Readers’ App Reviews – August 2013
Check our app reviews for apps by readers in August – including pirates in the great abyss and hedgehogs in the sky! By Ryan Poolos.
More great apps by you!
More great apps by you!
Summer is almost over, but with fall comes new goodies from the great fruit company. Let’s take a look at what could be our last month of apps before the great flattening!
This month we’ve got some great app reviews:
- Some furry little hedgehogs flying through the sky
- Pirates in the great abyss
- Gems that need slicing
- And of course, much more!
Read on for awesome apps and games made by your fellow readers!
Wide Sky
Wide Sky is a game with stunning graphics and animations that doubles as a chance to hurl hedgehogs through the sky.
If only you could train hedgehogs to perform great acrobatic feats of agility. Oh right, just grab a rope (you can choose from 11 different types), and get slinging!
The game has simple controls and a few extra abilities like parachutes to help you on your mission. Collect some stars, smash some orbs, but above all, don’t let your hedgehog hit the ground!
- Author: Marcus Eckert @marcus_eckert
- Most useful tutorial: How To Create Dynamic Textures with CCRenderTexture
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Script – Bible Verse Wallpaper Creator
If you’d like something uplifting on your home and lock screens, Script can help.
Script will take any image, and help you super impose a bible verse of your choice on it. You can position the text whereever you’d like, adjusting font size, color, and more.
It has the entire King James Bible right in the app with a look up list to find just the verse you’re looking for. Its a great way to customize your iPhone’s background.
- Author: Brandon Trebitowski @brandontreb
- Most useful tutorial: Core Graphics 101: Lines, Rectangles, and Gradients
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Ninja’s Quest
The Temple of Wisdom awaits!
Ninja’s Quest has some unique mechnics that let your ninja fly across the screen slicing and kicking the enemy ninjas along the way.
Battle your way through 100 levels across 5 worlds. Lots of different enemies to encounter.
- Author: Andreas Riegler @AndreasRiegler
- Most useful tutorial: How To Make a 2.5D Game With Unity Tutorial: Part 1
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Buzz’A’Sound
Buzz’A’Sound lets you create your own mobile soundboard.
There are 24 preset sounds from buzzers to laughter. But the app really shines when you record your own sounds. You can record up to 12 sounds (or 9 if you’re on older hardware) and set them to individual hot keys.
Playing a sound is a simple as opening the app and tapping the appropriate sounds. It couldn’t be easier.
- Author: Marius Herzog
- Most useful tutorial: How to Submit Your App to Apple: From No Account to App Store, Part 1
- App Store Link: Check it out!
WriteDown
WriteDown is a clean markdown editor for your iOS device.
The feature list for this app is a mile long: Dropbox syncing, Evernote uploading, custom fonts, night modes, passcode protection, and more.
WriteDown also features a very cool trackball implementation that allows you to position the cursor without taking your thumbs off the keyboard.
- Author: Vinh Nguyen @vinhnx
- Most useful tutorial: How to Submit Your App to Apple: From No Account to App Store, Part 1
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Swindlers – Pirates In Space
You’re the last hope for the the colony in space!
Dirty swindling pirates want to steal your last remaining energy cells, its your job to protect them. Pirates are crafty and can come from any direction. Be ready to blast them out of the sky… space?
GameCenter integration and simple controls help make this fast paced shooter very addicting.
- Author: Chris Halfacre @TwinPeaksMedia
- Most useful tutorial: How To Make a Space Shooter iPhone Game
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Secret Menu for Starbucks
Every been to Starbucks and just starred at the menu wishing for more?
This secret menu is perfect. It has a variety of teas and coffees that you can have made to order, albeit some will probably take some explaining.
Each secret drink has description and instructions as well as a nice picture of your elusive beverage. Don’t forget to brag to friends on Twitter. ;]
- Author: Henry D’Andrea
- Most useful tutorial: Table View Helper Class
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Sky Hawks
Take to the skies in Sky Hawks!
Sky Hacks is a fun dog fighting game that lets you battle it out in the skies. Sky Hawks has clean, retro graphics throughout the game.
Unlock a number of planes and new weapons to help you battle your way through swarms of enemy planes.
The longer you survive, the more you can brag on GameCenter.
- Author: Tate Allen @AllTheWayApps
- Most useful tutorial: Trigonometry for Game Programming: Part 1/2
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Art Explained
Art Explained would have been a godsend in history class during the renaissance era.
Art Explained features many of the most popular paints in history along with dates, artist names, and key features of the paintings.
Features are highlighted with helpful sparkles providing extra information with a tap.
- Author: Daniel Witte
- Most useful tutorial: Introduction to In-App Purchases
- App Store Link: Check it out!
4word
4word is a clever game with a clever name. :]
You start with a custom keyboard of scrambled letters. After the first word you spell, every word after it has to start with the last letter of the previous word. This causes you to do some strategic double takes as you worry you won’t be able to build two words from the same letter!
- Author: Mark Bellott @markbellott
- Most useful tutorial: How To Create A Mole Whacking Game With Cocos2D: Part 1/2
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Basic Baby Lite
Gotta baby that needs tracking? Good news!
Basic Baby is an app for tracking just about everything you can imagine about your baby. Keep track of feeding cycles, diaper changes, nap times, and more.
Everything can be saved in an expanding history so you can tracking changes and patterns. And the app supports syncing so your baby info can be found on all your devices.
- Author: Tim Walsh @WalshiTech
- Most useful tutorial: How To Localize an iPhone App Tutorial
- App Store Link: Check it out!