Android App Review Source:

How did you get into developing apps?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

I’ve been developing software professionally since 1985 so I’ve seen a lot of things come and go – hype-ware, if you will – but Android seemed different. I originally started experimenting with the SDK while it was still in beta. Unfortunately, the real world got in the way and I had to put aside my curiosity until around March of this year (2009). By this time, the SDK had advanced quite a bit and I was eager to learn this new platform. The potential of the Android platform, I believe, is amazing. Since we learn best by doing, I had to jump in.

Android App Review Source:

What was your inspiration for developing this app?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

I played an earlier version of this game in college (early 1980’s) on our state-of-the-art VAX 11/780. This was the first of the “interactive fiction” games that included numerous spin-offs of itself as well as the Zork games and many others. It’s one of those games that grabs your mind and won’t let go. Hours just seem to evaporate while you are trying to get out that “maze of twisty little passages, all different”. I think it was those fond memories and lost hours (days?) that inspired me to translate this for the Android platform.

Android App Review Source:

How long did it take to develop the app?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

It took me a little over a month to get this working. I was working from source that was originally developed in FORTRAN and then translated to C (via an automatic translation process). Needless to say, it was quite a challenge to move this onto the Android platform for a variety of reasons. For example: Java doesn’t have a GOTO statement and the source I was working from was about 25% GOTO statements – nary an else to be found.

Android App Review Source:

Are there any hidden features to the app?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

There really aren’t any hidden features. Hidden treasures, of course, but that is the point of the game.

Android App Review Source:

Do you have any future plans for this app?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

I have been experimenting with the Text-To-Speech engine in 1.6+ of the Android OS. I think that making it an option to have the game talk to you could be interesting. Of course, it will have a way to turn it off, so when you find yourself in a boring meeting, it isn’t obvious that you are playing the game. (Come on, you know you are….)

If that works out, I would like to try speech recognition next. It just seems a natural progression.

Android App Review Source:

Do you plan to develop any new apps? If so when can we expect to see them in the Market?

EC Software Consulting, Inc.:

I have a few experiments in mind, but as to whether they develop into full blown applications, I really won’t know for some time. Right now I’m focusing on some features users have requested for some of my other applications. Got to keep my customers happy!

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