So much for success!

I fixed up the final beta and tested it using the Emulators. It seemed to work fine until I tried the Bluetooth test. It died. Normally, I’m not too bothered about that because the Bluetooth emulators on the new phones do seem to be a bit dodgy.

So I tried to install it on the handsets. It doesn’t even run. I get the splash screen and then the app falls over. It must be something to do with the new user code other wise I’m at a loss. I was that angry that I just closed it down and worked on the web site for an hour, updating links and adding the new guestbook page.

I do have to get the WAP site working properly through, there does seem to be a problem with it.

Hopefully I’ll be able to pull myself together enough to start fixing these issues, tonight because I’m not going to have any time to do it over the weekend.

Preparing

Well, after the initial success of getting the game to work on two of the many Motorola emulators, I’ve been downloading the development kits from both Sony-Erricson and Samsung. I’m going to test it against those kits tonight and try to make further modifications.

There are a few outstanding issues.

1. The congratulation screens need rework to centre them regardless of screen size.
2. The backlight needs to be removed. It’s going to case of too much hassle and complaint when the different models are compared.
3. There may be sound issues to resolve. It’s saving to the Player Settings but not applying those settings to the game.
4. The Blue and Red Graphics don’t look Neon Enough. I’ll alter the colour scheme so that they do over the next couple of days.

I’m also updating the Web/Wap site. This is a bit of a tedious job as all three sections have to be updated with the new graphics and same text. There should be a smarter way to do this but I don’t have the time at the moment to implement it.

For the final release, there are a few outstanding issues that need to be addressed.

1. The graphics resize code – I want to be able to resize the game play area to fit any phone with a screen greater than 88*108.
2. Graphics consolidation – I need to consolidate all the graphics into one big PNG. This will help cut down the size of the jar but at the expense of a slower startup. The splash screen does help with this issue.
3. Custom Menus – As much as the List Class has been helpful, it’s still pretty boring to look at. If I can come up with a custom control to mimic the List Control and then consolidate all the main menus into it then that will be helpful. That’s quite a big job but I reckon it could seriously cut down on the size of the jar and get it to work on even more phones.
4. The Bluetooth multiplayer list menu will have to be altered to use the same control as above but also retain its special functionality. Also I’ll have to add an Auto Time option. So the game will scan for new players every two minutes or so and then put itself back into Server Mode

I’ve also got to prepare an announcement to put on all the relevant message boards and news groups. I’ve also got to send out requests to some of the magazines to see if they’re interested in giving InterPhace a little coverage.

Well there’s a surprise.

I managed to get the game working on the Motorola E1000 Phone’s emulator. The screen offset is not working correctly but just the very fact that it worked had me bowled over in surprise. It only works on very few Motorola emulators though and I’m going to have to look at ways to get the size of the Jar down because it’s too big for most of the Motorola’s to work with. It also worked on the Razr3 Emulator.

I’ve decided to drop the resize code for this release. It’s not going to be possible to test it properly before I disappear on holiday.

We have new splash screens. It fits the game so much better and now matches the new logos on the web site. This now only leaves the screen resize code. It’s not the coding that’s the problem, its finding emulators to get it to work on.

I might have to forget about the resize code for this beta release and just concentrate on the screen offset.

I’ve got three major irritations out of the way over the weekend. There were more bugs in the player saving, sound and display code. I’ve effectively knocked them on the head but I wasn’t able to test the resize code so I’m still in the same position that I was in on Friday. I’ll try and focus and get those issues out of the way.

I have been contacted by the owner of a website who wants to look at selling it but as I’ve pointed out it will be a couple of months before InterPhace’s standard version is ready. As a side note, I’ve got to come with snappier titles than Basic, Standard and Advanced.

Sound error is now fixed.

The sound activate method was placed outside of the ‘if’ statement was supposed to fire on so it fired all the time. The RMS issue is a little more complicated and would explain why saving settings have always been ropy. It will take a little while to fix that, hopefully tonight to fix the bug and the weekend to fix the graphics.

This will mean a new beta on Monday? How many times have I said that!

Found the bug.

I was trying to read an array before I had initialised it. We now have the game working again on the emulators but I’m having real trouble with the flashing backlights on the series 60. Is there anyway to keep it steady? It’s time to test it on the phones again.

The initial run on the phones is complete and as per usual, bugs have raised their ugly heads. There are two which are doing my head in. The first is a sound errors. It’s blasting out when the sound master switch is set to off. The second is the saving of player details.

After a game, the player details are supposed to update and save to the RMS. This doesn’t seem to be happening. I’ve still got to test the resize and offset code properly. Staying motivated is a real problem at the moment.

Well, the game is now back on the Nokia handsets and failing again. It works OK with a new install, but as soon as you re-run the game. Crunch! Back to the emulators! I’m going to move the beta deadline until the end of August.

I’ll update the website later in the week but it’s really tough going at the moment. I’m really beginning to regret even writing this game because of problems with the emulators, the implementation bugs and the inconsistency between different SDKs from even the same manufacturer.

Maybe once the beta is complete, a break from the whole thing might be good. It just doesn’t feel like fun anymore.

I’ve managed to rework the start up and put in the graphic resizing code. It’s now a matter of testing it against different screen sizes. I am very nervous about running this code and I haven’t put a new version on the test phones yet for almost a month. It’s about to time to knock this version on the head.

Almost There !!!!

I’ve finally found a way round the graphic selection routines with the nokias. It’s all a matter of timing. It’s just the last thing I have to do before calling up the next screen. As has been noted on the boards, it’s a time delay issue between the calling of the fullscreen option and the update of the getheight method.

Tonight I’ll focus on getting the right screen size and the re-scaling of the graphics. If I have time, I’ll put in the splash screen as well and then we’ve got a new beta. Time to update the Web site and WAP site.

Well that’s a surprise.

I’ve finally got the game working with sound effects on the Nokia 60 SDK but when you transfer the jar and try and install it. Application Error!
Strange. I’ll have to rebuild the jar using the other sdk.

I’m still having sound issues. Hopefully I’ll have it out of the way tonight. The graphics have seemed to sort themselves out but there is a notorious bug with the game canvas class not retrieving the right values. Hard coded values kind of defeat the object of a write once run anywhere.

One final push before we’re there. Fingers crossed for the weekend.

Solved it

It’s all down to the resize code. I haven’t completed it yet so I’m going to have to complete it properly before I can put it on to the Nokia’s for testing. I could hardcode the value but to be honest I might as well get the resize code out of the way properly.

And after the high comes another low.

It’s not working on the handsets. I don’t know why. It works fine with both Emulators but all you get on both the 6600 and the 3230 is the splash screen and then crunch. Admittedly, I have been unable to test a start from scratch using the Nokia Runtime due to the nature of the emulators.

But the damn thing worked ok with the standard J2ME Emulator. I am now at a loss to where to go next. I guess frigging (and that’s a technical term) the code in the nokia emulator to wipe out the RMS recordset so that it always has to create a new user might do the trick but I know realise the Beta will not be available until the 16th of August.

BUGGER !

Problem solved.

It was a combination of slow running emulators and missing code. It’s now running through on both the Nokia Prototypes SDKs. Fantastic! Unfortunately, the timebomb code is causing problems with the start-up of a new user on the 3230.

I’ll have to look into that but I’m now got the fullcanvas completely removed from the system and so it will start to work hopefully with all compatible phones. Now I’ve got a couple of hour tonight to get the users and sound sorted and we’re almost there. I’ve just got to the plan the website upgrade.

Nope, that wasn’t it. It is something within the new Gamecanvas code but I haven’t found what. Oh, It is really doing my head in!

Problem Back on the List

Well, that was a bust. I’ve now progressed from a crash right at the beginning of a game to 15 seconds in. This is a right “head scratcher” because the code should be the same as the previous screen. I’m wondering if the timeout counters are being used in the wrong place.

Well, it’s a starting point!

Fantastic.

Problem 1 is off the list. I forgot to initialise the game packet objects when the Bluetooth Multiplayer was set up. I knew it would be something like that. Now I’ve got to get the player stuff sorted. If I can only get all those others out of the way tonight I can then start preparing the new web code.

Back to it.

The new multiplayer is not working yet. It took me two hours just to get it to the point it’s at. It still transfers the map ok and then goes through the 3 second display and then crunch.

I thought it was the emulators pulling a funny again but it was the Player handling code which caused the problem. I hadn’t handled the kill date properly and so crunch. I’ve managed to implement the kill code properly but that’s highlighted some problems with the player save into the RMS. I will have to look into that after the Multiplayer is fixed.

The Bug Priority is as follows.

1. Bluetooth Game Fix
2. Player RMS Save.
3. Problem with some Map Generation Logic.
4. Apply new sound code.
5. Map resize Code

I’ll also look into seeing how difficult it is to put in some more sensible graphics for the joins and splits on the map. Graphics are my weak spot so I’ll ask the artist’s opinion. I’m also going to alter the Red and blue graphics to make them slightly more Neon Like. It should have the same look as the red and blue colours in Tron, not Thomas the tank engine.

Hopefully I’ll release the new beta on Monday the 8th of August for testing across all mobiles. I’m going to find a list of all MIDP 2.0 and JSR-85 supporting phones put them on the website and then tick them off one by one.

Nightmare

There has been no progress on the game since Friday due to a crisis at home. Normal service will be resumed just as soon as I know what’s normal anyway.