Author Topic: mobile-CAR  (Read 5541 times)

Offline Paul

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mobile-CAR
« on: May 12, 2017, 12:04:54 PM »
I'm not sure a footnote from the v1CAR is going to be valid though, we've already determined that v2 is required.  The published rules have been rewritten and will have to be re-verified for CARv2.

This is one of many reasons why an app is the way to go for the new CAR. You'd then be able to pick a "version" and it will show only those rules. Even then, during play, you can maybe click a button to show older or newer rule changes. The flexibility I feel is something that is needed at this point.
  If someone only like some of the new rules or vice versa, they can make a custom rule set, save it, upload it for sharing. Maybe even integrate this with the Java program for the tournaments.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3334.0
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Offline DaFees

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2017, 10:44:35 PM »
This is one of many reasons why an app is the way to go for the new CAR. You'd then be able to pick a "version" and it will show only those rules. Even then, during play, you can maybe click a button to show older or newer rule changes. The flexibility I feel is something that is needed at this point.
  If someone only like some of the new rules or vice versa, they can make a custom rule set, save it, upload it for sharing. Maybe even integrate this with the Java program for the tournaments.

Not to derail too much from the OP but I absolutely agree with the notion of "appifying" the CAR. I like the idea of customization in that you tell the app which expansions you are playing with and the app will only show you rules, footnotes, order of play, etc. as it pertains to only the expansions specified. Also if you're gonna go to all that trouble, for sake of being complete, might as well include the winter edition in there as well.

While I'm thinking about it, if the CAR were an app it could be handled one of two ways. The app connects to a server (if internet is enabled) and always grabs the latest version of the CAR (if it doesn't already have it), that or CAR updates can pushed out as app updates. Either way, not that the current method is hard by any means, but it would make downloading CAR updates easier. Plus it would make the CAR much more accessible. Yes, right now you can download the CAR directly to your phone/tablet or to a computer and then copy it to your phone/tablet but either way multiple steps are involved and you need to have a way of viewing PDFs on your device. Again, an app would certainly simplify that.

Offline Paul

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2017, 11:31:45 PM »
This is one of many reasons why an app is the way to go for the new CAR. You'd then be able to pick a "version" and it will show only those rules. Even then, during play, you can maybe click a button to show older or newer rule changes. The flexibility I feel is something that is needed at this point.
  If someone only like some of the new rules or vice versa, they can make a custom rule set, save it, upload it for sharing. Maybe even integrate this with the Java program for the tournaments.

Not to derail too much from the OP but I absolutely agree with the notion of "appifying" the CAR. I like the idea of customization in that you tell the app which expansions you are playing with and the app will only show you rules, footnotes, order of play, etc. as it pertains to only the expansions specified. Also if you're gonna go to all that trouble, for sake of being complete, might as well include the winter edition in there as well.

While I'm thinking about it, if the CAR were an app it could be handled one of two ways. The app connects to a server (if internet is enabled) and always grabs the latest version of the CAR (if it doesn't already have it), that or CAR updates can pushed out as app updates. Either way, not that the current method is hard by any means, but it would make downloading CAR updates easier. Plus it would make the CAR much more accessible. Yes, right now you can download the CAR directly to your phone/tablet or to a computer and then copy it to your phone/tablet but either way multiple steps are involved and you need to have a way of viewing PDFs on your device. Again, an app would certainly simplify that.

Yes. As many of us today have a smartphone or a tablet, the app would reach more people. It would definitely benefit from one app download and no server connect, other than an update like any other app, with rules changes and improvements. It would also allow for language support. One app to rule them all!
  My phone does read pdf files and it was not an expensive one (Moto X Style 5.7 inch screen) so I'm covered there for now.

It's all about the time consuming and work load and I don't mind waiting a while to get this done right. Meanwhile, the CAR in pdf could be updated.

Offline thodekey

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2017, 01:38:04 AM »
Totally agree in the APP-suggestion!  Great idea although i have no clue how easy/hard that would be to make...  :blue-meeple:

Offline Paul

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2017, 02:12:04 AM »
Totally agree in the APP-suggestion!  Great idea although i have no clue how easy/hard that would be to make...  :blue-meeple:

The app itself would be piece of cake for someone that can make apps.

There's also a free app builder called Android Studio that has gotten a lot of praise. I've installed it and tried it a few minutes, but it's VERY slow on my computer. Took me 30 mins from launching the program to being able to start building an app. Maybe someone else has a better computer. (Mine is pretty decent so don't know why it's slow.)

Offline jungleboy

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2017, 09:44:08 AM »
Thanks for splitting this out into its own thread Paul, and for starting us down this path. I'm in favour of a CAR app too, presuming that the permission CC has from HiG to publish the CAR extends to an app.

If enough people are interested in having input into this, I think we need to work together, collectively, to come up with a proposal. Rather than everyone just saying random stuff, how about we try to structure a conversation to find out what people want and who is willing to contribute?

There about two concepts in particular that I am thinking about at the moment, though I'd have to have a good look at the CAR to flesh out my own thoughts on them. Anyway, I will call them features and content, and although they're interrelated, I think it's worthwhile separating them here.

Features

Before starting development on an app, we would have to have a clear collective idea about what we want out of it and which features we would like to have included so we could present a proposal to a developer. For example, do you want a 'choose your game' feature, where you check the expansions you're using and you get a custom CAR for those expansions, as mentioned upthread? What other features do people want? 

Content

The content as currently written and displayed is a long document that's meant for printing and for reading on a laptop/tablet. If it goes into app form for viewing mostly on a phone, does the content itself need to be adapted/streamlined? If so, this would obviously fall on us to make these changes. For example, would it be worthwhile to write a sentence on how each expansion interacts with every other expansion (if applicable), so that this could easily be incorporated into the 'choose your game' feature? What other content issues (if any) can you see? Are there any sections in the current CAR that you don't think are necessary for the app?

---

Finally, my brother-in-law has been learning iOS app development for the last 6-9 months as a hobby. He's really into it and spends most of his spare time on it. Maybe he'd be open to helping develop the app, and maybe he'd do it for free if he's trying to start down a professional path in the field and needs to showcase some apps that he's done. Unless anyone has any better ideas, I can ask him and see what he thinks.

Offline Paul

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2017, 11:15:58 AM »
Most of what I have in mind is scribbled on various pieces of paper. I'll see what I can do to present a fairly decent summary within a day or two.

Offline Decar

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2017, 01:51:40 PM »
Thanks for splitting this out into its own thread Paul

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Offline jungleboy

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2017, 02:01:51 PM »

Offline thodekey

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2017, 01:55:50 AM »
I think the app would work at his best when you include:
- rules à la carte: rules that only include the rules of the expansions you play at that moment
- an adapted actions sheet showing the right order of meeple placement/actions according to the expansions that you throw in
- a time calculator would be nice as well: then you know how long the game will approximately be
« Last Edit: May 21, 2017, 02:05:08 AM by thodekey »

Offline DaFees

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Re: mobile-CAR
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2017, 07:14:01 PM »
I want to be clear that I am not suggesting we copy the iOS Carcassonne app verbatim or any of its assets but it does make for a good reference. If you look at the rules section in that app you will see it has a stylized background and that all tiles used in all examples are the same style / color. Yes I know the real game isn't like this. I mean just look at the German Cathedrals tiles compared to the base game tiles the fields are definitely different colors. What I'm suggesting though is that one we have something beyond just a plain white background. Two, all images, be it tiles, meeples, etc. all be of a high quality with no image compression. I admit this second part may not be easy to do and require quite a bit of work but it would go a long way in making a quality CAR.

Those are just some of my thoughts for now.


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