Posts in Linked

Super Mario Run Is a Defense of Craftsmanship→

Excellent point by Sam Rosenthal on Super Mario Run:

Borrowing a staple from modern console Mario games, each level in Super Mario Run has multiple tiers of coins to collect. The coins fundamentally change the way you navigate the space, and sometimes the space itself changes to accommodate them. A just out of reach coin reminds you about the spin jump’s utility. Former obstacles are recontextualized as potential platforms.

If the game’s initial tutorial feels like a concession to a broader audience, the coins remind us why Nintendo’s game design deserves to be treasured. Even on another company’s platform, in a genre they didn’t invent, they unearth an astonishing amount of surprise and delight.

Collecting all the coins shows how Super Mario Run isn’t just “a runner game for iOS” – it’s a classic Nintendo game. There’s an ingenuity to each level that can only be appreciated by playing to get the harder coins. Seriously – if you think you’ve completed Super Mario Run by clearing all the stages, go back and try to collect all the coins. The game changes quite deeply.

Unfortunately, most people won’t even see the fourth stage. And that’s a shame, because I think Nintendo delivered a lesson in iOS game design that everyone should experience.

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Canvas, Episode 26: Advanced Workflow Programming→

This week Fraser and Federico take a look at some of the advanced programming structures in Workflow.

On this week’s episode of Canvas, we cover some of the advanced features of the app, including conditional blocks and regular expressions. On the final episode of the Workflow series, due to be released in January, we’ll cover even more advanced Workflow use cases.

You can listen here.

If you haven’t listened to the previous episodes of the Workflow series yet, you’ll want to go back and start from there.

Sponsored by:

  • Pingdom: Start monitoring your websites and servers today. Use offer CANVAS for a special 50% off.
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Pokémon Go Apple Watch App Released→

Niantic, maker of Pokémon Go, released an Apple Watch companion app for its popular iOS game today. According to Niantic the Apple Watch app lets players:

• Log each play session as a workout, with gameplay counting toward personal Activity rings
• Receive notifications about nearby Pokémon
• Count distance toward hatching Pokémon Eggs and receiving Candy with your Buddy Pokémon
• Receive notifications about PokéStops nearby and collect items from them
• Receive notifications when Eggs hatch and medals are awarded

The Pokémon Go watchOS app, which is available as part of a free update to the game, was first announced at Apple’s September iPhone event by Niantic CEO, John Hanke.

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Connected 122:, Episode 2016: Big, Heavy and Vaguely Disappointing→

With 2016 (finally) drawing to a close, the Connected trio hop in their time machine and revisit the biggest tech stories of the last 12 months.

On this week’s Connected, we revisited the biggest stories from the past year. It’s funny how some of them feel like they happened a long time ago. You can listen here.

Sponsored by:

  • Smile: Give the gift of Smile, and you’ll be giving the gift of time.
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Super Mario Run Sets Records→

In a press release today, Nintendo detailed some of the App Store records Super Mario Run broke in the days immediately following its release last week. TechCrunch reports that:

…the company says that in addition to its top ranking in the “free” chart of the App Store in 140 different global markets (of the 150 where it’s available), it’s also now in the top 10 ranking for best grossing games in 100 different markets.

The press release also includes a quote from Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Marketing confirming the record-smashing downloads.

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The Process of Proposing New Emoji→

The Verge has an interesting interview with Paul Hunt, a type designer at Adobe, who has proposed four emoji that have been adopted as part of the Unicode Standard: orange heart, child, adult, and older adult. In addition to describing the extensive research that can go into proposals to adopt a new emoji, Hunt explains the Unicode body’s approach to issues surrounding the diversity of emoji and inclusiveness:

… Unicode tries to be very sensitive and tries to avoid any kind of political issues when it comes to coding new characters. I think that Unicode doesn’t really try to give a voice for particular causes. Instead, they try to approach it in a way that they try to make tools for communicating existing realities. … I feel like having more emoji concepts to express issues around gender and around equality issues is only a good thing. Hopefully as people use and see these emoji, then it will help them to hopefully be able to think and empathize for the people who are using them.

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