For the last few hours I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to add an app I created to a Facebook fan page. Creating the app was trivial compared to actually adding it to the page. Every help page says something different, and the links that were supposed to be there weren’t. The instructions given are to follow the “View App Profile Page” in your app’s settings page, but this link isn’t always there for whatever reason.
To add your new app to a page, use the URI below, replacing APP_ID with the ID of the app you want to add. It’s on the summary page of your app in the developers area (for now).
http://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=APP_ID&pages=1
That will brind up a dialog allowing you to add the app to any page or profile.
Courtesy of this topic on Stack Overflow.
Related posts:
Lightning is one of the most powerful extensions for Mozilla Thunderbird. The standard calendar and task list are handy enough, but with a little bit of tweaking it can sync with a number of online services which makes it even more powerful.
There are a handful of tutorials for syncing with Remember the Milk, but the extension listed is no longer maintained and is unavailable on the Thunderbird extensions site (the old cache is available here).
Thankfully there is a slightly updated version of the plugin that works with the latest version of Thunderbird.
Please note: I didn’t write this plugin, but found it on the cached page and am sharing it here as I found it useful.
Install the extensions
Before you can start you’ll need to install Lightning and the updated sync plugin which can be downloaded here (mirror).
Once it’s installed, setting everything up is a breeze.
Subscribing to the calendar
Open a calendar tab in Thunderbird and add a new calendar (right click on the sidebar and select “new calendar”). Add a network calendar, select the “Remember The Milk” provider, and enter a few details.
Once this is set up, you’ll have a single task that contains details on how to authorize the plugin. Go to the URL in this message and allow the plugin to access your account. Once you see the confirmation screen, head back to Thunderbird and mark the task as complete.
If everything worked, you’ll receive a welcome popup in Thunderbird and your tasks will start to sync!
Related posts:
“Psycho Bean” was my entry into Reddit Game Jam #6. The theme was “energy”, which threw up a few interesting ideas. The finished result ended up quite differently from the first draft, and underwent a major rewrite near the end.
The original “psycho bean” is an idea my brother came up with many years ago during one of our sugar-fuelled game idea sessions. This challenge seemed like the perfect time to bring that idea to life.
Getting Started: Mind Mapping
Below are computerised versions of the two mind maps I used when coming up with ideas for the game. There are plenty of dead ends, but a few of the ideas filtered through to the final game. The decreasing energy seemed like a good way to go, and the transformational aspect tied into the whole “psycho” idea.
The original game was going to be a platform game with shooting elements (i.e. Mario with guns). As you can see, things didn’t end up that way.
A Brief History
I didn’t make a time lapse video, but instead took screenshots at key times of development.
 |
Version 1
The very first screen, taken about 2 hours into the coding process. Most of the assets were borrowed from Monster Mash to help get something playable as quickly as possible.
|
 |
Version 2
The first version with shooting and collision. At this point in development it was possible to spawn enemies, shoot them and jump onto the platforms. |
 |
Version 3
This was taken at 8:30 on Sunday morning, roughly 10 hours before the deadline. The platforming was gone (as explained in “what went wrong”), and replaced with top-down shooting instead.
|
 |
Version 4
Two hours later, and the bullets were flying. There was still plenty left to do (more enemies, the weapons, points etc), but it was playable and more fun than the platforming. |
 |
Version 5
This is the version that was entered. Bullets, AI, “Sugar Rush” mode and a statistics screen at the end.
|
What Went Wrong
I made most of the mistakes from Monster Mash, and some new ones too!
Even Slower Start — Saturday was the Reddit Triangle meetup, which took up most of the afternoon. Needless to say, not much code was written until the evening.
Scrapped Everything — When development ended on Saturday night I wasn’t happy with how the game played. The platforming didn’t feel right, and every now and then the player would stick to the ground after jumping. I didn’t think I’d be able to fix things in the morning, so a total rewrite was in order.
Graphics Dictated Gameplay — Switching to the top down perspective had a few side-effects. The biggest was the lack of diagonal movement and firing, which made the game less enjoyable than it could have been.
What Went Right
It Got Done — Like Monster Mash, at the end of the jam I had something playable. There were a few features that didn’t make the cut, and a lot of the game is unpolished.
Development Screenshots — Although I didn’t make a time lapse, I did want to capture what the game looked like at various points in development.
Scrapped The First Version — Moving from a platformer to a top-down shooter meant a lot of time was wasted, which can be a killer when there’s a tight time limit. Fortunately the changes made the game far more playable which is the most important part.
Lessons For The Future
Lessons for next time:
- Iterate faster. Get it playable. Make it fun.
- Don’t be afraid to throw things out if they’re not fun.
- Don’t worry if it looks stupid. It’s not a beauty contest (although having a nice looking game certainly helps to attract votes)
You can play the latest version here: Psycho Bean.
View all of the entries here: Reddit Game Jam #6: Final Submissions
Related posts:
There was a thread on Hacker News lately from someone that made their first sale. I mentioned that my email client was set up to play a sound when a sale is made. This was easy to set up in Outlook 2007, but the default installation of Mozilla Thunderbird doesn’t support playing sounds for filters.
All is not lost though. There’s an addon called “ToneQuilla” which fixes this problem, so you can play all the sounds you want!
Here’s an example of how to set up a simple filter that plays a custom sound when a BMT Micro affiliate sale is made.
Creating the filter
Look under Tools -> Message Filters. Click “New” button to open the filter creation dialog.
Click image to view full size
Set the filter to run on messages that have a subject with “BMT Micro Affiliate Order” in them. You can also add extra conditions for other sales emails, depending on who emails you.
Under “Perform these actions”, add a “Play Sound” action and link to your favourite sound. There’s plenty of cash register sounds at freesound.org, although personally I prefer the cash register noise from Sonic the Hedgehog :)
Related posts:
At the end of 2010, Steve Pavlina released the copyrights on all of his website material. Seeing as Dexterity.com is no longer available, I’ve added the old Dexterity Software articles to the developer articles section of the site. These made a huge impression on me when I first read them, so I’m happy I can share them here.
These articles are very dense, so it’s a good idea to either print them out or bookmark them for when you have some time. Even though the world of software has changed a great deal since these were written, they’re still full of valuable information.
I recommend starting with Cultivating Burning Desire and How to Get More Done in Less Time. The articles on marketing and sales are also well worth the time to read, and you’re sure to find at least a few actionable ideas to improve your site.
Product Development
Building a Successful Indie Business
Marketing & Sales
Personal Productivity & Motivation
Related posts:
