Uno Secretary/Helper

grondinseane · Jul 25, 2013

Hello forum...I have no experience in programming, but have some in graphics arts. Have been thinking about an app that would keep track of things while you play the card game Uno or any of it's variants. While there are a few examples of this app on the market they are only score keepers, and not very polished. I have a mockup of how the app should work/look but links/pics are not allowed as I am still a new member here.

I would love it if someone out there that knows how to program and also has a love for the game of Uno would be willing to put some time in on this project...they app could very easily be free for some features and paid for the full feature set, so revenue is an option. I really just want to help create a simple app that could look pretty nice and help others while playing the game.

I included an animated gif of the basics for the app, but I am not sure if it will be allowed yet.

Thank you in advance for anyone who is willing to help out on this project.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...h4gj-j9Us/w960-h540-no/UnoHelperAnimation.gif

dlhavema · Jul 25, 2013

Wow that looks really cool! I definitely like your graphic design skills! this doesn't seem like a super complicated app as you say, is the "5:15" a countdown timer? (i've never played it with a timer... )

grondinseane · Jul 25, 2013

Thank you! I was thinking it was a count up timer...just to give you an idea of how long you have been playing...or a count down timer if you are playing speed rounds where people are only given so much time to take their turn...all options avail. in the settings section. Haven't thought everything out quite yet.

There would also be on opening screen asking what version of the game you are playing...normal, speed play, uno attack, etc. and that the card images would change based on that choice. As well as a rules section for quick reference.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

Are you looking for something that gets told every time a player take there turn? kind of like a game-clock in chess, so it could track whose turn it is and the total time each player has used? Then the app would need to know who's turn it is when you press the "Uno" button.

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

I was thinking more like you would set the timer function to a user specified time and then it would chime every X seconds...if the current player has not taken their turn they must draw a card/get skipped...the timer is really just an after thought for extra app features...not sure it is really even needed...cleaning up some of the graphics over the next few days to put together a little better mockup.

Started working with GameSalad and Stencyl today as well to see if I could build this myself, but I'm really just a graphics guy, so I'm still pretty confused on the whole programming thing.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

Ok no worries. I would love to help out on the programming side of things, my weakness is in graphics, but you have that covered. If you could break up your mock-ups into individual assets, that would work out great:

the uno buttons
the play direction indicator
card images
etc...

I'm not sure, but what legal/copyright issues are in play her for an auxiliary app?

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

I have been creating all graphic in photoshop so that shouldn't be a problem...haven't worked with 9-patch before so everything is still just png24 at the moment...been cleaning it all up today...I am not sure on copyright either...I do know that everything I have created is from scratch so as not to use their images and that I have been using a different color layout i.e. they use a clockwise red/blue/green/yellow and I used red/yellow/green/blue. Also have been using the Ubuntu typeface..not sure if that's opensource or not? I will include a screenshot of the cleaned up graphics...if the individual graphics need to be 9-patch they will take me a few days to work out...the whole scaling and dot border thing are messing me up.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

I like it, i would say, since these all have nice detail and features inside of them, just make a few different resolutions of each one and the device can decide which to use based on its display properties...

the font should be fine though...

From : (Supporting Multiple Screens | Android Developers) page:

To create alternative bitmap drawables for different densities, you should follow the 3:4:6:8 scaling ratio between the four generalized densities. For example, if you have a bitmap drawable that's 48x48 pixels for medium-density screen (the size for a launcher icon), all the different sizes should be:

36x36 for low-density

48x48 for medium-density

72x72 for high-density

96x96 for extra high-density

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

okay...what should be say the....background size for each screen size...that would give me a good idea how to scale the rest of the images...right now the graphics are at 1080p and the card images are at 661X1028.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

These values should work for those sizes:

405 low
540 medium
810 high
1080 extra-high

386 low
514 medium
771 high
1028 extra-high

248 low
331 medium
496 high
661 extra-high

The formula for this ( assumes you are designing at the highest density )

target = [full_size] * [target_ratio] / [full_size_ratio]
or
248 = 661 * 3 / 8 ( using the ratio values from my previous post.. )

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

alright sounds good i will get to work then

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

do you have any links that describe the kind of game rules/logic that need to be built in?

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

do you mean for the app or for the game of uno? The app would only be tracking scores, the direction of play once a reverse card is played, and if someone calls uno then they should press the uno button changing the color of the screen items.

If you mean the rules of the game of uno I figured a rules button would be on the board and then a list asking which version of the game you are playing would be selected and then list the rules for that version. Mattel and Fisher-Price Customer Service Mattel and Fisher-Price Customer Service I only have the graphics setup for Uno Original and Uno Attack, the links have the official instruction manuals listed from Mattel.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

ok that sounds a bit simpler. linking to their instructions should be fine, but including them verbatim will definitely violate some copyright rules...

game actions:
create game
add players
start game
handle reversal button
mark uno being called by a player
cancel uno ( player got more cards )
mark winner
add points ( only to winner, or each player? )

see any basic functionality i missed?

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

only the winner would receive points. the rules give each card left in play after you win a value that the winner receives...the rules state to play to 500, but I was hoping that value could be changed by the user. The uno button would work the same as the reverse button...just changing color to alert all members of the change. Was also hoping that players could be added at any time during play. Looks great. I will have a much better mockup by late tonight and the graphics sometime in the next day or so...the new mockup ill be much more clear on how the app should work as well.

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

you'll need a generic icon for a menu, and/or icons for adding a player, removing a player, and then changing the score limit. overall not too complicated as you said... probably also want to have the score limit displayed some where on the main screen, small text should be fine...

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

okay I will make sure to add those as well...could the score limit be kept in a settings menu?

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

yeah it doesn't really need to be onscreen all the time.

edit: i see what you mean, its not going to be an every game thing to change it..

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

okay here is a mockup with the finished graphics(mostly)...should have everything coverd in it...let me know if anything is not clear.

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

don't know if this helps but here are the point values for each card

dlhavema · Jul 26, 2013

the only thing i could think of was when counting cards at the end, have a "-" button at the bottom appear on all cards that have been clicked to decrease the count for that card - a fix for clicking it too many times...

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

great idea

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

Okay so I added the minus button to the player info screen as well for being able to delete the current player.

I also got the graphics packed up, only the extra-high though...if it seems like they are all there and working then I will batch convert them to lower res for the other screen sizes.

Email me at grondinseane@gmail.com/or facebook(same username) and I will send you a link to the files and talk more about the app.

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

After thought...on button presses that reset scores and/or delete players some type of confirm dialog would be useful to avoid accidents.

And I will put together a congrats you win screen as well

grondinseane · Jul 26, 2013

and a quick look at the win screen

Uno Secretary/Helper

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