My first app, officially in the App Store!

Good evening, everyone!

I'd like to announce that my very first iPhone application is now available in the App Store as of right now!  It's called the Hands of Time Solver for FXIII-2.

As the name suggests, it is a solver of sorts for the video game, Final Fantasy XIII-2.

It's a little difficult to explain how these puzzles work in the game, but I'll try with app screenshots.  In the game,  you stumble upon these things called Anomalies which are "temporal rifts" in the game's timeline.  By solving the puzzles, the paradoxes (things that shouldn't happen in the timeline, basically) disappear and you can continue winning at life.

So then, how does the Hands of Time puzzle work? Well, let's offer a demonstration...

The initial screen where you input your numbers.

In each puzzle, there are numbers organized in a circle, with hands in the middle (hence, "Hands of Time").  The numbers can range from 1 to 6, and there can be as many as 13 of them.  Each number represents the number of spaces that the hands will move in opposite directions.  So, if a space had a '1' on it, if the person chooses this spot, then the hands would move to the selected spot.  From here, the right hand would move one space right, and the left hand would move one space left.  Sounds simple, right? It is for small puzzles, but when you encounter puzzles with 13 numbers with high values, this can be rather arduous.

In order to use this app, you must input the numbers in starting from the top-most number and going clockwise.  Let's say, for instance, there were five numbers, and the top-most number started with 1, then 2, then 3, 1, 2 (pictured above). We would input them in that order.  Once you press the solve button, magic happens.  That's right, magic.

In the game, you have a choice of choosing which number to start on, but the app determines which number is most optimal for your puzzle. In this case, the app decided that the top number was the best choice for the first decision.  When the user presses 'Next,' The hands will move in two directions: the right hand will move to the '2' on the right, and the left hand will move to the '2' on the left, as shown in the next picture.

Now that the hands have moved, we have two choices we can make, all depending on the number two.  The app has decided automatically that the '2' on the left is the better and correct choice (note that the lighter blue is enclosing the correct choice).  In this scenario, the choice actually doesn't matter, since they both lead to potentially correct solutions.

We choose the '2' on the left, and press next.  When this happens, the hands will conform to this '2',  and then the right hand will push two spaces to the right '2', and the left hand will push to the '3'.

Again, as we notice, the '2' has a brighter glow, indicating that this is the correct choice to make.  Let's actually consider our options:

If we choose the '2', the left hand will hit the left-most blank spot, and the right hand will hit '1'.  Then from the '1', we can hit the '3' and solve the puzzle!

But, if we choose the '3', the left hand will hit the left-most blank spot, and the right hand will hit the top-most blank spot.  When neither hand targets a number, the puzzle is over and you are forced to retry with a different solution.

With this in mind, let's choose the '2' and see what happens.

As expected, the left hand hits a blank spot and the right hand hits the '1'.  This is an obvious choice; we take the '1', which will push the left hand onto the '3.'

Well, this too is pretty obvious; we have no choice but to choose the '3'. And then...

Voila! Puzzle solved. You're so good!
















The best part about this app is a nifty little implementation that I added.  When you solve a puzzle, the puzzle is sent to a database.  That database keeps track of the puzzles that users have entered in (when you download the app, you're prompted to register a username before starting).  You can check out what other people are solving in the 'View Puzzles' section, located on the main screen.  These updates occur in real-time, so you'll see updates from people who are submitting puzzles while it refreshes!

Pretty neat, huh?

That's pretty much it on this app.  It's completely free, and there are no ads at all!  On your free time, go check it out in the App Store and download it!  If you have any questions, comments, or criticism about the app, submit a post here.

Thanks again, and until next time,

Corey