PhoneBomber Version Alpha 5 available

Lots of changes on this one.  The only issues I have on my V1-todo are Better Logo, flush out bomb selection, and game play.  So doing pretty good :)

I'm going to have my 4 alpha users hit this for a couple of days.  If that goes well, it will go into Alpha 1 with more users.

I've would like to get the iPhone version done, and am looking at the Windows Phone 7 platform - it's WPF/C#, so I should be able to get something done there pretty quick (doubly so as I already have the back end written, for my tester app, as a WinForm C# .Net App)

Changes 9/11/2010
Alpha .5

- SAX (performance should be better)
- Improved reverse geocode (Using Bing)
- Show local time (was GMT)
- All news now showing
- Countdown times showing seconds
- Enter stats lines now clickable for stats leveling on user tab. Also did bigger, better graphic
- Logoff user now verifies that they really want to.
- Map of user bombs off of main tab.
- Clicking on news icon will now give details, with map
- On distance too far, showing better info.
- Place totals on user (Total Bombs Placed/Exploded, Total people injured/killed, etc)
- Fix death on explode (seem to be getting 1 HP on return, need to show 0)
- On Computer spawn, match both level AND location.
- Reduce disarm to 150 meters
- "Far" is now 50 miles
- Show map on Combo Place and Disarm (no move)
- Home screen - now showing system news.
- On My Bombs, show damage bomb did, details, etc (popup)
- Improve signup screen
- Must be within 150 meters of bomb to disarm.

Heading to Beta1

Lots of cleanup, with some new function added.  Users can now request missions.  When they get them, they'll need to get within 200 meters and place a bomb. If it blows that close, they'll get a extra bonus for taking out the contract.

I tried it for real - request 5.  1 was about 4 blocks from my house, so drove over.  Had some problems getting close enough.  Drove back and forth a few times, to get close to area.  For a while I thought I was going to have to wander into someones front yard... which wouldn't have been good.

Anyway, finally got it - had a lot of fun doing it:)

May increase the distance to be in range, so you just need to get in the general vicinity to get it.

Going to ship this out to a few testers this weekend.  If it goes well, I'll post over on XDA to get some more on it.

I will likely, beyond bug and game balance fixes, be putting the facebook and twitter feeds in next.


Beta 1
 - Request Missions
 - SAX (performance?)
 - Improved reverse geocode (Using bing)
 - Show local time (was GMT)
 - All news now showing
 - Countdown times showing seconds
 - Enter stats lines now clickable for stats leveling on user tab. Also did bigger, better graphic
 - Logoff user now verifies.
 - Map of user bombs off of main tab.
 - Clicking on news icon will now give details, with map
 - On distance too far, showing better info.
 - Return bomb on disarm message, for detailed info
 - Place totals on user (Total Bombs Placed/Exploded, Total people injured/killed, etc)
 - Fix death on explode (seem to be getting 1 HP on return, need to show 0)
 - On Computer spawn, match both level AND location.
 - Do full bomb list (now available to level 1000)
 - Reduce disarm to 150 meters
 - "Far" is now 50 miles
 - On distance too far, showing better info.
 - Show map on Combo Place and Disarm
 - Home screen - now showing system news.
 - On My Bombs, show damage bomb did, details, etc (popup)
 - Improve signup screen
 - Base Stamina to disarm on bomb stamina required (new bomb/placed bomb fields)
 - Show current location on map on contracts and disarm map (and update) (so you can walk towards the bomb and see it on the map)
 - Help
 - Top Players list (off of users)

Clearing Info

Work has been VERY busy the last couple of months, so haven't had a chance to work on PhoneBomber at all.  Going to do some head-down work this weekend, and try to get beta one ready to go.

Going to be doing a purge of alpha bomb info (keeping user info for now).


Here's the last status map:

GPSCheat!

I've been VERY distracted by a tool I decided to write (working name was SmartLocation, current release name is GPSCheat!).  As testers played PB game, I want to be able to be near them to play around where they were at.  There's some fake-GPS apps out there, but not very well done and a pain to use.

The biggest thing was having to keep re-enter locs.  GPSCheat lets you add a (named) loc to a list, and then you can just click to go back.  Also helps a bit with getting the user setup (still a pain, but at least guides you through the process)

Main site is at http://www.gpscheat.com

It's out on the Market Place, selling for $1.29 (Woot! Got an actual released app on now, Finally!  Just wish it has PB :)

GPSCheat! - V1.3

Changes for V1.3:

• Address Look-up.  This allows the user to request the lat/lon for a specific address (zip, street/city/state, well know location, whatever).  Will set the pop-up map to that location, and then can click to adjust.  This is the biggest enhancment for 1.3 - should be VERY handy!
• Fix for menu/back resetting spinner to none  (I was looking for key events, and on ANY (for lat/lon) was setting the current location to none.  So if one was selected and the back key was pressed, it gets a special key event - which I am now ignoring, as far as spinner processing goes. )
• On non-user GPS locations, truncate to 4 decimal places (map click and address lookup).  4 is very accurate - and fits better on the entry fields (doubt many people would want it out to 8...)
• Better error handling

Probably not going to mess with this for a while, unless a major bug is found.  14 have sold since it went up 5 days ago

Next Alpha

Just some quick updates tonight.


Changes - 7/29/2010

Alpha .4

- After login,  the loc engine wasn't started.  It is now
- Correctly update stats on user page (X/Y - slash was missing)
- Threading stat update - buttons grey out while stats update request is in process.
- Computer players were placing bombs to be disarmed - but they were not blowing up.  That limit has been turned off.-
- Duplicate players can't be created (based on e-mail)

Update .3

Release Alpha .3
- Reverse Geo-code working. Should put something helpful for "Location Name" on place bomb
- Convert toast when bomb explode seconds to time (+ warning if level 10+)
- Clicking on the near tab will force a refresh of near list
- Showing location name in near list
- Fixed Injured stats for user
- Add cached update of exploded bombs, for Google Maps - Updates every 6 hours
- Keep track of if a bomb blows or is disarmed, and if blown what kill/injury it did.
- On Google map, diff icons for blown vs disarmed (and give stats for both)