Monthly Archives: October 2010

flextreemap 2.2.0

My open source data visualization treemap component for Flex just received some updates today. Among them are my recent fixes to get this component working correctly in Flex 4. I figured I’d push a new SWC up for those of you who prefer to grab the ZIP file instead of building from source. Please note that version 2.2.0 of flextreemap is still compatible with Flex 3.5, and no Spark dependencies are present. The changes to support Flex 4 were mainly to fix bugs that only appeared in that version.

As a bonus, I also included a new layout algorithm in this version. It’s called StripLayout. This algorithm is very similar to the default SquarifyLayout, so it was pretty easy to implement. You can see it in action by viewing the LayoutModes example. However, I should note that StripLayout may be best used in situations where a larger number of items are displayed by the TreeMap, since it’s not quite as good as SquarifyLayout at getting good aspect ratios. It may also be useful when the order of nodes matters because SquarifyLayout sorts by weight, while StripLayout leaves items in the same order as the data provider.

Download version 2.2 of flextreemap on Github. If you catch any bugs, especially in Flex 4, be sure to create an issue. Thanks!

Bowler Hat Games on Android and beyond

Last week, closely following Adobe’s release of AIR for Android, I also pushed out all of my mobile games that I’ve been developing for AIR on mobile over the last year. My casual puzzle games Gridshock, Qrossfire, and Chroma Circuit can now be installed on devices with Android 2.2.

As you may know, all three were previously released for iOS thanks to Flash CS5’s Packager for iPhone. I removed them from the App Store for a short time after Apple decided to stop approving apps made with Adobe’s technology. However, after Apple changed their minds and finally approved Qrossfire, I rejoined the iOS developer program, and apps by Bowler Hat Games are once again available for Apple’s devices. As a sign of my continued commitment to iOS, I recently updated Gridshock to version 1.1 to add new features that I developed while working on the Android versions of my games. Chroma Circuit is likely to get an update too, since the Android version now has a “Quick Play” mode where you can pick and choose your levels as they are unlocked (a much requested feature on iOS).

I’ve begun preliminary exploration of making desktop downloadables. People love playing my games on the web or on a phone, and I don’t doubt that quite a few of you would love to download Qrossfire, Gridshock, or Chroma Circuit to install directly on your computers. I intend to spend some time adding new game modes and creating new features so that installable desktop apps will be well worth the price for longtime fans of my games. Gridshock is first in line, since it’s the most popular. Expect to see it on Windows, Mac, and Linux running on Adobe AIR for desktops.

By the way, to purchase any of my AIR for Android games, visit m.bowlerhatgames.com on your Android phone. The mobile site has some helpful links to guide you directly to the games in the Android Market app. Of course, you can also search for “bowler hat games” in the Market to easily find all three. I’m super excited to see some nice ratings and reviews so far. If you’re among those who added one, thank you so much for the kind words.