• Croggle available on Google Play

    21 Jul 2014

    Hello folks!

    Yes, we know: long time, no read. And we are sorry for that.
    Since we are all heavily engaged in our studies there hasn't been much time recently to be spent on development - nor on this blog. But there are still little signs of life, one of which we want to announce in this post:

    Croggle is on Google Play store!

    The institute that accompanied us throughout development, has dug up a developer account, and they were eager to put the latest release up there immediately. So from today on, you will find it easiest to download and install your latest version of Croggle from here (which is currently 1.1.1). Don't be shy and jump right over there to try it out. We would be happy to receive your feedback there, too. Also, feel free to share the app and your opinion on your social channels. Maybe this can give us some motivation to continue development a little more actively, soon.

    And don't forget that Croggle is OPEN SOURCE! We encourage everyone to contribute if he or she can. Just visit our GitHub :)

    This is all we want to tell you for today, but there sure is more! We expect the second set of news to be publishable this week, so stay tuned.

    So long, happy (Google-) playing!

  • Croggle 1.1.1 bugfix release

    22 May 2014

    This is just a small anouncement of the freshly released Croggle version 1.1.1. There is nothing new in this version, only bug fixes/stability improvements.

    Release notes:

    The following issues have been fixed:

    • Remove illegal usage of 'f' indicators for float literals in shaders (e.g. 1.f). This caused the NVidia driver on a Macbook to throw compile errors, and probably a Galaxy Tab 3, too.
    • Fix for package 2/level 2, which was impossible to solve due to a change of the evaluation rules introduced in 1.1.

    Stay tuned for more news coming up in the next days.

  • Croggle now officially open source

    15 May 2014

    Hello again!

    This is just a quick heads up for all of you (at present or in the future) who are interested in contributing to Croggle. Since we hadn't even picked a license before, contributing could have been problematic for you. Finally, this issue has been dealt with!

    By adding a small copyright notice to the Readme.md of all important repositories, the terms under which our code can be used have become perfectly clear. We decided to rely on the widespread Apache License v2.0. This is not only motivated by iq being a pretty liberal and standard license, but also because libGdx has been licensed under the same license. That way, we did not have to think much about where to apply and attach which license and could simply put it at the one most prominent file in the repository. Hopefully, we did not overlook any third party part of our software project, or we would have to the things which I just sketched.

    Nevermind, be happy and fork us! We would be delighted to see anyone out there making contributons or forking Croggle to make it better.

    See you soon!

  • Croggle now officially approved

    12 May 2014

    We have fantastic news!

    If you followed this blog over the past couple of posts, you certainly have read that Croggle is the android adaption of an already existing game idea. Its inventor is the world famous Bret Victor, who originally published his thoughts on his website already in mid 2007 (according to google). Since we did not only copy his idea, but also his alligator images (at least during earlier development and sill in some places), we felt obligated to notify him. We also used the opportunity to ask him for his permission for us publishing the app in the near future.
    Today, we finally received his answer!

    He was pretty quick for someone who does so many great things - although he didn't really go into detail... But read it yourself:

    Screenshot of Bret's answer in my GMail inbox

    It is a really cool move of him, and we want to thank him here once again. Now we will reconsider our publishing strategy for the near future, and who knows? Maybe we will make Croggle an even bigger thing then!

    That's it for today, though. See you soon!

  • What's next?

    11 May 2014

    Here's another update on the project status.

    After releasing version 1.1, there is still so much to be done which could increase the quality of the game. Unfortunately, probably none of us have enough time to spend on the project in the foreseeable future to realize all of the points. In order to focus on what's most important, we will maintain this list to see which features really matter. This is a quick writeup of all things which came to our mind so far:

    Concerning code:

    1. Block UI while still animating the last step
    2. Less shader switches by drawing ColoredBoardObjects systematically in WorldPane
    3. Add win and lose animations
    4. Show the game finished screen when the last animation is done instead of after 2 seconds
    5. Code review - always good, never done
    6. Decrease overall loading times
    7. Buffer screens where possible instead of recreating them every time
    8. Do another port :P (iOS, GWT)
    9. Add trivia messages in loading screen
    10. Add a sandbox level
    11. Add a lambda-only mode (parse lambda string and represent/simulate it witg alligators)
    12. Animated tutorials
    13. Exchange alligator graphics in achievement icons and avatars
    14. Add sounds
    15. Add "open jaw" and "egg shell breaking" graphics/animations
    16. Add more levels

    Other stuff:

    1. Publish the game on google play or similar
    2. Introduce the game to a broader audience
    3. Find more contributors