Need someone to implement game feature (paid)

Corona Classifieds Collaborations
#1

Hi,

I’m looking for someone to implement the following feature into my game:

Player enters a code when they first launch the game after downloading from one of the stores.

The app downloads an image from a server based on the 6 digit code that was entered (each code corresponds to a different image).  That image is stored on the users device as it will be used in the game every time the player plays the game.

When the code is submitted, a file on the server is updated to keep track of the number of people that entered that code and downloaded the image, along with the date it happened.

Please let me know if you’re interested.

Thanks,

Jeff

#2

Jeff, you could approach Roaming Gamer. This sounds more than ‘Hire a hitman’, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be available for some consultancy work.

#3

Jeff, 

If you come up with a solution for this, please let us know how you accomplished it.

-Jonathan

#4

The logistics here are huge.  You will need a server to store potentially 999,999 images.  You will need a Database to store code usage per device.  And then you will need the Corona code obviously.

Bear in mind you will have ongoing hosting costs too.

A good question at this point is why?

#5

@jeff,

Are you handling the backend work or is that being done by someone else?

#6

I wouldn’t need 999,999 but I’m thinking of a similar approach to giving my kickstarter backers a special reward - images and JSON files.

#7

Why not get some cheap web space and upload the images?  Then in your app simply make a network call to request the image(s).

#8

@Sphere, that’s a good idea.  How would you handle the aspect of the user entering a one-time code to receive a specific image or file?

#9

if you DO find something interesting in picking up the project, they’ll probably immediately turn around and as you to better spec the project.  right now you don’t (appear to) have a “spec” - you have an “idea” - and there are many unknowns, just a few as “for examples”:

“downloads an image” - is server-side image named literally per the 6 digit code?  otherwise, how filename looked up?

“based on the 6 digit code” - if not all 1M images exist, what to do in response to error?

“digit” - as in numberic-only digits, or did you mean chars - 1M numbers or vastly more #charset^6 strings?

“a file” - which? of what type? mysql? text? etc

“on the server” - whose, what capabilities, etc

“is updated” - in what way, using what back-end? php? etc

“stored on the users device” - with original filename?  meaning you need to store that filename client-side too.  or a single “standardized” name client-side regardless of server-side name?

“used in the game” - again, what happens in case of error?  (no network, bad code entered, download failed, etc)

“number of people” - just an incremental count of uniquely used codes, or per “person” tracking, later being able to sum by code to derive counts (if so, what unique id to be used for person) (your requirement of date, below, suggests per-person records and not just “count how many times code was used” - that’d be a derived value, group-by-code query)

“date it happened” - presumably to be server date? (or passed-in client-side date?)  any time-zone concerns?

“keep track” - does this imply dev of a back-end “reporting” system too, or you’d do the querying manually?  (fe: select code, count(*) from CodeUsageHistory group by code)

i can’t take the project, but those are a sampling of the sort of things i’d want to know that you had at least considered before i’d even consider it, and i suspect other devs would be similar, so you might get more bids/responses if you spec’d it out a bit more.  hth

#10

@sporkfin, if you had say 1,000 codes and each code matched the filename of say an image then it would be relatively simple https://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/display/loadRemoteImage.html.

If you need to track this, ensure uniqueness and do reporting then as @dave says the complexity ramps up a lot!

#11

Hi,

Thanks for all the responses.

Thanks Graham, I hadn’t seen that he was offering that service again.

Sphere - The why is that I want to give each user the ability to customize (a little) the game.  

I have web space to host the images.  Would that network call mean the image is grabbed from the web every time the player plays the game?  I’d like the image to be stored on their device, and that used by the game, rather than having to load an image from the web every time.

I won’t be storing 1 million images any time soon. I could use less digits for the code

roaming - I’ll probably have someone do the backend for me. 

Dave:  thanks for the framework for a spec

  • The code will be part of the corresponding image’s file name.  ex:  code is 123456, image name: bg-123456.png

  • numeric code only

  • the images would be stored on the web server i use to host the domain.  

  • the server side would be php and mysql

  • the code is part of the file name and the code is stored on the device, so I use a variable to call the image within the game. ex: 

playerImage = display.newImageRect( backGroup, playerImageFile, 300, 60 )

  • there’s a default image in case of error or if the player doesn’t enter a code 

  • the database will track the incremental count of the number of people who use each code. I’m not tracking specific people.  I include date to track how many times the code was used during a given time period.  I’ll use the server date.  No time-zone concerns. 

  • no reporting system at this time.  I will manually look up the information when needed/wanted. The number of times the code is used and when is for my purposes.  That information is not used in the game.

#12

@Jeff,

You should get your back-end guy on board first then, because s/he will drive the API for the server communications.

#13

unless you need to (and you DON’T mention that you do) limit downloads (to make the code usage “unique”) then just save yourself the trouble:  just find a good host that offers detailed web log analysis.  Upload the images, then simply attempt download of “bg_123456.png” (if it works it works, fine; if not, then default), and you’re done.  then just use the web log to count downloads.

(you could even “sort of” make the codes unique, with a bit of manual work – once you’ve “noticed” in the web log that a particular image was downloaded, then simply remove that image from the server)

#14

OK, rooaminggamer, I’ll do that. thanks.

Thanks Dave.  I don’t need to limit downloads. 

Will the image have to be downloaded every time the player plays the game? Is it possible to download the image and store it in a way so that local copy is always used by the game?

#15

Jeff, you could approach Roaming Gamer. This sounds more than ‘Hire a hitman’, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be available for some consultancy work.

#16

Jeff, 

If you come up with a solution for this, please let us know how you accomplished it.

-Jonathan

#17

The logistics here are huge.  You will need a server to store potentially 999,999 images.  You will need a Database to store code usage per device.  And then you will need the Corona code obviously.

Bear in mind you will have ongoing hosting costs too.

A good question at this point is why?

#18

@jeff,

Are you handling the backend work or is that being done by someone else?

#19

I wouldn’t need 999,999 but I’m thinking of a similar approach to giving my kickstarter backers a special reward - images and JSON files.

#20

Why not get some cheap web space and upload the images?  Then in your app simply make a network call to request the image(s).