Indie Gems: Released May 1 - 8, 2013

Indie Gems: Released May 1 - 8, 2013: Hi, let's take a look some awesome games which released last 2 weeks.. Sorry for late posting, I got internet trouble in several days this week......

Introducing my New Blog

Hi, everyone I decided to make a new blog... In this blog, I mainly focus into indie games on iOS platform or I can say it as hidden gem. That's why my new blog named Indie Gems . Actually, it's not for indie developers only, but for all small developers with potential and great iOS apps to be showed. Here is my introducing post

I'll try to keep both of my blogs up to date. However, it's not easy enough since I'm still in school and I have a part-time job too. Your support will keep me along in to this. If you found a great indie iOS / Android game, please let me know. I'll try to put it in to my blog.
I know if my blog is so far from the word of "Perfect", but I'll try my best to make this blog better than before.
If you like my blog, please help me to share and spread it to the world. You're not help me only but also other people, especially for indie developers.

Why I choose iOS/ Android?
Because, I love to play games especially on iOS. Beside, I've limited budget and can't afford PC game's price yet. That's why I choose mobile platforms. People often look into popular or experienced developers only. Sometimes they're forget if indie or new developers can make great games too. That's why I prefer Indie first..

In this blog, I won't post about games only, you might found other informations here. However, in my other blog, you'll  find all about games only, especially indie games. That's why I decided to separate it. Don't worry if you're too lazy to visit my other blog, I'll put the link to the post here. :)
Thanks for your attention....
Have fun... and keep playing !

Pembajakkan: Hal yang Terlalu Sulit untuk Dihilangkan

Sedikit berbeda dari biasanya, kali ini saya ingin menyampaikan unek-unek saya tentang pembajakan.
Apa itu pembajakan ? Bajak-membajak di sawah? Eng... Bukan itu yang saya maksud. Pembajakan di sini merupakan tindakan menggunakan / mengambil suatu produk tanpa ijin yang jelas. Saya tidak berkata bahwa saya 100% pure bersih dari benda bajakan, namun saya hanya kecewa ketika mendengar sebagian orang Indonesia yang berkata: "Ngapain beli kalo ada yang gratis?"

"For what we must buy if we can get it for free?"
Damn, that quote is really broke my heart. . . Yes... Yes that's true, but...
Okay, saya tidak munafik, kalau saya juga menggunakan benda-benda bajakan. Namun, saya berpikir, saya kuliah pada jurusan IT yang pada akhirnya terkait secara langsung atau tidak, suatu hari nanti saya mungkin akan membuat app sebagai mata pencaharian utama saya. (Pemikiran yang egois nampaknya... Come on, ini pekerjaan saya, dan saya bekerja untuk mencari uang).
Saya bisa membayangkan posisi saya jika saya adalah seorang developer yang appsnya dibajak. Oh, man... I got no money, no food, no life then Dead :P

Kemudian saya berpikir mungkin itu sebabnya, perindustrian di Indonesia agak susah maju. Sebagian orang terlalu banyak memegang prinsip, "GRATIS PANGKAL KAYA"
Jika gratis di sini, gratis dalam arti sebenarnya , saya tidak masalah dan justru mendukungnya. Namun, nyatanya gratis di sini: mencari benda bajakan.

Oke, jika kita mendownload suatu lagu secara gratis melalui internet, saya masih bisa memaklumi hal itu. Salah satu sisi positifnya, lagu penyanyi tersebut lebih cepat terkenal, dan tangga chartnya pun cepat naik. Penyanyi tersebut juga bisa diundang ke sana kemari untuk mengisi acara.
Lalu mendownload film bajakan. Paling tidak sebagian dari kita masih ada yang menonton di bioskop bukan?
Namun lain halnya dengan suatu aplikasi. Jika kalian berkata, pembajakan itu membuat suatu app terkenal. Ya, memang benar. tapi, kita tidak bisa melakukan hal sama seperti yang penyanyi lakukan pada kelanjutannya. Apps juga tidak bisa diputar di tempat lain. Pemberian lite version atau demo adalah salah satu cara menghindari pembajakan. Mungkin kalian belum punya cukup uang untuk membeli suatu app. Oke lah, jika menggunakan bajakan terlebih dahulu, namun hal itu bukan untuk selamanya atau kalian juga bisa menggunakan freeware dengan fasilitas sejenis.
Bayangkan saja, jika semua orang di Indonesia selalu berharap gratis (memakai barang bajakan). Bagaimana Teknologi di Indonesia bisa maju? Untuk apa ada kuliah jurusan IT?
Kami yang belajar dan berkarya pada bidang teknologi dan perangkat lunak, mencari sesuap nasi melalui karya yang kami buat. Namun, apa yang kami dapat?
Software hasil karya kami dibajak. Pembuatan suatu app bukan lah peristiwa 1 atau 2 hari yang mudah seperti membalikkan telapak tangan.
Ada perjuangan keringat, waktu, ilmu, tenaga, dan uang yang dikeluarkan untuk melakukan hal itu.
Oke, kalian bisa bilang, "Kalau ga mau dibajak, cari pekerjaan lain ... (Maksudnya jangan bikin apps, kembangkan yang lain seperti hardware atau perangkat kerasnya saja)

Baik, kita tidak akan bekerja sebagai pembuat aplikasi dan kalian jangan pernah lagi berpikir bahwa negara ini bisa bersaing dalam kancah Internasional di bidang Teknologi.
Sekarang ini Teknologi kian maju, kita semua juga ingin maju, kita belajar dari negara-negara maju, membuat aplikasi perangkat lunak yang dipergunakan untuk kemajuan bangsa. Jika kalian berpikir bahwa aplikasi itu tidak penting, kalian salah besar. Kehadiran suatu komputer atau mesin tidak akan berarti tanpa suatu pemrograman di dalamnya. Jika kita sukses, kita bangga karena bisa membawa harum nama bangsa. Kalian sebagai WNI pasti turut bangga bukan?
Tapi apa? Nampaknya masih banyak orang-orang di sekeliling kita kurang peduli akan hal itu.
Mereka hanya melihat dari hasil akhir bukan dari proses perjuangan yang dilakukan.
Mereka tidak menghargai kerja keras kami. Mereka melihat kami dari permukaan luarnya saja.

Saya menulis hal ini bukan karena saya kuliah pada jurusan IT. Saya juga bukan seorang developer. Saya menulis ini karena saya prihatin dengan sikap sebagian orang Indonesia yang kurang menghargai hasil karya orang lain. Jika gratis yang mereka cari memang asli berasal dari developer (promo code, game freemium, freeware, shareware) saya tidak masalah. Namun jika gratis yang diharapkan adalah hasil bajakan seperti (jailbreak, hacking, dsb) , saya sudah tidak bisa bilang apa-apa lagi. Kalian sendiri yang berhak memutuskan apakah hal ini memang layak atau tidak?

Jika kalian mengeluh, akan maraknya game-game freemium akhir-akhir ini. Sampai Real Racing 3 untuk mobile yang sebenarnya layak pada kisaran $4.99-7.99. Kenapa mereka memilih freemium dengan segudang IAP di dalamnya?

Mungkin ini didasari oleh sifat kebanyakan orang yang suka akan gratisan. Jadi, kembali lagi ke diri kita sendiri , bagaimana sikap kita sebenarnya...
Memang sulit untuk menghapus pembajakan. Kalian mungkin tidak bisa menghapus hal itu dengan mudah. Beberapa pihak juga dapat kehilangan pekerjaan karena penghapusan pembajakan. (Contoh: Penjual DVD dan CD bajakan)
Namun paling tidak, mulailah dari diri kalian sendiri, kurangi penggunaan barang atau aplikasi bajakan.
Perluas persepsi kalian akan apa itu makna GRATIS sebenarnya. Lebih mulia menunggu diskon daripada mengambil gratis yang tidak sepantasnya :p

1800: Are you Quick Enough?

So many games on AppStore today can make you confused to decide which one to try, moreover, almost everyday there's at least a new game coming in to AppStore, and also most of them are provided for free.
I'm here to tell a new game which interesting enough to be play for all ages.

1800

With a simple UI, don't let this game deceives you.. Firstly, You might think it's not interesting for a game with too simple graphic. Dominant with white and pink color, it also has very simple gameplay. The main goal is to stop the arrow in the middle of the rectangle. The arrow will move automatically, all you need to do is tap the screen to stop it rightly in the middle of the rectangle. As your level increase, there're more lines to make complexity of scoring. If there're 2 lines, you need to stop the arrow between (inside) the lines, if the lines are more than 2, the lines are counted from the outer lines, so make sure to try your best for stoping the arrow between them.

An easy gameplay, but addicting is the main goal of every game. I found that this game is almost doing it well. It comes with 20 levels for arcade mode and time mode which can be unlocked after gain 40 stars from 60 stars, (Yes, 3 star score makes this game has higher replay value). I also found that people might be challenged to beat their previous score and make all levels perfect scoring 1800.
For time mode, try to tap in the middle as much as possible. You only get 60 seconds for doing that. So, use it wisely

The main key to play this game is the right timing, also how quick your finger tap the screen to stop the arrow. You might feel some frustration while you've already try for several times, but still got nothing perfect .. Me feel bit same too.
Overall, 1800 is a good game for testing your reflex. So, what are you waiting for? Just take your copy right now, n prove who is the quickest.. :)

Graphic: 3.5 of 5
Music and sound: 3 of 5
Gameplay: 4 of 5
Replay Value: 4 of 5
Overall: 3.625 of 5

1800 is a simple game that's tasty enough to train your reflex. I wish they update the game with more levels and features in the future.

Download 1800 for iOS Devices

Overkill 2: Kill Madness

If usually, I play puzzle, adventure, simple platformer, music, arcade games. I also like RPG too, such as KRPG, but unfortunately never finished the game... Normally, I only play until 88-95% progress :P

And this time I try a new genre (game), a FPS (First-Person Shooter) game. I never pay attention about this genre before, moreover to play kind of this game cause I think it might be boring (okay... may be because I'm a girl :P). However, I definitely have wrong mind this time. I hooked up in to this... and I realize that a FPS game is so much fun to play.. (That's why my friend whos a girl too is so in love to play a fps game :D , and now i know how does it's feel.. :* seriously, it's really fun and challenging to play.. lol)

Okay, I tried Overkill 2 game. I might not ever play the first one (Overkill), but it doesn't matter, also I don't think the game has a sequel story line related into the first one. Cause the game is only shoot, shoot, and shoot, and survive as long as you can. I'll post some tips and trick of this game later. 

Overkill 2 has been released since late last month on some AppStore only. Finally, Craneballs released it worldwide on April 4.

There's no story line in this game. All you need to do is kill your enemies. There are 2 mode of the games, Battle mode and Survival Mode. The battle mode consists of 20 stages for each area (current version has 3 area, so total there're 60 battles). It's kind of Tower Defense game, which some wave (enemies) come to attack you, and you must survive till the wave cleared. And to defense your self, you need to shoot all of your enemies. Nah, here is the best part.

In the first time, I found it might bit weird for me to play, but it's really attract my reflex to shoot. So, after a few minutes, I know how to play the game properly.

The control are great , the left screen is to set the position of your gun, and the button in the right screen is for shooting. To reload the bullets, just shake your device or reload it manually using the reload button in the right side.

There're many kinds of enemies, and if you want to play the game and win it , all you need to do is learn how your enemies work and search their weakness. ;)

Some power ups box, such as Air-Strike (BOM), Healthy Box (+30% health), Armor are really useful during the game, so don't forget to shoot the boxes too when you see them.

In the survival mode, play and survive as long as you can. The health is based by your multiplier, in the first time you only got 2 multiplier, equip some armor or level up your rank to increase your multiplier. If your health is decreased to zero, your multiplier is decrease too, and you'll die whenever your multiplier goes 1. You can switch the gun during the gameplay, so you can easily shoot enemies with your favorite gun. Currently, I only have 3 guns, 2 of them is black market guns which I got for free (the developer is still generous, they give the premium gun for free). They are AK47 gold (can be used while you reach rank 8) and MP40 (rank 3). Not too bad, but as you play the harder level, their performance are bit dissapointed. (I know.. i know, better to buy another guns) but I prefer to save my money for buying the best gun of all may be I'll buy Famas (still need to level up my rank, since it only be used on rank 19), so right now I only use 3 of them and upgraded them to max for playing the game, may be will buy another one later... (I have spent my money to buy armors :'( need to gain more money)

The game is free-to-play. However, I don't think the IAP is agressive enough, there're about 30 kinds of guns in the shop, also Black Market guns. The game has 2 kinds of currency, coins and overkill medals. You'll get 5 medal for each time you level up or complete some missions. The coins which you can get is about 3000-5000 for each playing in battle mode, and relative for survival mode. Only, if you want to buy the best guns directly, you'll need to buy the IAP, but if not, the grinding is so much fun. Just do the grinding on survival mode. 

Unlock the survival mode on rank 10 (if i'm not wrong, forget for this one), 15, and 20.

In the shop, you can also prepare your army from head to toe (build your best armor to defense yourself). Buy some grenade or medkit if necessary.

Right now, I'm in level 15, and I still need some friends (Ps: friends can help you to revive / continue the game without pay any medals), if you need an ally, just add my GC ID okay... Don't forget to mention it on your friend request message, so I can know if you play Overkill 2 too. :)

Download Overkill 2 for iOS Devices

Note: It will coming soon in to android, I'll update the link later after they release it.

Graphic: 4.5 of 5 (the graphics are good, some explode effects make the games more alive, the bloody thing also nice :) )

Sound/ Music: 4 of 5 (No need to background music afterall, the bullets shooting sound also breath sound effect are already good for kind of this game)

Gameplay: 4.5 of 5 (Controls are good enough, can set the sensitivity on options menu. Bit monotone gameplay, but still fun to play. IAP are not agressive....Totally, a  nice game to play)

Replay Value: 4 of 5 (Kind of replay value here is the survival mode, try to be the best in the leaderboard. I wish they integrated the global leaderboard into the GameCenter Leaderboard too. The various missions make this game has more good replay value.)

Overall: 4.25 of 5 

Overkill 2 is a good FPS game to play, though it'll bit monotonous to see the same environments during the 20 stages. Fortunately, the challenging gameplay can hide this minus side, many kind of customization guns (the upgrade) make the game more interesting. So, what can i say anymore, just try this game and decide it by yourself :)

Nimble Quest Tips n Tricks

Before, you say anything about this post. I just want to say the disclaimer about this post. The tips and tricks here are based by my observation. Because of that, I'm not 100% guarantee if the tricks or tips is official/qualified enough for some people. Some of them might think cheap of this post. However, I'll try my best to bring the tips n tricks and I'll update it if I get more info.. :)

#Tips 1

THE LEADER

If you have unlock some characters, choose your leader wisely.
Here, I love to use archer for the early time playing before I unlocked Uther, the champion.
Archer (Merida) has lightly armored, but she has far attack range. The trick, do the attack from back side of your enemies. Avoid to attack from frontal side of your enemies , especially if your enemy is knight. I sure you'll be dead easily.
If you use Uther, he can attack from frontal side with his long lance and it has far and wide range. So far, I just can tell you this one is the best leader. (Despite, I haven't unlock all the heroes, only unlocked till the 7th hero). He has medium armored though it's written that he has heavy armored, but I don't think so, if it strong enough. Why, I'm not recommend the other? Actually, It's depend by your choice. However, I think the others are strong enough to attack, but they have less defense than they both. At least till now (I'll update if I've unlocked it all ;D)
Trick: if you want to last longer, use the one which has the strong defense and wide/ far range attack. The others one like Gizmo and Blaze are great for the middle part, not the tail. Both has strong damage with side play attack. The tail can be archer, or knight. Unfortunately, this kind of style is depend by your lucky, caused you'll get the heroes randomly.. :(

#Tips 2

UPGRADE YOUR POWERUPS AND CHARACTERS

That's why we need to collect gems. The better you play, more gems you'll get. Use the gems especially to upgrade the power ups. Firstly, upgrade the potion to increase your HP, don't forget the shield. The others are also important too. So, don't hesitate to upgrade it all.

# Tips 3

PAY ATTENTION WITH THE TYPE OF YOUR ENEMIES

After you upgraded your power ups and your characters, what must you do next?
Learn, how the enemies attack. Yeah!
Example:
- Never attack the rats from frontal side. Although, it's a weak enemies, but it run faster than you. So, be careful, if you hit it. You'll die cheaply.
Trick: use side attack to defeat rats. Can be used bomb or blazer to hit. The leader can be hit from frontal but choose the one which has far range attack, and quickly turn right or turn left. If some of your allies was defeated, at least the leader still alive and you can collect your heroes again.
- Careful, with spiders, some of them are poisoning , or their webs can make us move slowly.
Trick: hit the spider from behind or side. Can be from frontal too. The effective one is back side, if your leader is strong enough, use the side attack if you have blazer or bomber or the one which has big damage.
- Knight and princess
They have healing ability.
Trick: Try to attack from side way or from behind, by using the one which has big damage weapon. Avoid to attack from frontal , especially for knight. He has wide and far range attack, also activate side range attack. So, watch out ! and take your steps carefully.

If some of you have more information about this, please tell yours in comment section.

#Tips 4

BUFF IS NEEDED... SOMETIMES

Buffs is used as a headstart, can be useful sometimes if you use it properly, caused it costed you token not gem. So, be wise. Luckily, tokens can be get by watching ads video (sometimes the video is available more than 5 times,which mean you'll get 5 tokens ;) or get it during the gameplay.




So, that's all my Tips and Tricks from me. If you have other Tips, Tricks, or may be Walkthrough to be shared. Just left it in the comment section. :)
Thanks for reading.... Happy playing!

Nimble Quest: Bring Back the Snake Game Memories

Nimble Quest, from Nimble Bit brings back my memories about old snake game. Last time, I played the snake game was 11 or 12 y.o. A bit long time ago since my last played. Back to the iOS, I knew if there're many kind of snake games on iOS. However, it just doesn't impress me. I just think about other games with modern gameplay ,idea, style, graphic, new genre, etc. Actually, I really love to play new games, but I'm not a kind of person who's easily to hook with a game. I have so many games on my iPad, but only few of them which I played everyday. I need to get the feeling... #lmao, the sense of the game to really enjoy it, that's why I only have few games which long lasting stay on my iPad.. :) #ps: moreover, some of them , I haven't played it yet. Only bought , n kept it... I bought them mostly caused by Sale... or hooked by the screen shots... But, don't have enough time to play them or may be bit lost of interest after buying @.@ dunno why (#sad)

Alright alright, never mind it. Nimble quest is a game which has similar gameplay with old snake game. Actually, before Nimble Quest was launched, iOS already has Call of Snake with the same gameplay. So, what's make this game different from Old Snake Game? (I won't compare this game with CoS)
- Nimble Quest has RPG setting elements. You can play as archer, knight, wizard, mage, etc. The snake here is made by the characters ( archer, slasher, bomber, etc).
Each character has different skills, you can upgrade it by pay with some gems, or defeat your enemies to upgrade your skill. Unlike , the regular snake gameplay. The snake here ( Nimble Quest) is limited long. The most long is 15 characters only. However, the long number of your snake is depend by how much stage you have been conquered. In the first time, you will play as knight only. After you unlock more character , you can choose which one to be your leader.

- The gameplay is similar like snake gameplay, don't hit your enemies or walls. Luckily, the snake here can automatically attacks the enemies. How they defeat the enemies are depend by your characters's skill. I'll post some tips and trick how to play Nimble Quest later Tips n Tricks here...
If regular snake's game use fruits for growing. Here, you can get more characters randomly after defeat some enemies, also some part of your snake can be defeated, but it doesn't affect your snake as long as your leader keeps alive.

- Collect gems, and tokens during the game. Gems are used for upgrading the power ups or your characters. Tokens are used to play in the arena (bring the name of your guild... Yeah!) or you can use tokens to replay the current stage when you dead.
Tokens can be get during the gameplay or buy it from IAP or by watching 10 seconds ads video ;)

Graphic: 4/5 (Clear pixelated graphic)
Sound/ Music: 4/5 (Nostalgic, I remember Mario Bross when I listened to the victory music here.
Gameplay: 4/5 (Swipe control is good enough, great to played on portrait also landscape view. A remake of old game with modern features... :D. However, there's no checkpoint. So, the game is kinda similar with endless game but in stages steps. However, it's still challenging enough, though sometimes kinda boring to repeat the same stage from the beginning :P )
Replay Value: 4/5 ( it's great to be played even if you only has 5 minutes spare time ;) )
Overall: 4/5
(Despite of being a freemium game, Nimble Quest is good enough to brings back the old memories of Snake game with some RPG elements (here is the characters). However, if NimbleBit can brings the new features in the next update, like online multiplayer as both side (enemies also heroes). I believe this game will be more hilarious to be played.. :)
Ps: Only few days since the official released, n the players almost 500.000 players right now... A great beginning ... :D

AppStore Link: Download Nimble Quest for iOS

Google Play Link: Download Nimble Quest for Android

Top 3 Apps for Tracking AppStore

Everybody loves sale. May be yes, may be no ;) but I love sale... App sale, yeah.. Especially , when it was an app which on your wishlist who's going on sale or may be goes free.. However, when our lovely wishlist apps will go free or on sale?
Right now, I will post the most 3 apps which I think really useful and helpful to track sale on App Store .

AppZapp

The most main app to track sale on AppStore. It has many features, such as price alert, update alert, news alert, until seller alert. Never miss any bargain apps by using this app. FYI , I've tried this app and I've safe my money about more than $300 (counted from downloading apps when gone free). A surprisingly saving right? :p
This app is really great. I don't think you will need to jailbreak your device anymore if you have this app. However, there's one thing that all of you must know if you use this app: "Patient" , yeah, patient is the main key, if you want to save your money like I did, you need to be patient. You must waiting about may be 1 week, 1 month, or can be a year for an app goes free.. ;)
Can't be patient...? Just buy it when your wishlist app goes to sale. AppZapp gives price alert feature to set on which currency you want to be alert. As example: an app is cost $3.99, use the price alert button, then set to currency that you want, as example you want to get notification while the app drops price till $0.99. So, when the app drops till $0.99, a push notification will pop up for letting you know about it. Also, you might get an email notification about it.


Plus thing from AppZapp:
- Banned Seller feature
If you don't want to be bothered by annoying apps from a 'annoying' seller, just use this feature
- Seller Alert
I love this feature, currently I'm subscribed to big developers, so I'll never miss any apps from them anymore. You can choose which kind of alert do you want. There're price alert (never miss any bargain from this seller), news alert ( never miss new apps anymore.. Yes!) , or update alert ( alert for an updating app, for this one I prefer to subscribe manually from the app rather than the seller ;) )
- Community
This feature can be good too. Too lazy to read review on AppStore ? Or afraid of fake review on AppStore ? Share your thought and opinion about the app here on comment site. AppZapp Community can be so helpful sometimes, some people share about review, opinion about the app on here. This will help you decide to buy the app or not. Don't understand the language they used? Don't worry, a translate button will help you to translate into your own language :)
- Global Filter
Sort the sale apps which you want by using this feature . For example: I only want iPad app, using English language, and show all apps (not only popular), and selected categories.
You can choose which suitable for your main necessity.
- Price drop alert
The main feature of this app, I think :)
Set your desire price on your wishlist app. Just be patient for waiting if you want get the app with that desired price ;D
- New App, etc

Download AppZapp HD Pro for iPad

Download AppZapp Pro for iPhone/ iTouch

AppShopper

Beside AppZapp, I also use AppShopper, it's mostly has the same features as AppZapp, but it doesn't have community feature. Anyway, for using the features properly, you need to register using your email address or Facebook account. Sometimes AppShopper has more bargain apps than AppZapp. Also it related directly to iOS review sites like TouchArcade or 148apps. You can see the review site's score directly. Though AppZapp also has this feature too, but for me, AppShopper did the UI for rating star better than AppZapp did.

Download AppShopper

AppTicker

Similar with others, but it has color themes to choose. Unfortunately, this app only support some major AppStore only. (Indonesia hasn't supported yet)

Overall, the most recommended is AppZapp, but I also use others as companion apps.
The best thing, some of them (Pro Version) are still free. :)
So grab your free copy now and never miss sale anymore... :D

Download AppTicker for iPhone/iTouch
Download AppTicker HD

Vegetarian... Why Not?

I just wanna share my impression about being a vegetarian. I don't understand why some people keep saying something non-sense consequence about being a vegetarian. My friend said, she can't being a vegetarian caused her family are afraid about her growth. Hmm, I don't think so. Come on.... Let's clear this opinion.

via kidshealth.org

What is Vegetarian?

Vegetarian, is kind of diet method   No, I won't say that it's a diet method, I prefer say being a vegetarian is a life style. A life style that you don't eat any food which contain meat, seafood or anythig that related to animal products. To be honest , there are many kinds of vegetarianism, such as Ovo vegetarianism (eat such as egg product but not dairy product, Lacto vegetarianism (eat such as dairy product but not egg product), Vegan (doesn't eat any egg, dairy, honey and anything which comes from animal), Buddhist Vegetarianism (For this one, I'll tell from Maitreya Buddhism's point of view. In here, there's 3 steps of vegetarian. First is learning, in the learning part. You still allowed to eat allium family (garlic, onion, shallots, chives, scallions, etc), egg products (biscuits, cakes) and dairy products (milk). The second part, you'll learn to avoid any of allium family products, less eggs and less dairy product. The last part is try to become a vegan).

via fanpop.com

Why vegetarian?

I've been a vegetarian since I was 11 y.o. FYI, before i learned to being a vegetarian. I dislike any kind of vegetables. Seriously... I hate any kind vegetables especially green vegetables. Its tasted weird on my tongue.. :p

Till one day, my mom gave me green eggplant to be eat. I tried it, then I realised that's delicious.. :). Since then I tried to eat more vegetables, I tried to eat no meat twice a week for the first 6 months, 3 times a week for next 6 months, and keep on till finally I don't eat any meat or animal (fish, seafood, etc) anymore or I can say that finally, I can be a vegetarian. Yeah , may be I'm still in the first part on learning part, I still eat onion, eggs, and milk product. If you ask the reason why I can being a vegetarian... Let me tell you then..

Simply, the main reason is a love. Everybody, No every creature has a main right is called Life, which it's a gift from God. You have family right? Animal also has family. How do you feel if you lost one of your family members? Sad, pain right? Animal also has the same feel as us. It can feels sad, pain, angry, afraid. However, what can they do? When they see us (human) took one of their family, they're become angry, they will do strange movements also some of them scream on their own languages also cry, but we don't know it. We think they're angry to us (Yeah, that's true if they're angry to us) and that's make we're quickly to took their life asap before something unwillingness happened.
Don't you feel guilty by doing that? they were killed then you eat them. You might feel guilty when you stole something, sad when you lost something precious, right? However, what have you done now? After you killed them, you ate them, means you've stolen their precious life for satisfying your tongue only.

How do you feel, don't you feel poor to the animal? Have you seen killing process in slaughther house (butcher)? They're afraid, they cry... But nobody care.. They have a big pain in their heart, but nobody know. We only know to get money from selling them. We only know how delicious them of being a food. We only think that they're life for us.

Please, don't be like that. They also have a life. They want to have a free life, not live in a narrow stalls like this. You can see, there's no happy feel in their faces . All only pain, fear and sadness.. :'( They only hope, please don't take my life... :(

via liveexportshame.com

Non-sense fact about being a Vegetarian

I wanna make clear some people's opinion about weird consequence for being a vegetarian.

- A vegetarian person can't have male child?

No, child, no matter female or male. It's all come from God. It's a gift and only God know about it

- A vegetarian person can't grows properly. Kinda short.

No, I'm vegetarian, and I grow properly. My height is 162 cm. That's average for asian female person. So, dunno from where this kind of opinion comes. Height is influenced by biologic (generation) factor.

- A vegetarian child can't be clever

A research told that  Eskimo people (who eat meat, etc) has shorter life than Hun Za people (who are mostly vegetarian). Albert Einstein also a vegetarian, and he isn't a stupid person. Phytagoras also a vegetarian. He was smart right? Btw, we can't count the sideway of triangle without his theorem.. :p

- Is that safe (healthy) enough for being a vegetarian?

Of course, I almost never come to a hospital for a serious disease. People who did vegetarian's life style properly has fewer risk for getting any disease than them who doesn't.

- Vegetables also creature, why we can eat that but not with animal?

hmm, kinda stupid question. Okay, you can plant vegetables right? That's mean you make a life for plants, you create it, not give the life. Plants can't move likes animals do, also actually, plant is made as food sources (Herbivore). However, Can you make a life for animal? Animals got their life from God like us. They can feel pain, sad, happy, afraid. The same feeling as us can feel too.

- How about carnivore animal, they're allowed to eat meat, why we can't?

Seriously, do you want to be like animal?? -__-

Conclusion: I'm not saying all of you must become vegetarian directly. At least try to safe animal life with being a vegetarian. Try to eat less meat twice a week first, then try to increase the times to be a vegetarian. Being a vegetarian won't bring negative effects for your life. I've proved it and I really enjoy my life for being a vegetarian. That's an easiest way to safe animal's life. Being a lovely person guys, bring happines to all the creature in the world. Because we are family. Being a vegetarian also safe the world from Global Warming

Why being Vegetarian has relation with Global Warming?

to be continued...... or visit IVU for more information

Related article:

Apakah vegetarian membuat lemas dan bodoh? (Indonesian Language)

IVS Online (Indonesian Language)

Animal isn't made for human

Why We Should Post an App Review on AppStore/ GooglePlay Using Our Native Language

Hello everyone, suddenly want to post something ;)

After, I read an article on makemac.com about why we must post review with our native language. I got an inspiration to re-post it here. However, I won't just copy-paste it right here. That's just not my style. So, for my post today. I'll post in Indonesian Language. For you who curious about to read the article, just click the change language button. Hope Google translate can do the translation well for this time :) If it doesn't work properly, don't hestitate to drop your question :)

Anyway, I have a bit information why I love to post using English language. Firstly, that's caused by English is an International language, though my grammar isn't perfect, but I still keep learning. So, for you who read my posts. If you find something wrong with my grammar. Don't hestitate to correct my mistakes. I really appreciate that.

Secondly, sometimes Google Translate gone drunk... lol I mean Google Translate doesn't translate the Indonesian based text 100% correctly, and that's make the word has mistranslation with different meaning in other languages. Those my reasons, why I like to write using English language.

FYI,currently, I'm living on Indonesia. So this article is based to Indonesian AppStore. I used android phone too, however I only use it for sending sms or calling only. ;) for this time, the main target here is AppStore only.

Oke, menurut artikel yang saya baca dari makemac.com sudah seharusnya kita meninggalkan review di AppStore setelah kamu mendownload/ membeli suatu app/lagu. Kenapa?

Sama seperti yang dikatakan di makemac, ada beberapa alasan:

- Yang pertama ini alasannya mungkin sedikit konyol, untuk mendapatkan jempol pada reviewmu. Jika kamu meninggalkan review pada AppStore, akan ada pertanyaan di bawah review yang berbunyi "Is this review helpful?" Sebuah jempol dari orang lain akan membuatmu senang atas penghargaan yang orang itu berikan untukmu, apalagi jika yang memberi jempol lebih dari 5 orang, bangga pasti rasanya... Hehehe..

- Kedua, menyelamatkan orang lain dari app penipu. Setahu saya Apple memang bisa merefund uang kita kembali jika app yang kita beli tidak sesuai dengan apa yang dideskripsikan atau bersifat menipu. Andai kata hal itu terjadi pada kita, jangan biarkan orang lain mengalami hal yang sama... Jangan bilang "Biar tahu rasa juga mereka, mengalami hal yang serupa kaya gue... wkwkwk"" Ga boleh ya :P segera tinggalkan review pada app tersebut, dan untuk kasus ini jangan tinggalkan nilai rate bintangnya saja tanpa meninggalkan sepatah kata pun pada kolom review. Hanya mengklik 1 bintang, selesai.... NO NO BIG BIG NO! Perlu diketahui rating bintang hanya akan ditampilkan jika app tersebut mendapatkan setidaknya 5 rating dari para reviewer. Kalau begitu secara tidak langsung, akan ada 4 orang lagi yang tertipu untuk bisa membuktikan bahwa app tersebut palsu. Namun jika kamu meninggalkan review bintang yang disertai kata-kata, reviewmu akan segera tampil dalam waktu kurang lebih 24 jam. Walaupun hanya ada 1... Keren kan sendirian nongkrong di bagian review... Kalo bahasa kerennya pertamax gan :P

- Membantu pengembang aplikasi, nah developer itu manusia biasa lo, manusia mana yang ga senang kalau dipuji. Tinggalkan review yang baik, jika memang gamenya kurang bagus jangan langsung dicela. Ingat tidak ada hal yang sempurna di dunia ini. Tinggalkan review dengan kata-kata yang sopan, berikan kritik dan saran yang membangun agar ke depannya game tersebut bisa diperbaiki. Jika rating app tersebut tinggi, maka penjualannya bertambah. Developer pun semakin semangat membuat games/ aplikasi baru. Kalau developer banyak dicela lalu ngambek, AppStore bakal sepi lho... :P ntar mau main apa??!!?

Nah kalo yang ini tips-tips meninggalkan review yang baik:

- Selama ini saya memang sering meninggalkan review saya di AppStore dengan bahasa Inggris, karena dulu saya pikir developer bisa membaca review dari saya #lol #konyol. Nyatanya memang bisa jika developer tersebut menswitch (merubah) region AppStorenya ke region kita Indonesia. Tentunya agak mustahil, mengingat biasanya developer-developer menggunakan US AppStore (ini juga yang mengganggu saat ada pembagian giveaway US iTunes Gift Card >o< ga punya US account ToT) kecuali untuk developer lokal.

Kesimpulannya, yang akan membaca ya sesama komunitas pengguna AppStore Indonesia juga. Jadi kalau bisa pakai saja bahasa Indonesia, amat membantu untuk orang tua yang ga ngerti bahasa Inggris kalau kalau mereka juga ingin beli di AppStore, mungkin saja mereka bingung saat membaca deskripsinya namun setelah membaca review mu mereka menjadi sangat terbantu. Lebih berjasa dari pada spiderman... *Lho?

- Kedua, tanpa menyinggung perasaan para pembaca, tolong jangan tinggalkan review hanya sepatah dua patah kata saja seperti mantab, nice, oke nih! Itu bukan review :P itu sama sekali tidak membantu menjelaskan seperti apa game/ apps yang kamu pakai. Memang menulis review tidak harus panjang, yang penting singkat padat dan menjelaskan. Jangan lupa ucapkan terima kasih pada developer yang sudah bekerja keras membuat app tersebut

Contoh review yang baik:

- Apps ini bagus, kamu akan bermain sebagai pangeran yang menyelamatkan putri yang diculik. Rintangan-rintangannya amat seru dan menantang. Grafisnya juga menarik walaupun bergaya retro. Soundnya juga enak didengar. Overall, good job developer. Waiting for the next update.

- Apps ini membantu saya menyusun daily journal, pekerjaan saya tidak lagi terbengkalai karena adanya apps ini. Fitur reminder dan alarm membuat saya selalu tepat waktu. Apalagi apps ini juga sudah terhubung ke dropbox dan google docs. Dengan harga yang cukup murah saya bisa mendapatkan aplikasi yang amat bermanfaat. Good job, developer. Thanks

UI (User Interface): 4/5

Feature: 4.5/5

Value: 4/5

Contoh review yang kurang baik:

Bagus!

(Ah... bagus di mananya?? tolong jelaskan donk... nulis review di AppStore ga perlu panjang-panjang kok... 3-4 kalimat saja sudah cukup asal menjelaskan, ga akan sampai 5 menit juga selesai)

Bah... Jelek amat nih app! 

(Tolong dijaga kata-katanya, belum tentu anda bisa membuat seperti itu. Jika anda yang menjadi developernya dan mendapat pencelaan yang kasar, apa yang anda rasakan?)

5 Bintang asal no IAP

(Developer juga manusia dan butuh makan.... Mendevelop suatu app sampai bisa masuk ke jajaran pasar AppStore bukan perkara mudah yang hanya sehari dua hari selesai. Jangan tulis di review kaya gitu donk.. kesannya ga ikhlas.. :p Developer membuat app free to play dengan alasan agar semua orang bisa ikut main, ketika terdapat IAP belilah sesekali. Jika belum terlalu mampu belilah IAP termurah untuk support developer hanya 9500 sama seperti semangkok mie ayam, apalagi jika itu developer lokal support ya. Kalau ga punya kartu kredit ya berdoa saja, kasih semangat ke developernya... XD .Dan jika ada iklan klik lah sesekali. 

Namun, jika iklannya pop ups terus menerus memang kesal sih (1 menit pop ups sampai 10x, dan pop ups di tengah2 game berlangsung dan game yang lagi kamu mainkan adalah endless runner atau tap tap rhythm... *Arrghhh... Oke, untuk kasus ini pengecualian, biasanya pada update selanjutnya developer akan mengurangi durasi ads, karena ads terlalu banyak juga mengurangi jumlah download)

Kalian tentunya ingin mobile gaming di Indonesia berkembang kan? Kalau iya lakukanlah, support dan pujian yang membangun akan menjadikan developer lebih semangat untuk berkarya )

Ih, appnya ripped off nih, bagusan juga game x daripada game ini udah gitu crash terus-terusan. Payah!

(Aduh-aduh ini lebih-lebih lagi No no no, jangan membandingkan 2 app yang ada, sekalipun terlihat mirip namun pasti ada perbedaan, pujilah yang menjadi kelebihan dari apps tersebut. Jika apps tersebut mengalami crash, tidak apa-apa ditulis dalam review, tulis juga di mana letak crashnya, (crash pada saat.... ) sehingga user lain bisa mengetahui hal itu dan ikut melaporkan dengan menggunakan App Support. Kemudian, gunakan tombol App Support yang akan menghubungkan situs resmi developer app tersebut. Gunakan fasilitas contact us pada web tersebut untuk memberitahukan keluhanmu. Developer akan sangat senang dan menghargai hal itu, mereka juga merasa terbantu sekali. Itu menunjukkan bahwa apresiasi pengguna pada app mereka cukup bagus. Selain itu biasanya laporan yang ditujukan langsung pada developer akan lebih cepat ditanggapi dan versi update (fixing the bug) muncul lebih cepat. Saya sendiri sudah mencobanya, dan hanya satu hari update perbaikan crash sudah keluar.. :)

Wah ribet amat sih, cuma tulis review aja banyak aturannya. Ngga lah, semua ini demi kebaikan kita bersama. O, ya jangan karena kelihatan ribet karena acara nulis review segala kalian jadi jailbreak iDevices kalian lho... *Kan gampang ga perlu nulis review2 segala kalo jailbreak* | *-_- ga harus segitunya lah

Ingat hargailah karya orang lain, mungkin kamu belum merasakan, tapi suatu saat kalian akan tahu pahit rasanya mengetahui karya kalian dibajak oleh orang lain.. :) 

Dan terima kasih karena sudah mau membaca postingan saya kali ini. . . Happy reviewing!

O, ya kalau kalian bingung mencari referensi games yang bagus di AppStore silakan kunjungi GameSaku

Tidak hanya iOS games saja, ada juga review untuk Android games.. Try to visit ya!

Stay tune juga buat artikel-artikel blog ini selanjutnya.... :D

Note: I'm not a developer, but I really appreciate and honor other people's works. First time I bought my iPad, the seller also jailbroken it too. I was too newbie and I didn't know how to use AppStore. The seller told me to download the apps from installous, and I agreed that. Few months later, I learned anything that related into iPad, Apple, AppStore and Jailbroken devices properly, and then I knew that's not good to jaibroken a device also illegal too. So, I decided to upgrade my iOS into iOS 5.1 at that time, n began to buy the apps from AppStore and never think to jailbreak my device again. For you who has jailbroken your devices, it's your decision and up to you to jailbreak your devices or not, but at least keep buying the apps from AppStore for supporting the developer, use the installous for trying an app only.

Top 5 Photo Editor for your Phone

Hey... Hey... This time I will post top 5 Photo Editor for your phone, especially for iOS devices.. I have so many photography apps in my iPad, almost 40 photograph's apps. However, i must decide which one will become the top 5 app. Alright, FYI, these apps below based by my personal experiments, and here we go..

In the 5th place we have

5. FotoRus

A free photo app for your iPhone also available for android too. It has quite nice photo effects, such as basic editing like crop, changing brightness, contrast, and some basic filtering also standard borders. Not just like that, it also has Pic in Pic, I like this feature, it makes a picture inside a picture, unfortunately the template is still few for me.
FotoRus also has collage feature, but the photos is limited for 7 photos only. However, it has filter, border and lighting editor for make your collage pic more beautiful.
Overall, FotoRus is a one app with rich feature, not too rich, but enough to make a pretty simple photograph of yours.
Oh, almost forget, it's also can be used to make GIF animation.. :)
FYI, this app is compatible with iPad but not universal so the screen come smaller on your big iPad screen, but don't worry, that doesn't decrease the quality of your photos.
See some screen shots below about FotoRus

Download FotoRus for iOS

Download FotoRus for Android

4. Camera 360

This one is come as a free beautiful photo app... So many filter effects which u can try.. There are 14 main filter category such as Magic Skin, LOMO, Retro, HDR, Enhance, BnW, Ghost, Magic Color, etc. the basic photo editor also available. The best thing from all the filters is Magic Skin filter. It removes all pimples or red spot on your face, make your skin looks smooth without blurring.. So pretty...
You can use this app as simple as you want, one more it has cloud service too, you can back up your photos to cloud360 and it's totally free. Camera 360 also has collage feature, which can used photos up to 9 photos, better than Foto Rus. Camera 360 also has some borders but in a scenes, such as your portrait on the wall, canvas, glasses, etc. Unfortunately, you must have Internet connection to use this feature, also the pic only can be taken from your direct photograph,can't be from your gallery..

Like Foto Rus, this app is available on android and iOS, but not universal for iPad. Don't worry, though the screen come smaller on iPad screen but the photo's quality is still high. So, this app is must have on your iPad too.

Download Camera360 for Android

Download Camera360 for iOS

For the third one I have 3 candidates, all of them are the best from each single category..

3A. Photo Slice

If you like to make a collage for one photo only. I bet you will love Photo Splice. This app did great with one photo splicing... The basic themes are unique also you can make your own template too. Photo filter available to make your photo more interesting.
See some photos below using photo splice editor

Download Photo Slice HD for iPad

Download Photo Slice Free for iPhone

Download Photo Slice Pro for iPhone

3B. Diptic

If Photo Slice can be used only for one photo only, you can use Diptic for make an interesting collage photo. Diptic is used with at least 2 photos up to 9 photos. Different from the collage feature inside both apps which I mention before, Diptic has more shapes, from classic, jumbo , fancy, until fresh. The shape such as heart until PacMan is available in this app. Make your collage photo different from others.
Diptic is the best choice for the one who love to blogging too.. :D

Ps: I have add some filter into the photos using Instagram filters. However, Diptic also provides some nice filter and basic editor.

Download Diptic for iOS

Download Diptic for Android

3C. Perfect 365

For this one, is suitable for who doesn't have enough time to put some make up on her faces. You can become prettier less than 5 minutes. Start from putting the eyeliner, mascara, lipstick till decrease your face size (make your face smaller), you can do those all in one app.
You just need to set some points of your face, such as eye corners and lip corners.
You can edit by selecting the default templates or create your own one.
See the comparison before - after photo below...

Download Perfect365 for iPad

Download Perfect365 for iPhone

2. Pixlr Express

Actually, this app kinda similar with other photo editor app. However, the best thing from this app, it's rich of features, quite complete. It has many features, filter is contains by default, creative, vintage, color, etc. Overlay mode comes with many packages, like firework, bokeh, lightning, vignette, etc. the last one is border, it has so many kinds to be chosen.
Overall, I'll give this score 4.5/5 , basic features (crop, redeye, brightness, etc) are good as other.

Download Pixlr Express for iOS

Download Pixlr Express Plus for iOS

Download Pixlr Express for Android

1. Blux Camera

The last one, I decide to choose Blux as the winner.... Congratz.. :)
I like how focus worked in this app, also the HDR did well using this app. i don't need to write about this app again, all the basic editor features are provided by this app. So, let my photos below explain how the Blux Camera impress me.. ;D
Ps: Sorry, for the low resolution , all taken using iPad 2 camera.. :)

Download Blux Camera for iPad

Daemon Amor: Nice game for your valentine day...

Hello, everyone... i've been busy with my exams last in several days, but finally, its over... Yeah! Anyway, Happy Valentine all!

If you're looking for a game to accompany you on Valentine days, may be this game is quite nice for you. Alright, may be V'day is yesterday, n I just post this game today, but nevermind. I'm addicted to this game actually.. :P

Daemon Amor

An endless flying game with love theme... The story tell if one day, there's a daemon who comes from hell, and involuntary, it met with a Cupid, who's angry and decide to retired for being a Cupid.. Hmm? The Cupid throws the heart and its wings. Luckily, the daemon saw it and use the wings, also eat the heart too.
Unfortunately, daemon is still daemon, it's looks like its stomach reject the love, so the daemon needs to spread the love by spew it on sad people...

Wait? Spew? That's looks rude and impolite..
Hahaha... Come on, it just a game.. By spewing on sad people, It make them become a happy person and dancing gangnam style... LOL
The game control is so simple, the left button used to fly, and right button to spew.. Make a consecutive direct hits to gain multiplier. Be careful not hit with another Cupids, tree, powerlines, or lamp posts.

Which I love from this game is the back song... Man, it's really really a sad song at the first time playing, but after you did your first spew, the music changes into a happy song, which really really cheerful to be hear.
The graphic is a 2D graphic, not too colorful, dominant with black and white. Additional color only for happy person, the environment is simple too. However, it's all comfortable to be seen.
So, neither you're single, or in a relationship. I recommend you all to try this game... It's still free till now, and it has leaderboard also achievements on Game Center.

Graphic: 4/5 (Simple but adoring)
Sound: 5/5 (Really nice to be listen repeatedly)
Gameplay: 3/5 (Simple, I wish for some power ups)
Replay value: 4/5 (You will try to give love more and more ;D)
Overall: 4/5 (Quite fun to accompany your valentine, this will be better with some power ups or ability to customize the character)

Download Daemon Amor

Top 5 Endless Runner Games for your Phone

Hola, hmmm... Long time no posting... I've been busy with my college, and btw, Happy new year *Oh, man that's too late u know... :P it's okay, since this will be my first post in this year... LOL

A bit story, before I continuing my writing. I spent my holiday go to Trans Studio Bandung, it's kind of indoor amusement park, that's located in Trans Studio Mall. The entrance ticket cost IDR 250.000 or about $25, but dude, I went there on December 31, 2012 and you know what? It's so crowded, the queue was so loooong... Finally, I decided to upgrade the ticket into VIP class cost IDR 250.000, so total for the ticket I spent about $50.
I've tried all the games right there such as Vertigo ( it's kind of game which you will be twirled in to 360 degree in high speed to), Giant Swing (game which you will be swing into 180 degree, the wind blowed so high during this game), Freefall Ride, etc. I only didn't come to Dunia Lain (Ghost House), I just don't like kind of that game.

Alright, alright forget about that, actually, I will post some recommended games for you.. N today's topic is Endless Runner Game, so who got the first place?
Here we go...

5. One Epic Knight

Endless runner game with medieval theme...
For this one, I give score 3.75/5

Download One Epic Knight for iOS

4. Subway Surfers

Endless runner with railway station theme, escape from the grumpy Inspector and his dog. Score : 4/5

Download Subway Surfer for iOS

Download Subway Surfers for Android

3. Punch Quest

Punch Punch and Run. See my review here Download link also available
Score: 4.375/5

2. Dumb Runner

This one isn't popular as the other one, but why this game can be my second choice. Later, I'll write the review. Three words to describe this game "Simple but Tricky"
For this one, I give 4.5/5

Download Dumb Runner for iOS

1. Temple Run 2

UPDATE: Temple Run 2 DL for Android

Last one, my first choice is Temple Run 2, besides this one is an editor's choice in AppStore, for me, this one is the best sequel of Temple Run too. Better graphics, more environments, many power ups, make me definitely choice this one for the first place.
The score is 4.75/5 , I want to give this 5/5 actually, but unfortunately, my hand just typing it like that.. LOL

Download Temple Run 2 for iOS

Download Temple Run 2 for Android