For my upcoming Android game I’m going through quite some new experiences. Although I have been a software developer for over 15 years, this was the first time I created software for an Android phone. Also this was the first time I used graphics make by real designers for one of my privately developed applications.

Appinventor
Somehow my attention was drawn to a new feature which was being offered by Google. The appinventor. You needed to complete an online application form to get access, which I did, and a few weeks later I received an email that I was granted access. After this I started playing around with the tutorial, the example apps and the Android emulator. The appinventor itself was very easy to use. It reminded me of the tool that was supplied by Lego with their Mindstorm set a lot of years ago. The appinventor consists out of three parts:

• Appinventor. This is where you select the functional items that your application will have. You define textareas, labels, buttons, add graphics, set alignment, font sizes, etc.
• Block Editor. From the appinventor you can start the block editor. Here you see all available programming, and you can use this to define variables, procedures, loops, etc. The entire process of creating the logic for your application you do here, in the Block Editor using drag and drop. After you get used to the concept it is very easy.
• Emulator. From the block editor you can send your program to a connected Android phone, or to the emulator, and test to see how it will work.

Images
In an early stage I was thinking about how to make a game that would be appealing to play, but which also would not require a lot of time. Still, I wanted it to be a game that people would like to play over time. It was easy to think about how I would like to see a nice and easy game, and it was clear I do not possess the ability to create nice graphics. I went to search online and found some images I like on the fasticon.com website. I needed to pay around 20€ to be able to use a number of icons I liked, without risk of legal problems. The images looked very professional, and they fit perfectly in the game I had in my mind. 20€ sounded like a good deal, and I was hoping I would somehow get the money back selling the game online.

Developer account
For publishing my app on the Android market I needed to create a developer account. This set me back another 20€ and I needed to register my credit card details, my bank details and a lot of personal data…. a bit tricky but after a small evaluation I thought it was worth it. This meant that I was now able to publish as many apps as I liked, and maybe my game would sell enough to get this investment back, although I doubt this.

Times are changing fast. Mobile phones are turning into small computers, and computers are turning into access points to access the internet. The internet seems to be the place where everything is happening.

In the past you used to work with your software on your own pc, now slowly everything is moving online, where your data and programs can be accessed where-ever, when-ever and how-ever you like, using a pc, a phone, a pad, or what-ever else. A similar trend is visible in hardware. In the past you needed special equipment for a lot of functions.

• To make a call (phone),
• for giving driving directions (tomtom or other navigation system),
• for reading digital books (e-reader),
• to wake you up in the morning (alarm clock),
• to play a game (nintendo ds, sega dreamcast, sony playstation, microsoft xbox, etc.),
• for knowing the time (watch),
• for knowing your location (global positioning system (gps) or compass)
• etc.

All these functions are now more and more available online, and you only need to select the size and setup of a single machine to access these functions. This is a great improvement in flexibility for working with and enjoying or consuming ‘information’.

This change affects all of us, and it will effect us even more in the future. People are changing fast, and their needs for data and connectivity are changing with them.

I have started developing for Android, with the recently launched appinventor by Google. It is strange to see that technology is getting more and more complex but for developers things are getting much more simple (although also a bit less flexible). The appinventor is an easy way to construct an application for an Android mobile phone. All the development is done online, and if you want you can download the result to your PC. This means I can start work on one PC and continue on another one, without the need to install anything.

Although there are still some inconveniences I think this is a real step ahead. One of the next steps hopefully will include much better interoperability, where an app created for Android can just as easily be used on a different phone or a PC, or embedded in a website. Soon I hope to publish my first app here, on Leiden365.nl.