Craft Pricing Pro is now live!

I’ve been working on this app for well over a year and it is finally live in the app store! I’m pretty excited for people to actually start to use it.

This version of the app adds many useful features, including the ability to add an image to the project, along the being able to save multiple projects. The basic app is free, but you have the option to purchase the added features that were added.

It has been a long time since I have used an in-app purchase – hopefully it will work okay for most users. I have unfortunately been struggling to pay bills and if something doesn’t change, I will have to step away from my apps and do something else.

I wish I had been posting more as I worked on this app. I suspect some part of the journey would have been interesting to someone.

I can talk a bit about the last major step – putting the in-app purchases into the app. I originally planned to use a subscriptions for the app, but after getting it mostly working I dropped that idea. I struggled being ok with charging people monthly/yearly for an app that doesn’t really change. It doesn’t use more resources and there isn’t really new content being added regularly. I will add app features over time – there are several already planned. But the regular charge just doesn’t feel right to me.

So, there we have it. A quick rundown of my app. Oh, I should also add, this is my first app that is available in another language. It supports Spanish.

The official marketing page

‎Craft Pricing Pro
‎Craft Pricing Pro
Developer: Ducky Planet LLC
Price: Free+
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot
  • ‎Craft Pricing Pro Screenshot

My Newest Little Project

Sometimes it is worth stepping back from work related projects and focus on something that you find more fun. Over the last month or so, I started to work on a couple of these fun little projects.

The project I’m going to show here is a sand simulator. There is a short animated gif shown below.

This project came from watching a Youtube video where someone explained creating their own version of a sand simulation. I used many of their ideas, but implemented them in my own ways. What you see above is the current version of what I have been playing with. The app includes 8 different types of particles that interact with each other in different ways. Sand will pile up like sand does. Water attempts to level itself. Snow and ice pile up in their own ways and fire will turn water, ice or snow into steam that will rise off the screen.

There were many interesting techniques used to make this all happen with the main movement based on Cellular Automata theories. Each particles moves by looking at it’s surrounding neighbors and then decided how to move. For the most part, they only care about the 8 locations directly surrounding them. As simple as that sounds, it allows for some interesting and occasionally surprising interactions.

Doing this project let me work through some interesting programming issues, while at the same time giving me something fun to play with. A majority of the code fits in around 400 lines and it does everything you can see above.

So, if you find yourself stuck – step back and find a small project that appeals to you and work on that. It will not only better your programming skills, but it will also allow your brain to reset before you return to your actual work.

The Frustrations of Failure

I’ve been disenchanted for a bit with my apps. I was really excited for the last couple of apps that I released, but the sales have dismal for them. I believe the apps themselves were useful and worked well, but my marketing leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of pushing myself to do better at marketing the apps, I kinda fell into a rut and stopped doing much of anything useful.

I shouldn’t say that I haven’t done anything useful. I have spent time upgrading my skills and also working on a couple of new apps.I have at least one pretty much ready to go, but I have lost my confidence so I haven’t done the last few steps needed to release it. So, one set of failures has compounded to make a an entirely new set of failures.

Sadly, at this point I don’t have a great solution for myself. So, this might not be the most helpful blog post to anyone, but it does help with my accountability to myself. I know I am capable of creating a decent apps that are either useful or enjoyable. I just have to remind myself that no one can see the apps if I don’t release them. After that, I need to find a way to let people know that the apps exist in the world.

So, I’m going to use this post as a way to push myself to step back up and do what I know I can do. By the way, if you read this and want to play a silly, but enjoyable game – Fruit Derby is still available in the Apple App Store.