来自加拿大环球邮报消息，Brodie Beta向读者推荐了数款手机游戏制作软件，号称不需要任何的程序基础也可以制作出完美的手机游戏来。

sketch nation shooter

很多游戏玩家都曾设想通过自己的创意来设计一款属于自己的游戏，哪怕只是一些转瞬即逝的念头也好。

现在这样的机会因为技术的革新，已经从纯粹设想变成了可能，没有程序设计基础的人也可以创造出属于自己的游戏。

brodie deta设计的游戏

以下是能实现玩家心愿的几款软件设计应用。

第一款素描猎手（Sketch Nation Shooter），Engineous Games公司出品。最新更新时间2010年4月23日。版本为1.01，大小为20.5M。目前只提供英语版本。下载费用0.99美元。

sketch nation shooter1

第二款庭院设计手册（Landscaper’s Companion），Stevenson Software公司出品。下载费用为9.99美元。

landscaper companion

第三款为园艺家（Master Gardener），MobileWorks 公司出品。最新更新时间为2010年3月2日。版本为2.5，大小为2.2M。目前只提供英语版本。下载费用为3.99美元。

master gardener

anyone who has spent a little time with a joystick in their hands has perhaps wondered what it would take to create a game themselves. Probably a fleeting thought for most when you consider the amount of sticky programming involved. However, as technology broadens, the opportunity to create something like your own game becomes possible, sans programming.

Sketch Nation Shooter

Sketch Nation Shooter is the first game of its kind to hit the Apple App Store and will surely encourage others to follow its creative lead. The game integrates with the iPhone’s  camera by allowing users to take snapshots of sketches (on paper) which are then brought to life within the game. The effectiveness and fun of the game relies on the users’ imagination.

It emulates the tried and true scroll shooter of days gone by, and hopefully won’t be lost on today’s new graphic-intensive player. Gamers that grew up on simple games like Asteroids will certainly be charmed. Using the game’s creation wizard you’ll be instructed to draw your player avatars, enemies, big bosses and levels as well as manage lots of gameplay tweaking.

Sketch Nation Shooter gives you advanced customization of the game, allowing you to dictate the amount of lives a player has, power-ups, shield strength or the number of hits it takes to take down the almighty boss. Smaller options are thoughtful and help flesh out more polish; such as optional music scores for bosses, intro sequences, and the ability to test levels prior to saving a finished game.

The app includes four games they’ve drawn for you — to give you an idea of possible formulas.

Users can share their visualized adventures on Facebook or download games created by players from all over the world.

Sadly all is not perfect. If the lines of the sketches you create aren’t dark enough or the paper isn’t well lit when the snapshot is taken, the app will not grab the image, which can get frustrating as you try again and again. However, the trial-and-error method does eventually work and in the end the result makes it all worth while.

Head to Head- Gardening tools

Botany enthusiasts can add smart phones to their arsenal of tools this spring. These two mobile apps will help gardeners break new ground caring for their house plants and yard plots.

Landscaper’s Companion

Landscaper’s Companion is a detailed pocket reference guide for the strategic planning and caring of gardens. To start, there’s a wide variety of facts about plant species, everything from common house plants to vegetables and herbs. The app has a built-in database of more than 1,400 plants and 5,700 high-quality images compiled from around the web.

Select a plant and you’ll get a detailed description, including tips on what the plant will need to flourish in your garden – climate needs, cultivation advice, troubleshooting. The entire database is stored within the app, so a connection to the Internet isn’t required.

Searching for plants is easy with the highly organized user interface. Plants can be located by using their scientific or common names, or they can be found in categories such as house plants, annuals and herbs for example. You can even find plants based on the conditions of your garden. Got nothing but shade? You can narrow your search by sun exposure, hardiness zones or water needs.

You can also browse through images, which is helpful for beginners.

Although the app includes more than 1400 plants, an experienced green thumb may require a more comprehensive resource. The developer however promises to continue to update the app to reflect missing plants.

Data and pictures are identical in the iPhone and Android versions, however the Android app allows you to limit searches within specific categories whereas the iPhone version searches across all.

The Android version lacks the notes and favourites feature and requires you to connect to the internet due to size limits.

Master Gardener

Master Gardener gives users instant access to more than 30,000 plants and goes a long way to track growth, document progress and organize gardens. Search provides users with common and scientific names, growth habits, life duration and a link to the plant’s Wikipedia page.

For the serious green thumbs, the app includes a plant journal along with a gardener’s to-do list for managing tasks we can’t afford to forget, like watering. Gardeners can jot down field notes on any plant — a useful option considering the app doesn’t list plant care tips.

Though Master Gardener has a huge database compared to it’s competitor the local information about the plant is limited. To attain the plant factoids and care instructions users are brought to Wikipedia within the app’s web browser — leaving the end users to scour the user-contributed information themselves. Unfortunately you’ll often find zone, sunlight and water requirements are often not posted on Wikipedia.

Due to the bulk of the database and licensing issues, the developers say they could not include images. However, the app can search Google for images of the desired plant upon request, and users can then upload the images.

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