Design document

Project Name (I prefer witty acronyms)

GameHere

Who is in the group

Brian Maissy
Edward Wu
Amanda Ren
Mark Lu

What you will be producing

A system for mobile opportunistic gaming which users use a smartphone browser as a game controller to participate spontaneously in a game they encounter.

Who you will be producing it for

Our application is targeted towards public areas with casual gamers incoming and outgoing.

What (user) need it will be resolving

Our application allows a simple way for strangers to cooperate together over a simple gaming experience. It can be used in situations where groups of people are waiting around (like a restaurant or building lounge) or where people are walking in and out (like a building hallway) and want to take a break.  

Explain/justify this need and how your solution will resolve it

Situations where our system can be used are very common. Our solution provides a non-awkward way (by providing a game) for strangers who are waiting around or walking around to collaborate together or to just have fun.

What artifacts do you expect to have at the end of class

A working game installation (wifi hotspot, monitor, linux box) somewhere on campus where anyone with a phone can just connect and start playing, and results of observations of the system in use under normal conditions.

A rough timeline of your expected progress

2 weeks - bare-bones prototype of client-server interaction
    a simple server and client with phone interaction (movable dots on a screen)
1 week - more robust communication system (captive hotspot)
4 weeks - building a game and client
    write a game server
    write an html touch-screen interface
    small user studies to determine efficacy of interface and usability of game (multiple sessions)
1 week - integration testing
2 week - polishing and improvement
(10 weeks total)

Equipment you'll need to meet these milestones

router (that supports ddwrt and tomato usb) with captive hotspot
2 touchscreen smartphone (one of the new Google phones you’re getting?, iphone?)
monitor?