[GAME][2.2+] Mathician

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d-fader

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2008
117
210
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Broek op Langedijk
CURRENT VERSION 1.0.4 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 - SEE BELOW FOR CHANGELOG AND DIRECT APK LINK

I would like to share with you guys a game I created called Mathician. Mathician is a fast paced basic math skill game. In short rounds players can show their friends and the rest of the world who is the best in math and in the process become a real Mathician by sharpening their basic math skills. When all challenging levels are completed, cool achievements can be earned on the path to become a king of math! Levels can be played over and over again to get the highest score on the world wide highscore list!


QR-Code
Use this QR-code to install the app!

mathician-qr.jpg


Screenshots:
screenshot_1.jpg
screenshot_2.jpg
screenshot_3.jpg
screenshot_4.jpg
screenshot_5.jpg
screenshot_6.jpg
screenshot_7.jpg
screenshot_8.jpg



More detailed description
Mathician is a game in which players can sharpen their basic math skills by playing short fast paced rounds of 10 equations. Time is of the essence, so faster answers mean more points and players will eventually storm the highscore leaderboards. The game features 30 singleplayer levels in which the difficulty increases from easy to very hard (practice, practice, practice). Each level has a highscore leaderboard and players can see the top players and their own results in comparison with other players. With this, the game keeps challenging players to get a better position on the ranking list.
Besides the singleplayer levels, the game features an on-line experience where players can challenge each other for a 1 v.s. 1 match (against friends or random players). To increase the challenge, Mathician features over 30 achievements (via Google Play). Some achievements are easy to unlock, others are really hard or take some time to unlock, so players really have to use their math skills to get the best gaming experience...

Why is Mathician fun to play?
The game features very short games, some with a minimum of 10 seconds. Even when you are on a tight schedule you can fit some Mathician in. It's easy to increase the highscores since the gameplay is short and fast. When players do have more time on their hands they can play endurances in which up to 100 equations can be made. On the Mathician website ( http://www.mathician.com ) players can view their achievements, scores, statistics and leaderboards and compare them to other players!

Not only your own brain gets sharpened with Mathician, it can be used to teach your children the basics of math in a way they will enjoy. If you are a teacher you can make math a fun experience with this easy to use app.

Features
* Fast paced math action with short rounds
* 30 challenging levels to sharpen your skills
* Game keeps challenging due to achievements and leaderboards
* A unique online experience with 1 vs 1 battles
* The game is accompanied by a website on which players can view scores, statistics and even compare players

Why it was made
A while ago I started to create an idea for a game based upon an old Dutch TV-show. The game mechanics would be something like wordfeud, except that the rounds would have some kind of question/answer structure. We started brainstorming and putting things on paper until we got to the issue that generating questions and answers would take a long time, especially considering multiple languages and questions that would only suit certain countries. We were working on something like a moderated crowd sourced model, but it didn't go really smooth (to say the least). So one day I was taking my daughter to daycare and then the idea of math popped into my mind. Not everyone loves math, but I always loved playing Dr. Kawashima's Brain training on the Nintendo DS, so we decided to give it a go. So initially Mathician would only have a 1 vs 1 matching system, but after that all worked flawlessly, the idea came to add a singleplayer mode and highscores, achievements and statistics to keep the game challenging. Mathician is the result and we're very very proud of the result.

The name?
The game challenges you to become a Magician in math, so Math + Magician = Mathician. It's not related to Mathematician in any way, the game also doesn't try to let you become that :)

Who am I?
My name is Jori and I live in the Netherlands in a small town called Purmerend (close to Amsterdam). I am a software engineer for a company that creates CRM software and in my free time Iove to play handball, expand my coding skills and spend time with my family. This is my second serious Android project, the first was Fresco (which you can find here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2081737 ).

Closing words
Mathician is not completely made by only me, I had help of my good friend Frederik Boelens who engineered the website and supported development actively. Two other were also important in the development cycle by giving great advice and helping in the early testing: Bart van den Dries and Joey Floresse. And last but not least, a big thank you to all testers which actively tested for two months!
I hope you like (the idea) of this app and hopefully you guys can give me some feedback :) At least let me thank you for reading.


Change log

1.0.5 (september 26, 2013)
* Fixed a bug where the game would crash in the menu when you have your Facebook account linked, due to the change of profile picture size.

1.0.4 (september 24, 2013)
* If you type fast and make a mistake (answer is 9 and you type 10) then the app will not mark the next equation as a mistake (it will omit the 0)
+ Added Spanish localization (thank you Luis Alonso Calderón for your tremendous effort!)
+ Added Dutch localization
* Added an option to choose your favorite division character (you can choose : or /)
* Fixed a bug where the game could crash if your score was higher than 9999
* Changed the order of popups when you register, also removed one, to achieve a less intrusive experience
* Fixed buggy Facebook registration issues
* Fixed some Facebook sharing issues
+ The app will now ask once in a while to share something on Facebook and in return will hide the full-screen ad for 5 minutes
- Removed the write system settings permission (WRITE_SETTINGS)
- Removed the write external storage permission (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
* Removed the next button in the last level (caused a crash)
* Fixed various bugs that generated spontaneous crashes, thanks for all the reports!

1.0.2 (september 17, 2013)
* Fixed a possible crash on devices with a very high resolution (HD or more)

1.0.1 (september 17, 2013)
* All character names can now contain all special characters (e.g. š, ç and ž). To remove ? characters in your name, go to settings and retype your display name!
+ If you have open multiplayer games where it is your turn, you will see that in the main screen
+ Added Swedish localization (thank you Daniel Malmgren for your tremendous effort!)
+ Your singleplayer progress will now be saved across devices and between reinstallations
* Changed the ingame font to a different one, which is much more readable
* Fixed a bug where the game would go haywire if you clicked the play button twice in multiplayer mode
* Fixed a bug where the keyboard layout (Phone) was wrong in multiplayer mode
* Made the background of the games darker, so the contrast between the equations and the background is bigger
+ Added the possibility to choose with which e-mail address you want to play when you register with your e-mail address
* Removed all changes to system settings (they are copied to app settings). In the next version we will remove the permission (it is still needed to copy the settings to app settings)
* Fixed a bug where the game would crash if started in landscape mode

1.0 (september 12, 2013)
- Initial release

Feedback / problems
You can visit the website at http://www.mathician.com for support. Feedback can be given in the Play Store, in this thread or via twitter: @Realmathician

Facebook community
You can visit (and like ;)) the facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/realmathician . Thanks! We'll post updates, reports and probably some highscores now and then on the page now and then!


Link
Play store: Mathician

APK
Direct link to APK (1.0.5): http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_5.apk


Older versions
Version 1.0.4: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_4.apk
Version 1.0.3: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_3.apk
Version 1.0.2: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_2.apk
Version 1.0.1: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_1.apk
Version 1.0: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0.apk
 
Last edited:

sordna

Senior Member
Dec 12, 2012
1,262
647
CURRENT VERSION 1.0 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 - SEE BELOW FOR CHANGELOG AND DIRECT APK LINK

I would like to share with you guys a game I created called Mathician.


Can you create a version with less permissions for us here at XDA ? I don't want it to run at startup, read my contacts, find my accouns, and modify my system settings. Thank you :)
 
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djshotty

Senior Member
Oct 7, 2008
1,079
531
East Maitland, NSW, Australia
Mathician is a fast paced basic math skill game
And perfect for kids. So many of today's youngsters are getting smartphones of their own, and a game/app of this kind is a welcome diversion from skateboarding on train tracks, flinging birds at pigs, bursting bubbles or smashing lollies of the same colour. Thank you for your hard work in creating this, but I regret to say that a few minor changes would help.
In your next update, could you change the fonts in the game to those that are much more easily read? I also agree with sordna's post above. This game shouldn't need to run at Startup, or constantly trawl the internet looking for people to play against, or make changes to a device's system settings. It is really appreciated that you've included the option to remove Notifications, to opt-out of sending crash reports and opt-out of sending anonymous statistics. These choices make it much better for parents (like me) who want their child's privacy to remain private, and helps us control what they do online...
 
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d-fader

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2008
117
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Broek op Langedijk
Can you create a version with less permissions for us here at XDA ? I don't want it to run at startup, read my contacts, find my accouns, and modify my system settings. Thank you :)
Hi sordna, I will take this in consideration. The need for the specific permissions is stated in the FAQ on the website. See 'http://mathician.com/faq (the entry 'Where are all permissions needed for?'. Modifying system settings helps to store a special encryption key that helps to protect against tampering with the statistics and achievements (since they are stored online). I will try to develop a different approach. Startup is needed for the notifications, reading contacts is only for generating a hash (i.e. irreversible) list of e-mail addresses to check which of your contacts are already playing. When Mathician wants to do this, it asks you everytime (and you can decline). Finding accounts is only done at startup when you choose to play via e-mail account.

I understand the reluctance and as said, I will try to see what is possible to remove these permissions, although it could result in a less comfortable experience. Last thing I want to add is that I really respect your privacy and I have no bad intentions :)

And perfect for kids. So many of today's youngsters are getting smartphones of their own, and a game/app of this kind is a welcome diversion from skateboarding on train tracks, flinging birds at pigs, bursting bubbles or smashing lollies of the same colour. Thank you for your hard work in creating this, but I regret to say that a few minor changes would help.
Thank you!

In your next update, could you change the fonts in the game to those that are much more easily read? I also agree with sordna's post above. This game shouldn't need to run at Startup, or constantly trawl the internet looking for people to play against, or make changes to a device's system settings. It is really appreciated that you've included the option to remove Notifications, to opt-out of sending crash reports and opt-out of sending anonymous statistics. These choices make it much better for parents (like me) who want their child's privacy to remain private, and helps us control what they do online...
About the readability: I've tried to address that already :) I hope you like it better like this:
newfont8.png


I hope my explanation of the permissions helps a bit combined with the intention of trying remove (some of) them helps.

A reset button would be nice :)
Yes, the next version will have a reset option (meaning your online scores will be removed).

Thanks for playing people!
 
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d-fader

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You can restart any level by just clicking the play button. The only thing that is remembered is your highest score on that level (and the replay of that game). From what I understand, resetting that would have no benefit whatsoever. On am I understanding you incorrectly?
 

DanielMalmgren

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2010
280
64
Kisa
Nice game! My kids would need exactly something like this to train up their math speed. Problem is that it's english, my kids doesn't speak english enough to handle that. Any plans for localization? I could help out with a language or two if you want ;)

Also, what's up with the colons for division? Is it only here in Sweden we use slash for division?

/Daniel
 
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d-fader

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Sep 14, 2008
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Nice game! My kids would need exactly something like this to train up their math speed.
Glad the game could come in handy :) Thanks for your interest!

Any plans for localization? I could help out with a language or two if you want ;)
Yes! As a matter of fact I'm working on the setup for the localization. It will be finished today (with a bit of luck) and I will inform you about it when it is, since my Swedish is as good as my Chinese (meaning 0) ;). Thanks for wanting to help out!

Also, what's up with the colons for division? Is it only here in Sweden we use slash for division?
We've tried the /, but the testers found that it looked too much like +. I will add a preference for that in the next version (in addition to some localizations probably :))
 
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d-fader

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Sep 14, 2008
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I've added a translation module to Mathician.com. Please visit http://www.mathician.com/translation (edit: changed translate to translation, thx Daniel) to begin translating. It's all open, so translation should be no problem. When you click save a copy of the translation will be kept in a safe place, so if someone destroys the translation, it's always possible to go back to the non-corrupted one.

It's not ideal, but I hope it'll work! Just leave me a message when you finished a translation and I'll check and add it to the game!

So please help me translate this game in as much languages as possible! Of course you're efforts will not go unnoticed (I will mention you on the updates, website and in the credits scroller) :)

Thanks people and hopefully it'll work!
 
Last edited:

Alonso1398

Senior Member
Jun 23, 2013
241
265
I would like to play this game on my tablet but it closes itself when the End User License Agreement appears. :(

Also my native languaje is spanish, if I'm able to play this game maybe I can help a little with translation
 

d-fader

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2008
117
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Broek op Langedijk
I would like to play this game on my tablet but it closes itself when the End User License Agreement appears. :(

Also my native languaje is spanish, if I'm able to play this game maybe I can help a little with translation

Sorry to hear! Could you please tell me what kind of tablet you have and at what time (appr.) it crashed? I can then check what happened and might be able to offer you a solution!

Thanks in advance!
 

Alonso1398

Senior Member
Jun 23, 2013
241
265
I think I found the problem, it was because I had the rotation locked in landscape, now that I passed the window of the EULA, the problem is gone

Edit: however the game still closes if I open the game with the rotation locked in landscape and I select play
 
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  • 24
    CURRENT VERSION 1.0.4 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 - SEE BELOW FOR CHANGELOG AND DIRECT APK LINK

    I would like to share with you guys a game I created called Mathician. Mathician is a fast paced basic math skill game. In short rounds players can show their friends and the rest of the world who is the best in math and in the process become a real Mathician by sharpening their basic math skills. When all challenging levels are completed, cool achievements can be earned on the path to become a king of math! Levels can be played over and over again to get the highest score on the world wide highscore list!


    QR-Code
    Use this QR-code to install the app!

    mathician-qr.jpg


    Screenshots:
    screenshot_1.jpg
    screenshot_2.jpg
    screenshot_3.jpg
    screenshot_4.jpg
    screenshot_5.jpg
    screenshot_6.jpg
    screenshot_7.jpg
    screenshot_8.jpg



    More detailed description
    Mathician is a game in which players can sharpen their basic math skills by playing short fast paced rounds of 10 equations. Time is of the essence, so faster answers mean more points and players will eventually storm the highscore leaderboards. The game features 30 singleplayer levels in which the difficulty increases from easy to very hard (practice, practice, practice). Each level has a highscore leaderboard and players can see the top players and their own results in comparison with other players. With this, the game keeps challenging players to get a better position on the ranking list.
    Besides the singleplayer levels, the game features an on-line experience where players can challenge each other for a 1 v.s. 1 match (against friends or random players). To increase the challenge, Mathician features over 30 achievements (via Google Play). Some achievements are easy to unlock, others are really hard or take some time to unlock, so players really have to use their math skills to get the best gaming experience...

    Why is Mathician fun to play?
    The game features very short games, some with a minimum of 10 seconds. Even when you are on a tight schedule you can fit some Mathician in. It's easy to increase the highscores since the gameplay is short and fast. When players do have more time on their hands they can play endurances in which up to 100 equations can be made. On the Mathician website ( http://www.mathician.com ) players can view their achievements, scores, statistics and leaderboards and compare them to other players!

    Not only your own brain gets sharpened with Mathician, it can be used to teach your children the basics of math in a way they will enjoy. If you are a teacher you can make math a fun experience with this easy to use app.

    Features
    * Fast paced math action with short rounds
    * 30 challenging levels to sharpen your skills
    * Game keeps challenging due to achievements and leaderboards
    * A unique online experience with 1 vs 1 battles
    * The game is accompanied by a website on which players can view scores, statistics and even compare players

    Why it was made
    A while ago I started to create an idea for a game based upon an old Dutch TV-show. The game mechanics would be something like wordfeud, except that the rounds would have some kind of question/answer structure. We started brainstorming and putting things on paper until we got to the issue that generating questions and answers would take a long time, especially considering multiple languages and questions that would only suit certain countries. We were working on something like a moderated crowd sourced model, but it didn't go really smooth (to say the least). So one day I was taking my daughter to daycare and then the idea of math popped into my mind. Not everyone loves math, but I always loved playing Dr. Kawashima's Brain training on the Nintendo DS, so we decided to give it a go. So initially Mathician would only have a 1 vs 1 matching system, but after that all worked flawlessly, the idea came to add a singleplayer mode and highscores, achievements and statistics to keep the game challenging. Mathician is the result and we're very very proud of the result.

    The name?
    The game challenges you to become a Magician in math, so Math + Magician = Mathician. It's not related to Mathematician in any way, the game also doesn't try to let you become that :)

    Who am I?
    My name is Jori and I live in the Netherlands in a small town called Purmerend (close to Amsterdam). I am a software engineer for a company that creates CRM software and in my free time Iove to play handball, expand my coding skills and spend time with my family. This is my second serious Android project, the first was Fresco (which you can find here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2081737 ).

    Closing words
    Mathician is not completely made by only me, I had help of my good friend Frederik Boelens who engineered the website and supported development actively. Two other were also important in the development cycle by giving great advice and helping in the early testing: Bart van den Dries and Joey Floresse. And last but not least, a big thank you to all testers which actively tested for two months!
    I hope you like (the idea) of this app and hopefully you guys can give me some feedback :) At least let me thank you for reading.


    Change log

    1.0.5 (september 26, 2013)
    * Fixed a bug where the game would crash in the menu when you have your Facebook account linked, due to the change of profile picture size.

    1.0.4 (september 24, 2013)
    * If you type fast and make a mistake (answer is 9 and you type 10) then the app will not mark the next equation as a mistake (it will omit the 0)
    + Added Spanish localization (thank you Luis Alonso Calderón for your tremendous effort!)
    + Added Dutch localization
    * Added an option to choose your favorite division character (you can choose : or /)
    * Fixed a bug where the game could crash if your score was higher than 9999
    * Changed the order of popups when you register, also removed one, to achieve a less intrusive experience
    * Fixed buggy Facebook registration issues
    * Fixed some Facebook sharing issues
    + The app will now ask once in a while to share something on Facebook and in return will hide the full-screen ad for 5 minutes
    - Removed the write system settings permission (WRITE_SETTINGS)
    - Removed the write external storage permission (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)
    * Removed the next button in the last level (caused a crash)
    * Fixed various bugs that generated spontaneous crashes, thanks for all the reports!

    1.0.2 (september 17, 2013)
    * Fixed a possible crash on devices with a very high resolution (HD or more)

    1.0.1 (september 17, 2013)
    * All character names can now contain all special characters (e.g. š, ç and ž). To remove ? characters in your name, go to settings and retype your display name!
    + If you have open multiplayer games where it is your turn, you will see that in the main screen
    + Added Swedish localization (thank you Daniel Malmgren for your tremendous effort!)
    + Your singleplayer progress will now be saved across devices and between reinstallations
    * Changed the ingame font to a different one, which is much more readable
    * Fixed a bug where the game would go haywire if you clicked the play button twice in multiplayer mode
    * Fixed a bug where the keyboard layout (Phone) was wrong in multiplayer mode
    * Made the background of the games darker, so the contrast between the equations and the background is bigger
    + Added the possibility to choose with which e-mail address you want to play when you register with your e-mail address
    * Removed all changes to system settings (they are copied to app settings). In the next version we will remove the permission (it is still needed to copy the settings to app settings)
    * Fixed a bug where the game would crash if started in landscape mode

    1.0 (september 12, 2013)
    - Initial release

    Feedback / problems
    You can visit the website at http://www.mathician.com for support. Feedback can be given in the Play Store, in this thread or via twitter: @Realmathician

    Facebook community
    You can visit (and like ;)) the facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/realmathician . Thanks! We'll post updates, reports and probably some highscores now and then on the page now and then!


    Link
    Play store: Mathician

    APK
    Direct link to APK (1.0.5): http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_5.apk


    Older versions
    Version 1.0.4: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_4.apk
    Version 1.0.3: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_3.apk
    Version 1.0.2: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_2.apk
    Version 1.0.1: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0_1.apk
    Version 1.0: http://www.mathician.com/apk/Mathician_1_0.apk
    2
    This game is addicting, lightweight size, and good for your brain. I love math, this is my type of game. Thank you, and highly recommended.

    Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
    2
    It's the font you've used (in relation to your included screenshot) for the title, Level 1, and where you've used that same font throughout other areas of the game. On smaller screen devices its reasonably difficult to read. May I suggest a font type called Georgia, which comes out like this...?
    Cheers again for a great app/game, my daughter and I are having a ball learning about mathematics and how to add/subtract/multiply/divide at high speed...

    Hi, thanks for your input. I've tried to create a title with Georgia, but it just doesn't fit in the picture:
    LogoGeorgia.png


    In the next version, the only place where the old font is kept is the logo on the main screen and the captions (like level 1). The rest will all be a more readable font and I think it will be the one of the image I posted earlier, but it might yet change. Again, thanks for your input and I will consult some other people too before I make a final decision. I can assure you that the readability of the next version will increase significantly!

    looks very good.. updates will be?
    We don't have a fully planned out roadmap, but the current focus lies on bugfixes (e.g. the rotation bug, problems with unicode characters in names) and readability (e.g. font, background darker) and some other things (like the extensive need of permissions, which we want to decrasee).

    Once this is done (in the coming days), the focus will shift to the website: a better UI and better mobile support (probably through a more responsive design) and to the online experience: we are going to create an arena mode where players can play realtime against 9 others where ending on the first 5 positions will increase your total score and the last 5 positions will decrease your score.

    After that we will add more singleplayer content (meaning different kind of equations like fractures, measurements, more operands, parentheses and more like that). All this will probably keep us busy for the coming months and in that time we'll think of even more things, I'm sure :p
    2
    Can you create a version with less permissions for us here at XDA ? I don't want it to run at startup, read my contacts, find my accouns, and modify my system settings. Thank you :)
    Hi sordna, I will take this in consideration. The need for the specific permissions is stated in the FAQ on the website. See 'http://mathician.com/faq (the entry 'Where are all permissions needed for?'. Modifying system settings helps to store a special encryption key that helps to protect against tampering with the statistics and achievements (since they are stored online). I will try to develop a different approach. Startup is needed for the notifications, reading contacts is only for generating a hash (i.e. irreversible) list of e-mail addresses to check which of your contacts are already playing. When Mathician wants to do this, it asks you everytime (and you can decline). Finding accounts is only done at startup when you choose to play via e-mail account.

    I understand the reluctance and as said, I will try to see what is possible to remove these permissions, although it could result in a less comfortable experience. Last thing I want to add is that I really respect your privacy and I have no bad intentions :)

    And perfect for kids. So many of today's youngsters are getting smartphones of their own, and a game/app of this kind is a welcome diversion from skateboarding on train tracks, flinging birds at pigs, bursting bubbles or smashing lollies of the same colour. Thank you for your hard work in creating this, but I regret to say that a few minor changes would help.
    Thank you!

    In your next update, could you change the fonts in the game to those that are much more easily read? I also agree with sordna's post above. This game shouldn't need to run at Startup, or constantly trawl the internet looking for people to play against, or make changes to a device's system settings. It is really appreciated that you've included the option to remove Notifications, to opt-out of sending crash reports and opt-out of sending anonymous statistics. These choices make it much better for parents (like me) who want their child's privacy to remain private, and helps us control what they do online...
    About the readability: I've tried to address that already :) I hope you like it better like this:
    newfont8.png


    I hope my explanation of the permissions helps a bit combined with the intention of trying remove (some of) them helps.

    A reset button would be nice :)
    Yes, the next version will have a reset option (meaning your online scores will be removed).

    Thanks for playing people!
    1
    This game is addicting, lightweight size, and good for your brain. I love math, this is my type of game. Thank you, and highly recommended.

    Thanks, just be careful, because it can be really addictive :p