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Debugging the campaign syncing features
🕑 Added 2021-05-29 22:24:07 +0000 UTCSorry for not posting for a while everyone -- I've really wanted my next announcement to be about the beta for the campaign syncing. The good news is the feature is getting incredibly close:
1) The app works end to end, multiple people can see an edit a campaign, draw chaos tokens, and save their own deck upgrades at the end of each scenario. I've been using it with a small friend group for the last month or so, and while we are still finding bugs its generally been pretty stable. The bug rate is also declining, which is a key way to tell if something is getting close to launch.
2) I've found permanent web hosting for it that fits the budget. It took a bit of time, but we eventually settled on render.com as a reliable + reasonable solution for hosting the database and API.
What's remaining before an open beta for campaign syncing:
1) Working out issues with syncing decks -- one of the features I want is for your fellow players to be able to view your ArkhamDB decks. However, this requires making sure they are in sync, and it turns out it can get complicated. There's a solution, just have to work some kinks out of it.
2) Load testing -- the latest version of the app actually has a stealth feature that uses the new API -- the release that came out this weekend added support for two fan-made campaigns (Dark Matter and Alice in Wonderland), as well as the excellent side-scenario, Consternation on the Constellation. To support the custom cards, I actually deployed a new cards API -- as a means of getting some real world usage against the API.
Next steps for campaign syncing, probably 2-4 weeks out:
Once the syncing is done, the next step will be to invite more people into a public beta. The beta will likely start on iOS (the testing system on iOS is a bit more seamless, you don't have to backup your data so there is less chance of any campaigns being lost), but I could also use some brave souls who are willing to backup their Android campaign data and help test there as well.
What else has been happening:
I've been developing the campaign feature in the background, but have been doing lots of little things in the app these last 5 months as well. The Innsmouth Conspiracy release was released on launch day for each campaign, and he latest app has started incorporating fan-made campaigns as well o get us through the content lull. You've probably also noticed that the app redesign has been continuing, we launched the new campaign overview screens a few months ago, as well las an updated chaos bag screen.
We're now in the process of finalizing the designs for the campaign scenario view, basically the last spot that has the 'developer' designs.
The app has also been translated into two more languages, with both Chinese and Korean campaign guides launching.
What is on deck
- Return to the Circle Undone -- coming at the end of next month, and will do my best to have the app updated day of assuming that card leaks come in time.
- Continue adding fan-made campaigns -- the homebrew community it doing such creative things these days.
- Performance and optimizations -- especially on android, there's still a lot that can be done to make the app faster to load.
- More frequent updates! I'lll do my best to post here at least once a month, also feel free to email me anytime at arkhamcards@gmail.com with ideas/suggestions.
Thanks again for your support of the app.
Comments
Hi Gavrahil, shoot me an email at arkhamcards@gmail.com and I can forward the translation guidelines to you. I do rely on fans of the app to help with all of these translations, and the rules unfortunately require a fair amount of work compared to the campaign guide.
I have a question about localization: I noticed that in german the rules are a wild mishmash of german and english. I would like to help in translation, so is there a github or something similar, or do you already have a translator, and he's working on it?
I'll help out with the Android testing!
