It's been a long time coming, and we've given you all a few teasers along the way about what this update includes. The time has finally arrived for our new Windows Phone 8.1 update to LCARS Interface!
In many ways this is an update to the Windows Phone 8.0 app. It's also an entirely new app in a lot of ways as well! A lot of it appears the same on the outside, but underneath is an app that's been completely re-written from the ground up. Windows Phone 7.X and 8.0 apps used a version of the Microsoft Silverlight framework, while Windows 8 Store apps used the new Windows Runtime framework. Starting with Windows Phone 8.1, phone apps now have the option to be either Silverlight or Windows Runtime apps. Rather than simply upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight, we chose to start over and convert it to a Windows Runtime app instead. There are many reasons for this. most of which I've covered in other blog entries. But there are many performance improvements and new features available now, in addition to this re-write allowing the Windows 8 store (Desktop/Laptop/Tablet) version of this app and the Windows Phone version to share a common code core which will speed up being able to bring new features to both simultaneously! Much of the same functionality will be available to both, and the layout you see will depend on which device is being used. As a result, many of the new features in this update will be making their way to the Windows 8.1 app very soon!
For the full list of changes that this update brings, see the Version History section of this blog.
A special Thank You to those who participated in Beta testing this version! Without your assistance this update would not have gotten to this point in either quality and would not have been completed yet!
Please let us know how you like the new features! We love to get feedback on what works, what doesn't work, or what you think is missing that we should add.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
A few roadblocks, but still moving forward...
Development continues on the Windows Phone 8.1 version of LCARS Interface! We have been working a lot on the new camera module, but unfortunately there is an issue with the developer preview version of WP8.1 firmware on our Lumia 920 that denies access to the camera, and so that's made it a bit of a challenge to test anything. Our 520 does work but the camera is so limited on that device that we can't actually test most of the features. We will be receiving a new device in the next few days that will hopefully allow us to continue and be able to roll this out as soon as possible!
In the meantime we are adding a bit more to other things like the new Photos module, in order to pack in the kind of features you would expect in order to make it an acceptable replacement for the default photo gallery. After all, we are trying to make this app useful and not just fun to play with, even if we do want a lot of that too!
It's been a while since we last updated the Windows 8.1 version of LCARS Interface. There is a LOT we want to do with that one still. Many of the things being developed on the Windows Phone side will also become available there once we bring that app into sync with the new phone version. The two apps will eventually share most of their code. So far the "shared" code and most of the Windows Phone code are in place. Then we can tie in the Windows 8.1 app and we will be able to release the same new features on both at the same time going forward. There is still a lot of work to do for this, but it is coming along. There will be quite a bit of re-structuring of the Windows 8.1 app to make this happen, and we are hoping to wrap up this phone update in the next couple weeks so we can get started on that. There are also quite a few other things going on at the same time, but we don't have many details we can share about those just yet. Stay tuned! We appreciate your patience through this process. Microsoft has been changing their platforms (for the better) pretty rapidly and we are trying to make sure our apps take full advantage of everything they are doing, even if it means working and re-working several times.
In the meantime we are adding a bit more to other things like the new Photos module, in order to pack in the kind of features you would expect in order to make it an acceptable replacement for the default photo gallery. After all, we are trying to make this app useful and not just fun to play with, even if we do want a lot of that too!
It's been a while since we last updated the Windows 8.1 version of LCARS Interface. There is a LOT we want to do with that one still. Many of the things being developed on the Windows Phone side will also become available there once we bring that app into sync with the new phone version. The two apps will eventually share most of their code. So far the "shared" code and most of the Windows Phone code are in place. Then we can tie in the Windows 8.1 app and we will be able to release the same new features on both at the same time going forward. There is still a lot of work to do for this, but it is coming along. There will be quite a bit of re-structuring of the Windows 8.1 app to make this happen, and we are hoping to wrap up this phone update in the next couple weeks so we can get started on that. There are also quite a few other things going on at the same time, but we don't have many details we can share about those just yet. Stay tuned! We appreciate your patience through this process. Microsoft has been changing their platforms (for the better) pretty rapidly and we are trying to make sure our apps take full advantage of everything they are doing, even if it means working and re-working several times.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
We're still here!
This blog has been pretty quiet recently. It's certainly not due to a lack of development activity, though! In fact we've been busier than ever since at any point we have probably half a dozen projects we are working on for public release. I know most of you follow us for our LCARS based projects, and those are my personal favorite to work on, but we also do other things too! Work is still going strong on the Windows Phone 8.1 version of LCARS Interface. Huge sections of the WP8.0 version are being re-written to share a common code base with the Windows 8.1 version. We have had some minor setbacks in this process since we are always working with the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1 that is released to developers. There are some bugs in it that prohibit us from being able to complete work on our app's features. The new Camera module is the latest piece to suffer from this, but hopefully it won't be a problem for long.
Now that Windows Phone 8.1 provides file access, we have released what was our first Windows 8 Store app, Rename It! Pro, for Windows Phone 8.1! This app is taking advantage of the new Universal apps from Microsoft, and so purchasing either the Windows 8 version or Windows Phone version will allow you to download the other without having to buy it again! We plan to take advantage of this with as many apps as we can going forward which should make everything a better value for all of you. We have not done this yet for LCARS Interface, mainly due to the disparity of features between the versions (and so also the cost difference between them). As we move these two versions closer together we hope to make it work eventually. Right now the phone version costs a lot less, so hopefully having to buy it on a second platform won't be too deterring.
Fans of the LCARS Simulator app for Windows Phone (which is built into the Windows 8 version of LCARS Interface) will have some new things coming up soon. Notably we hope to release something related to it that will support more platforms than just Windows 8 and Windows Phone in the next couple of months!
On another note, MANY of you have asked about us doing something for the pre-LCARS era during the original 6 Star Trek feature films. Well there are no official announcements about this yet, but we are doing some initial R&D on it. It's an ambitious project since we can't simply change the colors for that like we can to go between LCARS themes. We definitely want to do something in that style, but we have a lot of other stuff in the works right now so we would like to get some of those wrapped up first!
We've had a lot of great suggestions lately about new features, and we are certainly working on adding many of them into future app updates. Requests don't have to be added to existing apps, either. We can build entirely new ones if that's what it takes to accommodate what you need! Please also take a few moments if you haven't already and rate our apps in the Windows and Windows Phone stores and tell everyone what you think! If you have technical difficulties, please contact us directly so we can resolve them. We cannot contact you to help with problems from store reviews.
Keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter for new announcements about app updates, new apps, or really anything else what we need to share! We love engaging with our users, so feel free to send e-mails, Facebook messages, or comment here on how we can continue making our products among your favorites!
Now that Windows Phone 8.1 provides file access, we have released what was our first Windows 8 Store app, Rename It! Pro, for Windows Phone 8.1! This app is taking advantage of the new Universal apps from Microsoft, and so purchasing either the Windows 8 version or Windows Phone version will allow you to download the other without having to buy it again! We plan to take advantage of this with as many apps as we can going forward which should make everything a better value for all of you. We have not done this yet for LCARS Interface, mainly due to the disparity of features between the versions (and so also the cost difference between them). As we move these two versions closer together we hope to make it work eventually. Right now the phone version costs a lot less, so hopefully having to buy it on a second platform won't be too deterring.
Fans of the LCARS Simulator app for Windows Phone (which is built into the Windows 8 version of LCARS Interface) will have some new things coming up soon. Notably we hope to release something related to it that will support more platforms than just Windows 8 and Windows Phone in the next couple of months!
On another note, MANY of you have asked about us doing something for the pre-LCARS era during the original 6 Star Trek feature films. Well there are no official announcements about this yet, but we are doing some initial R&D on it. It's an ambitious project since we can't simply change the colors for that like we can to go between LCARS themes. We definitely want to do something in that style, but we have a lot of other stuff in the works right now so we would like to get some of those wrapped up first!
We've had a lot of great suggestions lately about new features, and we are certainly working on adding many of them into future app updates. Requests don't have to be added to existing apps, either. We can build entirely new ones if that's what it takes to accommodate what you need! Please also take a few moments if you haven't already and rate our apps in the Windows and Windows Phone stores and tell everyone what you think! If you have technical difficulties, please contact us directly so we can resolve them. We cannot contact you to help with problems from store reviews.
Keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter for new announcements about app updates, new apps, or really anything else what we need to share! We love engaging with our users, so feel free to send e-mails, Facebook messages, or comment here on how we can continue making our products among your favorites!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Journey to Windows Phone 8.1
Sorry for the blog silence the past few weeks. Hopefully many of you have seen a few sneak peaks of what we've been working on from the Facebook page.
There have been a couple updates to the Windows 8.1 app as well as a minor update to the Windows Phone 8.0 app, but a majority of our efforts have been focused on one thing...getting LCARS Interface ready for Windows Phone 8.1!
Read on after the break to find out how it's going. It's a bit long, as there is a lot that is going into this process which likely won't be visible to the end user when the update comes out.
There have been a couple updates to the Windows 8.1 app as well as a minor update to the Windows Phone 8.0 app, but a majority of our efforts have been focused on one thing...getting LCARS Interface ready for Windows Phone 8.1!
Read on after the break to find out how it's going. It's a bit long, as there is a lot that is going into this process which likely won't be visible to the end user when the update comes out.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Long Time No Post....New Stuff Coming!
Sorry for the lack of updates to this blog recently. Hopefully most of you follow us on Facebook where we usually post quick updates and sneak peaks of the things to come.
A new update was just submitted for the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8.1, which will hopefully be approved later today. The quick change log is as follows:
Not anything major this time, but we are making a push to improve upon the interface design. Our initial designs and colors were based on the LCARS Standards Development board website, but that effort was never entirely completed, and is still somewhat incomplete. We are now going through and adding some additional colors to the mix, in addition to making some mathematical adjustments to the controls in order to make them more screen accurate. We are also considering some additional themes. New animations are also in the works.
We have a TON of new projects and updates in the works, and we are rolling them out as quickly as we get them finished. We are also experimenting with the new Universal apps for Windows devices, and investigating what it would take to rebuild the LCARS Interface apps into one of these packages, which would speed up development time and bring the feature sets closer together. The downside is that it would be incompatible with Windows Phone 8.0 at that point. This should not be a huge problem since ALL Windows 8 devices will be able to upgrade to 8.1, similar to the decision we made to no longer support Windows 8.0. We are still working out the details, and consolidating, optimizing, and adding to our code base for these apps in addition to designing the new things we have in the works. It's a little overwhelming at the moment while all of these changes to the development process are taking place, but we should come out more streamlined and better able to support Windows and Windows Phone, in addition to other Windows platforms, than ever before. We are proud to be early adopters of Windows Store development, and some of these growing pains are part of having provided these apps before the platforms were totally mature. But that isn't discouraging us from moving forward. LCARS Interface remains in the top 3 Entertainment apps in the Windows Store, and we intend to keep it that way, in addition to making new and exciting apps to complement it.
A new update was just submitted for the LCARS Interface app for Windows 8.1, which will hopefully be approved later today. The quick change log is as follows:
- Simulator module can now be pinned to Start screen.
- Fixed some issues with Trig functions in Calculator module.
- Fixed seek bar in the Media Player when in full screen mode.
- Many visual adjustments and fixes.
Not anything major this time, but we are making a push to improve upon the interface design. Our initial designs and colors were based on the LCARS Standards Development board website, but that effort was never entirely completed, and is still somewhat incomplete. We are now going through and adding some additional colors to the mix, in addition to making some mathematical adjustments to the controls in order to make them more screen accurate. We are also considering some additional themes. New animations are also in the works.
We have a TON of new projects and updates in the works, and we are rolling them out as quickly as we get them finished. We are also experimenting with the new Universal apps for Windows devices, and investigating what it would take to rebuild the LCARS Interface apps into one of these packages, which would speed up development time and bring the feature sets closer together. The downside is that it would be incompatible with Windows Phone 8.0 at that point. This should not be a huge problem since ALL Windows 8 devices will be able to upgrade to 8.1, similar to the decision we made to no longer support Windows 8.0. We are still working out the details, and consolidating, optimizing, and adding to our code base for these apps in addition to designing the new things we have in the works. It's a little overwhelming at the moment while all of these changes to the development process are taking place, but we should come out more streamlined and better able to support Windows and Windows Phone, in addition to other Windows platforms, than ever before. We are proud to be early adopters of Windows Store development, and some of these growing pains are part of having provided these apps before the platforms were totally mature. But that isn't discouraging us from moving forward. LCARS Interface remains in the top 3 Entertainment apps in the Windows Store, and we intend to keep it that way, in addition to making new and exciting apps to complement it.
Friday, March 7, 2014
LCARS Interface [Windows 8] Release 37 is now available!
Another update to the Windows 8.1 LCARS Interface app should start rolling out to everyone soon! This update brings one of the most requested features...an Image Viewer! It currently supports selection of multiple files, as well as entire folders. Functionality is very similar to the Document viewer, with a few changes that make sense for the different content.
Also in this update is the ability to add LCARS Interface as the default PDF viewer, so you can launch files straight to the Document Viewer! The same is true for the new Image Viewer as well, which support .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .bmp for now with possibly more formats coming soon.
We also patched up some code that should help the app use less memory and experience significantly less slowdown after prolonged usage and lots of switching between modules. It seemed to improve performance pretty substantially on our 1st generation Surface RT! We've also made several other adjustments and minor fixes to many places in the app. Getting everything to look good and work correctly across such a wide range of device sizes and resolutions is quite a time consuming task, but we're up for the challenge!
We've also been very busy lately adding to our LCARS framework with the Silverlight and WPF ports of our controls. The process is going well and should expand what we are able to do in the future to give you all the capabilities that Windows Store apps are not able to do. The WPF port will allow us to accommodate the many of you who have asked for very specialized applications that don't make sense in the context of the Windows Store application. This could make for some awesome home automation systems!
Also in this update is the ability to add LCARS Interface as the default PDF viewer, so you can launch files straight to the Document Viewer! The same is true for the new Image Viewer as well, which support .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .bmp for now with possibly more formats coming soon.
We also patched up some code that should help the app use less memory and experience significantly less slowdown after prolonged usage and lots of switching between modules. It seemed to improve performance pretty substantially on our 1st generation Surface RT! We've also made several other adjustments and minor fixes to many places in the app. Getting everything to look good and work correctly across such a wide range of device sizes and resolutions is quite a time consuming task, but we're up for the challenge!
We've also been very busy lately adding to our LCARS framework with the Silverlight and WPF ports of our controls. The process is going well and should expand what we are able to do in the future to give you all the capabilities that Windows Store apps are not able to do. The WPF port will allow us to accommodate the many of you who have asked for very specialized applications that don't make sense in the context of the Windows Store application. This could make for some awesome home automation systems!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
LCARS Simulator for Windows Phone is now free to play!
We've got a special treat for Windows Phone users...you can now download a free trial for LCARS Simulator from the Windows Phone store! As with most free to play games this one is ad supported, but it has no in-app purchases so you won't be spending all your money if you get addicted to it. The trial has no time limit or functionality limitations, so you are free to play as long as you like without buying anything! If you like it and wish to purchase the full version to remove the ads, you can click on "Remove Ads" from the "About" section of the Settings screen, or from the Windows Phone Store directly!
We look forward to getting new feedback on possible improvements to this app. It has been a while since we made significant changes to it, but while we are working on planning the expansion of it, we decided to try and expand the user base so that more people will benefit from the work going into it. Since the Windows Phone and Windows 8 Store apps use the same game core, any changes we make to the game will be for both platforms.
We look forward to getting new feedback on possible improvements to this app. It has been a while since we made significant changes to it, but while we are working on planning the expansion of it, we decided to try and expand the user base so that more people will benefit from the work going into it. Since the Windows Phone and Windows 8 Store apps use the same game core, any changes we make to the game will be for both platforms.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)