# TapStack© timer for iPhone!



## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

Check out TapStack©, a StackMat® iPhone transcription for free!


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## Chalky (Jan 13, 2010)

ouch at the name


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

What you mean?


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## Chalky (Jan 13, 2010)

woops i thought it said tapsack, lol


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

Oh, my... I shoulda looked for another name... too late.


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## Stefan (Jan 13, 2010)

Someone knows graphics...

Gonna read your blog about it later, looks interesting.


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## biohead (Jan 13, 2010)

Just tried it on my friends Iphone and it is really cool.
How about an Android version ? Would make me a happy camper.


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## zlookup (Jan 13, 2010)

saw this last night and grabbed it. it looks very nice. some means of storing times or charting it would make this the the ultimate timing app. if it somehow could integrate with CCT like the real stack mat , that would also be very cool

do you have a roadmap of how you plan to develop this app? or was this the final feature list?

keep up the good work.


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

I'm learning the iPhone SDK only (took me a long time enough so far).
On the other hand, I cannot test it without a device.


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

zlookup said:


> saw this last night and grabbed it. it looks very nice. some means of storing times or charting it would make this the the ultimate timing app. if it somehow could integrate with CCT like the real stack mat , that would also be very cool
> 
> do you have a roadmap of how you plan to develop this app? or was this the final feature list?
> 
> keep up the good work.



TapStack expert is part of the next-6-month-plan (with average of x counting, session graph-s, 2-handed landscape mode, and random generated scrambles for a bunch of puzzles).


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## zlookup (Jan 13, 2010)

was tapstack expert planned as a 'pro' paid version of the app ?


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## blade740 (Jan 13, 2010)

Wow. High-quality timer, definitely.

I do have two suggestions: 
-when you start the app, the power should be on. It's just kinda annoying to have to turn it on. (I would say to remove the power button altogether, but I think that would break the beautiful stackmat design)
-it takes a bit too long for the green light to turn on. 

Still, besides those two small discrepancies, excellent work. I'll definitely be using this from now on.


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

TapStack Pro, sound better (and shorter).
Yea, gonna be the one dollar ($0.99) version.


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## Gerra (Jan 13, 2010)

I thought solving session involves more than one solve, it means about 5-10 or more timing sessions, and the power button usage needs only on app launch, therefore maybe it isn't annoying as you said.

Another point is the transcription includes the power off after 10 minutes, so switching power back needs a button.

Someone said that green light has a 1 second delay. Maybe this interval is shorter? I have to update it then in the name of true functional transcription.

Thanks for the reply.


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## daniel0731ex (Jan 13, 2010)

wouldn't you break the phone when slamming your hands onto the screen?


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## jms_gears1 (Jan 13, 2010)

daniel0731ex said:


> wouldn't you break the phone when slamming your hands onto the screen?


yes you would, therefore you dont slam your hand down....


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## PeterV (Jan 13, 2010)

Looks great. I'll hopefully be able to give it a try this evening after work. I'll have to always keep in mind not to slam my hands down to hard, as jms_gears1 pointed out 

EDIT: Well, I've just gotten a chance to download this app and did a few solves with it. There's no question that it looks great. It also functions very well and was a lot of fun to use. There really isn't much negative to say about it.

The only thing I noticed, as blade740 pointed out, was that the green light did seem to take a bit long to turn on. When I compared the timing between my actual Stackmat's green light and the TapStack's green light, I did notice that the TapStack's took a split second longer to turn on. I don't consider this to be a big deal, though.

I love that it looks, has the feel of, and functions like a real stackmat timer. Great job!


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## Gerra (Jan 14, 2010)

Thanks for all the positives.
Ok, greenlight will be update next week, 'cos it is about 4 minutes of work at all.

Could somebody measure that greenLed interval preciesly somehow? I want to update it once. 

Maybe a simple camera recording can do that. It works with 25 or 30 frames/ second, so you can calculate the time by centiSeconds=(frames/25)*100; I suppose.


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## TimMc (Jan 14, 2010)

Gerra said:


> Could somebody measure that greenLed interval preciesly somehow? I want to update it once.



Just with the naked eye, I'd hazard a guess that it's 9 or 10 intervals per second.

Someone could open the timer up and calculate it the hard way, with the schematics...

Tim.


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## DcF1337 (Jan 14, 2010)

Really impressive, graphics are well done. You just rendered my physical Stackmat Timer useless.


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## Gerra (Jan 14, 2010)

Some help in "PR"?

I would really appriciate if anybody could help me with write a review in the US App Store, 'cos a madman rated TapStack 1 says "Worst app ever.", and this is the only review can be found there.


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## roller (Jan 14, 2010)

Great! I love it!
Keep up the good work!


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## cookingfat (Jan 14, 2010)

Good app !

Emulates the stackmat timer perfectly and the graphics look great. 

I submitted a review (UK) and rated 5 stars.


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## Hadley4000 (Jan 14, 2010)

It's nice, but I will continue to use iCubeTimer. It gives scrambles and keeps your times.


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## Caedus (Jan 14, 2010)

Wow. By far my favorite timer app for the iPod Touch/iPhone. Looks amazing. Definately going to buy the pro version when it comes out.


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## CitricAcid (Jan 14, 2010)

Caedus said:


> Wow. By far my favorite timer app for the iPod Touch/iPhone. Looks amazing. Definately going to buy the pro version when it comes out.



+1. 

I downloaded this, purely amazing. It's pretty much perfect. 

Just a couple minor things:

The numbers seem a little dim. Maybe brighten them up a bit? 

And, could you add the option to turn the Touch/iPhone sideways, and flip it to landscape? I feel like I'm going to slam my cube on the timer when I'm done. 


ANYWAY:
Amazing, I love it. Will buy Pro version. Thanks for the amazing product.


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## dbax0999 (Jan 14, 2010)

I wrote a review for you in the US app store. Great App.


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## SuperNerd (Jan 15, 2010)

Definitely put a scrambler in it.


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## JTW2007 (Jan 15, 2010)

Good app. I'll definitely buy it if it gets a scrambler and the ability to save times.


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## Lucas Garron (Jan 15, 2010)

This app is very cleanly done; I'm definitely going to be using it for timing in the future. 
The graphics are also quite excellent, and I'm paying attention to graphics design these days.

Also, I'm taking an iPhone programming class right now. Objective C looks very interesting.

EDIT: Interesting that you refer to it as a "session." I can't think of a general word, but session normally means multiple timings.


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## Gerra (Jan 15, 2010)

Lucas Garron said:


> EDIT: Interesting that you refer to it as a "session." I can't think of a general word, but session normally means multiple timings.



Hey, you're right. What should I call it then? Round? Timing? On air?
It would be really helpful if you could help me out with a term...

My english is... ...kinda homemade.


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## Gerra (Jan 15, 2010)

By the way, thanks everyone for downloading.
I booked 230 downloads closing the 2nd day of distribution worldwide.

Maybe I'll pause my compactTangram© project to develop a fully functional timer. There could be even a subpage on compactgames.eu to store statistics on my webserver.

I used some of your +feedback on compactgames.eu, hope it doesn't bother any of you, thanks again.


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## panyan (Jan 15, 2010)

zlookup said:


> integrate with CCT like the real stack mat



the only remotely feasible ones i could think of are:
1) cable from phone to mic and then program to send out the commands like stackmat
2) bluetooth the commands?


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## Gerra (Jan 16, 2010)

panyan said:


> zlookup said:
> 
> 
> > integrate with CCT like the real stack mat
> ...



The only computer connection issue I'm planning is to create a huge red LCD display for Windows/Osx.

Statistics/Scrambles/Sessions will be built in functions in Pro, and will be uploadable to the web.

Again, it is not a StackMat® replacement, it is to mobilize it.


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## tim (Jan 16, 2010)

Lucas Garron said:


> Also, I'm taking an iPhone programming class right now. Objective C looks very interesting.



Too bad iPhone OS doesn't support garbage collection, so we can't just use MacRuby :/.


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