Michal Ždanský The journey from the idea of an application to the final launch in the App Store is a long and complex process that development teams must undergo. However, despite the best programming knowledge, the application may not always be a hit, and sometimes it is better to kill the project before its implementation. Therefore, it is important to first have a concept that can show the potential of the entire application.
App Cooker is an app made by developers for developers. It combines several functions together, which together enable teams of designers and programmers to solve crucial decisions during the entire process of creating an application and its journey to the App Store. The main function is the creation of interactive app concepts itself, but apart from that, the app includes a tool for calculating profits on the App Store, which will help determine the price, create descriptions for the App Store, and thanks to the vector and bitmap editor, you can also create an app icon in the app, which you can later export.
App Cooker took a lot of inspiration from Apple's iWork, at least in terms of design and user interface, making it feel like the fourth lost app of the pack. The selection of projects, the layout of individual elements, the ease of use and the intuitive control seem as if App Cooker was programmed directly by Apple. However, the application is not a copy, on the contrary, it forges its own path, it only uses the principles that have proven to be the right path for iWork for iPad.
Icon editor
Many times the icon is what sells the app. Of course, it is not a factor that guarantees sales success, but it is, apart from the name, the first thing that catches the user's eye. A nice icon usually makes a person look at what application is hidden behind this icon.
The built-in editor is quite simple, yet it offers most of the options that are needed for vector graphics. It is possible to insert basic shapes, which can then be modified from color to size, duplicated or grouped with other objects. In addition to vector objects, bitmaps can also be inserted and created. If you have an image on your computer that you'd like to use for your icon, just get it into your iPad library or use the built-in Dropbox (Is there anyone else who doesn't?).
If you don't have a picture and would like to draw something with your finger in the editor yourself, just select the first option among the shapes (pencil icon), choose the area in which you want to draw and then you can let your imagination run free. The bitmap editor is much poorer, it only allows you to change the thickness and color of the pencil, but it is enough for small drawings. In the event of an unsuccessful job, a rubber band will come in handy. In general, every failed step can be returned with the ever-present Undo button in the upper left corner.
Icons in iOS have their characteristic highlighting with a vertical arc. This can be created in the editor with one click, or you can choose alternative options that may be more suitable for the icon. There may be several icons in different sizes, the application will take care of that for you, it only needs a single, largest icon with dimensions of 512 x 512, which you create in the editor.
Idea
Part of the application is also a kind of block, which is supposed to help in the very first phase of the application, in the creation of an idea. You write a brief description of the application in the designated box. In the field below, you can specify its category on the axis. You can choose the degree of seriousness in the vertical, whether it is a work application or just an application for entertainment. In the horizontal, you then determine whether it is more of a work or entertainment tool. By dragging the black square, you will then determine which of these four criteria your application meets. To the right of the axis, you have a helpful description of what such an application should meet.
Finally, you can evaluate yourself which aspects your application meets. You have a total of 5 options (Idea, Innovation, Ergonomics, Graphics, Interactivity), you can rate each of them from zero to five. Based on this subjective assessment, App Cooker will tell you how "successful" your app will be. But this message is more for fun.
Draft editor
We come to the most important part of the application, namely the editor for creating the concept of the application. A concept is created similarly to a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Each screen is a kind of slide that can link to other slides. However, don't expect a 100% interactive application where, for example, a menu will be rolled out after you click a button. Each screen becomes static and clicking a button only changes the slide.
The illusion of menu scrolling and other animations can be achieved with various transitions. However, those are still missing from App Cooker and only offers one default transition. However, the authors promised that the transitions will be added in the next updates that appear every few months and will always bring some useful extra function.
First of all, we will create the initial screen, that is, the one that will be displayed first after "launching" the application. We have the same vector/bitmap editor as the icon editor. But what is important for creating applications are the graphical interface elements. Just like developers, you will have at your disposal a large number of elements that you know from native applications, from sliders, through buttons, lists, fields, to a wheeled Internet browser, map or keyboard. There are still elements that are missing from a complete state, but even those are promised in future updates.
You can then edit each element in detail to display everything exactly as you want. By combining native UI elements, vectors and bitmaps, you can create the exact form of the application screen as it should look in its final form. But now the application needs to be shaken up a bit. Once you have created multiple screens, you can link them together.
You either select an element and press the chain icon, or press the icon without the object selected. Either way, you'll see a hatched area denoting the clickable area. Then just link this area to another page and you're done. When a presentation is running, clicking on a place will take you to the next page, which creates the impression of an interactive application. You can have any number of clickable areas on the screen, it is not a problem to create dozens of "functional" buttons and menus, where every click is reflected. In addition to clicking, unfortunately, it is not yet possible to use other specific gestures, such as dragging a finger in a certain place.
In the preview, you can easily see how the pages are connected to each other, you can even duplicate the pages, if you only want them to differ in the open menu. You can then start the entire presentation with the Play button. You can stop and exit the presentation at any time by tapping with two fingers.
Store Info
In this tool, you can simulate the App Store a bit, where you fill in the name of the company, specify the categories of the application and specify the rating for age restrictions. Using a simple questionnaire, the application determines the minimum age category for which the application can be intended.
Finally, you can create your own tab for each country, with the name of the app (which can be different in each App Store), search keywords and a custom description. Each of these items is limited by the number of characters, so you can make up your own mind as to how you will present the application. These texts will not go to waste thanks to the option of exporting to PDF and PNG (for icons).
Revenues and expenses
The last tool of the application is creating a sales scenario. This is a great value added app that will help you calculate how much you can earn from the app under the given circumstances. The tool takes into account many variables that you can set according to your estimation.
Important variables are the device (iPhone, iPod touch, iPhone) for which the app is intended, according to which the potential market will unfold. In the next lines, you choose the price at which you will sell the application, or you can also include other purchase options such as In-App Purchases or subscriptions. The estimation of the time during which the application will be sold can also have a great influence.
In order to be able to calculate the net profit, the expenses must also be taken into account. Here you can add the salary of developers and designers, for each member of the development team you determine the monthly salary and how long they will work on development. Of course, the development of an application does not only cost man-hours, other aspects must also be taken into account, such as renting office space, paying licenses or advertising costs. App Cooker takes all of this into account and can calculate the net profit for the given period based on all the entered data.
You can create any number of scenarios, which can be useful for both the most optimistic and the most pessimistic estimates. Either way, you'll get a rough idea of how successful you can be with your creation.
záver
App Cooker is definitely not an app for everyone. It will be especially appreciated by developers or at least creative individuals who, for example, do not know how to program, but have a lot of interesting ideas and concepts in their heads that could be realized by someone else. I count myself in this group, so I can use my application knowledge and creative mind and put all these elements into an interactive presentation that I can show to a developer.
I have tried several similar applications and I can say with a clear conscience that App Cooker is the best application of its kind, be it user interface, graphics processing or intuitive controls. The app is not the cheapest, you can get it for €15,99, but with constant support from the developers and frequent updates, it is money well spent if you are one of those who will really use the app.
App Cooker - €15,99
Isn't there a similar application on Mac?
There is one iPhone prototyping app in the Mac App Store, Prototypes http://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/prototypes/id430812258?mt=12
I wanted to ask the exact same thing, something similar usable under MacOs would be great...