Well, it didn’t work out.  I was hoping to port one of my favorite old Mac games – RoboWar – to iOS.  There was nothing technical keeping it from happening.  But there were licensing problems.  The original developers of the game released it under the Gnu General License.  I strongly support open-source software, and this was a great thing to do.

However, I promised myself that my next iOS project will be offered for a small fee, which is something I don’t think I could do with an app based on GNU Public License-released code.  It’s just not a good time for me to do another no-charge project.  If they had used the MIT license, maybe I would feel like I could put the time in.  An iOS port would essentially be a completely new project, but I wouldn’t be able to control any of my work or keep anybody else from simply copying my code and submitting it to the App Store.

So maybe some other time.

I used to love to play an old Mac game called RoboWar, where you write code for simple battle robots and then put them in the arena together and let them fight to the death.  Sounds gruesome, but it’s not.  What it is is a great way for kids to learn how to program and an extremely enjoyable pastime for adults.  Better than just a videogame, because it requires you to actually think, plan, and design your robot.  Maybe even innovate!

Anyway, with OS X, the game disappeared, although there was an attempt to port it to the PC platform back in 2005.  You can still find that version online.  It runs, mostly.  I recently decided that iOS is the perfect platform to bring back RoboWar.  So that’s what I’m doing.  Just started coding this afternoon on my homeward train.  Got the basic structure set up – windows and tabs and such – but haven’t gotten anywhere close to starting to actually write the program.

The game will run on iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads.  Graphics and sounds will be retro, and I intend for it to be identical in form (mostly) and function to the original.  A later version may even add head-to-head competition on multiple devices!

There’s a web-based version of the game right here.  Nice job.

Watch this space for the exciting return of RoboWar!

Great news (for me, that is)!  I’ve gone over 1,000 total downloads – 1,005 to be exact.  That’s 632 copies of Morse Coder and 373 copies of Morse Trainer.  Thanks to all the loyal Morse Code fans who have downloaded my apps.

That’s right, I now have 861 downloads, of which 599 are Morse Coder and 262 are Morse Trainer! Pretty cool

In fact, a quick perusal of the App Store reveals a four-star review of Morse Trainer. My adoring public would like to see the sending speed increased even more. I’ll have to work on that.

The Morse Trainer App (its official iTunes name) is now available on iTunes!  As with its sister application, Morse Coder, it’s absolutely free and worth every penny.

Find Morse Trainer here on iTunes and download it.  Immediately!

Say hello to Morse Trainer! It’s my new app for people interested in practicing their Morse code reception.  You can choose to have it play a sentence from a random Wikipedia page or from the Twitter public feed.  Pick one of four sending speeds and practice your Morse-to-Text translation!  After translating a sentence, show the original text.  How did you do?

Here’s what it looks like:

I’ll let you know when it becomes available on the App Store.

And the price?  Free, of course.  Maybe someday I’ll make a little money on iPhone programming.  In the meantime, I’m just glad to contribute.

I checked again today, and there are now 548 downloads!  I’d certainly love to get a comment on iTunes.  Maybe a rating, even.  Of course, only if they’re positive.

The unstoppable juggernaut continues! As of this morning, 500 people have downloaded that world-famous iOS app, Morse Coder.

Thanks to all my devoted followers for their support.

Watch this space for an announcement on my follow-up companion to Morse Coder!

I’m up to 412 downloads!  My most popular foreign market: South Korea, with 60 downloads (compared to 138 in the United States).  So I’m world-famous in Korea.  Why?  Who knows?  The UK comes in a close second with 20 downloads, followed by France and Germany with 15 each.  It’s nice to see old rivals coming together like that.  I’m just grateful to have played an important part.

I also have downloads in Brazil, Canada, Australia, Italy, and China (9 downloads!).  Plus there are 107 downloads in “Others,” wherever that is.  Any guesses?

My next project is on the workbench.  Another Morse Code app – this time, it’s for training.  Watch for it in the next few weeks!

Morse Coder has been downloaded 266 times! That may not seem like a lot of downloads to some people, but it’s way more than I expected. So I’m pleased.