Announcing: One Is Not None
I'm really excited to announce the app I've been working on. It's called One Is Not None and it's a life counter for tabletop Magic: the Gathering games.
The standard four-player layout for a game of Commander.
Why a life counter app?
There are other apps like it out there, but for one reason or another, I've found them lacking. I set out to build an app fulfilling the following:
- Extremely reliable user experience, from user input to data persistence and everything in between.
- Beautiful and minimal aesthetics with animations that help build a mental model for how the app works.
- Comprehensive feature set to be able to track anything that might happen in a game of Magic: the Gathering.
I won't claim to have nailed every endeavor perfectly, but I am filling a void that I believe exists in the life counter app landscape.
What sets this app apart from others like it?
The Look
Some apps have a very rich feature set, but they are an eyesore on the table. When so many people love to bling out their decks and have beautiful playmats, these awkward looking apps ruin the vibe of the table. One Is Not None has a minimal aesthetic with beautiful animations that set it apart from the rest of the pack.
Additionally, the app ships with a gorgeous icon in a slew of customizable colors by the wonderful & talented Matthew Skiles. The icon fully supports iOS 18's tinted icon mode, so it'll match the color of your device if you have that setting enabled. Here's the default icon, as well as a small sample of the alternative colors you can choose!
Reliability
Other apps have a beautiful aesthetic but unreliable user interaction. They'll have swipe gestures and taps mapped to the same area of the screen, so unless you tap on the screen perfectly without moving your finger side-to-side at all, your tap will be rejected because the app will think it registered an unsuccessful swipe. These swipe gestures also make features undiscoverable making it hard for players using the app for the first time to grasp how it works. There are no hidden features in One Is Not None, and all user inputs are stable and reliable.
Feature Set
Finally you have the apps that have a decent aesthetic and reliable user interaction, but they're almost always missing features. Some of them can't track more than one "secondary" thing at a time, like poison or energy. Other times they have no concept of commander damage which, much to Ben Brode's dismay, is an important part of the game. While Magic players are no strangers to tracking ad hoc numbers with dice or pen & paper (even I do it sometimes), it can be helpful to have a tool on your table that has the built-in ability to track all these things. One Is Not None delivers the ability to track every aspect of Magic, from poison to partner commander damage to monarchy. Even the brand new speed mechanic from Aetherdrift is being added to the beta as this post is published.
Who is this app for?
Magic has many formats, and while One Is Not None can work well for any format, it's focused on providing the best experience for Commander players since that's the format I play most often.
Is it out yet?
The app is currently in beta testing! I've opened up 50 spots for the most eager of you to join and test it out. If there is enough interest, I may open more spots. If you've never beta tested an iOS app before, you'll be prompted to download Testflight which is the official beta distribution mechanism from Apple.
To join the beta, follow this link! https://testflight.apple.com/join/bRxMengR
Conclusion
I'm so stoked to finally be announcing this app. I've just recently become a dad and this is something I've been working on in my free time between parenting and working. At the risk of sounding cliché, it's a little bit of a dream come true to release my own app into the App Store. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and please let me know what you think! You can always leave me feedback by emailing feedback@thehonkingsmith.com.