Making of a robot might seem to be complicated, but to create a chat bot is a much easier task these days. Chat bots are a brilliant innovation of artificial intelligence that automatically communicates with internet users to answer their questions.

Even though chat bots are AI based, they are actually made to behave like human beings. They generally perform tasks like providing information, collecting feedback from customers, guide shoppers to find products, etc.

Well, many of you might have a typical question that how can you build a chatbot for your website or mobile app?

Here we have come across the 5 best Chat Bot platform building tools, which are easy to implement or use:

1) MEOKAY

This is one of the top tools to create a simple conversational messenger bot. MEOKAY makes work easier for skilled and non-skilled developers as they can create and designs easily to make steps. It takes just minutes to build the whole conversational scenario and even build advanced dialogues for smooth conversation between the user and the chat bot

Key Features

•  Works seamlessly with messaging and comments
•  Has the capability to recognise variations in trigger words or phrases
•  On demand, these bots can push deals and offers to users
•  Can integrate with all major payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, bKash

2) ChatFuel

This is a platform that helps in creating bots for applications like Facebook and Telegram. Here conversational chats can be set, where the predefined answers are sent to the users. Till now, almost 360,000 chat bots have been created using Chatfuel with 17 million users around the world, which includes brands like British Airways, CNBC, Adidas, TechCrunch, MTV, Buzzfeed etc.

Key Features

• Quick replies are the most important feature of this platform tool, in a line chatfuel made bots can provide 1-10 replies and almost 20 symbols

• Share locations along with quick replies, which allows users to send locations to bots and save it as zip file, in any state, city, country, latitude, longitude, address, etc.

•This platform provides a phone call button, which if added to the admin panel will generate phone calls to the users’ number

• Has other features like chat room plug-in, go to block plug-in, audio plug-in, video plug-in

• Chat bots created from this platform can be used as even assistants, personal avatars, customer support, etc.

3) Botsify

This platform helps to create live support chat bots. The most important benefit of this Botsify is that it updates the chats in real-time. A simple drag or drop is enough to make the design of the template. With this tool developers one can create a Facebook chat bot without writing any codes.

Key Features

•  It is a Facebook chat bot platform
•  Easily integrate chat bots to the system
•  Simple to use interface which lets business owners build their own chat bot without any coding
•  Helps configure personalized responses, align messages, integrate with WordPress
•  Supports media contents like images, audio and video files

4) Pandorabots

Pandorabots is a web service for building and deploying chat bots. It is a free integrated development environment for building chatbots. Using this, you can create AI based chatbots for IOT interfaces, customer services, advertising, games, etc. Almost 225k+ developers use this tool and more than 285k+ chatbots are created till date.

Key Features

•  Consist of a tool called AiaaS, which helps in accessing bot hosting platform
•  To create chat bots, same contents can be used from the libraries
•  Program bots remember the relevant user information
•  Can process multilingual languages so that you can create bot for any languages
•  Deployable
•  Build natural language interfaces for connected things

5) ChatScript

This is known to be one of the best chatbot tools to create a chat app. ChatScript includes many advanced features and are intended to maintain natural conversations with the users. This natural Language tool or dialogue manager is considered to be the next generation chatbot engine

Key Features

•  Consist of a simple and easy rule layout combined with C-style general scripting
•  Built using the WordNet dictionary
•  Planner capabilities of this tool allows the bots to act in real-time
•  Capable to remember user interactions across conversational chats
•  Document mode within tool allows you to scan documents for written content
•  Can read structured JSON data from websites
•  Runs on Windows/Linux, Mac/iOS or Android platform servers, which can support more than a 1000 simultaneous users
•  This tool can involve multiple bots on the same server

A few years back, every company wanted a website and later on, it was changed onto mobile apps. But now, Mobile App Development Companies and other industries are getting into the AI & bot technology.

With the above platform tools, even more rapid progress is expected in the coming year. So what are you waiting for, it’s time to start building chat bot.

Augmented reality being one of the greatest technological innovation, affected the mobile app development world big time, especially the gaming industry. It can be used on any devices ranging from smart phone to camera’s. But for augmented reality to work properly there should be an element of reality. This can be done by using a wide television screen or by physically being in the situation. The device you use will superimpose images over reality to create a unique and interactive world.

According to Global AR Gaming Market, AR gaming industry will grow at a CAGR of approximately 151.43% by 2021. Which is a delightful news for all those AR enthusiasts spread across the world..

Impact of Augmented Reality In Games

While AR can be used in almost all aspects of life, it is more often used for gaming purposes. As the feature is gaining a lot of attention among the gamers, several mobile game development companies have come forward offering display devices that help in enhancing the gaming experience. Even Google has released Google Glass, An optical display which can be worn as eye glasses.

Different devices like Wii and Play station offer features to augment reality games where players take on a role and use physical actions to control the movements and actions during the game. This technology is generally used in fighting games, sports games and in online gambling games where players are likely to have a complete control over the game using an AR device.

For gamers and developers, augmented reality opens a lot of new chances of creativity. Mobile games which were usually played on screens can now be played on any surrounding in accordance with the convenience of the player.

AR games are deeply getting implemented in the gaming industry and have different categories like:

1) Strategy-based AR games
2) AR shooting games
3) Sport AR games
4) Geo-location based AR games
5) Table games and Card AR games
6) RPG AR Games
7) AR Quest Games
8) Casino Gambling AR Games

Strategy-Based Games

Creating strategies, fighting with enemies, building cities etc. are the categories that are involved in strategy games i.e. the strategy of the game is combined with reality to bring in a greater experience to the user.

1) Parallel Kingdom: This AR game comes with the feature of strategy. The game enables the player to conquer territories based on his/her location.

AR Shooting Games

AR shooting games allows the player to defend as well as attack in a fierce manner, mainly gunfights as the category suggests

1) Zombie GO: Zombie based games are quite a hit in the gaming industry. This game brings the zombie destructions in real-time. Throughout the game, zombies pop out in every corner to aim at you. The player needs to fight the zombies with the different weapons provided.

Zombie GO is available in Android

2) Real Strike: This is a real life shooting game that includes highly realistic environment and real animations. The user can even record fights and create videos by their own. This game is available on iOS 4.0 and updated versions.

Sport Games

If you are a real sports fan, then you will certainly like the possibility for games in augmented reality. In AR based sport games you’ll be able to play different sports like cricket, football and basketball right at your workplace or anywhere you are.

1) Run An Empire: This is an augmented reality game that will certainly turn you into a regular runner. Here, the player can conquer lands, gain levels, invade land of other players and claim the earned profits. The more you run, the more land you gain.

2) Zombies Run: The main mission of this game is to complete tasks through running or walking. Here the player needs to collect items while running from zombies that chase you.

Geo-Location AR Games

Geo-location games are the most thrilling class in augmented reality games. They use locations and the real maps in the game to augment fantastic creatures and other real life features for the players. Using smart phones that enable GPS, the player can move around and perform tasks.

1) Pokemon GO: This is one of the remarkable gaming project which brought more popularity among gamers. The game became so popular that it even won Guinness records which got to the top list of the highest earning games on last year.

The game based on geo-location shows the battlefield in real environment. Here, players need to catch, train Pokemon to later fight with pets and other opponents.

2) Parallel Mafia: Parallel Mafia game allows you to be in a world which is ruled by criminals. While playing the game, you become the boss of the criminal group in the game you have created.

3) Temple Treasure Hunt: This game is generally meant for myth and mystery lovers. Temple treasure hunt uses Indian mythology based characters which work with the location using a real map. The player can choose roles of either a treasure hunter or a treasure protector while playing.

4) Geo AR Games: Geo AR game can be used by both children and adults. During the game, the player can easily turn city park, gardens etc. into an impressive world with beautiful landscapes and animals. Within the game, players get an opportunity to create fairy tales by their own at beautiful places.

Table Games and Card Games

Such games are one player or multi-player supporting. Here, the table/floor used by the player acts as the battlefield.

1) Genesis: It is a unique card game based on augmented reality. With the help of the AR technology, Characters in the cards comes to life and will attack the opponent card character. you can see this magic through a your mobile phone. All you have to do is download the app and focus your camera directly to the card.

2) Toy Car RC: It is a simple race game for kids. The major character in the game is a car named Wheely’ which travels around the whole world, through space etc. to complete missions

Some of the other table and card augmented reality games include AR Defender 2, PulzAR, Warp Runner etc.

Horror Games: Augmented reality based horror games are highly immersive, binaural and more photo-realistic which are usually played after dark at home with lights off and headphones on.

1) Night Terror: The Night Terror is a scary game controls what you see, hear and where you go. The game transforms your surroundings into a horror film scenery where ghosts hide behind every corner.

RPG (Role Playing Game) Augmented Reality Games

In RPG augmented reality games, the player takes the role of a fictional character who undertakes the hunt in the real-world. An important factor is that the game works according to the players imagination.

RPG games became more popular with the introduction of the game the, Warcraft. Dispersion is another RPG augmented reality game for iOS, Android by using Google glasses and Microsoft HoloLens.

AR Quest Games

These fascinating games allow you to search treasures across the countryside or the neighborhood.

1) Invizimals: The Resistance: Here the player needs to hunt for creatures all around. The aim is to find all the 150 invizimals and save the creatures from being extinct.

2) Geocaching: This game is considered to be the largest treasure hunting AR game in which the treasure is hunted in the hidden places around the planet.

Casino Gambling AR Games

Casino Gambling AR games were the best introduction to the online casino gambling industry. Here the players can enjoy games in real time from a studio or any other location. Such AR games provide the opportunity to interact and play with live players and game dealers.

To give the players a more lively experience, Google has introduced augmented eye wears and 360 degree cameras that will help players to step into action and enjoy gambling.

Conclusion

Even though augmented reality was introduced a few years back, and is still in developing stage. It manages to make ripples in the gaming world. This cutting edge technology seems to have a great future in all fields. One of the top social networking site, Facebook is now working on a platform that supports augmented reality games and location-based features.

As mobile game development is taking more steps closer to augmented reality, there can be amazing possibilities in future not only for gaming apps but also for other mobile apps. Overtime, AR would definitely become an important factor that will bring change on how we use our smart phones and eventually other technologies.

Mobile app development companies who are into app creation for children must approach things in a different way. In order to make a kid’s app successful, the developer must look at it from a child’s perspective and cater features according to their needs. Apps for children needs to be stimulating, engaging, entertaining, creative, exploratory and at the same time it should also be informative.

Anyhow, there are certain tips and basic rules which app developers need to focus on while making an app which might make the process devoid of confusion.

Before creating an app, certain key points are to be kept in mind, they are:

1) Determination of Goal

To start up any app, the primary importance is to determine the goal which must be set by keeping in mind the specific requirements for children. There are different categories of app for children such as games app, story book apps, maths and phonics apps, educational apps, quiz apps, creative apps etc.

Every company should remember that their idea must be original and unique since competition is high. Most of the renowned kids brands who are new to the app world are now focusing more on making kids apps. Companies such as Nickelodeon, Disney, Penguin, Mattel and Moshi Monsters etc. have already set foot on to the mobile app industry.

The more original your idea is, the more your app will stand out in the mobile market. It’s important to keep apps relatively simple and intuitive. Avoid unnecessary manual settings to the app that make children confused.

Be it a fun, positive engaging or educational app, ultimately parents are the ones who choose the right app for their children, so it is important that developers appeal them as well.

2) Age group must be specified

First of all, make a clear idea that for whom are you creating the app. Is it for small children, teens or for all age groups? The age group you’re aiming at can determine many things related to an app. Ineractivity, look and feel, marketing strategy, price, privacy & information, store category etc. are some of them.

To seek help in this issue you have IARC. IARC (International Age Rating Coalition) is a system of age marking which promotes relevant content ratings and this can help on improving app engagement by targeting the right audience for your content.

To upload an app to Google Play Store developers need to fill in a questionnaire for the automated-age-based rating system, which will then be reviewed by IARC members.

3) UX(User experience) and UI (User Interface) in app for children

UX and UI are a critical part of a kids app. Designers need to concentrate on specifications that can emulate the kind of experience a child gets while playing with real toys. Such apps should be able to capture the attention of children by making it easy to interact with the app. UI or UX is said to be the vital element of any mobile app because design attracts users and keeps it more user-friendly.

Points to be remembered regarding UI and UX

•  Kids app should be generally colourful, bright, engaging and sort of funny
•  It should incorporate cool 3D effects, textures, sound, fun buttons etc
•  Should have a clear menu, bigger text that is easily understandable.
•  Loud sound effects and large icons help kids to connect with the app better.
•  Actions like swipe, tap, drag and drop can be included
•  Feedback like vibration, animation or any sound effect to let the kids know that they have performed an action

4) Choose the Right Platform

Some features for a mobile app might be exclusive for iOS, however, others prefer Android platform because its more appealing to children. But finding the best platform seems to be a difficult task for developers.

The availability of different screen sizes, external hardware devices, easy monitoring etc. makes Android more beneficial when compared to iOS.

iOS prevents kids from installing, deleting and making in-app s whereas Android impose limits to mobile phone usage, block callers and testers and get reports how they use the app. UI/UX of Android and iOS app are different because there are many features that are custom build in iOS which might not be seen in Android.

Being an open source, any feature can be implemented to during Android app development but for iOS, there are several restrictions due to which developers have to think before choosing this platform.

5) Participatory Design

Participatory design or co-design is a simple method to analyze how children see the world. This can involve gathering children of different age groups, usually ranging from 6 to 12, providing them craft supplies and allow them to come up with their own creative designs for your app. This can help designers and developers to get ideas and suggestions from children and also understand the feeling a child has to a particular topic.

6) Make it Colourful

Its a known fact that kids love the colour and they expect the apps they use also to be colorful. Try to make the app bright and engaging. Experiment new things and make sure that things are made clear rather than just stuffing it up. Design should contain interactive elements such as buttons which could have a simple white outline/drop shadow, a background that should be sparkling and wiggle.

7) Content should be kept fresh

When kids get to know that new contents are being added on a regular basis, the retention will be higher, as they get more excited to return back to the app and explore new features. To increase usage, content widgets are a great idea. KIDOZ SDK, is a kid content discovery platform, where apps can be integrated in just minutes.

8) Provide a real-world experience

Children will always be intrigued by everything around them. Games that help kids to explore are quite popular among kids. Such games can also help them to learn about real life facts and experiences.

9) Include feedback options

A great user experience is attained only when the actual aim of making a particular app is accomplished. Adding options like music, rewards, timers, count-downs etc. can entertain children and push them to continue playing. A feedback mechanism is necessary because kids tend to make mistakes and learn from that.

10) Inappropriate Advertisement/ In-app s

Parents are always concerned when their kids start using mobile phones. Their main worry is about how safe it is for kids to use this technology. Children will be tempted to stuffs from app and they can be exposed to inappropriate contents. If a company wish to flourish in kid’s app creation. It would be better for them to keep away from creating this kind of things.

While creating an app, developers should keep this in mind and promote more user-friendly apps. Fortunately, almost all mobile app development companies includes built-in parental control tools that help parents to know what ads or in-app s should be provided while your child is using the phone.

•  In iOS systems there are tools that can limit the mobile functioning. Passwords can be set for     various features like switching off certain apps, installation and removal of apps
•  Android also offers parent control on apps use or a user account with chosen limits that can be created for the child
•  In Windows operating systems, there is a special feature called kid corner, activating which, a child  will get access only to chosen contents.

11)Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

If you are making an app for children under the age of 13, then there is a law that no personal information should be collected. COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, signed in 1998 ensures that those who create apps for kids cannot collect any personal data from children.

12) Usability Testing

Usability testing is the key part in the development cycle of an app. There are certain points which need to be focused on before commencing this test. They are,

•  Test mood changes of a child while using the app, whether they are having fun, are they confused or     bored while using the app
•  Go through button positioning and make sure its placed at the right place
•  Check how a child reacts when level changes or transitions occur within an app/game
•  Test different colors, layouts, widgets, buttons etc. and choose the optimal ones that can more easily relate to kids

Today’s children live in a technology driven world, where all interactions and communications happen through smart phones. A kid’s app require much more care and consideration than an app aimed at general audience. Even though the business prospects are bright there is a lot of underlying risk to it. So before getting started go through the instructions and opinions listed above and be aware of do and don’t in creating apps for children.

If you have any comment on the above, please share with us in the comment section below.

Xamarin is an API which is important for iOS, Android, and Windows app development, The most astounding factor about Xamarin is that it helps programmers to write codes for different framework, yet all of them can be brought to one space.

Xamarin can certainly be considered as a revolution in mobile app development. While .NET and Java are competitive, Xamarin is something that helps developers to connect in cross-platforms. With consumers present in all platforms, It is not commercially viable and practical to develop apps for a single devices. Even enterprises need to think more about cross-platform development, which is pretty challenging, considering that each OS has a different environment.

Features of Xamarin

1. Xamarin Cross-Platform Development is a framework with its own IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
2. Compiles apps in a native form
3. Xamarin has a library which allows you to write native UIs for once and then these can be shared and converted to other platforms
4. Supports Android, iOS and Windows platforms
5. Greater amount of resources which is got for free
6. Focus of Xamarin is mainly on UI and back-end logic
7. C# is the commonly used language allowing bugs to be caught at the time of run.
8. Has an advanced development tool system and process control such as inversion of control, mocking, unit testing etc
9. Xamarin do not share codes outside Xamarin environment for native/ HTML5 development
10. Good Microsoft support.
11. Shorter and simple learning curves
12. Overall cost is low

Importance of Xamarin for Mobile App Development

Here are some of the reasons why you should be using Xamarin for cross-platform development:

1) C# The Apt Language for Mobile App Development

Xamarin utilize C# as the code base language from which applications are designed. The fact is that C# is the best code for cross-platform app development.

Reasons why C# is increasingly the programming language of choice in Xamarin:

  Object -oriented programming and encapsulation making it • easy to structure the code for      maximum reuse
•  The cutting edge of the program allows the developers to write code that is highly
    expressive and easy for maintaining
•  Advanced run-time
•  Easy to use
•  Reliability
•  Faster program execution

2) Use Similar Codes in Crosswise Platform

When an application’s code is created using Xamarin, about 75% of the code is shared crosswise. Xamarin uses. NET and C# for any platform.

With the same code base, Xamarin creates a native app experience across Android, iOS and Windows. There is no need for transfer between environments as it works with Xamarin IDE (Mac) / Visual Studio (Windows).

The basics of business, networking, error handling, model and navigation are shared among different version of the app. It doesn’t affect functionalities and it helps developers detect bugs during app development.

3) API Integration

Update in apps are more frequent and regular phenomenon in both Android and iOS. In-case of iOS, updates are quite regular but in Android its unpredictable. Therefore, it’s important for frameworks to support the newly updated version of each platform. And Xamarin Mobile App Development has always proven to be best in handling this.

Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Mac helps in binding UI controls and APIs. It shares codes across Portable Class Libraries and mobile platforms. It’s unique feature of binding, provides a link to support latest packages for Android and iOS releases.

4) Native Experience in UI

Developers use Xamarin to create a smooth experience for their application. Xamarin convert the UI components into specific interface elements. Therefore, making it easy to customize the UI. This increases, the speed of the app and it serves as a better option for business-oriented projects.

5) Added feature of Visual Studio

Xamarin is now added to Visual Studio. This allows development and publishing of native apps for Android and iOS with C# or F#. In this program, there are no restrictions regarding the apps actual size.

6) Bugs Free Apps

In Xamarin apps, less codes are written and this is the main reason for low amount of bugs. It allows developers to code and then share across both iOS and Android. Developers can write a single and more reliable set of test easily, instead of wasting time on writing huge test programs.

7) No need for Additional Plug-In feature

Apps made with Xamarin uses standard UI controls and gives greater experience in different platforms. iBeacons and Android Fragment are functionalities that support these programs and no extra plug-ins are required.

8) Fast Development

Xamarin assures fast app development in the shortest time limit. You might think why? Well, actually you don’t need to search for SDK, native coding and the environment for development when you have expertise by your side.

A developer only has to code using C# and add some binding code with respective to native packages. There is no need to duplicate or recall the process of designing, coding and examining.

9) Cost-Effective Platform

If you don’t want to spend more money on mobile app development, then Xamarin is the best choice you have in the market. There is no need for investment in the development of infrastructure or spend on an individual team of developers. All you need is a single team of Xamarin expertise developers. The cost for development is less because you develop once for all the target devices.

10) Stands for Platform Originality

Unlike other competitors, Xamarin has unique characteristics for each existing platform which helps Xamarin Developers to share programs within other platforms.

Xamarin is clearly a product to pay attention to which opens up a world of new possibilities. It has been a successful tool that cuts off both cost and development time without compromising on product quality. In contrast to other hybrid application development frameworks, Xamarin Mobile App Development prefers up-to-date technologies and tools. It gives a 100% satisfactory user experience.

If you desire to try new programs, then you may definitely switch to Xamarin, based on your project and requirement. It can make development simpler and more productive.

Getting your app discovered and making it reach the top is one of the main challenges that app marketers face. Since, there are a number of apps coming up in app store of iOS, Android, Windows Phone etc. building a great product isn’t just enough but you need to improve the discoverability of the app after initial release.

The real mark of an app success is the user engagement, as it tells you how much your app is helping users to solve their problems. To create a well-defined and sustainable app, you need to incorporate marketing strategies to make your app reach the users. Focusing on the right marketing strategies along with product development, can create an app which makes life better for your users and it can also help earn you profit from your start-up.

guide of mobile app marketing