200+ downloads per day

Congratulations to all junction users, game installations via junction have been higher than 200 per day for a full week now!

With the new year approaching things around here may seem to slow down a little with my limited time on game-thing.com mainly devoted to answering questions and maintaining the site over the Christmas and new year break.

In the coming weeks and months you can hope to see:

LG KU800 support
The LG KU800 is the most recent style-centered phone in the chocolate series from LG. The KU800 keeps the same look as the original KG800 but goes one better on the features front by being a 3G phone with features on-par with LG's other 3G phones.

I have recently been able to upload games to the LG KU800 with the help of some friendly KU800 users so in the short future you should see GThing and junction for the KU800.

jWEB - junction on your website
junction is a great tool. You have shown that it is useful to a large number of people. I would like to take this tool to the next level by allowing people to add junction to their own website so that their users can enjoy the single click installs.

jWEB, junction for web sites, operates by simply including a very small bit of web page code (HTML) for each game you want to be downloadable. This code makes a very small 'j' button which when pressed will open a popup with an install button an a link to some instructions. This method means any web site owner can install junction regardless of the web site administration skills, the way it should be.

SonyEricsson support for junction
You may not be aware, but for a little while now junction has gone beyond LG mobiles and now supports a whole bunch of Motorola phones including the Motorola v3x. To continue this trend, SonyEricsson phones will be supported in junction starting with the K608i.

Supporting LG, Motorola, and SonyEricsson phones allows junction and jWEB to cover a large portion of the mobiles out there making junction available to a huge number of people.

Game Search
I put up a mobile game and application directory here on game-thing.com to help people find the games they want. The number of games in there is increasing as users upload what they have found useful and free.

With the advent of jWEB, it will be possible to search every website that uses jWEB for specific games and applications. This should go a step further in solving the problem of locating the game and applications you want.

Imminent server move
We are growing at a fast rate. There are 30-60 new junction users every day. junction has been engineered to be as fast as possible for our web server but the inevitable is coming. At the current rate, it will only be a few months at most before we are forced to move to a new host with better hardware to accommodate the number of people using game-thing.com.

I am looking for a new host so if you know anybody with great deals on hosting, let me know. In the mean time, to cover the increased cost of a new host, whatever it will be, the GThing price has been increased by 95 US cents. This minor increase will hopefully cover server costs and allow for us to grow.

A new Game plus a book
I originally got into mobile phones to write games for them. I seem to have been sidetracked for a while now but it is finally going to happen. I will be releasing a new game in the coming weeks/months. I am not giving away too much information on the game just yet but... it is a puzzle game.

In addition to releasing the game, some time afterward I will release an eBook that details the process of making mobile phone games such that anyone with a keen desire could learn to make their own games from the book. I haven't decided yet but I may also publish the book in conventional paper form for those that want a good quality physical copy.


There are some other things in the works such as SMS, MMS, and Email support for GThing but they will make themselves known when they get done.

Look forward to seeing you in the forums and have a merry and safe Christmas and a happy New Year!
(Substitute your end-of-year holidays for Christmas if not appropriate)

Ryan.

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Hi Ryan, you do a fantastic service on this site! Maybe you could tell us a bit about yourself? Is this your full-time job or a side-activity? How do you get so many phones to test your work on? And which country are you in? I'd imagine others are wondering the same things too.
Cheers,
aineverfail

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I did put up a small about us page a little while ago. It answers some of your questions.

This site is a hobby for me that takes a few hours a week to get new parts implemented and about 30mins per day to maintain.

A lot of what you are seeing is a whole bunch of projects that were started years ago that are finally becoming a reality so although it probably seems like I am moving forward quite quickly here, most of it has been under development for a long time.

I only have 7 phones. This may seem high but they were purchased over a three year period so one phone every six months or so is not too much when they are used for development. I also borrow phones from friends and family to support them. GThingTest has also shown to be a wonderful tool for supporting new mobiles. I Try to only buy key phones that are remarkably different in communication methods than previous phones and these LGs can be had for cheap when bought at the right time.

Strange thing is I never liked phones and still don't care too much for them, except for when it comes to writing software for them.

Most of my time is spent on my job/studies. I am currently finishing off a postgraduate degree in computer science and co-maintaining a visualisation facility.

I live on the Gold Coast in Australia but grew up in Brisbane Australia. Brisbane is about 85 kms north of the Gold Coast so I still live in the same area I grew up in.

I am glad that you find this site a great service. Seeing that people have found a use for this site keeps me motivated to assign time to it.

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