Any updates about the app?

Paul mentioned that the app won't be happening anymore unfortunately.

I'll just drop this here:

NameForge The App - Sneak Peek

Cheers,

Paul

Beautiful

This is exciting news, any time line yet

So in this performance... name list is in their hand before you ask their name. Surely this is a pre-show effect. Must be doing this with the app to cosmos print and then recalling the name they mentioned seconds ago, as you put printed "post-it" note into their hand

Pretty sure it's not pre-show but a switch at the end.

I had not considered that! Thanks for the input.

Glad you like it, even though it was an extremely low resolution GIF, I had a full resolution version, but it was over 150mb!

After Blackpool, I will be making a full video overview of the app.

Still working on extra new implementations and features too.

If you are at Blackpool Magic Convention and see me I can show you.

Cheers,

Paul

Looking forward to seeing this Paul.

Hey Everyone

It's official NameForge has just levelled-up from a £250 Shortcut to a full-blown, native iOS app, and it’s live on the App Store now for only £69.99!

A massive price-drop but bigger and better features than before.



NameForge on the App Store

After creating the largest Shortcut in the world (even outside of magic) I decided to start learning Xcode Swift coding and have spent the past year in any spare time doing this. Many hours have been spent between consultations, in waiting areas of airports and while prior to going on stage simply sitting and learning/coding.

Thankfully, it has come very naturally to me and I have been able to create something very special with the NameForge App, going well beyond the original scope of the Shortcut version.

Alongside the basic and more powerful version (so many improved standard features), I have created 6 'Pro Features' and these are additional In-App Purchases.

Watch Peek
Anything forged can be seen on your Apple Watch. It also turns your Notes (with face down trigger) into a peek device, get someone to write something in your genuine Notes app, and as soon as the phone is placed face down, you will see the word on the watch.

Voice Input
NameForge listens until you say the your desired word and then it will take what you have said between your start and end phrase and turn use that as the input. With over 20 languages supported.

Camera Input
Using ANY of your phones cameras that you choose, show a piece of written text to it and it will instantly turn that into an input, no need to press a button, it happens automatically. You can even tell the App what words to ignore, perfect for when you want the participant to write on your business card, yet don't want the text on the business card to be confused for what is written. Also supported in more than 20 languages.

Unforged Output
Perfect for when you simply want to send the input word to another service, without turning it into an acrostic. Opens up a lot fo creative potential.

Add 2 More API Inputs
For those who love integrations and don't want to change the details all the time, you can have three API URL slots and be more flexible in your performances.

Search Result Output
Users are given a special link (chosen by them) which can be opened on a participant's phone. Whatever is inputted into NameForge will show up as a search result on the participant's phone. Virtually any website can be used for the search (including using the input word as the domain e.g. www.Banana.com) and may domain extensions are included. There is also a very cleaver feature that stops the result from showing the 'Accept Cookies' box after the search is made.

As you can see I've been very busy, and aside from giving NameForge a massive power boost, I'm now placed to release a number of interesting and innovative mentalism apps over the coming year.

I appreciate all of your time waiting for me to get my development skills up to scratch, but in being the developer and creative source for my apps, I am able to get my ideas exactly how I want them, listen to the users, and make the changes you all want to happen a reality, without the need to outsource to external developers.

Hopefully, this is the update you have all been waiting for, for NameForge.

Cheers,

Paul

I’ve been waiting for the app, thank you Paul. Purchased!

Mark

Paul, Is there a NameForge Facebook group?

Edit: Never mind, I found the group.

Mark

Would be interesting to hear how the people who paid $250 feel about it now being $70!!!

The $70 version does not include certain Pro features that were included with the previous version. Everyone who purchased the previous version is getting the app for no charge and getting all of the Pro features.

Mark

I'm one of them and I do feel fantastic!

Haha! Gave me a giggle, thanks!

Gave me a giggle too! Thank you!

Mark

Thanks, Mark

Hopefully you've been having fun with it so far?

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Dearic

Just to be clear, the people who paid £250 (that’s GBP, so even worse, I’m guessing, in your eyes due to the conversion rate) for the Shortcut version of NameForge bought exactly that: the iOS Shortcut version. Which not only worked exceptionally well, but also had new, unseen features that have been copied in many other Shortcuts, raising the quality of magic and mentalism Shortcuts for all- even those who didn’t buy NameForge.

Therefore, everyone who bought the Shortcut got it, used it, and received EXACTLY what they paid for.

In addition to this, I decided that it would be great to have an app version of NameForge. Not because the Shortcut version wasn’t working, but because Shortcuts are limited in their functionality, and the size of the commands was getting very large. When the app was ready for beta testing, I invited all Shortcut users who wanted to test it. As a huge thank you for the support and feedback, I provided the NameForge app to them for free.

At no point when the Shortcut version was purchased was there talk or promise of an app version. However, I wanted to equally thank the supporters of NameForge along its journey by also ’grandfathering’ them into ALL Pro Features - which, as it currently stands, is far greater than the original Shortcut investment. So I personally hope that the Shortcut version buyers feel good about my efforts to provide more than they may have expected. But I am not the one to comment on such things—hopefully, they will tell you themselves if they see this post.

Why the price change in the first place?

The original price reflected the amount of time that I had put into the Shortcuts project—literally months of my life. I was very aware that this price excluded the app from some people's budget. I worked out a way to make the features modular using the ’Pro Features’ so that I could lower the overall price for the standard version, and users would only pay for what they would use. This way, I get paid for the hard work and time I’ve invested in making those features, but the user doesn’t have to pay for something not needed for their performance.

NameForge is now far more powerful than just a basic acrostic maker. There have been many people who have been inspired to create (and release) their own Shortcut versions of acrostic makers - and instead of attempting to halt their progress, I wish them luck. These inspired versions simply cannot do what NameForge is capable of in its new app form, and the app has custom-made features that no other app currently on the market has.

The mission is clear: NameForge will always be the best acrostic app on the market.

I hope this helps to give you some clarity on the pricing situation you raised. I predicted you might have questions about why the Shortcut became an app, so I saved time answering those ahead of time… just a feeling I got!

Cheers,

Paul