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How to Capture SQRs with your phone

One of the most innovative aspects of SQR is that it allows players to add game data to the phone for free, either via Bluetooth or by using the camera.

This is how a character stats chart looks in game. Next to it you can see a code that, when properly captured with the
phone, will add that character to your collection:
SQR screen Healer Statshealer code

In order to capture a SQR, you have to take a snapshot of the code above -thats all there is to it(1). After you take the snapshot, the game will analyze the code and will tell you if you did correctly or you have to try again.
SQR Screen capture okSQR Screen capture wrong

From our own tests we have found that, depending on the phone and user involved, feedback ranges from “piece of cake!” to “my pulse needs to be as steady as a snipers”(2). What follows are some pictures showing codes being captured on two different phones, a Nokia N70 and a Sony Ericsson Z530i:
Capturing SQRsCapturing SQRsCapturing SQRsCapturing SQRs

Though theres no rule that grants a proper capture every time, you should try keeping the phone as parallel to the image as possible. Yawning, rolling or pitching the phone too much will create distortions on the image that render the capture unreadable by the game.

Examples

This is how the codes look after being generated. Ideally they should look like these on the phones screen for a perfect capture.

healer codepainter_codewarrior_codesniper_codetractor_code

Now well show examples of how the codes actually look like in the phones screen when making captures:

-If the codes look like these in the phones screen, the capture works almost every time:

healer_semidmg codewarrior_semidmg codesniper_semidmg codetractor_semidmg code

-If the codes look like these in the phones screen, the capture fails almost every time:

healer_dist codepainter_dist codetractor_dist codesniper_dist codewarrior_dist code

Notes:

(1)You need to do this from within the game, that is.
(2)This variability is unavoidable, alas!

SQR Board Ready

This week we finished the second prototype of the SQR Base board. The board itself is made of plaster, the cells are woodblocks and the characters have been machined in polystyrene foam. This board has already proven easy to use, allowing us to make quick gameplay tests.

For a detailed view of how it was made, follow this link

SQR Base Game SetSQR Base Characters Our online pharmacy is the perfect resource for people to get their drugs without any hassles or awkwardness. buy cialis We work hard to make sure you save money every time you shop with us. buy levitrabuy soma At our online store, you pay less and get more. buy viagra

QR News

The picture links to an article appeared last thursday on the spanish newspaper “El País”. The article is a basic introduction to QR codes, what they are and how to use them. It worths mentioning here since it shows that there´s a slow but steady effort so that bidimensional codes (of which QR codes are perhaps the best known example) end up being mainstream -outside japan, that is-.


La foto enlaza con un escaneo de un artículo aparecido en “El País” el jueves pasado. El artículo en sí es una lección básica sobre los códigos QR; más que por el contenido merece la pena mencionarlo aquí porque demuestra que existe un interés por conseguir que los códigos bidimensionales (de los cuales el QR es quizás el ejemplo más conocido) acaben siendo de uso común -fuera de Japón, esto es-.

Obfuscated Obfuscation

If you are developing games for mobiles you are probably using proguard as your Obfuscator. These days our QA guys have been reporting a very annoying bug related with the sudden hang of the application, but only in the version constructed through antenna + proguard.

I’ve wasted several hours looking for any kind of bug in the sources (let’s admit it, the usual source of errors in any application) and, after realising that there wasn’t any, the problem has fixed itself just by upgrading Proguard. Upgrades and configuration changes are in the root of many bad things and worse practices but, this time it saved the day!

I wanna write a couple notes about unusual Sun’s emulator bugs but it has to wait for another moment.

A fast note about mobile performance

We are heading towards a demo / beta release, and we will need your collaboration for sure to test, debug and improve our game. While I was looking for some information about how to detect the presence of a specific JSR-XXX on a mobile device, I found this little utility that could be really useful for you (and for us ^_^)

FutureMark Test Suite

Futuremark excelent tool

I dislike people that keep these kind of tools as secrets so I´m sharing it with you right after I found it on the web. Good hunt!

Open Moko

www.openmoko.org

OpenMoko is an Open Source project to create the world’s first free mobile phone operating system(…)developers and end users alike can learn about and contribute to building the platform designed to “Free Your Phone”

The first time I heard of openmoko I didn’t believe it was a serious thing: in spanish, openmoko means “open snot”… However, vueling is a respectable company despite no english speakers I know believing so the first time they hear of it, so I gave it a chance. What I have discovered is a promising nu-gen cellphone operating system that worths looking at.

It is hard to tell at this point whether Open Moko will become a serious alternative to closed-systems; however, I already like the fact that the maker is selling early versions along with the first phone that supports it. Even more, I like that the sofware’s phylosophy permeates the hardware: the makers want you to disassemble the phone! I find this attitude brave, and perhaps it will boost the hype. At least here in UCG we are looking forward to trying one. I mean, that spy case is pure gadget prOn! XD

ps. se llamará Open Moko, pero no es moco de pavo XDD

Matisse FTW!

As you probably have supossed, UCG offices are small, and, to some extent, shared with another company devoted to web development. As any developer I look for other programmers to share new job-jokes and funny things, and, while we were chatting, they mentioned Matisse.

I was searching for a good GUI and desktop solution and they said it will be probably my best bet. I didn’t believe it was a good option because we are currently working with Eclipse and, at last, we have a coupled workflow: artists, developers and production can compile the game and test it without any developer help which is good! Obviously using Matisse implies the use of Netbeans, and, well, the Netbeans interface is not as good as Eclipse’s. But, i finally decided to download it and test it.

Gentlemen, im impressed! Sun has leave its impromptus in the tool, its coupled and centralised. So i got my mobile IDE edition + subversion + Matisse in about 4 clicks. And as fast as you read this, i have written several windows and code. The only thing I can’t say any good about is the editor, sadly it’s a big issue because the editor is the core of any IDE.

WTK + EclipseMe for BT

Probably the NetBeans IDE is one of the power tools in this industry. It’s the entering point to java for many developers, and it’s probably good enough for everyone needs. My first contact with Java, several years ago, was with JBuilder a slow paced Behemot direct from Borland. Nowadays versions of JBuilder are based on Eclipse IDE (maybe someone could tell me if now it’s better or not) But i’m not getting to my point.

As I said then, Eclipse was born and many developers started testing and actively using it (me included). As NetBeans it has a modular approach, so probably the basic installation won’t fit your needs, but I’m missing my point again, lol! Sooner or later you’ll want to test your Bluetooth protocol and workflow (handshaking, data transfers, error checking, etc.), and then youll face an awfull decision, buy a complete development kit or use some kind of emulation? As always the only correct choice is, … well, both of them. At the first stage emulation will do the trick.

And that’s my point, I’ve been testing and using the WTK + EclipseMe for Bluetooth development and I’m amazed because it works! I was nearly sure that we’d have to change our IDEs from Eclipse to some obscure and expensive suite but, hell no!

Let’s see what can we do with it in the following days. cu

Bluetooth capabilities in mobile devices

When you are developing bluetooth communication protocols over mobile devices such as phones or other very limited machine, it’s good to know exactly which capabilities and protocols it has. You can search the list at bluetooth.com and make sure you are trying to do something your device is capable of.

As always, don’t believe everything you read, but at least if everything is going wrong you can get some clues from the list.

Desde la trinchera

Hola:

Bienvenidos (en mi nombre ;) ) a la sección de desarrollo del blog de UCG. Espero poder postear por aquí cualquier noticia interesante relacionada con el desarrollo de juegos y programación en general. Evidentemente aún estamos trabajando en la web, así que todo va a estar algo flotante por aquí estas próximas semanas.

Para la próxima, esperemos tener algún contenido más (como alguna fotillo) ¡lol!

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