Following the iPhone hype
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Design, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Mobile, Papers, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
Lonely Duck has entered the realm of iPhone development. It is an exiting new world full of opportunities and challenges. A couple of weeks ago we landed our first client project for the iPhone and it will be out later this month. During this time we also created a game with the appealing name Full Metal Throttle Chopper. Basically the application works as the throttle of a motorcycle, with a realistic engine behavior and both speed and RPM gauge. Just twist your cell phone to rev the virtual throttle. Tilt it to shift and off you go. As if these features isn’t enough, solely the tag line will make you buy it:
Ever wanted to leave the office in the middle of the day, gear up and go riding on the open highway? The sun in your eyes, all troubles left behind, a free spirit roaming the badlands with nothing but freedom and opportunities ahead.
Or maybe you just want peoples’ attention at parties? Whichever dream you hope to fulfill Throttle Chopper is the app for you.
Reflections
When you are a person interested in different types of interaction methods and interfaces the iPhone is truly a toy. People will be interacting through location, proximity, acceleration, sound and touch. So much can be done, but what applications has been at the top of the paid apps list? iFart, iGirl and iBeer! Is this saying something about the current state of the world, about financial crisis or depression. I´m not at all qualified to say, but it´s clear that iPhone apps are going through a maturing process. The market is flooded with simple applications that are claiming to do ONE thing, this thing of course differs between applications, but they do this one thing and at the moment that is all it takes! These applications will be downloaded and used a couple of times for kicks. They bring an instant payback for the buyer by doing exactly what the say they do. So what would the lead word of the first generation iPhone apps be, I guess, Simplicity.
Box2d: Bringing 2D physics to screens everywhere
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under 2d, 3d, Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work, iPhone
What I´m going to write about here is physics in Flash, AS3. And since I like keeping it old school it is 2D physics. Lonely Duck has just finished a small game that you will soon be able to catch in a banner near you. The physics are handled by Box2D, a physics engine ported from C++. When doing physics in AS3 you have a number of different engines to choose from. Even though you are planning to use physics with lets say Papervision3D or any other flash 3d environment you can still use a 2D physics engine, if you keep your objects in one plane with interactions along 2 axis. This means that you won´t be able to support 3d interaction (e.g movement in x,y,z) but in some cases this isn´t really needed.
Anyway, I first gave APE (Actionscript Physics Engine) a go. It was really easy getting started with and the setup of the 2d world and the objects I was going to use worked as expected. After a while (about 50% done) I however found that it was lacking some fundamental stuff that I really wanted. Things like collision detection, a way to avoid tunneling issues and an environment with a more complex collection of different joints and springs. The answer was as I already mentioned Box2D, and even thought the fact that is was a port from C++ first scared me a little (different ways of organizing code, positions and values are on a meter basis, which means that one meter is equal to 30 pixels) now feels great to have started with. Not only because it could be used in many upcoming AS3 projects, it is also possible to use Box2D when developing applications for the iPhone.
There are a number of popular apps out there that uses Box2D for the physics.
These have all been done through porting box2d from C++ to Obj C. Which means writing their own renderers and touch listeners for interaction. Good times however, now there is a released port of the Box2d testbed with working interaction from the touch sensors and the accelerometer. Check out this post explaining things a little bit better here.
Take care!
Recent projects
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design, Lonely Duck, Portfolio, Work
Since last post I´ve been really busy working on a couple of different projects. It has been hectic but it feels great. Even though we´re still a small firm we done some major projects and employed some of the latest techniques. Today we release the new slutasnacka.se, a place for everyone that is done with talking about change and now is ready to act! It is a full flash site with a .NET back end. It uses the cairngorm architecture which has been a joy to get to know. I can easily say that it will be used in coming projects as well. Yeah.. another project that we recently released was the full flash site for RPM investments. This site lets the user navigate in multiple ways and also incorporates deep linking, interactive video and flash cookies.
So.. take care until next time! Back to work, just lost 5 minutes :S
We make digital!
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Design, Interaction Design, Portfolio, Work
As I mentioned before I have a new job. In the middle of all the projects going on right now we have managed to create a site of our own. It’s just some basic information, but displayed in a fun, kinda “new project” manor. Check it out at www.lonelyduck.com
SIGNAR: Soon in 3D
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under 3d, Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design
I’ve been writing about trying PV3D for a while now and with the start of my new job it’s time. And when you’re starting to look at the available technologies avaliable like APE, WOW, Away3D, Alternativa 3D and of course Papervision that started the whole thing it’s just mindblowing. It feels like I’m seeing a whole new side of the flash community that I havn’t seen before. It is exciting and I feel great. I am no 3D guy so many of the terms used I’m unfamiliar with but I think I’m starting to get a small grip on it. When I have something to show you guys, I will post it, and try to write how I did it. Until then, take care!
New Job!
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Actionscript, Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Design, Interaction Design, Mobile, Web 2.0
Yep! Tomorrow it starts, a new job as a Flash / new media developer! Unfortunately this means that I won´t have the time to finish the PaperKing3D project (read below), but hopefully I´ll have some sparetime in the next coming month to realize my ideas. As soon as the new job starts kicking butt I will write a more thourough post explaining everything. Until then, keep coding!
A diamond in my pocket
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Design, Interaction Design, Mobile
A couple of days ago I finally decided on a new cell phone. After looking at the iPhone 3G and the extreme monthly bills that choice would result in I chose one of the few alternatives out there in my opinion. The choice fell on the Touch diamond from HTC. After having it a couple of days now I feel really satisfied with my decision. Being an interface nerd I feel a bit disappointed with the “flow” of the TouchFLO interface but considering that the HTC interface runs on top of the not so designer friendly Windows Mobile 6.1 OS it is forgiven. The interface look real good from a glance but when you start interacting with it it feels a little bit sluggish and I feel that I´m going through an interaction learning period at the moment. Some interactions that I intuitively perform in a certain way does not really work in the touchFLO interface but I´m starting to learn which moves are that are best suited for my diamond. I also found a forum for tweaking the diamond in various way. Fun times ahead!
Flash: To break the grid you need a grid
Posted by Fredrik | Filed under Adobe Flash, Design, Interaction Design
When designing a web page the are often a certain structure of elements. This could be a simple layout with the menu located on the left, ads in the middle and the main content in the centre. This design is simple yet easy to interact with in an intuitive way. This was the way web sites looked like in “the beginning”. When Flash finally matured enough to support full flash websites many was bored of the classíc web sites and figured that they would make visitors happier through the use of new interactive interfaces that didn´t look like anything they ever seen before. Many creative menu placements and navigation techniques later it is evident that the usable html based web site still rules the web (even with back button issues and flash blockers not taken into account). At least when it comes to the usability factor and following the guidelines by known usability experts (read Norman). When creating websites with Flash there is no common ground to start. There are no standard solution that users can recognize and therefor it lies in the hands of the individual developer / designer to create the base or the “layout grid” of the page. This can be difficult and with so much in the toolbox it is hard to hold back. Usability on the web is often connected to keeping things simple and unfortunately simple isn´t every flash designers cup of tea. Often the latest techniques are used instead of common (usability) sense. Often the most appealing sites are the ones that combines the edgy with a simple layout base.
Looking for a good example. Hold on…
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