Reflection and Evaluation

Overall this has been a successful project. We have all worked well as a group and have shared out our tasks equally and fairly to ensure that we produced the application and background documentation to the best of our abilities. The application we have produced works well and does what we set out to do. This task has provided more experience in documentation of a project and given us some extra experience in actually making the product, this gave us a better feel for what it would be like to actually produce something once we had planned and designed it and this gave us more motivation as we could see and use the final product ourselves. All of the members of our group were able to expand our skills in the different areas we worked on and gained some more valuable experience in planning and creating a project.

Our application works well and completes the criteria that we were asked to carry out. Creating an application challenged us in both development and documentation as it was different to the project we did last term. We had to think of and research new technologies and this helped us to learn more about web application design.

Success Criteria


We can see how successful our application was when we compare it to our requirements that we wrote at the beginning of the project;

• Must be inspired by a board game, or some form of children's game, and this inspiration must be obvious in the final product- Our application was inspired by the game hide and seek and this is obvious in the final game play, the app has two different forms of game play, one where you can simply just message your friends to see where they are, or one where u can play the game as a hider or seeker.  

• The application needs to be easy to use. People of all ages including 40+ will be using our application as it is designed for families so the interface should be simple and similar to other iPhone application platforms and therefore recognisable to the user to make it easier to use- The application has a simple user interface and looks similar to other iPhone interfaces therefore has continuity in terms of general iPhone applications. This will make it easier to use especially for older iPhone users as hopefully they will find our application has a familiar interface. 

• Must provide an enjoyable experience for the user. The application should create a fun experience and keep the user engaged for a prolonged amount of time- Our application is multifunctional and one of these functions is as a hider and seeker game, having played the app ourselves we had a pretty good time walking around Drake Circus sending photos and trying to find people and we are sure that any user would find the same. 

• The final idea must be unique and take our ideas to the 'next level' to make sure we have developed something fun and engaging that uses the best of our skills- Through our development process we have be able to develop our original ideas in a successful web application and something, we feel, has not be created before. 

• The final application must use iPhone or web app development software- Our final application uses iWebKit which is web app development software. 

• The application must work on the iPhone 4- We have tested the application on our iPhones and found that it works pretty well. 

• The application must have the potential to be developed to other mobile platforms like Android and other smart phones, even if we do not have time to develop it to this level- iWebKit can only develop iPhone web applications but if we wanted to we could develop the same app for other mobile phone applications. 

• The application must provide a fun and exciting game experience and a functional experience for the user so they can choose which they want to use- Our application is multifunctional so the user can choose the way they want to use the application depending on the amount of time they have and the number of people they want to play with. 

As you can see we completed all of our requirements which shows that we sticked to them and kept them in mind throughout the development and creation of the application.

Improvements 

The app could be a lot more efficient for the iPhone if developed natively in a iOS format however this would not allow cross platform adaptability. Though our project is based on iPhone, it could be adapted with more time to work on other smart phones, however to develop it natively for each device would be the best option, though not applicable with our time and resources. This would also improve many of the features within the app, for example native development for iOS would make the basic ‘send Blip’ feature of sending a sound to another persons phone, as the iPhone does not allow basic javascript manipulation of inline audio, creating a big problem for the web app, which would be a simple solution creating it manually.

Due to restrictions in time, resources and people power, this app has been restricted, and is just a prototype of what it could be in the future; an effective and powerful ‘Hello World’ for what it could become with further development and attention. As stated before, it could be further developed natively for more platforms, however features such as the ability to take and send photos as clues could be developed further and more effectively.       

Group Dynamics

We aimed to act like the specialization model. This allowed us to focus on our skill set while focusing on a main aim. At the start of the project this however was not the case. Intentional we aimed to work like the peer model. This allowed us all to be involved with the initial stages then as the work load got more specialized we split into groups, mainly the first and second years. This was a shame as it would have been nice to be aware of both sides. However i think that we learnt a great deal of information and working skills that will be useful for next year.

Deployment

Walkthrough of Beacon in-development prototype.

Plan for Deployment

• First of all we need to make our application. We are using iWebKit so the application can be coded on our computers as a webpage and uploaded to the internet. 

• Once we have the application working we need to test it. The best way to test it would be going out into Drake Circus and playing the game using all the different options and see what worked and what didn't. This would give us a clear view of what worked well and what needed to be improved.

• Once the application is done and is working we need to get it onto the market. There are several ways of doing this; we are making a web application so users of smart phones like the iPhone can go onto the internet to our webpage and save the page to their background like a bookmark. It would then appear as an application that they can access straight from their phone.

• Another option for deployment is becoming an Apple developer. We can pay £100 to register as a developer and with this we can upload our application to the app store, this may be more beneficial than the other option as the app store gets a lot of hits everyday, this way we can make sure that lots of people see our application, and if the application is free it may be more encouraging to people to download it. 

Timetable: 

For this project we do not have such a strict timetable centred around one day as we are not making an installation. We want to get our app up and running as soon as possible though so we have a rough timescale in which to make the project, mainly planned out week by week. Rather than a timetable, we have a list of things that need to be done in a certain order before we can deploy our application. 

14/01/11: Given the brief; between now and the end of January we have the opportunity to do the planning part of the process. This involves thinking of new ideas and developing our final idea so we have a clear scope of what our project is going to be about and what we are making. 

21/01/11: Research; after our first group discussion research should be done into what programs we could use to make our application. Ideas should be developed and our final idea should be taking form. The research can help us plan out what our application will look like and how it will function. 

28/01/11: Final idea; our final idea should be finished with justification of which board game(s) we are taking inspiration from and how we have incorporated this into our ideas. With our final idea sorted we should we able to move on to development of the visualisation and some mockups of what the application will look like on the iPhone. 

04/02/11: Begin coding; after 2/3 weeks of group discussion we now need to begin to start coding our application. We have settled on the final idea for the game, Beacon, and now need to move on to doing some documentation as well as making the app.  

04/03/11: Testing; after a month of coding our application should be finished, so we can now move onto testing. The best way to test it would be taking our phones to Drake Circus and playing the game ourselves to get a feel of what the game is like and what areas could be improved or changed if any need to be. Those who were not involved with the coding part of the project should be working on the documentation, doing more research, and feeding their results back to the coders who could incorporate them into the application. 

18/03/11: Documentation completed; documentation needs to be completed by this date and the application should be ready to be released. Any final alterations should be made to the application in the next week. 

25/03/11: Application completed; the application should be completed by now, with all the final adjustments made and completed. The website should be up and running ready for people to download it to their phones. If we decide to upload it to the app store then we need to apply for a developers licence. 

Possible Problems: 

There are only a couple of problems we could face when it comes to deploying our application:

• Application does not work; in order to stop this happening we need to make sure we thoroughly test our application before we release it to the public. We need to go out into Drake Circus and make sure we use every aspect of the app to make sure each one works and eliminate any bugs or problems that we find.

Creation and Realisation - iPhone Web App Interface Mock Ups

These are a series of screenshots of the Apps interface: (Click to enlarge any image)

Loading/Title Screen shown while app loads.

Home screen shown when app is loaded, providing user with information about How To Play, an about page at the top, and the ability to log in with Twitter.

The page shown when 'About' is pressed, with the ability to return to the previous page.

The page taken to outside the app when  'Log In With Twitter' is pressed, the page on Twitter, allows the ability to log in, and link the account with the app.

Screen shot showing the addition of account details with the iPhones integrated keyboard automatically appearing.

Page telling user connection of Twitter was successful and a link to get back to the Beacon app. 

Game Lobby page showing Twitter account names of hosts that are available and the choice to select a a host, or to host your own game.

Same as above, however the host available has been selected. 

Next when selected, or making a new game, is the ability to invite friends to the game, and then a button to start the game.

Same as above but with other Twitter names added, no '@' symbol is required, it is added automatically.

Same as above however with invites sent to people. 

Screen showing seekers perspective, with abilities to send Blip, request location or a clue about location. Selecting a person by pushing slider to on for person to send to.

(All images are preliminary and not an exact representation of final product.)

Creation and Realisation

For our application we need to make a visualisation of the map of the shopping centre so that people can select where they are on the map and can see where their friends and family are. The map is shown on the main screen and the user can plot where their friends are.

In order to make this I took a screen shot of an overview of Drake Circus for Google Maps and uploaded it into photoshop. This helped me get the general outline of the shopping centre and helped me plot out where I needed to put all the shops.

Once I had the photo in photoshop i drew the outline of the centre over the picture so I could get it accurate. After this I plotted out the shops and drew in where they all go. 

Below is a mock up of a possible screen capture from the iPhone and an example of how the game works. The hider can click on the shop that they are in and receive a collection of photos from a cache of images of the area they are in. The players can flick between the levels of the shopping centre and select the different shops. The screen won't look exactly like this but this shows how the concept will work: 

Inspiration:

From the screen shots in the post above you can see how hide and seek has influenced the way we have designed our game and they way you play it. The original concept of hide and seek, one person finds all the people hiding, has been incorporated in the way that the first user selects themselves as the finder and the rest of the people linked into the game become the hiders. From here the group can split into separate locations across the map and its the seekers job to find them all.

However we have tried not to be too literal with the game of hide and seek. Although our application can be played like this we wanted to make it a bit different to try and develop the game more and bring it into modern day using the features on the iPhone. Players can send photos of the location they are in to get the seeker to guess where abouts they are on the map. This adds a bit of fun to the game as the seeker has to guess where they are rather than simply finding the hider. The seeker can also send 'blips' to the hiders phone when they get close to their location to make the hiders phone make a noise so it is easier to determine where they are. Again we have tried to develop on the original game to make it more technological, and more fun for the players.

As well as the game function the application has a more practical aspect. If you and your friends are lost in the area and can't find each other the application acts as communication between you so you can send an instant message telling your friends where you are. We wanted to include this more practical feature to make our application more than just a game. Hopefully this will make it appeal to a wider range of people and make the application more helpful.

Meeting the Requirements:

• The application is clearly linked to the game we chosen, hide and seek, and uses this concept effectively. It is obvious how we have incorporated the game into our ideas and final designs and we have expanded on the original concept to take the application to the next level. 

• The application is easy to use. The interface is really simple so could be used by anyone of any age and uses the same layout and styling as other iPhone applications which would help a new user as they would already be familiar with the layout. 

• We will be able to get a better idea whether the application is enjoyable to use when we test it but so far we have made an effective application that does what we want it to and has a game function and a practical function so should be enjoyable for the user. We aim to make an enjoyable application so hopefully our final product will be. 

• We have taken our ideas to the next level and developed them as a group. We have always liked the idea that our application goes back to the basics of what a game is supposed to do, bring a family together, and we have made something that practically does this. We put all our skills together to complete this project and we have collectively created something that has expanded our ideas and led us to be more creative. 

• Our final application was made using iWebKit as a web application. 

• The website for beacon can be accessed on the iPhone 4 and downloaded to the desktop to be played directly from there where the user wants to.

• We hope to develop our application onto other smart phone platforms. Currently the app can only be accessed from the iPhone but in the future we want to develop it further and make it a multi-platform application. 

• Our game is practical and fun to use and the user can choose which function they want from their application. 

iWebKit Help

We found a couple of helpful videos on YouTube that could help us to use iWebKit, some of the other tutorials are quite long and are not tailored for the kind of thing we want to make so most of the application development on iWebKit will come from past experience with the program or trail and error:

Requirements and Specification

Requirements for our application:

• Must be inspired by a board game, or some form of children's game, and this inspiration must be obvious in the final product. 

• The application needs to be easy to use. People of all ages including 40+ will be using our application as it is designed for families so the interface should be simple and similar to other iPhone application platforms and therefore recognisable to the user to make it easier to use. 

• Must provide an enjoyable experience for the user. The application should create a fun experience and keep the user engaged for a prolonged amount of time. 

• The final idea must be unique and take our ideas to the 'next level' to make sure we have developed something fun and engaging that uses the best of our skills. 

• The final application must use iPhone or web app development software. 

• The application must work on the iPhone 4. 

• The application must have the potential to be developed to other mobile platforms like Android and other smart phones, even if we do not have time to develop it to this level. 

• The application must provide a fun and exciting game experience and a functional experience for the user so they can choose which they want to use.