Native iBlackjack for iPhone

[McCarron]

iBlackjack is now known as Blackjack 21 (http://mobileage.com/blackjack/index.html) and is being sold on the iTunes AppStore for $4.99 (http://tinyurl.com/mabj21) for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The definitive version of the world's most popular casino card game. Blackjack 21 for iPhone (http://mobileage.com/blackjack/index.html) offers seamless gameplay as it responds to the same gestures used in a live game. You can further customize the game by directly downloading awesome card and table art for free.


Blackjack 21 brings the words most popular cardgame to your iPhone/iPod with compelling realism. Incorporating actual game play gestures, true-to-life animation and high resolution graphics Blackjack 21 plays like the real thing.

Tap the chips to quickly place a bet, Swipe down to hit, swipe up to split your hand and as the cards glide onto the table you swipe across to stand. Gameplay is super fluid and the perfect way to fill in that extra five minutes.

http://mobileage.com/products/images/CatalogMainBlackjack.jpg

Here is a quick video of Blackjack 21 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsli5VBRFtM) we put together for those of you wanting to see the changes from iBlackjack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsli5VBRFtM

Last Updated 7/17/08

[tobefirst]

I LOVE the randomness of the angle of the cards. Very nice touch. I'll be looking for this one, especially after you add a betting system.

My favorite blackjack game for the Mac is Blackjack International (which can be found here (http://www.candywriter.com/bji.html)) because of all the options for tweaking the game. Perhaps you can find some inspiration from the depth of their game.

[McCarron]

Thanks, the randomness it was something I wanted to make it seem more natural with the animation. It is my first ObjC/Cocoa app as well as first experience with CoreAnimation so it was hard to get everything just right at first. I have to make a video of the animation to post up as well so people can see the animations first hand since the screen shots don't do it justice.

I plan on adding a lot of options, already have some framework in place for changing the # of decks the game plays with along with the # of times the decks are shuffled. I'll take a look at that application and see what I can't add to the game. I eventually want to turn this engine into something to easily extend into a bigger project.

I want to do a betting system where you have to drag chips to the play area to bet. I'll want to have a chip rack that will slide onto screen and allow you to pull chips off of it and drop it in the circle with your cards. Trying to take advantage of the touch screen wherever possible.

[badtzmaru]

what is that symbol next to the battery icon??? i have seen it before, but not on my iphone.

[tobefirst]

what is that symbol next to the battery icon??? i have seen it before, but not on my iphone.

Bluetooth.

[McCarron]

what is that symbol next to the battery icon??? i have seen it before, but not on my iphone.

Bluetooth. It's grayed out because not paired at the moment.

[badtzmaru]

cool thanks for the replies. i dont have any bluetooth things so i didnt know.

[woodbutcher]

Has this appeared on anyone's installer yet?

[hotsauce]

Can you choose how many decks per shoe? This would be important for those that want to practice card counting. I'd pay about $20 bucks for a full optioned blackjack game for the iphone.

[McCarron]

Can you choose how many decks per shoe? This would be important for those that want to practice card counting. I'd pay about $20 bucks for a full optioned blackjack game for the iphone.

That will be in there. I have that code in place already, just have to add the preference so you can easily change it. I'll also allow you to be able to pick how many times you want to shuffle the decks because people like to change that setting as well.

[McCarron]

Those of you wanting to test this out, you can now easily via Installer.app by adding my private source to the program.

Goto http://www.iphonefanclub.com/native/ on your iPhone, it'll ask to add my private repository to your Installer.app. Then you can install my test builds of iBlackjack as I release them.

I have made a few changes since earlier in the week, but I also introduced a bug I'm trying to squash, so no new release just yet. More to come this weekend!

Update: Here is a written up document on how to install via Installer.app for right now. http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/wiki/Installation

[jasonnorm]

Great job on this!! Im impressed.

Any chance a No-limit Texas holdem game could be on the way? The web 2.0 based one (scenario poker) is solid, but it's web 2.0 vs. native and it's limit poker :( What fun is texas holdem without going all-in!?! lol ;)

Again, kudos!! :cool:

[McCarron]

Great job on this!! Im impressed.

Any chance a No-limit Texas holdem game could be on the way? The web 2.0 based one (scenario poker) is solid, but it's web 2.0 vs. native and it's limit poker :( What fun is texas holdem without going all-in!?! lol ;)

Again, kudos!! :cool:

Sure I'd love to do holdem! My ideal goal would be to make a whole casino suite. I'm building it to be a bit flexible so it wouldn't be hard to switch it up. I may, depending on program size, make it a large all in one game too. With chip/bank moving between the various games in the program.

I guess also since I'm open sourcing the code anyone could extend it as well so the work is divided. I learned from other's code so I want others to be able to learn from mine as well.

I want to have an online high-scores, but that may be a bit easier to hack if it's open source. I have to think about that.

[jasonnorm]

Sounds good.

Any idea when the next update to show the dealer's hold card as well as a betting system will be available? Great concept and execution so far, but without those it gets a little boring pretty quick.

Keep up the good work though! If I knew how to code in C++ I would help. Alas, all I know is Perl :(

Just as an FYI, I would be willing to pay for a full fledge casino sweet w/ black jack, poker, roulette, craps etc. I am sure others would as well. ($10 per?). Maybe that can help to movitate :) lol

[McCarron]

Sounds good.

Any idea when the next update to show the dealer's hold card as well as a betting system will be available? Great concept and execution so far, but without those it gets a little boring pretty quick.

Keep up the good work though! If I knew how to code in C++ I would help. Alas, all I know is Perl :(

Just as an FYI, I would be willing to pay for a full fledge casino sweet w/ black jack, poker, roulette, craps etc. I am sure others would as well. ($10 per?). Maybe that can help to movitate :) lol

Even worse, this is ObjectiveC but not too different just something new to learn. It's all new to me, but I've been porting my logic from PHP AJAX version of the game I had written already.

The showing of the dealer card is actually working in my development build, but I got some new error in the game I'm trying to pin down. It randomly(?) causes the game to crash. Or else I'd release it already. I just haven't had time since Monday/Tuesday to really bust into debugging it.

The betting system isn't hard if I make it simple at first, but I may make it "cooler" after the weekend. My goal is to make it so you can drag a chip from a rack of chips to the playing area.

Maybe I'll put up a donation button on my page, but I don't expect to sell this.

[j0ebeer]

Update: Here is a written up document on how to install via Installer.app for right now. http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/wiki/Installation

When I go to this page via Safari I get an error box saying "Safari can't download this file." Has anyone else come across this?

Joe

[jasonnorm]

I would be more then happy to donate. Once the betting system is in place I think this will be a pretty solid foundation. The pop-up box after each hand has to go too, messes up the flow :)

So, put up the donation on your page (pay pal would be easy :) ) get the dealers hold card shown, add betting and get rid of the pop up :) Now you have something to do this weekend! Just kidding :)

Seriously though, nice job. The animations rock!!!

[spydr]

Looks like it would be fun enough to justify hacking my iPhone now!

Good job already!

[McCarron]

When I go to this page via Safari I get an error box saying "Safari can't download this file." Has anyone else come across this?

Joe

Yes a coworker here had that. If you have Installer.app installed and updated, then I went to Safari and had to reset it. Hold down the Home button for a few seconds, it should close down. Then reopen it and hopefully it should work.

Let me know if it doesn't.

[The General]

Works great. :)

Thanks

[chiefillini]

nice app. Looking forward to the placing of bets and keeping track of how much money I would have lost if it was real. Any plans for other casino apps

[MotionxxUSxx]

nice app, but there is definitely a timing issue on displaying whether you won or not. The message appears before the dealer actually finishes getting his cards.

[McCarron]

Yeah I'm working on that. The way the animations work is they are executed and then the code continues working. I need to find a way to pause logic execution while the animations are still going on.

[FloridaBear]

I have noticed that the dealer will not hit on 3 cards, no matter what the total. I've seen the dealer stand on 7!

Also, dealer WILL hit 17, if the player's total is >17 (I think). Example: Player Q,8...dealer 7,10...hits, gets a 10.

Any way you can remember the player's balance between runs?

Was thinking about the interface...this might be interesting:
Hit: Single tap (kind of like at the casino)
Double Down: Double tap
Stand: Swipe
Split: Two fingers "separating" the cards

Other functions might be implemented with a pop-up menu or something.

Fun game though, please keep up the good work!

[yayaba]

Very very impressive. My girlfriend loves Blackjack and so plays your game for 30 minutes+ at a time.

I've had the application crash on me a few times though and take me back to the Springboard which I guess is better than other apps that crash the entire phone.

I've noticed weird things too with the dealer not hitting until 17 and standing < 17. ALso, sometimes the dealer shows 3 cards and doesn't bust but the game says he does. But all in all, very impressive :).

[McCarron]

Very very impressive. My girlfriend loves Blackjack and so plays your game for 30 minutes+ at a time.

I've had the application crash on me a few times though and take me back to the Springboard which I guess is better than other apps that crash the entire phone.

I've noticed weird things too with the dealer not hitting until 17 and standing < 17. ALso, sometimes the dealer shows 3 cards and doesn't bust but the game says he does. But all in all, very impressive :).

Thanks, I haven't had Alpha 2 crash on me yet but I'm sure it's possible if you play for so long. I may improve the game's logging so I can be sent a file after a crash detailing what happened.

As far as the dealer stuff, yes I discovered too it needs a lot of work. It will not hit past 3 cards. I'll hopefully have an update within the week, last week was too busy to sit down and make an update.

Thanks for the input!

[twoodcc]

I installed a lot of things on my iPhone with the installer.app, including your game. When I tried to play it, my phone froze. I couldn't restart it or anything. iTunes would sync though, so I had to do a restore

[GeekAhead]

We Want Hold Em... We Want Hold Em

[McCarron]

We Want Hold Em... We Want Hold Em

I want a clone of myself! ;)

I'll hopefully be releasing a new Blackjack later this week, last week was hectic.

As far as the freezing, not sure that problem because nothing in the game should lock up the phone. Sounds like a glitch with Installer.app and how it installed the game. Did a power on/off of the phone not fix it? That seems fairly odd that you had to do a restore.

[twoodcc]

I want a clone of myself! ;)

I'll hopefully be releasing a new Blackjack later this week, last week was hectic.

As far as the freezing, not sure that problem because nothing in the game should lock up the phone. Sounds like a glitch with Installer.app and how it installed the game. Did a power on/off of the phone not fix it? That seems fairly odd that you had to do a restore.

I tried to power off the phone, but I couldn't even do that. I'm not sure what caused the problem. At least I was able to restore

[yayaba]

I tried to power off the phone, but I couldn't even do that. I'm not sure what caused the problem. At least I was able to restore

You couldn't even do a force poweroff? (hold lock and home button down for 5-8 seconds)

[twoodcc]

You couldn't even do a force poweroff? (hold lock and home button down for 5-8 seconds)

i didn't try that. i held the top button down for 6 seconds and nothing happened. your saying i hold that and the home button at the same time for 8 seconds?

[yayaba]

i didn't try that. i held the top button down for 6 seconds and nothing happened. your saying i hold that and the home button at the same time for 8 seconds?

I'm not sure if it's 8 seconds but it's around there. Yeah to force reset the phone you hold the top button AND the home button down and keep holding them down until the iPhone resets.

Just holding the top button brings up the options to shut down the phone but if your phone is crashed that won't work, hence why you need to do the hard reset.

[twoodcc]

I'm not sure if it's 8 seconds but it's around there. Yeah to force reset the phone you hold the top button AND the home button down and keep holding them down until the iPhone resets.

Just holding the top button brings up the options to shut down the phone but if your phone is crashed that won't work, hence why you need to do the hard reset.

thanks for the tip. i'll be sure to do that next time

[kellen]

Great app. Only thing I see is no doubling down or insurance, or splitting.

Sure you know that.

[yayaba]

In a way, I wish real casinos played the same way your app is :P. That way, dealers have to stop hitting after 3 cards and so they stop with say a 10 or 11 and I win :D

[McCarron]

In a way, I wish real casinos played the same way your app is :P. That way, dealers have to stop hitting after 3 cards and so they stop with say a 10 or 11 and I win :D

Sadly I fixed that bug in the next version. Trying to get more features added in before Halo 3 comes out. ;)

[twoodcc]

Sadly I fixed that bug in the next version. Trying to get more features added in before Halo 3 comes out. ;)

just so you know, i got it to work on my iPhone now. thanks :)

[McCarron]

just so you know, i got it to work on my iPhone now. thanks :)

Good to hear!


Also, Alpha 2.1 is released today!

I have added more features, made some changes, etc.

http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/

You can install via my private Installer.app repository until the main Community Sources repository updates with the new version. Instructions can be found here:

http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/wiki/Installation

[juxel]

Bug on 14? It's happened to me a couple times now, but only on 14 that I've noticed. When I stand on 14 and the dealer gets a combination equal to 14 he also stands and the hand results in a push. I'm using version Alpha 3.1

[McCarron]

Bug on 14? It's happened to me a couple times now, but only on 14 that I've noticed. When I stand on 14 and the dealer gets a combination equal to 14 he also stands and the hand results in a push. I'm using version Alpha 3.1

Thanks I'll look into it. Can you add the issue to the site's issues list to keep me honest?

http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/issues/list

Thanks!

[j0ebeer]

Great application. One feature request, can you set it so that when you quit the game and restart your bankroll continues where you left instead of going back to default of $200?

Joe

[McCarron]

Great application. One feature request, can you set it so that when you quit the game and restart your bankroll continues where you left instead of going back to default of $200?

Joe

That is currently on the road map for the 1.0 release. So it may come in the next version. Keep your eyes peeled!

[yayaba]

Awesome, just tried it out. I had some difficulty swiping downwards to double down... had to do it a few times.

The animation seems slower too. Was this on purpose?

Other than that, great app :)

[McCarron]

Awesome, just tried it out. I had some difficulty swiping downwards to double down... had to do it a few times.

The animation seems slower too. Was this on purpose?

Other than that, great app :)

Animation was slower due to complaints from how fast the pacing was before, but obviously too slow.

I heard the pleas of the people and it's back to being faster, and the game pace is still there. It just has a slight pause/delay after the dealer flips his card.

Alpha 3.2 is out now, with that speed fix and a fix for the "Push on 14" issue that juxel found. Installer.app should pick it up today, if not use my private repository until then.

Instructions here:
http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/wiki/Installation

Keep up the feedback, I want to get this game pretty solid by 1.0.

[McCarron]

Hey everyone! I need a day of quick testing assistance for my next version if iBlackjack. I have a new alpha 3.9 on my private installer.app Repository.

* Enter the URL http://www.iphonefanclub.com/native on your iPhone's Safari program.
* It'll ask you permission to add my private repository to your Installer.app. Say yes.
* Now it should show iBlackjack alpha 3.9 in the Games category on the Install tab of Installer.app.
* Click to install it, and it'll prompt you if you want to trust this source. Say yes.
* As updates are made, you'll get notifications going forward in Installer.app.

Let me know if you have any problems today so I can release alpha 4 this later today/tonight.

An overview of what was changed can be found on the project home page:
http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/

Thanks!

[jasonnorm]

I get the error "Safari can't download this file."

[McCarron]

I get the error "Safari can't download this file."

Do you have Installer.app installed? If so, restart the iphone/ipod that usually fixes that problem.

If not, that's the cause of the error. That URL is for Installer.app only.

[McCarron]

Alpha 3.9.1 is in my private repository now, few changes.

[j0ebeer]

Do you have Installer.app installed? If so, restart the iphone/ipod that usually fixes that problem.

If not, that's the cause of the error. That URL is for Installer.app only.

Patrick, I had the same problem. I ended up adding the repository via the Installer app. On the Sources pages of Installer you can edit (add) sources and that how I got your source to work.

Great app, now that it can save the bank I will gladly donate. :D

[jasonnorm]

Looks good.

Couple of minor suggestions that I think would make a HUGE difference:

1- Why are the cards so far apart? I liked the way you did card placement in the previous version

2- I HATE the "Hand Over .. Deal New Hand ..." pop-up.... Could you make a "Deal" and "Change Bet" button instead of a pop-up? It would look a lot better and would help the overall pace of the game of feel of the play.

3- Custom card backs would be cool

4- An Image of chips on the table would be cool. Would be nice if they represented how much $$ you had but just some generic chips for now would be cool.

2 is the biggest one as this messes up game play, 1 is pretty big but cosmetic. 3 and 4 are cosmetic and minor.

Anyway you could address # 2 soon?

[Ronnoco]

Worked great for me...thanks. Love the new look and game play... donation coming...;)

[jasonnorm]

Also, the animation of "Hit", "Stand" etc is a little too fast. Can you slow that down a little bit?

[McCarron]

Patrick, I had the same problem. I ended up adding the repository via the Installer app. On the Sources pages of Installer you can edit (add) sources and that how I got your source to work.

Great app, now that it can save the bank I will gladly donate. :D

Thanks much for the donation!

I actually had the App saving it's current state to memory as well at one point. But I decided to lose that feature. May add it back in but for phone calls only though, I want it still easy to close out which the saved state didn't let happen too well.

[McCarron]

Looks good.

Couple of minor suggestions that I think would make a HUGE difference:

1- Why are the cards so far apart? I liked the way you did card placement in the previous version

2- I HATE the "Hand Over .. Deal New Hand ..." pop-up.... Could you make a "Deal" and "Change Bet" button instead of a pop-up? It would look a lot better and would help the overall pace of the game of feel of the play.

3- Custom card backs would be cool

4- An Image of chips on the table would be cool. Would be nice if they represented how much $$ you had but just some generic chips for now would be cool.

2 is the biggest one as this messes up game play, 1 is pretty big but cosmetic. 3 and 4 are cosmetic and minor.

Anyway you could address # 2 soon?

Also, the animation of "Hit", "Stand" etc is a little too fast. Can you slow that down a little bit?

Thanks for the feedback.

#1 is an effort to make better use of the screen space, and is the result of allowing the game to display more than 5 cards for the dealer/player. They are automatically spaced based on the screen width. With this algorithm in place I may actually allow the game to be rotated to landscape as well.

Issues #3 and 4 is coming in later versions, more than likely for version 2.0. Both are noted in the To-Do roadmap. It's a bit more complicated, and I want to get the core of the game up and running first. #3 can be done via by hand or if Customize added ability to do this, but I play on allowing options for this in time.

The Hit/Stand/Etc animations timing can be tweaked, maybe a half second extra. I'll be adding an option to turn them off as well. The effects will likely be redone as I learn more about CoreAnimation, those are one of the few remaining effects that are done via CoreGraphics and not CoreAnimation.

As far as number 2, I don't want buttons on the screen at all times taking up space. That's why they pop-up when needed. A constant set of buttons on the screen will never happen because it has no use while the game is in progress. It's just not smart UI to have them there when not needed, especially with little real estate to work with on the iPhone. I could fade them in or just make them appear, or change how the look but don't expect drastic changes soon.

[Cpt]

Thanks for the update; alpha 4 is a great improvement. I think I'm missing something though - how am I supposed to save the app state/bank? When I exit the app and re-enter, everything has re-set, and I can't see any option to save.

What am I doing wrong?

[McCarron]

Thanks for the update; alpha 4 is a great improvement. I think I'm missing something though - how am I supposed to save the app state/bank? When I exit the app and re-enter, everything has re-set, and I can't see any option to save.

What am I doing wrong?

While the game menus start over, your bank should remain the same. Look at it when you return to the game. It should save automatically. Your Preferences as well should be saved.

Also Alpha 4 should be available via Installer's Community Sources now.

[Cpt]

While the game menus start over, your bank should remain the same. Look at it when you return to the game. It should save automatically. Your Preferences as well should be saved.

Also Alpha 4 should be available via Installer's Community Sources now.

No, that doesn't appear to happen. When I return to a game, the menus start over (as you say) and when I hit Start Game I get $200 again.

I'm actually using the version from the Community Sources, version alpha4-1 from Ste.

[McCarron]

No, that doesn't appear to happen. When I return to a game, the menus start over (as you say) and when I hit Start Game I get $200 again.

I'm actually using the version from the Community Sources, version alpha4-1 from Ste.

Yeah I confirmed it right before you posted here, I was playing in Traffic and came into the problem as well. Working on the fix right now.

Alpha 4-1 is still Alpha 4, just Ste changed the file info so he added the -1. I'll make the next update Alpha 4.01.

[McCarron]

Money fix done!

Alpha 4.01 updated in my Private AppTapp Installer Repository: http://iphonefanclub.com/native

Hope to get it in installer later today once Ste has time to update it.

[Cpt]

Money fix done!

Tremendous! Updated & working as described!

Thanks for all your hard work (and speedy updates). Donation on its way.

[McCarron]

Tremendous! Updated & working as described!

Thanks for all your hard work (and speedy updates). Donation on its way.

Thanks for the donation!

I plan on getting more done sooner than later to get a beta for 1.0 out soon. Splitting the hand requires a bit of rework, so I've been saving it for last. ;)

[xJay]

hey love the game, just got a couple of comments:

1) Can you show the total of the cards, as much as i love maths i generally can't be bothered (maybe lift the cards up a few cms and put it underneath?)

2) automatic stand on 21


3) bet more?! $100 is boring when you have like 4k in bank

4) more of a bug than a comment but if you go to deal and you get like 16 vs a 10 you can exit out of the game (by pressing the home button) then open it up again and you get your money back and get the hand over.

[McCarron]

hey love the game, just got a couple of comments:

1) Can you show the total of the cards, as much as i love maths i generally can't be bothered (maybe lift the cards up a few cms and put it underneath?)

2) automatic stand on 21


3) bet more?! $100 is boring when you have like 4k in bank

4) more of a bug than a comment but if you go to deal and you get like 16 vs a 10 you can exit out of the game (by pressing the home button) then open it up again and you get your money back and get the hand over.

I'm looking at issues 1 and 3 for fixing soon. #4 is a "feature" but it is really an issue I need to find a way around properly. I know how to fix it, but I want to do it the right way. I'll be resolved eventually.

And now for the reason I came to the thread:


Hello iBlackjack Fans,

I made some updates, and added some functionality to iBlackjack tonight. I want to release a build Wednesday or Thursday sometime, just need some testing of the new functionality before I release it. So whatever you can do to help would be great!

To install, add this URL to your Installer.app Repositories Tab:
http://iphonefanclub.com/native/
(You can also navigate there via Mobile Safari to have it prompt you to add it to Installer)

Alpha 4.2 Updates:
(The test build is Alpha 4.1.9, the release version will be Alpha 4.2.)

Updated graphics thanks to the awesome Kevin Andersson (http://blog.kevinandersson.dk/)
Added Surrender (Swipe Across To Left).
Altered Stand to be Swipe Across to Right only.
Added No/Early/Late Surrender Preference
Added Blackjack Pay Preference (3:2 or 6:5)
Added Dealer Hits To Preference (16 to Soft 17)
Fixed not showing dealer card on bust.
Removed text from Insurance button due the Devil's cease and desist.

Thanks for your support and I await your feedback!

Patrick McCarron

[j0ebeer]

Just installed the 4.1.9 release and it keeps getting better. One suggestion, I'm not a real big fan (user) of surrender so instead of using swipe to left for surrender how about using it for splitting the hand instead.

In reality I personally would use splitting more then surrender.

My .02

[McCarron]

Just installed the 4.1.9 release and it keeps getting better. One suggestion, I'm not a real big fan (user) of surrender so instead of using swipe to left for surrender how about using it for splitting the hand instead.

In reality I personally would use splitting more then surrender.

My .02

Thanks for the feedback.

As far as swiping. Split will be swipe up. It'll make sense too with the card moving up to a new row when you do it.

I made Surrender a swipe left because of that's closest (almost exact) to the hand gesture you use in the Casino to indicate you want to surrender.

[McCarron]

I made the actual update to Alpha 4.2 today. Here is a list of the changes. The ones in bold are changed since Alpha 4.1.9 I released earlier this week.

* Alpha 4.2 (November 8, 2007)

1. Updated graphics thanks to the awesome Kevin Andersson
2. Altered Stand to be Swipe Across to Right only.
3. Added Late Surrender (Swipe Across To Left).
4. Added Early Surrender (Alert Box before dealer peek).
5. Added Surrender Preference (No, Early or Late)
6. Added Blackjack Pay Preference (3:2 or 6:5)
7. Added Dealer Hits To Preference (16 to Soft 17)
8. Fixed not showing dealer card on bust.
9. Fixed rapid hits causing game to be unresponsive
11. Updated in-game text on how to play
10. Removed H word from Insurance button due requests.

It should be in Installer.app Community Sources later today or tomorrow. So until then to install, add this URL to your Installer.app Repositories Tab:
http://iphonefanclub.com/native/
(You can also navigate there via Mobile Safari to have it prompt you to add it to Installer)

[pacohaas]

8. Fixed not showing dealer card on bust.THANK YOU!

The new cards are ugly, that's my immediate impression upon running it. I thought, "whoa, do I have my screen smudged or something", but no, it's just the cards that now look 'blurry' or something.

I'll reiterate the suggestion I emailed you last week: In a casino the dealer will tell you your total if you ask, so maybe you could have a button near the dealer that would allow you to "ask" for a total and have it show up in a conversation bubble.

As for the "Hand Over" popup, why not just have an option to "Auto-deal" and an associated "delay time" preference after it tells you about the hand.

[j0ebeer]

As for the "Hand Over" popup, why not just have an option to "Auto-deal" and an associated "delay time" preference after it tells you about the hand.

Good idea, I too second the "auto-deal" option. Would be great to have as an option in the Preferences.

[McCarron]

I'll reiterate the suggestion I emailed you last week: In a casino the dealer will tell you your total if you ask, so maybe you could have a button near the dealer that would allow you to "ask" for a total and have it show up in a conversation bubble.

This will be implemented as an option to display card counts via little hovers near the cards on the table. Hopefully with as a 1.0 feature. The artist I am working with has a cool concept he put together that I want to implement.

As for the "Hand Over" popup, why not just have an option to "Auto-deal" and an associated "delay time" preference after it tells you about the hand.

The hand-over popup will be changing/going away in version 2.0 of the app in my current roadmap. So not sure how exactly I'm handling it now, thinking it out still, but it will be different. It wont be an auto-deal because the user still has to make bets somehow, but it'll be simpler and hopefully cooler.

I may find a way to implement an auto-deal close timer in this version though, gotta look into it still yet though.

===

Also, quick update made. Version now is Alpha 4.2.1.

Changes:
# Fixed bet sheet issue in alpha 4.2

[WhiteShadow]

how about a native texas hold'em app?

[pacohaas]

how about a native texas hold'em app?

How about you work on that and let Patrick work on iBlackjack? I bet he won't even mind if you borrow his card images(even though the new PNG images are 10x the size of the old .gif ones that look cleaner). Good luck! While you're at it, could you make iBackgammon too please WhiteShadow?

[McCarron]

How about you work on that and let Patrick work on iBlackjack? I bet he won't even mind if you borrow his card images(even though the new PNG images are 10x the size of the old .gif ones that look cleaner). Good luck! While you're at it, could you make iBackgammon too please WhiteShadow?


Or at least teach me how to clone myself. ;)

[kurosagi]

Although I love Kevin Andersson's graphic work he did with iBlackjack, I decided to do a skin for iBlackjack with a more casual feel to it. Download here (http://www.iphoneskinning.com/2007/11/iblackjack-iphone-skin.html).

Current:

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6103/ibjoi5nb5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Redux:

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/1788/snapshot1194955289op5.png (http://imageshack.us)

[McCarron]

That is amazing. Excellent work! Best skinning job I've seen yet.

I'm actually going to be adding built-in skin packages so you can add skins via Installer.app and change them from within the App itself. There seems to be a lot of demand for that. I was going to save the feature for v2.0 of iBlackjack, but I think it'll make v1.0 afterall due to high demand.

[McCarron]

I have made an update that needs some final testing before release. I've been testing this a bit with a smaller user-group but looking to expand it this week.

iBlackjack with selectable/downloadable THEMES! (I also added score counters)

Add this repository to your Installer.app Sources list, or just enter it on your iPhone's Safari browser.

http://patrickmccarron.com/iphone/repo

You can find iBlackjack Alpha 4.2.10 under the Games category and you should also see a whole new category "Themes (iBlackjack)" with any released themes for iBlackjack (like the one above).

Take a look at let me know what you all think. Thanks for giving it a whirl and helping me squash bugs!

[pacohaas]

In Preferences, when you go to "Themes" with only the default theme installed, there's no back button, so you have to exit out of iBlackjack and restart it to play. Also on that screen, when I click "Get More" it opens Safari, which tells me it can't download the file.

Personally I don't like the way the totals show up, but it's better than nothing.

Also, there still exists a bug when the dealer shows an A, you decline the insurance and act quickly(hit, stand, double) and even if the dealer's downcard is a T, it lets you act without saying "Dealer has Blackjack". Usually it will just say "Hand Over!, Dealer Wins.", but occasionally I am able to hit to a 21 and get a "push" out of it when I should have lost due to dealer BJ. I've even gotten a 5-card charlie to beat the dealer BJ a few times, at which point the dealer's total changes to 21 without the downcard flipping over, but the message "Hand Over! Five Card Charlie. You Win!" is shown.

A bug with the dealer total display: it appears to show the dealer total minus the down card, until the last card has been dealt. In a casino, the dealer should say their total as soon as they flip over their down card, then add the additional cards to that total. For instance, I just played a hand where the dealer had a Q with a 5 as their downcard, dealer hit once, got an A and total changed from 10 to 21, dealer hit again(since the actual total was 16), got a 2 and the total quickly changed to 23, then 18.

Bug 3: Dealer shows an A, I have blackjack, decline the insurance, then quickly swipe right to "stand", the message "Hand Over! You Win!" pops up instead of the blackjack congratulations.

[j0ebeer]

Patrick it keeps getting better. One comment would be the timing of the showing the totals. When you take a hit your total immediately shows the correct amount before the dealt card even hits the table. Keep up the good work. Joe

[McCarron]

In Preferences, when you go to "Themes" with only the default theme installed, there's no back button, so you have to exit out of iBlackjack and restart it to play. Also on that screen, when I click "Get More" it opens Safari, which tells me it can't download the file.


There is no back button on that screen, you just select the theme you want. So in this case, just click on Default. It should take you back. I may be changing the menu around a bit with a different framework, so I can add the checkmark box next to the currently selected item.


Personally I don't like the way the totals show up, but it's better than nothing.


I wish I could use a better font, but right now my framework isn't compiling right with fonts. So this I was surprised I got to work as is, I was going to hold off until I rebuilt the framework to fix the issues.


Also, there still exists a bug when the dealer shows an A, you decline the insurance and act quickly(hit, stand, double) and even if the dealer's downcard is a T, it lets you act without saying "Dealer has Blackjack". Usually it will just say "Hand Over!, Dealer Wins.", but occasionally I am able to hit to a 21 and get a "push" out of it when I should have lost due to dealer BJ. I've even gotten a 5-card charlie to beat the dealer BJ a few times, at which point the dealer's total changes to 21 without the downcard flipping over, but the message "Hand Over! Five Card Charlie. You Win!" is shown.

Bug 3: Dealer shows an A, I have blackjack, decline the insurance, then quickly swipe right to "stand", the message "Hand Over! You Win!" pops up instead of the blackjack congratulations.

Yeah that's definitely an issue, I'll look into fixing that.


A bug with the dealer total display: it appears to show the dealer total minus the down card, until the last card has been dealt. In a casino, the dealer should say their total as soon as they flip over their down card, then add the additional cards to that total. For instance, I just played a hand where the dealer had a Q with a 5 as their downcard, dealer hit once, got an A and total changed from 10 to 21, dealer hit again(since the actual total was 16), got a 2 and the total quickly changed to 23, then 18.


There is some issues currently with dealer counting the Aces improperly right now in relation to soft/hard 17 rules. Once I fix that, it should make this work a bit better. It should show you the dealer total once the player's play time is over. Also the game tries to update the scores a bit too quick, so I'm going to slow it down a bit.

Patrick it keeps getting better. One comment would be the timing of the showing the totals. When you take a hit your total immediately shows the correct amount before the dealt card even hits the table. Keep up the good work. Joe

Thanks, as I noted earlier I may tweak that a bit. It happens every game "click" when it should be a bit slower.

[pacohaas]

There is no back button on that screen, you just select the theme you want. So in this case, just click on Default. It should take you back. I may be changing the menu around a bit with a different framework, so I can add the checkmark box next to the currently selected item.
I installed 4.2.10 with no themes and it just shows a blank page when go to the Theme selector, the default one isn't listed, so I guess the bug is that when no other themes are installed, the default one doesn't show up, and I still get the "Safari can't download this file." error when clicking the "Get More" button.

[McCarron]

I installed 4.2.10 with no themes and it just shows a blank page when go to the Theme selector, the default one isn't listed, so I guess the bug is that when no other themes are installed, the default one doesn't show up, and I still get the "Safari can't download this file." error when clicking the "Get More" button.

I'll have to talk to the Nullriver people about the Safari thing. It works for my phone and others fine, but maybe not phones that never had AppTapp v2.X.

I'll look into the Theme thing, that screenshot gives me a better feeling for the problem.

I also fixed the two bugs today, the Soft/Hard 17 problem should be resolved. Also fixed the ability to hit/stand/etc after the insurance check when the dealer has Blackjack. I tweaked the score counting timing, it's not perfect but it'll do for now.

http://www.patrickmccarron.com/iphone/repo

[McCarron]

I installed 4.2.10 with no themes and it just shows a blank page when go to the Theme selector, the default one isn't listed, so I guess the bug is that when no other themes are installed, the default one doesn't show up, and I still get the "Safari can't download this file." error when clicking the "Get More" button.

Thanks for finding those bugs. I fixed those issues. Also I guess Installer.app v3 doesn't have the Safari plugin anymore.

New version is done. Here is the changelog.

- No theme, stuck in game bug fixed.
- Added better fonts for the score keeper. (toolchain fix)
- Made score keeper default to on.
- Changed how the "Get More" button worked on the Themes page.
- Added status of how much money you lost on the hand over screen.
- Removed the words "Hand Over" from the hand over screen.
- Other misc fixes.

http://www.patrickmccarron.com/irepo
(NOTE: new address for repo, easier to type into Installer. Old repo address still works too)

I have one or two cosmetic changes I want to make still before a wide public release on Monday.

I also hit a game bug where I was unable to tap/swipe/etc but I could hit the Menu button. Not sure what I did, and I can't reproduce it again. If anyone can help me reproduce it, that'd be great!

[McCarron]

I made a few updates again. Just to the preferences menu, including a better looking theme selection.

Let me know if anyone finds any new issues, this is the final internal release before a public alpha 5 release.

http://www.patrickmccarron.com/irepo

[pacohaas]

With nothing but the default theme:

1. Start up iBJ, after the hand is dealt
2. hit the menu button
3. go to prefs
4. go to Theme
5. reselect the Default theme.
Instead of backing you back to the prefs menu, it crashes iBJ.

It doesn't happen if:

a. you go to prefs immediately after starting iBJ(subsequent trips to the preferences in the same session, shows the "Theme Default >" as highlighted blue, which is a visual inconsistency with the way other preferences show up on the iPhone, but it doesn't seem to crash when this is the case)
b. you hit after the hand is dealt, then go to step 2(blue highlight "bug" is still present)
c. you've done a. or b. first then on a new hand start at step 2(it seems the blue highlight "bug" is some sort of indication of whether the crash will happen or not)

I hope I explained it well enough, it's a very small thing, but easily reproducible, so I thought I'd give you a head's up. Would you rather I check in bugs on the code page?

[McCarron]

With nothing but the default theme:

1. Start up iBJ, after the hand is dealt
2. hit the menu button
3. go to prefs
4. go to Theme
5. reselect the Default theme.
Instead of backing you back to the prefs menu, it crashes iBJ.

It doesn't happen if:

a. you go to prefs immediately after starting iBJ(subsequent trips to the preferences in the same session, shows the "Theme Default >" as highlighted blue, which is a visual inconsistency with the way other preferences show up on the iPhone, but it doesn't seem to crash when this is the case)
b. you hit after the hand is dealt, then go to step 2(blue highlight "bug" is still present)
c. you've done a. or b. first then on a new hand start at step 2(it seems the blue highlight "bug" is some sort of indication of whether the crash will happen or not)

I hope I explained it well enough, it's a very small thing, but easily reproducible, so I thought I'd give you a head's up. Would you rather I check in bugs on the code page?

Bugs on the code page would be very helpful for me to track them. I also get more timely notification of them, and you'll get feedback directly when fixed.

What version are you running this on? The newly released alpha 4.3.4? I currently can't reproduce the crash when selecting Default in the way you mentioned it. Did you have Themes installed at one point, or not? That bit of knowledge will help me diagnose the problem.

The blue selection is something that is more of a "feature" of how the selection works on the iPhone. I think I know how to fix it but since it doesn't cause harm, I haven't changed it yet in fear of creating new real bugs. Once you select something in a session, it'll remain "blue" as selected for the rest of the session. It only allows one segment at a time to be selected per page.

[pacohaas]

cool, I submitted the bug(issue: 28) on google code and added comments there, it was for version alpha 4.3.4.

Also noticed that with the new popup that contains the amount lost, it seems your losses are doubled, once when you initially deal the hand, and again when that popup shows. (issue: 29)

[McCarron]

cool, I submitted the bug(issue: 28) on google code and added comments there, it was for version alpha 4.3.4.

Also noticed that with the new popup that contains the amount lost, it seems your losses are doubled, once when you initially deal the hand, and again when that popup shows. (issue: 29)

Yeah they are, another bug as a result of a bug report I mis-read. I'll fix that tonight.

[McCarron]

Alpha 4.4 Released

- Fixes double money loss
- Bet amounts now count down/up like the Bank does
- Current bet amount on Deal button
- Slight changes to Preferences to prevent the blue selection highlights from staying around.

If no more major bugs occur tomorrow, I'll be releasing this as Alpha 5.

[McCarron]

So... iBlackjack Alpha 5 RC1 is released. Fixes the quad score display on double down.
http://patrickmccarron.com/irepo

[j0ebeer]

So... iBlackjack Alpha 5 RC1 is released. Fixes the quad score display on double down.
http://patrickmccarron.com/irepo

Hmmm, just downloaded the Alpha 5 RC1 release and seem to still have the double winning issue. I'm playing $100 bets and winning back $200. Haven't double-downed once. Wished it worked that way at the real tables.

Joe

[McCarron]

Hmmm, just downloaded the Alpha 5 RC1 release and seem to still have the double winning issue. I'm playing $100 bets and winning back $200. Haven't double-downed once. Wished it worked that way at the real tables.

Joe

Actually that's how the game works. You make a $100 bet and it gets doubled if you win thus you take back $200. I guess the wording could be better, because that total announced at the end of the hand includes the bet amount.

[j0ebeer]

Actually that's how the game works. You make a $100 bet and it gets doubled if you win thus you take back $200. I guess the wording could be better, because that total announced at the end of the hand includes the bet amount.

Ah, now I see. Yes, the wording was tripping me up. If you can change to reflect the amount actually won I think that would be better.

[McCarron]

Ah, now I see. Yes, the wording was tripping me up. If you can change to reflect the amount actually won I think that would be better.

Yeah I agree, probably a good idea.

[macintel4me]

Cool app! Keep up the good work!

[imacdaddy]

Love this app. Been using your app since day 1 of my iPhone (6 weeks). Keep up the great work and updates!

So when can we see the split function working? ;)

[jjb0070]

Love this app. Been using your app since day 1 of my iPhone (6 weeks). Keep up the great work and updates!

So when can we see the split function working? ;)

Ditto. Love it. LOVE. IT. Just waiting to be able to split those damn double Aces.

Pretty please?

[McCarron]

Splitting is coming soon, hopefully by Christmas. I have that entire week off before Christmas and plan to work on it before then. I have two major features I want done that week.

Also... iBlackjack Alpha 5 RC2 is released. Fixes defect 28 (http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/issues/detail?id=28), 31 (http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/issues/detail?id=31) and 32 (http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/issues/detail?id=32). In fixing #28 I redid the game's theme switching code, so now the game will not reset the current table. So really try to cause the themes switching to crash.

Repo address for those who don't have it yet:
http://patrickmccarron.com/irepo

[McCarron]

Another new version tonight. Alpha 5 RC3.

- Fixed shoe preferences not applying until after a game restart
- Fixed "New Shoe" image display on other themes crashing the game (Hotstuff2 I think this was your crash)

[ratspg]

McCarron,

You have a really great app with blackjack. I really really enjoy it and keep up the great work :) I'm looking forward to splitting! iBlackjack is probably one of the top quality apps on the iPhone 3rd party scene :)

Great job!

[McCarron]

McCarron,

You have a really great app with blackjack. I really really enjoy it and keep up the great work :) I'm looking forward to splitting! iBlackjack is probably one of the top quality apps on the iPhone 3rd party scene :)

Great job!

Thanks I'm glad you, and everyone else, like it so much. It keeps me going on improving it.

I'm trying to get some rare bugs pushed out, if I can't rid of them easily I'll make a release to Ste's community sources for tomorrow.

I will then start work on the cleanup and changes needed for splitting. I have the rest of the month off of work after Friday, so I'll have plenty of time to work on the game. I hope to have splitting done and the first "beta" release to come by Christmas. I'll be glad to be rid of the Alpha tag.

[McCarron]

Alpha 5 is now released.
http://patrickmccarron.com/irepo

[McCarron]

There is a slight bug with the insurance selection in alpha 5. It'll cause the game to go nuts and crash. So I fixed it and in doing so, changed how the end-hand alert box comes up. I give it more of a delay and make it "pop" much like most iPhone alert boxes do. Hope this isn't too annoying. Not happy with how fast Insurance, etc comes up right now so may make changes there.

I also decided to throw in what I was working on last night/today. Flipping Cards! I built a new Card Object to help with the splitting of the hands, and threw in some animation code I couldn't get to work before. Well now it does, the dealer cards will flip in 3D when they are turned over.

So everyone head over to my repo in Installer, http://patrickmccarron.com/irepo/ and download iBlackjack alpha 5.0.10. I want to publicly release this as alpha 5.1 ASAP if no other major bugs come up.

The flipping of the cards is also part of another game project I'll be starting up this month. iPoker! ;)

[j0ebeer]

Patrick, the app just keeps getting better & better. One small request, can you add an option to turn off the displaying off the bet/cash amounts going up and/or down? Instead of the seeing the numbers go up or down I'd rather just see the amounts.

Joe

[pacohaas]

Patrick, the app just keeps getting better & better. One small request, can you add an option to turn off the displaying off the bet/cash amounts going up and/or down? Instead of the seeing the numbers go up or down I'd rather just see the amounts.

Joe
Or maybe an overall option to "Disable Animations"? I could personally do without the counter-style Bank, card flips, cards sliding out when dealt, and popups needed to deal a new hand. I want to play lots of hands in a small amount of time when I break out my iPhone on a bus or something and all the animations and popups hinder that possibility. Instead of popups, you could have a scroller similar to the "Deck has been reshuffled" notification that tells you if you won, lost, pushed, dealer busted, or blackjack happened.

Also an option to "Auto-stand on 21" would be another easy way to get more hands/hour. (Issue #34 (http://code.google.com/p/iphoneblackjack/issues/detail?id=34))

[McCarron]

I will for sure add the auto-stand on X option. It's a wonderful idea, and I meant to add it in earlier.

I may add a disable animations too, if I can get the timing to work right without it. So go ahead and file an enhancement issue for that too.

[McCarron]

Here is a quick tease of the split mode. I want to gauge people's thoughts on the altered screen layout.

I changed the card spacing, finally, so your hand centers and stays grouped together better. I also flipped the card counters and moved them to the side.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2214/2127610186_543d188776.jpg

I'm "hoping" to have more done before I leave town on Sunday for the holiday so I can get a test version into people's hands. Right now everything is done but the switching of hand logic, so no way to play the other hand.

[jasonnorm]

I like the layout better (centering of cards and counters to the side).

Looks good!

[jasonnorm]

I like the layout better (centering of cards and counters to the side).

Looks good!

[pacohaas]

If you want to really emulate the casino experience, you could have the two hands side-by-side, and start dealing cards on top of each other with the left side showing(see 1st picture). Then you could use the counters above with some indication as to which hand you are playing.

The logical motion would still be left to right, i.e. you get T K, and split, the K goes to the left side of the screen, while the 10 goes to the middle. Then you work on the left hand until it is stood, busted, or doubled, before moving to the hand on the right side....that is until you get into multiple splits.

Now that I think about that, it might be better to have a preview of your "yet to be played" hands off to the right (see 2nd picture), while the primary hand stays with the current gameplay. It gets complicated with multiple splits, but I think this way you could still show the hand totals for each hand and it's clear which hand you are playing. If another 8 got dealt when you were on hand 4, and you split again, that new one would become hand 5, etc.

You'll have to figure out when the 2nd card gets dealt on each hand, I've seen some people deal it immediately after splitting and then giving you a chance to hit on the 1st hand, while others split and let you finish one hand before giving a card to the next hand.

...then there's splitting aces: many casinos only allow one card on split aces(which sucks!), this might need to be a setting in the prefs.
...some casinos only allow one split, which would help keep the interface clean, but also sucks.

[jjb0070]

Yay for splitting! By far the app that gets the most use on my iphone. What that says about me, well, I don't know, but thanks for all your effort!

[McCarron]

So far I'm only going to allow one split, so moving them up is the best way for screen space to manage it. So yes it'll suck I guess. But it may not be hard later to add other hands, now that I'm redoing much of the game to handle splitting.

Since I made other game changes I can also shrink the cards easier, but not sure how well I can shrink/grow cards without testing it first. But I'd like to shrink the cards that are not in play.

A later version after I get the basic splitting work I can do something along those lines. I also am looking to do something like you mocked up there with the hand status in text below the hand.

Right now the split settings I imagine will be this:
Split Pairs NO | YES | EXCEPT ACES

But there are no rules now for my testing, you can split any hand. But it also works as you describe, it only allows you to add cards to the first hand, doesn't deal a 2nd to the split hand until you are done with the other hand. Not sure if I'll add an option to change that.

[pacohaas]

Right now the split settings I imagine will be this:
Split Pairs NO | YES | EXCEPT ACES

I think all you need is the Yes/No. Every casino lets you split aces. They just don't always let you hit further after splitting aces. That is, a split ace works very much like a Double Down. That's the part that I think should be optional: allow hitting on split aces NO | YES

[McCarron]

I think all you need is the Yes/No. Every casino lets you split aces. They just don't always let you hit further after splitting aces. That is, a split ace works very much like a Double Down. That's the part that I think should be optional: allow hitting on split aces NO | YES

That's right, I forgot about that. I'll add a separate item for that.

Also the more I've thought about your mockup the more I may do something like that and really allow more than one split. Lets see what I can do. I may put out a test version with just the single split to squash bugs. Then make the changes to allow more than one split. Depends on how much time I can find here this week.

[jjb0070]

Any news on the update/splitting enabled front?

[McCarron]

Any news on the update/splitting enabled front?

It's coming, a bigger update than I had planned. I've made a lot of internal game changes to mechanics and code flow, mostly because I'm going to be making iPoker after this game. I've started on some early concepts and coding of it. So lots of those elements I wanted to merge into iBlackjack earlier than I had planned.

Here is the intro screen for placing your first bet. (Yes the game now auto-starts, no more menu screen at the launch.)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2265/2161527458_af6580d488.jpg

Here you can see the game has started and bets have been placed (table minimum bet takes place automatically). You can see the bet chips are smaller than the chips you click on to actually bet. They shrink as they move into place.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2161529266_38c8e3fca2.jpg

Here is the new hand-over notification, this is RIGHT after the previous hand cards moved off the screen. No clicking required, it goes away if you bet or if you just wait for the next hand to start. I want to tweak these timings still, so it's fast but not too fast.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/2161545628_d31d45ca7d.jpg

Still a bit more to do with the chip betting changes, it's not completely working just yet. It's very close though. Once the bet issues are resolved, then back to finalizing splitting, which is also very close. It's mostly there, but a few internal changes brought this bet change and delayed finishing splitting.

[jjb0070]

That. Looks. AWESOME!

And... ipoker? SWEETNESS FOLLOWS

[SheepNutz]

It looks awesome, and I simply cannot wait for iPoker!

[McCarron]

One thing I needed with the upcoming iPoker were cards with both the suit and number on the edges, so they can overlap easier. So I mocked up a new card theme for myself.

Here's a preview, what do you all think? I still have 50 cards to make, but shouldn't take too long. The hardest part is finding/creating art for the face cards.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2212/2169378689_a5004e1857.jpg

[jasonnorm]

Looks solid.

Any eta on the next Black Jack release?

[McCarron]

Looks solid.

Any eta on the next Black Jack release?

No ETA other than this month. I've got a few more bugs to work out with new code and logic improvements in the game.

Chip betting is about all fixed and working now. I'm going to do some limited testing to work bugs out. Splitting is still not working 100%, but that's next on the slate now that the new game flow is mostly fixed.

Here is an updated image, I made a new felt image change after playing poker at a friend's house last night that had this felt pattern.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2255/2174625700_9df3c3318a.jpg

Here is the final icon too with the new card images:
http://www.patrickmccarron.com/iphone/images/ibj_icon.png

Any theme designers out there have good ideas of what to use for the face cards? That's the only thing I can't figure out what to do.

Here is the final changelog of what will be in v1.0 Beta 1:


v1.0 Beta 1 (January ?, 2008)
1. Splitting of Pairs
2. Table Minimum Bet Preference
3. Chip Betting with Chip Sounds
4. Game flow improvements
5. New Card and Table Images
6. Improved Animations
7. Bug Fixes

[PMartinez527]

any updates?

[pacohaas]

any updates?
patience?

No ETA other than this month.
...
Any theme designers out there have good ideas of what to use for the face cards? That's the only thing I can't figure out what to do.

[Omad0n]

I just came across this application as i was looking for blackjack software for the Mac. After going through all of them i can say yours is shaping up to be one of the best out there. This is by no small margin either. It's simple and elegant, which i personally think is part of what's great about macs. Anyway back on topic, I was also writing in to see if for future releases some other options might be added. I don't think I'm the only one who would like these things but i think I'm the first at least from what i read in this thread to ask for it (apologies out to anyone who may have asked and i glazed over >_< ) I know I would def. be sold on it if we could get some things like...

1. Card counting systems. Simply hi-lo would be good for a start and then later customization of it. This would in clude a way for hte player to always have the count visible or have it only be seen by request.

2. Shoe tracking system, a way to know how many decks are left roughly, or how many cards.

3. Also a basic strategy guide, there are varying thoughts on these that change with how the decks are set up, so maybe just 1 customizable one for people to enter in once, from another source they find, and then enter it in so they always have their basic strategy guide with them.

Keep up the great work, I would try and help if i could with programming but i'm no programmer. I can help though with numbers and what not for 1 and 3 and i have an idea of how 2 could be done, just don't know if it would be practical or not. Thanks for taking time to read my longish post, and very very cool app. I'm super impressed!

[jjb0070]

so... are we ever going to see this long-awaited update?

[pacohaas]

so... are we ever going to see this long-awaited update?

see the Changelog for a look into the future:
* v1.0 (Feb-March 2008)

1. Built With Official SDK
2. Splitting of Pairs
3. Betting with Chips
4. Sound Effects
5. New Card and Table Images
6. Improved Animations
7. Game flow improvements
8. Table Minimum Bet Preference
9. Bug Fixes
10. Much Much More

Can't do #1 until the SDK is actually released!

[igglepuff]

The flipping of the cards is also part of another game project I'll be starting up this month. iPoker! ;)

nice! can't wait! if you want testers or anythign other then who you have now, PM me - i'd love some holdem' that doesnt suck on my phone :)
james

[jasonnorm]

Screw the SDK (which is not going to be officially released until the Spring)..

You were on such a roll with this game, it sucks that you are letting Apple control this game ... Sigh ...

Come on man! Give us the update!

Ill give you $20 if it has all that you say it does.

[jjb0070]

Yeah, this waiting really blows. Can't we get that splitting update?

[jc1350]

If you have a working (meaning older) version and want to keep it that way, do NOT upgrade to the latest "beta." It's already expired and tells you to visit McCarron's site to get info about getting the next version...which he won't allow you to get.

I restored my phone this week and as a result, I have lost the game.

[jarazmek]

Ok guy well I was a die hard for my blackjack 2 and I was given a 16gb iPhone, I hated it from the start, then I found out about all of the hacks and mods you can do so now I love it because of guys and gals like you. So thanks, but to my point I have been reading here getting info and I found the blackjack which I love so I looked high and low and I cant find it anywhere. None of the source I find give me the option to load the iblackjack through the app installer. I have the skins but thats it, I hope I am just overlooking something and maybe you guys can show me what I need to do in order to install this great looking game.
Thanks again,
Joe

P.s. sorry if I posted this in the wrong area ( first post):apple::confused:

[McCarron]

Sorry but iBlackjack is no longer available via Installer. The new improved iBlackjack will be made available through Apple's iPhone App Store come June at the earliest.

Thanks,
Patrick McCarron

[m5devil]

Hello,

I installed all the possible themes, but nothing appears except for Default.
What could be the problem?

Thanks

[jarazmek]

Thats to bad, I really wanted to give it a shot..... I will just stick to the web app then cause apple will want 10 15 bucks for it. I guess I was a day late and a buck short. Thanks anyways

[iphonedev]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z4E1jX52DE

[McCarron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z4E1jX52DE

Looks good, can't wait to play it!

I'd post up video and pictures of what iBlackjack turned into, but we're under an NDA so I still can't yet. Apple wouldn't be too pleased with us. There are some early shots that leaked, if you use Google, too bad they weren't final shots.

[pacohaas]

will it be free like the past versions?

[McCarron]

No it wont be free, it will be low priced compared to some other game announcements.

[jjb0070]

This is it, right?

http://toucharcade.com/2008/05/19/mobileage-brings-blackjack-mahjong-to-iphone/

[McCarron]

Actually now the AppStore has launched, so here is the link to view it in iTunes.

http://www.mobileage.com/images/AppStoreBadge.jpg (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=283698947&mt=8)

Price is $4.99 and has a LOT more options and features that the previous alpha builds did not. With even more on the way.

Also, those who made generous donations last year will get a free copy, but still working out the logistics of how to do that with Apple.

[pacohaas]

No it wont be free, it will be low priced compared to some other game announcements.
Weak. Well I guess I'll wait for a free Blackjack game, or make one if I have some time. Thanks for your work in the past though.

[jc1350]

Weak. Well I guess I'll wait for a free Blackjack game, or make one if I have some time. Thanks for your work in the past though.

Not weak. This fellow put time and effort into coding the game. He's perfectly legit in wanting some compensation for it.

[Omad0n]

I looked at the link to the download, but it doesn't list all the features you have on your app. I think it'd be really nice to see, and help you stand apart from the other blackjack software titles, since there are a few. Can't wait to get my 2.0 software later today and buy the program (was using it in alpha and loved it)

[McCarron]

Not weak. This fellow put time and effort into coding the game. He's perfectly legit in wanting some compensation for it.

Thanks for the support!

I looked at the link to the download, but it doesn't list all the features you have on your app. I think it'd be really nice to see, and help you stand apart from the other blackjack software titles, since there are a few. Can't wait to get my 2.0 software later today and buy the program (was using it in alpha and loved it)

Yeah I agree and think we need to add more to the iTunes side, but on the device AppStore we didn't want too much text crowding up the display on the small screen.

[McCarron]

Here is a quick video of Blackjack 21 for the iTunes App Store, for those of you wanting to see the changes from iBlackjack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsli5VBRFtM