yycApps - iPhone apps From Calgary Developers.
iPhone Developer Night #2
August 19th, 2010
Last month during my state of the site post, I promised to work harder to help promote some of the grassroots meet-ups happening within the Calgary iPhone Development community.
So for all you local developers out there, Big Stack Studios, the makers of Sigma and Dawn of Night, are hosting the second iPhone Developer Night on August 25th. Last month’s meet-up was such a success that they are back at it again, but this time everyone will be given the chance to demo their in-progress or finished games to group. Then afterwards, people will be heading out for a few drinks and some less informal conversations.
If you want to get involved or attend, you’ll have to join the iPhone Developers group on LinkedIn and respond to the iPhone Developer Night #2 thread. Leevon Bennett is organizing the meet-up for Big Stack, but he needs some numerical information before the event, so get in touch with him ASAP.
So if you’re just looking to connect with other developers or want to demo your latest project, make sure you mark next wednesday down in your calendar.
Posted in Calgary Developer Community News, Local Developer, yycApps News | View Comments
Dead of Night: Vampires vs. Werewolves vs. Steampunk
August 13th, 2010
This is going to be incredibly difficult, but bear with me. I’m going to try and review the incredibly addictive new Vampire vs. Werewolves game – Dead of Night – without making reference to them. You know THEM. You know, that other group of Vampires and Werewolves which have infected pop-culture for the past four years.
So bear with me.
Dead of Night is the latest release from Calgary’s BigStackStudios, the team behind one of this summer’s biggest hits Sigma.
If you’re familiar with the BigStack catalog you’ll be familiar with the gameplay and concept of Hottie Hookups (or just familiar with Russel Fee’s fantastic review from earlier this year). Dead of Night is a second rendition of the Hottie Hookups concept. This time, instead of pitting nerds and sexy bar stars against one another other, Dead of Night pits Vampires, Werewolves, and the dread (and incredibly cool) Steampunk Van Helsing against each other in a epic battle for the souls of humankind. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App Reviews, Calgary Developer Community News, Local Developer, iPhone App | View Comments
Stylmee: The Fashionista’s iPhone App
August 7th, 2010
As the infamous commercial goes, there is apparently an app for everything.
Yes, we know there are apps that act as lighters, allow you to track your friends social outings and even organize your life. But is there an app for the street savvy Fashionista in all of us? If you ask Fresh Concept Labs, they’d probably say yes and then subsequently send you a link to their new app Stylmee. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App Reviews, iPhone App | View Comments
The Cardinal App: Your Music Is The Message
July 30th, 2010
This review comes with a preface regarding social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. If you’re not a participant on either, then sorry kids, this app isn’t for you. But for those of you who are connected, then this has a little more bearing on you.
I’m relatively new to the social media world in the grand scheme of things. But what I’m not new to is the music scene. One of my greatest passions in life is music. The creation, enjoyment and proliferation of music drives my soul. So when I first opened up Cardinal Music I had one thing to say: where have you been all my social media life?
This application is beautifully simple in purpose and design and you get exactly what you expect from it. It provides a simple way to share the music you’re currently listening to on your iPod Touch or iPhone with your social media streams. Coming preloaded with a couple of different messages to display, the artist, song title and album or combinations thereof, the user can also add their own messages, or edit the preloaded ones, and you can set one as a favourite message for easy tweeting. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App Reviews, Local Developer | View Comments
The Flap Jack Finder: A Local Surprise
July 13th, 2010
If you’ve been keeping a casual eye on the Calgary iPhone Development community over the past two years, chances are The Karo Group’s The Flap Jack Finder was your first introduction to a locally developed and calgary-centric iPhone application.
I know for me, it was the first hint that there was a iPhone development community brewing in my own back yard.
Launched last year to a tremendous amount of support and success, the Flap Jack Finder is a simple iPhone app designed in parallel with www.flapjackfinder.com to help Calgarians find the best Stampede Breakfasts. If you’re not from Calgary, you probably won’t understand the significance of the Stampede Breakfast mentality. But for 10 crazy days in July, hundreds of Stampede Breakfasts pop-up in our fair city with companies and organizations serving up doughy pancakes, crispy bacon and some times intoxicating OJ to the masses. With that many events crammed into such a small amount of time, it can be almost impossible to keep track of all the Breakfasts.
So cue-up The Flap Jack Finder. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App News, Calgary Developer Community News, Local Developer, Local Success | View Comments
29 Apps & Growing: A yycApps Update
July 10th, 2010
Things have been quite busy for yycApps.com over the past few months, so we thought we’d send you a quick little update on the growth of this site, the development of the Developers page, and the growth of the community in general.
The first big news is that we’re finally starting to catch-up on the massive back log of Apps that we’ve recieved from the Calgary iPhone Development Community. As you can see from our recent posts, we’re slowly working on adding new reviews, but more importantly we’ve add 29 apps to our Calgary Developed Apps page.
The listed apps include everything from major local app successes (Sigma, Tapforms, Own This World) to small independently developed apps (Birthdays, myDomains, XForm) to everything in between (Stylmee, Poker Genius, Beefy Boards, etc.,). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App News, Calgary Developer Community News, Local Developer, Local Success, yycApps News | View Comments
Sigma For The iPhone
June 15th, 2010
Fresh off the heals of their first release Hottie Hookups, Big Stack Studios have launced the insanely addictive ‘Match 3′ puzzler Sigma.
Since it’s launch this month, Sigma has been garnishing a great amount of buzz within the apps community. Including breaking the illustrious Top50 apps in the US iTunes store. (As I write this review Sigma is sitting at the 26th spot, ahead of some illustrious competition)
In regards to gameplay, Sigma is a dramatic step in a different direction for the ‘Match 3′ genre, where users control and manipulate two rotating columns to create colored blocks combinations. While I could wax poetic about it’s addictive nature and fluid control methods, I thought it would be better If I used this post to describe the game from a true ‘Match 3′ puzzle guru – my wife.
You see, I am not much of a puzzler fan. (Although I found this game incredibly addictive for the two and a half hours I engrossed myself with it). But on the other hand – my wife is the ultimate puzzler guru.
Posted in App Reviews, Local Developer, Local Success, iPhone App | View Comments
Forget About Facebook, Download The Birthdays App.
June 13th, 2010
Without question, one of the universal benefits of Facebook is the friendly reminder when a friend or family member’s birthday approaches. For many, this is the basis for why we find Facebook so beneficial. But with the growing backlash against Facebook’s privacy issues and the growing number of users abandoning the service, wouldn’t it be nice if there was an independent tool for the iPhone which could help you remember this important task? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in App Reviews, Local Developer | View Comments
The Comic Book Bin App
May 22nd, 2010
Fresh off the heals of the Calgary Comicbook Expo is a new app for all levels of comic enthusiasts from The Comic Book Bin.
For those unfamiliar with The Comic Book Bin, it is a Calgary based online mecca for everything comic related.
Started up in 2002 by local entrepreneur Hervé St-Louis, the Comic Book Bin is a self proclaimed independent site where respectful and well-researched discourse on comic books is promoted, free of petty feuds, personal attacks, gossips and industry chit chat – Essentially if you’re a comic book fan, this is your online home.
Early this month, The Comic Book Bin made a massive splash in the online world with the release of their new iPhone App. The Comic Book Bin App is essentially a massive mobile information hub which allows users to find local comic book stores, the closest comic book expo and search the Comic Book Bin’s impressive catalog of comic book reviews and editorials.
Posted in App Reviews, Local Developer, Local Success | View Comments
May 22nd – iPhone Dev Camp #3
May 17th, 2010
It’s that time again.
Time to clear the calendar, because this Saturday, Robots & Pencils is organizing Calgary’s third iPhone DevCamp. If you didn’t have the opportunity to check out the previous two camps, we highly recommend clearing off your schedule for this Saturday.
This dev camp will run in the same format as previous Dev camps, with open sessions in the morning and some brief introductions. Then in the afternoon, the camp will break into some formal demonstrations from a long list of experienced local developers providing some special tricks and tips.
For those of you still not convinced on going, we’d like to point out that four of the featured developers on this site will be demonstrating key development tactics. So if you are at all interested in iPhone/iPad development and live in the Calgary area, make sure you get out to Calgary Technologies Inc. this Saturday.
Register here: http://iphonedevcamp3.eventbrite.com/.