Wrapping Up the Semester: Mobile/Interactive Design

I don't own a smartphone, and I had never even held a tablet before this class. I had an inkling I was behind the technology curve in that regard, but it was really cemented for me when, at the beginning of the semester, the professor, Pattie Belle Hastings, had us lay out our phones on a table so we could talk about the average user profile of the room. Out of the whole class, I was the only person who didn't have a smartphone. At least it was unique.

Yes, that does say 6:32 am. Don't judge.

From there on out, though, I had to do a lot of research to keep myself on par with the class. Even the most basic elements of apps, like menu structure and icon placement, I had to research. Personally, I think this gave me an edge, since I essentially had an excuse to really delve into the things that most smartphone users simply take for granted, learning about the design decisions that influence smartphone design. It also let me criticize the system a bit and find my own ways to do things (for better and for worse; I've never heard the phrase "This is a safe place to fail" so many times in my life!)

All told, I don't think I failed (Well, at least I hope not, since I kind of need this course to graduate in a few weeks!) I learned the most I ever have in any one class from Mobile/Interactive Design, mostly because I started out knowing so little. I feel like I was able to effectively research to make up for my technological deficiencies and come out with very strong designs and layouts. I really enjoy the field of UX/UI; it's something I would definitely consider for a career in the future. There's a nice cross-section of print design and game design in the field, it almost feels like that could be where my whole career as a designer has been headed all along!

And who knows, maybe one day I'll get a smartphone to test my own designs on :P

Tabletop - UI Prototype Demo

Here it is: the User Interface Demo of the Tabletop Game Prototyping App:

The prototype is hosted on the Invision App prototyping tool and can be accessed here (at least until June 2014, then my temporary membership to the program expires). I'll admit, the set-up I made for this app is a lot more "demo-centric" than my previous Errands App, but that's because this app has a more robust set of uses and directions. In retrospect, I probably could have made a more interactive prototype in Flash; allowing the user to actually manipulate and edit the objects. There's always room for improvement :P
It's kind of neat to have moved the Tabletop Game Prototyping App to the UI mockup phase of development. I've become really attached to the project; it's definitely my favorite app design I've done, probably since I really think that an app like it would be an excellent tool. It's generated a surprising amount of positive feedback and interest, enough for me to consider revisiting it with a few of my programmer friends. With just a small amount of refinement, this could even be put up on Kickstarter in the hopes of generating enough funds to make it happen. Either way, I'm very happy with the way the app design has come out, and I think I've developed both a strong visual design and a strong user interface design.

Tabletop App Paper prototyping

I tried something new with this prototype. Unlike my previous one, where I used a whole new screen for each menu, submenu, etc., I tried separating out the menus and just placing them over the background screen to simulate ho the app would actually work. Now, I did run into a few issues; about midway in I admit that I forgot to print a menu, and the "back" button from the Playtest screen is mysteriously missing. But, it did let me show off the "drag and drop" elements of the app in a paper prototype environment, which I'm kind of proud of. In my defense, I did try to keep the number of screens to a minimum so that I could just add menus on top, but clearly some of navigation fell by the wayside (or to the floor when I was trimming).

Next time I do this, I have to lay it all out and go through it a few times myself, that way I don't have any embarrassing little hitches in the layout. Also, using some basic color might help; just watching the video, I can see the whole thing is very gray (between the table and the paper prototypes).

Special thanks to Nick for being the user, Jason for filming, and Ninjamock for being a sick tool.

Tabletop Game Prototyping - UI Mockups

The project continues! These are mockups of what the User Interface for the Tabletop app will (might) look like. I tried to give it a look that wasn't specifically geared towards RPGs and Fantasy games, but definitively themed. I won't lie, I drew a lot of inspiration from Card Hunter's UI and the inner workings of Roll20, at least for an idea for styling.
You might notice a definitive lack of 3D in these comps. That doesn't mean that the app doesn't feature 3D, it just means that the comps are all of screens looking at the view top-down :P

Also, I have more developments (such as an elevator pitch and a marketing idea) on my concurrent blog, Little Game Tweaks.

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Card Table Proposal

I'll let the document speak for itself:

iPad App Development, Phase I: Researching the Idea

I could give you some spiel about how there are no new ideas, but let's face it; you've heard it before. Even the phrase "nothing the under the sun" is terribly cliched. Coming up with new ideas is tough, but you have to try hard, be creative, and most importantly, do your research, to be as original as possible.
This all holds doubly true for apps. As I've been looking into iPad and tablet apps, I've realized that any schmuck with some basic programming skills can make an app, and while they might not all be good ones, the ideas are still out there. Here are some ideas my research turned up:

Need It/Got It

College kids, especially Freshman, find themselves unable to go shopping and get their hands on some things that they might normally want at school. At the same time, they end up with plenty of things they end up not needing or wanting. The goal of this app would be to connect the two ends together.

Need It/Got It is an app focused on setting up small-scale trades between college students, say a box of mac and cheese for some batteries. It would provide an easy space for students to post and search for things they might need and make an offer to whoever has it. There could even be a space for "want it," for longer term listing of larger items, like games or textbooks.

Now, I understand that Craigslist is a thing, but it has some real image issues and has no focus. Need It/Got It would be different in that it would be geared toward students at a particular college (and wouldn't host creepy listings. It would also use a shorter timescale; the goal would be for trades to be executed within an hour of posting.

Competitors for the app would be the aforementioned Craigslist, as well as the hard-to-track-down "swap-meet" type app Anttenna (their site has gone dead). Catering to college kids will set Need It/Got It up and apart from the competition.

Unnamed Jam App (Marmalade?)

Forming a band is tough; you have to find a group of people who can get along well enough to make and play music together. Unnamed Jam App seeks to remove that aspect. Users of this app would log in when they want to make music, and be placed into a jam session with other musicians based on preferences (users can set their genre preference, as well as how willing they are to play with other users of different genres). The users can then use the tablet to share music, lyrics, and chords to jam together from wherever they are.

The premise of this app would be anonymous, near-random groupings of musicians collaborating on a single song together. While there would be options for contacting your grouping afterwards (to share a recording, perhaps), that wouldn't be the focus.

There are tons of apps meant to help musicians jam, especially over distances. Garageband, eJamming, and Ninjam allow for musicians to connect and record over distances, but not randomly or anonymously. This app would aim to be different because it connects you with musicians you don't know, which can lead to some awesome, unexpected music.

Card Table

This app is a card game platform based around the idea of a virtual tabletop. Nearby users would be able to play games together, sharing the "tabletop" of their tablets while being able to have a hand of cards. Users would be able to create custom cards using an in-app editor, or use pictures to create cards (similarly to the Pop App).

The inspiration for this app comes from programs like OCTGN, a computer program that allows users to play custom card games  online, but with a focus on interface and mobility. It could be an excellent tool for game designers, allowing them to test custom card games (with possible options for board games?) easily and in a simple to use format.

My research brought up some copyright issues that a program similar to OCTGN ran in to. Based around the card game Magic: the Gathering, the program Cockatrice (now taken down) used loaded images of the cards and violated the company's copyright. This app could get around that by not coming preloaded with anything besides a basic set of cards, but still allowing users to take their own pictures for personal use.