It's been a long journey, but we made it!
Monday, May 18, 2015
Hello Drawing World!
It's been a long journey, but we made it!
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Presentation Day
We have finally finished Brick Bash and even added a couple of extra features. There is now background music during game play and extra sound that says "game over". In addition, we have fixed a lot of the smaller bugs such as transitioning between rounds, saving the upgrade amount properly, and audio bugs. We plan to present our game today along with the rest of other team game apps
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The Home Stretch
A productive weekend has left the Java Turtles with only a short to-do list for both apps..
We have an upgrade shop full of working upgrades. We have added a time upgrade, which adds 5 seconds to each round, a nuke upgrade, which destroys the brick in one hit and a money upgrade, which gives the user 50 percent more upgrades each round. The cherry on top of these upgrades is that we have added whimsical sound effects for when you buy the upgrade and when you use them. In order to Brick Bash to be deemed "complete" we still need to determine how much each upgrade will cost and display that cost with each upgrade. Additionally, we would like to add some "quality of life" upgrades with allow the user to change the the noises or music during the game. Once these finishing touches have been done, we will be able to wrap up Brick Bash.
Meanwhile, the only thing left to do for Sketch Send is to be able to pull down drawings from Parse and redraw them. As of right now, the app stores the drawing as a serialized string, then stores it using Parse. We are working on retrieving it from Parse and deserializing it so that it can be redrawn. In order to be able to redraw the sketch, we are creating an activity that draws it. So, the last steps we need to take are to get the activity working correctly.
We have an upgrade shop full of working upgrades. We have added a time upgrade, which adds 5 seconds to each round, a nuke upgrade, which destroys the brick in one hit and a money upgrade, which gives the user 50 percent more upgrades each round. The cherry on top of these upgrades is that we have added whimsical sound effects for when you buy the upgrade and when you use them. In order to Brick Bash to be deemed "complete" we still need to determine how much each upgrade will cost and display that cost with each upgrade. Additionally, we would like to add some "quality of life" upgrades with allow the user to change the the noises or music during the game. Once these finishing touches have been done, we will be able to wrap up Brick Bash.
Meanwhile, the only thing left to do for Sketch Send is to be able to pull down drawings from Parse and redraw them. As of right now, the app stores the drawing as a serialized string, then stores it using Parse. We are working on retrieving it from Parse and deserializing it so that it can be redrawn. In order to be able to redraw the sketch, we are creating an activity that draws it. So, the last steps we need to take are to get the activity working correctly.
The Eye of the Storm
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| image taken fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_%28cyclone%29 |
Now that we have made significant progress on both apps, Tyrant Ben has loosened his grasp on the Java Turtles. We find ourselves able to relax, celebrate, and even take a moment to look out the window. But we fear that this is only the eye of the storm with the deadlines for both apps coming up next week..
After a full day's work (instead of attending Symposium Day), we have almost finished the desired upgrades for Brick Bash. "Slash Attack", the swiping upgrade, Click Power, and the bomb upgrade, which destroys a third of the brick's health, are all working with no major bugs. In addition to the upgrades, we have attached "Brick Bits", our in-game currency, to the upgrades so that the users can no longer buy upgrades without having any currency. The next step is to decide how much each upgrade will cost and display each cost in the upgrade shop. After we finish the last couple of upgrades and put the finishing touches on the app, Brick Bash will be finished.
Sketch Send is also very close to being done. When a user draws a sketch, each "line" (drawing without picking up his/her finger) is stored as a string value that contains the color, width, and where the line was drawn. Essentially it does so by recording each point at which your finger moved across and then stores that into the string. In order to be able to send a drawing from one user to another, we have to be able to be able to get that string value into Parse.com, have the recipient be able to pull it down and parse through the string so that the sketch is redrawn.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
A Quick Update
After a short coding party on Symposium Day's Eve, we finally have sketches!
We now have an almost fully functional canvas. On the canvas page, we have functional buttons to change the color and width of the line that you draw.
So far, we have run into a handful of problems using GitHub, particularly with Brick Bash. We don't quite understand all of the problems that we've encountered but when Grace pushed Brick Bash to to GitHub and then Ben pulled the project, somehow the .iml file got modified and then deleted. We were able to fix the problem by checking out the project again and hope that we will not run into any further issues.
We now have an almost fully functional canvas. On the canvas page, we have functional buttons to change the color and width of the line that you draw.
So far, we have run into a handful of problems using GitHub, particularly with Brick Bash. We don't quite understand all of the problems that we've encountered but when Grace pushed Brick Bash to to GitHub and then Ben pulled the project, somehow the .iml file got modified and then deleted. We were able to fix the problem by checking out the project again and hope that we will not run into any further issues.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Upgrades and Photoshop Beautification
This edition finds the turtles deep at work as they heroically trudge towards completion of Brick Bash...
The last week has been spent spending a large part of our work towards completing our group game, Brick Bash. The first of our major changes has come in creating our Brick.java class. Previously, everything that the PlayActivity calculated and displayed was all done in the PlayActivity.java. We started the process of cleaning our code by creating the Brick class, which is now responsible for creating the Brick object, keeping track of current health, the number of hits it has taken, and the image to display based on the health of the brick. It has moved the majority of the calculations to the separate class and removed a large portion of fields and methods from the PlayActivity to Brick.
The second of our major updates is the grand opening of the UpgradeShop.java. We have two upgrades that now can increase the tap power, as well as activate a swipe power which does more damage to the brick. We are still working on finishing the upgrade shop with upgrades like a bomb, golden brick, auto tapper, currency boost, increased round time, instant round clear, audio upgrades, and possible visual upgrades. We think that now that we have created a system for creating the upgrades, we should be able to push out new ones much quicker.
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While Sketch Send has not been the focus during our last week, we have made some changes to our non-game as well. We have completed the Contacts list, which now allows the user to add, select, and delete. It also has connected to parse, and will only allow a user to be added to the contacts list if the contact has been stored on parse. PhotoshopMaster Trevor also made some awesome buttons for our app, which now looks significantly more visually appealing.
We end this post with and update on Tyrant Ben. It has now become a full fledged dictatorship, with the following pictures as an accurate depiction of our working conditions.
- Tyrant Ben (https://rockpaperwatch.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/ojw2b1mivw7e06xjmt151.jpg)
- Tyrant Ben with his puppets (http://www.cartoonmovement.com/depot/cartoons/2011/10/01/the_tyrant__matteo_bertelli.jpeg)
The last week has been spent spending a large part of our work towards completing our group game, Brick Bash. The first of our major changes has come in creating our Brick.java class. Previously, everything that the PlayActivity calculated and displayed was all done in the PlayActivity.java. We started the process of cleaning our code by creating the Brick class, which is now responsible for creating the Brick object, keeping track of current health, the number of hits it has taken, and the image to display based on the health of the brick. It has moved the majority of the calculations to the separate class and removed a large portion of fields and methods from the PlayActivity to Brick.
The second of our major updates is the grand opening of the UpgradeShop.java. We have two upgrades that now can increase the tap power, as well as activate a swipe power which does more damage to the brick. We are still working on finishing the upgrade shop with upgrades like a bomb, golden brick, auto tapper, currency boost, increased round time, instant round clear, audio upgrades, and possible visual upgrades. We think that now that we have created a system for creating the upgrades, we should be able to push out new ones much quicker.
.png)
While Sketch Send has not been the focus during our last week, we have made some changes to our non-game as well. We have completed the Contacts list, which now allows the user to add, select, and delete. It also has connected to parse, and will only allow a user to be added to the contacts list if the contact has been stored on parse. PhotoshopMaster Trevor also made some awesome buttons for our app, which now looks significantly more visually appealing.We end this post with and update on Tyrant Ben. It has now become a full fledged dictatorship, with the following pictures as an accurate depiction of our working conditions.
- Tyrant Ben (https://rockpaperwatch.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/ojw2b1mivw7e06xjmt151.jpg)
- Tyrant Ben with his puppets (http://www.cartoonmovement.com/depot/cartoons/2011/10/01/the_tyrant__matteo_bertelli.jpeg)
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
A New Tyrant in Town
"All hail Tyrant Ben!"
As we've continued to work on our two apps, we've constantly been joking that Ben has become the over-ambitious tyrant of our group. While meeting up for a "coding party" Ben suggested that a cool way to incorporate different strategies to break the brick would be in the upgrades. The idea is that the user will initially only be able to tap the brick to break it but then once the users accumulates enough "brick bits", the name of our in game currency, the user will be able to purchase a swipe upgrade. Swiping the brick will have more brick breaking power than merely tapping. Once the user has purchased the swiping upgrade, we want the user to be able to either tap or swipe as desired. And of course, the user will be able to buy upgrades for both tapping and swiping.
In terms of progress on Brick Bash, we have continued to work on our upgrades. We now have a basic xml file for the upgrades and a java class to go with it so that when the user clicks on the upgrade, the upgrade actually works. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done. The next steps are to link our upgrades to the in game currency so that user is able to purchase them.
In other news, we have continued to make significant gains in Sketch Send. Using parse.com users are able to create a unique username that is associated with their email address. Then, using parse, the app checks to make sure that the user entered a valid username and email address. Once the user has created the account, the user is able to switch users, or create a new account. As of right now, we don't have an option for the user to log out, but are definitely hoping to include that in our final version. Instead, the app just automatically logs in the last user.In addition the getting the username feature to work, we have also been able to create the canvas for the user to draw on. From here we hope to add in features to change the color and width of the line you draw.
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| Java Turtles coding party |
In terms of progress on Brick Bash, we have continued to work on our upgrades. We now have a basic xml file for the upgrades and a java class to go with it so that when the user clicks on the upgrade, the upgrade actually works. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done. The next steps are to link our upgrades to the in game currency so that user is able to purchase them.
In other news, we have continued to make significant gains in Sketch Send. Using parse.com users are able to create a unique username that is associated with their email address. Then, using parse, the app checks to make sure that the user entered a valid username and email address. Once the user has created the account, the user is able to switch users, or create a new account. As of right now, we don't have an option for the user to log out, but are definitely hoping to include that in our final version. Instead, the app just automatically logs in the last user.In addition the getting the username feature to work, we have also been able to create the canvas for the user to draw on. From here we hope to add in features to change the color and width of the line you draw.
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