commented out, has already been submitted to Apple and should be up in a couple of days.

You can see Pyrus on the App Store here. You can visit the Pyrus page at http://digicide.com/pyrus, which includes the (malfunctioning for now) worldwide high score list.

Here’s a brief video I made to demonstrate the concept– this was made about three weeks before release:

The recent 2.1 firmware update screwed up Lexitron’s sound effects. I isolated their problem easily: their sound engine no longer correctly processes 8-bit files. Lexitron’s sound effects are all 22Khz 8-bit mono audio files– I was trying to keep the game as small as I could. I’m delivering a version with compatible sound effects very soon. A 2.1 compatible version has been submitted to Apple. I’m sorry this happened.

edit:  and yes, a pause menu, listen-to-own-music, and better high score system are all being worked on for Lexitron. In fact, I’ve been toying with an idea for a new kind of online high score system for Lexitron– what if every puzzle had it’s own online high score holder, and after each round you could submit your time/percentage-of-words-found to see if yours is the best, or else have reported back to you who the champion is…?  My only problem with this so far is that users can set their own time limits, and I’m not sure how to deal with this so that it’s equal for everybody.  Any ideas?

I’m planning together to throw together the most desired, relatively simple modifications in a quick Lexitron 1.1 update.  I’ll keep this list updated with things you tell me that I think are good candidates for this update.

A way to pause the game
A way to play your own music
Maybe an option for higher contrast text…?
A way to end the current game 

Let me know the things you need right now– the online play and skins won’t be coming in this update, bigger changes will take more time and come later.  Let me know the essentials!

Apple has deemed Lexitron worthy to grace its AppStore.  Thanks for your support over the last weeks.  I’ll continue to keep you all apprised of updates I’m working on and progress on my new apps.

Please leave your positive reviews on the AppStore– I’ll work to continue to improve Lexitron to meet all the fans’ expectations, but in the mean time, a five star review would be a nice way to say thanks for the old, free version as well.

Thanks everybody, happy lex-ing!

It’s been three weeks since you all convinced me Lexitron should live on, now here we are.  Lexitron Version 1.0 has been submitted… turns out my credit union was incompatible with Apple’s transfers, so I had to get a new bank today.  Anyway, it’s off and away now, showing up in my iTunes Connect as ‘In Review’.  It’s in the hands of Apple now.

Here’s hoping they are forgiving in their review.  I’ve heard tale of apps rejected because of wrongly placed toolbars and (*gulp*) using vibration as a game feature instead of for alerts.  Lexitron does the latter, but it’s an option that’s off by default….

I’ll just cross my fingers and hope we’ll all see Lexitron on the AppStore soon. Apple’s submission asked for a supporting web page for the game, so Neseus was good enough to throw one together– there’s not much there for now, but it’ll be polished up a bit before the game’s release.

I feel a little funny just twiddling my thumbs now. Do you guys have any good ideas for new apps you think I should take on?

I began submitting Lexitron to the AppStore yesterday, and finally got stuck not knowing my bank’s SWIFT code… looks like I’ll have to wait till Monday.

In the meantime, Mr. Emu, the clever bird who lives behind this gray div, has lost all of his wise emu phrases.  Can you help?

The loading screen

The menu screen

A word's been entered...

The round is over... a message is scrolling through the marquee

Loading the next round. This now occurs after, not before you double tap

Here’s a few screens.  Of course they don’t capture much of the animation in the game.

Lexitron is functionally complete; I’ve been tracking down leaks for the last few hours.  Now it’s bug finding and tracking, although it seems pretty stable to me…

Thanks for your comments from the last post, I’ll give multiplayer some thought, and I added unlimited-time mode.

Neseus redesigned Lexitron’s theme to better match its name.  It combines (correct me if I’m wrong ness) elements of industrial and art deco styles.  The audio really completes the feel, in my opinion.

Thanks for being great fans.  We’re trying hard over here, hope you like it!

Lexitron’s going great– I’m down to testing, bug fixing, and after that maybe some more graphical icing. Saving and settings are implemented now– for the fellow that asked, yes, sound effects and music volume may be adjusted separately.

A few questions for you… Lexitron now includes dictionaries for English, French, Italian, and Spanish, which have been sent to me by foreign fans of the game. If you’d like to see another language and are willing to help out, let me know in the comments and we can work to get a good dictionary for that language. Also, what was your favorite feature of the old Lexitron that you’d hate to see left out, and what new feature would you most like to see?

My version of Lexitron is fully playable, but still lacking a lot of the behind-the-scenes functionality like saving and settings. Thanks to sqlite the delay between rounds should be much shorter, and the settings will now be asking whether you want sound effects and background music off.

Earlier today I was playing with a version in which words you failed to find turned into links to an online dictionary with their definition, but I threw it out for the time being. Sometimes I have to remind myself to get the basics down before working on the icing.

To address some comments, the price will likely be $1.99, the release date will be I have no idea when– it’s ridiculous to try to guess what bugs will pop up. Yes, the graphics are different: they are much better. I haven’t met a programmer yet who can design well; the better programmers are big enough to admit it. Lexitron 2.0 has a much more unified theme and is graphically impressive instead of graphically passable. Thanks Neseus!

… and thanks for the support everyone! It’s much more fun to code when I feel like people care.

Lexitron is moving swiftly, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Today I forked out the $100 to become a bona fide iPhone developer, so I got to play the game on actual hardware instead of the crusty old simulator.

I’ve teamed up with my friend Neseus, an amazing graphic designer, for Lexitron 2.0. I’ll get some screens or a video up eventually, but here’s a teaser for the mean time– this is the graphic you’ll see when a ‘b’ comes up in your word: