Since this thread might actually catch the eye of some people who are responsible for these kinds of things (nothing ever seems to happen with stuff that comes up in the Apple Support forums), I'll add my current pet peeve bug:
On iOS, I use the notes app to keep track of my workout routine. Just a simple table with columns for exercises and rows for workout sessions. For a while now, there's a bug where the text gets confused about which row it should display on. Only in some columns though. So in one or a few columns, the entry for the last workout will be a few rows above where it should be – sometimes it's between rows. When I press the cell in the bottom row to input a new entry, the text marker will end up somewhere above. This bug is quite inconsistent, but often persists between reboots of the app. It seems to have something to do with there being empty cells in a column
I completely agree, though I haven't been thinking in terms of the cancer metaphor myself. I have been thinking a bit about how we could limit the negative effects of both advertising and other phenomena like social media algorithms:
1. Almost all advertising is based on manipulation of human cognitive biases. There is a limited set of biases, and the mechanisms by which they can be exploited are both limited and easily detected – we can most likely train AI to do it. Therefore, it's possible to start thinking seriously about making laws that ban corporations and organisations from creating marketing that exploits these cognitive biases.
2. When it comes to social media platforms, there are two routes we could go down. Either we could regulate their algorithms the same way – or we could force social media platforms to both make their recommendation algorithms open source, and to open up their platforms to third-party recommendation algorithms that people can choose to use instead. This would be like a recommendation algorithm app store that the company has to provide to their users. You might want to select a youtube recommendation algorithm that optimises for personal development – or a facebook feed that optimises for creating real-world connections
Of course corporations would fight this kind of legislation with tooth and claw, but that's how it is. I would be happy to get some thoughtful feedback on these ideas, their technical and legal plausibility, and any potential negative unintended consequences or loopholes that could undermine them
The story begins at a kitchen table in Stockholm in 2015, playing Scrabble with my flatmate. I tell my friend I want to see if we can come up with a new type of word game
Playing around with the game tiles, after a while I put four of them together in a square, and realise that this could be a good start
At the time, I've recently learned iOS app development watching tutorials on Lynda.com (Simon Allardice is probably still my all-time favourite teacher), so I start developing the first iteration of the game using the newly released Swift and SpriteKit combo. Having a lot of fun, learning as I go
After about a year, I have a functional - but not too beautiful - two player game that works ok for local pass & play games. Only on iOS though. Should have thought about the multi platform thing earlier on...
In 2016 I get my first jobs as an iOS developer, first in a tiny startup at an incubator office in central Stockholm, then at FEO Media, the company behind the huge global success QuizClash. After a few months working on their Swift remake of the original game, I join a new project to create a sequel to QuizClash, using Unity3D. After some time, I ask a friend and colleague on the team – the UI designer – if he'd be keen to work on my game with me as a side project, and he agrees. We start iterating designs, while I start reworking the game from scratch in Unity
After about a year, we have the QuizClash sequel ready for release, but this unfortunately coincides with the company being acquired by a competitor, MAG Interactive, who choose to keep going with the original game. Bad timing, and a year of work wasted. Such is life.
I go off to Vietnam in early 2018 to work on another startup idea. Unfortunately I end up in a health crisis there and that falls through. Once I'm kind of back on my feet again, I decide to refocus on the word game. I'm living off savings and subleasing my apartment in Stockholm, so I can work pretty much full time, and some family and friends have joined as beta testers, some of them becoming quite obsessive players. This is a good phase
After a few more ups and downs, on-periods and off-periods, we finally get around to making a proper release of the game. This year is now 2022. I have some plans for marketing, have even created a tool that I can use to create animated clips of finding interesting words, to post on social media sites. But I can never get myself to do the job of marketing, partly because of a strong aversion to self-promotion and marketing in general, partly life, health and work getting in the way, partly because of laziness, and possibly partly because of some underlying psychological problems that someone else might be better positioned to see than me
Since the release, I've thought of getting around to marketing the game, but still, it's just there. A fully functional, genuinely fun and challenging multiplayer word game, with some unique game mechanics I've not seen elsewhere. Unseen, unloved, gathering virtual dust on the iOS App Store and Google Play
Not sure what triggered me to write this post just now. Maybe I'm hoping for someone to read this, check out the game, and go "That's a great game, I want to help make it big!". Maybe I want to find a new burst of motivation to get started on the marketing that never happened. Maybe I just want some interesting replies from other creators with similar stories
Anyway, the name of the game is Lingo Lords, and you can find it on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. If you want to challenge me at the game, my player name is Henk0. Expect to be beaten, as I've played the game more than literally anyone else. Available game languages right now are English, Swedish and Dutch. If you try it and like it, maybe post your player name here for others to challenge you. If you want to invest or help out with marketing for a percentage of shares, pm me. Consider reviewing it on the app store(s), etc. etc.
On iOS, I use the notes app to keep track of my workout routine. Just a simple table with columns for exercises and rows for workout sessions. For a while now, there's a bug where the text gets confused about which row it should display on. Only in some columns though. So in one or a few columns, the entry for the last workout will be a few rows above where it should be – sometimes it's between rows. When I press the cell in the bottom row to input a new entry, the text marker will end up somewhere above. This bug is quite inconsistent, but often persists between reboots of the app. It seems to have something to do with there being empty cells in a column
Anyone else experience this?