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Quote Codes Diaries 10: UI and App Designs

Hey Guys,

Sorry about the delay, we have just been really tied up with the launch of Quote Codes on Android! Once again, cheers to everyone who have downloaded and are enjoying our game. It has been an amazing ride.

Now, Let’s get on with the topic! Previously, I previously talked about our design failures and wayward thought process in Quote Codes Diaries 8: Design and App Failures. Today we learn how we turned the failure into success by simplifying our thought process and getting things in order.

App Flow

It was important to get the app flow right. We ditched the clunky and confusing method of making this digitally and focused on physically jotting it down on paper to get the app flow . Our goal was was to divide the app into 2 segments:

Menu

Home Screen
Credits
Settings
Categories
Archives
Tutorial

Gameplay

Gameplay screen
Game End Screen
Game Options (Skip, Unlock Clue etc)

Quote Codes Diaries 10: UI and App Designs — We kept things simple this time by taking the traditional route of jotting down the app flow on paper.

UI Design and Interaction

After sorting the app flow, Our next challenge was design and interaction. Unlike most mobile games, Quote Codes gives the users loads of options and screens in the form of Clue, Skip Quote, Categories, Archives, Settings, Credits, etc. We wanted to give each option its own separate page. Cramming all of them into 1 page would be too confusing.

So how do you add that many pages in the app but not make the UI confusing?

The idea turned out to be ingenious for us.

A simple card system stacked did the trick. This allowed us to make the whole layout of the app dynamic and really simple. We could easily add or erase any page and still maintain the same aesthetic and design.

Next was the the design of the individual pages. Since Quote Codes is a word based game, we wanted to keep everything textual (word based) and to-the-point.

For instance, in SKIP, instead of showing an icon and hoping the user would understand, we decided to add directives with YES and NO button: SKIP THIS QUOTE AND COME BACK TO IT LATER.

Similarly for Categories which allows the user to select the various themes of quotes, the design as you can see is really clean and understandable. The Categories are arranged alphabetically and the search bar on top gives the user easy access to search the various themes. Once again selecting a theme will open a drawer confirming your selection in the same “YES” “NO” format.

UI Animations

And then finally it was time to merge them all together. Our aim from the start was to treat the user with subtle and cute animations throughout the app and not just gameplay. Animating the Card menu and the Ui buttons was a lot of fun.

So thats it! Thats how Quote Codes was designed. So far we have covered everything in design right from conceptualization, to implementation. Next Diary will be a treat! For the first time we will have our champion developer Kunal taking you guys through the whole development of the app. Let me tell you, that it is purely brilliant and insightful. Do not miss.

Till then Dont forget to download Quote Codes. It is available on iOS and Android for Free!

Quote Codes is now available on Android!

We have some really exciting news to share, Quote Codes is now available on Android!

After the tremendous support and adulation on iOS, by popular demand we have released the game on Android.

For anyone new

Quote Codes is a word puzzle game where you unlock your favorite quotes by substituting one letter at a time. In every game, each symbol stands for a letter. Your aim is to guess and decode the quotes!

Features

• Beautiful and addictive word puzzle game.
• Decode quotes ranging from all themes like Epic TV Shows, Timeless Movies, Classic Disney, Netflix Binge, Legendary Authors and many more!
• Over 85 different themes to play. Solve quotes from Game of Thrones,
13 Reasons Why, Rumi, William Shakespeare, Lord of the Rings, Stranger Things and countless more.
• Hand crafted custom animations of each symbol. Beautiful minimalistic visual design.
• Completely free to play with minimum Ads. Earn coins by successfully decoding quotes!
• Universal app with Facebook sync. Play on your iPhone, iPad or any Android device and your progress will always be in sync.

Quote Codes is completely free to play on the both the platforms. Download now if you haven’t already, we promise you won’t regret it.

For any press enquires:

Head to our Press Kit

Or alternatively you can email us at: quotecodes@pixeldrop.in

Follow the entire journey of Quote Codes HERE

Quote Codes is now open for Android BETA signups!

Quote Codes Android

We did not plan to do this so early, but by popular demand, Quote Codes is now open for Android BETA signups!

Quote Codes is our quirky word puzzler

Quote Codes is a word puzzle game where you have to unlock your favorite quotes using letter substitutions. Each symbol in the quote stands for a letter.

Your aim is to guess and decode your favorite quotes ranging from all Categories like Epic Tv Shows, Timeless Movies, Classic Disney, Legendary Authors and many more!

Quote Codes is now open for Android BETA signups!

After the overwhelming response on iOS – Getting Featured by Apple Worldwide and breaking into top categories, we are now ready to bring it to Android as well.

If you like word games or quirky animations, please lend us your support. We’re starting our BETA tests for Android soon.

To sign up please fill the form here – https://goo.gl/forms/hEDaabqiD6EF6ErO2

It will only take a second and we can’t wait for you to hold this in your hands sooner!

Show us some love!

To continue playing the iOS version. Please download HERE

For any press related queries, Please head to our PRESS KIT or mail us: quotecodes@pixeldrop.in

Quote Codes Diaries 9: Why Quote Codes As Our First App

Hope everyone’s doing well. In this week’s Quote Codes Diaries, instead of diving deep into design and tech details, I would like to have a little heart-to-heart about why we chose Quote Codes to be our first App.

Now that we’re almost 2 weeks post release, our stats have exceeded our initial beliefs. We thought Quote Codes was never a mass audience game and that it would appeal only to a smaller fragment of the general population

Quote Codes Diaries 9: Why Quote Codes As Our First App — Our shining moment

From a traditional game development point of view, Quote Codes would be a rather stupid idea because we have essentially blocked out all non english speaking markets. And within the English speaking markets, it isn’t a game for the general masses. It is for those who love words, who love quotes, who love puzzles. We intend it to be for a relatively niche audience.

What we have to do is to keep it engaging. For the ones who have downloaded the game – we want you to know that we value our real estate on your screen. We also know that to remain there, we have to provide for an ever evolving app. That is why we chose to do Quote Codes.

Because we feel we can make it a cult classic provided we maintain high standards. Essentially, we wanted something that can grow. Something that we could update forever if required. New quotes, new animations, new themes – An experience that keeps evolving. We weren’t going for a one hit wonder. We wanted a game that would endear.

That’s a reason we made it free – we were concerned about a passionate user base which will remain loyal over the long term. We hope that Quote Codes has met those initial goals and will continue to achieve our expectations.

Till then please don’t forget to download the game HERE, if you haven’t already. Trust us you won’t regret it.

Quote Codes Diaries 8: Design and App Flow Failures

Hey Quote Coders,

Quote Codes launched this week! And we would like to take this opportunity to thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts for the love and support you have shown towards the game. Quote Codes has been featured by Apple in over 83 countries worldwide and has broken into top 20 in its category in Canada and UK. We are just so so proud and humbled by the reception. Here is the download link again for the ones who haven’t already (Seriously what are you waiting for?) – https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/quote-codes/id1142929451?ls=1&mt=8

Right, lets continue the story of the game. In the previous blog, Joseph explained about his font choice and preference of a very whimsical and fun font. We thought we had something good going but as we started to develop we realized how wrong we were.

Design and App Flow Failures.

The first step we did was try to chalk out the App Flow of the game. How will the player navigate and interact with the game was crucial. We divided the app into 2 segments.

Game Play

Main Game Screen (The main gameplay screen)
Game End Screen (The screen that shows the decoded quote)
Tutorial (static tutorial screen that shows the rules of the game)

Stats (stats depicting quotes the player has decoded)
Settings (A settings page)
Credits (A credits page)
Categories (Categories section so user can select themes of quotes)

Sometime on Illustrator and I came up with this mess.

Quote Codes Diaries 8: Design and App Flow Failures — Even we were getting confused looking at this

Not making excuses but at the time Adobe hadn’t come out with the XD and our first instinct was to use illustrator from the very go.

So after the app flow we tried putting in the designs on them.

Our initial thoughts were to use the primitive font as main headers in UI which as you can see looks too cryptic and cluttered.

In the previous blog, Joseph explained how he thought the DK Clair De Lune font was perfect for the game. But, as you can see from these designs, though it looked alright, it wasn’t really readable and made the whole game scene quite confusing. Plus Apple’s Human Interface guidelines recommend to have a minimum tappable area of 44pt x 44pt. The keyboard buttons were falling short of the 44pt. Increasing them would make everything look even more cluttered.

Try and Try till you succeed.

Right so after those failures we decided to try another fresh approach, scrapped the whole layout, font and structure and try a completely new way by adding new fonts and icons. We even tried inverting and messing around with the colors this time to see how it looks.

New funky icons

Quote Codes Diaries 8: Design and App Flow Failures

Though they looked fun initially, it just felt too much. The whole concept of solving your favorite quotes was getting overshadowed by the funky design and colors. Plus, this used the Hamburger Menu which apple completely hated and they were right to do so – (Watch from 32 mins on HERE)

So 2 iterations of designs and 2 complete failures but we weren’t about to back down. More on this in future diaries.

Till then don’t forget to download Quote Codes – Our quirky word puzzler featured by Apple worldwide (had to say it again :p)