Project 2 - 2B - Complete and Finished

The app is now handed in and the video along with it. The ad for it, though not needed for the hand-in, nicely explains what my app is about. So for this final post I will include the informative advert to tie my whole project together.

So to finish, here is my ad for 'powerSave':

Project 2 - 2B - finished app (and extension notice)

Just a short note to say that the app was finished in time and the .ipa was created successfully. I presented it on the big screen, then whipped out my phone and showed it off on there too. I also found out that there was a 2 week extension for the app which was muchly appreciated. This meant that I would be able to add things like actual challenges, as opposed to preset challenge 1, 2, 3, and 4. And also a notification saying that the challenge has actually been sent.

Project 2 - 2B - interesting flash discovery

I quickly got used to the functions in flash and created my app rather seamlessly. I figured out, and fixed the odd bug and broken redirect rather quickly also and then decided to export my (then thought) finished app to a .swf format.

As I was going through the export functions in Adobe Flash I found an export for iOS setting. Now as an iPhone user this immediately picked my interest. I explored this and realised that I could get my app to work on my iPhone. So, I exported using this, and sure enough it worked. I then went through and revised my flash project and optimized it for the iPhone. Due to this, it meant certain things like scrolling through lists were not able to be done on the computer, which was unfortunate, but not critical as I could show it on my phone.

The .ipa (iPhone application) testings were very annoying. It took a much longer time to save the files, and then I had to sync them to my phone. Once I had done that I needed to test that each thing, in each version, was still working fine and well. What was annoying was the fact that I wanted to present it on my phone and I was running out of time and each and every export for iOS took a much longer time than was wanted. Due to my willingness to stay up late (early) I finished the app, with a few minor things missing but that was bearable.

Project 2 - 2B - starting flash

I made my first 'fake app' using Microsoft PowerPoint, which worked but had no animations. aka it looked bad. I showed this to my tutor who then reiterated that flash was a good program to use and that if I was going to continue in the media program it would be a good skill to have. It was also said that the animations would make it look really professional and better than a PowerPoint presentation

I was scared of flash to start with, as it was a big thing to learn for a new project, hence making a PowerPoint presentation. Once I actually tried, and looked into the program, I found may way around and realised it was surprisingly easy. I imported all my images into flash and I was away. Discovering the motion tween was really useful, it enabled the animations that were spoken of previously to be used and they worked really well.

Project 2 - 2B - layout changes and enhancements

This post is mainly just to update the layout status of my app.
The challenges icon has been moved into the center, as this is the 'center' focus for the app, to challenge others.

I have also decided on a font to keep consistent throughout my app and I decided turn the top icon to a grey light grey colour to clearly show what page you are on. A background gradient was also added.

Project 2 - 2B - project startings

I started my app building process by looking again at my precedent image and thinking about where I wanted to take the colour scheme of my app.

This was the precedent:

I chose to go along with a blue themed app. After a brief mockup session I created some icons and put them into place (can be seen below). Each icon you see in the app, below and in future posts, is and was created by me.

So, here is the first sort of mockup of what I thought my app would look like:

Because I wanted to simulate connecting to facebook as how it might act in real life, I also created the gif image which is seen below, to simulate this. I was quite proud of what eventuated. (click image to see it animated)

Project 2A - Correct reading order

Power Meter reactions and usage
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/power-meter-reactions-and-usage.html

Project 2 - Inspiration
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-2-inspiration.html

Porject 2A - Proposal
http://dsdn112jamesgodfrey.blogspot.com/2011/09/project-2a-proposal.html