#mobile engineering

[xaeascreates]

Mobile Game Testing Course

In all honesty using this course as another month of production with User testing too was probably a great choice. There was a really big hurdle I had to get over during these four weeks. That hurdle was getting encryption/decryption of the adolescent’s/user’s data when they’d go to one of the goals or get a word or phrase incorrect. It actually only decrypts the data when it needs to write the information then instantly encrypts the data again. This way even when someone goes out of the app and tries to explore the files it will be an encrypted file and the only way to get the file is if the user sends it to their email or creates a local file. The biggest thing for this hurdle was how to get encryption and decryption working correctly on an android device. I’ve worked with both encryption and decryption on the PC before but never for a mobile device.

               When I finally got to a spot, I thought it was going to work there was one small bug, and I just had to get past that and it would work. The popup boxes would actually freeze when it was trying to decrypt and write information to the file. I actually connected my test device wireless through adb and logcat. Then debugged it through there. It turned out it wasn’t reading the dat file for the encryption key information or the email information. After changing how that functions it works correctly now. Another hurdle was the wait times of the encryption and decryption of the application. To fix that I decreased some lengths and buffers and it works perfectly. The user testing consisted of mainly music therapists throughout the whole cycle and half of the users for the report were music therapists to see if this application really would be beneficial to adolescents with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Overall I’ve learned a lot when it comes to making applications and how I can manage my time when creating these types of application throughout this course and the entire program.

[xaeascreates]

Mobile Game Development I

So this was definitely an awesome yet intense course. It really puts into perspective the drive and want to get tasks done in a given set of time. There were some sprints in which I was getting my tasks done in quite the fast manner, but there were other times that it felt as if I’d almost bit off more than I can chew. Trello is a magnificent application that helped me keep track of these tasks, and what I had to get done in each of these sprints. 

I’d have to say that the most difficult weeks were week 3 and week 4 when it came to creating the user profile aspects of my capstone project. Though weeks 3 and 4 were probably the most fruitful. As I’d even created functions for encrypting and decrypting the user files that they were written in. Aside from the speech recognition part of this capstone and each of the goals being directed toward aiding in the symptoms of childhood Apraxia of Speech, I’d say that the profile features came along quite well. Especially with the reading and writing to the user profile, and the current user staying the same even after the application stops. 

The last week was also aimed toward squashing any bugs that may have made the application unusable and unplayable. In addition to finally getting the rest of the user writing implemented into the application. The next steps is adding in the place holder assets, testing the application with therapists and users, and making sure to not only optimize the game as its assets are being added, but also tweak the application to the feedback the users give when testing the application. 

[xaeascreates]

Mobile Gaming Business Mastery Journal Post

How does business and marketing affect the design and development of a mobile game?

           This question can be very broad, as there are a lot of things that business and marketing depending on business plan, and budget. Without a proper budget some corners may need to be cut in order to get the product shipped on time. The same could also be said about a proper business plan. Not only could features and mechanics be cut due to not having a good business plan, but also the aesthetics and details of the different aspects of the game. Without good marketing there could be a lack of motivation which could cause issues with budget, scheduling, and even the whole foundation of the application.

How does the proposed revenue model affect game design?

           Methods of monetization can affect many things of the game design process. Depending on the method of monetization some mechanics, and even aesthetics of a game could be designed specifically to be put behind paywalls for the user. Depending on the revenue model, some aspects of the design of the game could be affected either for the better or worst. Sometimes developers could leave out some content that could also be marketed as DLC. Other things that could be affected with a free to play, microtransactions type of revenue model is the use of stamina. This way the player can only play so many rounds or levels, before they either need to wait to play another level again or potentially pay to play more rounds.

How can you be sure you are developing a game that people will want to play?

           This is a great question! Not only will my game provide a great experience for its target demographic. Not only will it provide a good experience for the user, but it also is a device and tool that has the ability to help those who this application is intended for.

What is involved in game development other than coding and artwork, and how does this affect your development budget and schedule?

Some of the things other than artwork and coding that goes into game development, is community, business plans, and project management. Without a good business plan, deadlines might not be met, causing a project to go overbudget. This would not be good for developers, and more specifically stake-holders. It’s also good to have a community as this can motivate stake-holders, investors, and those that are working on the game. A good flow of project management can keep everyone on schedule and meeting deadlines either on time or potentially early. This also means

What do you need to do in order to convince an investor or publisher to fund your game?

           Good documentation not only for the project, but business plan, a functional prototype, and solid information are just a few things needed to give a good presentation to be persuasive enough to convince an investor or publisher to provide additional funds for my product. One of the most important things I need though to convince investors and publishers is not to be so hard on myself, and just be confident.

How do you think what you have learned in this class will affect the way you approach your capstone project?

           At first, I was thinking of an all in one application to assist in the aid of treatments in adolescents with different developmental disabilities. This way I was going to create a website that would deal with selling the disabilities individually, but now I’m going to make individual applications for individual developmental disabilities. This way I no longer need to worry about websites or databases. The method of monetization is now a single paid application. As for community there were a few other avenues I had not thought of in previous months which I plan on pursuing after the project is at least in mid production.

[ihearttech]

APP IDEA

I have got this app idea and I have written some of the code so it could be displayed on our school fair and it got really good feedbacks , so I wanna make it happen and actually work but its a bit complicated and I dont have enough knowledge in programming to code all the parts so I was thinking of creating a team , I need people that know android app programming ( team android ) , people that know IOS programming ( team IOS ) and people who can build the server + graphical design team

I dont know if it is possible to work internationally cause I am afraid my idea gets stolen so if anyone knows how I can keep it safe let me know please !

if it is possible I’d love to have an international team working on it , and the percentage we’ll get out of it will be equal ( unless someone handles more stuff )

so if anyone is willing to work with me please put these information in my ask : which part you like to work where you are from what languages you know ( programming languages :-p ) and what is your degree

if you’re not willing to help / cant help , please please please spread the word by rebloging or sending the link to others you know who may be interested

thank you so much !