Before Programming

Before we could build out the application that our client wanted, we had to meet to get the finer details of what needed to happen. We meet a few times before we finalized our ideas. We did what many would consider industry standards such as creating use cases, drawing out a UML, and choosing the right tech stack.

After talking with our client, Kyle, these were the 21 functionalities that we wanted to incorporate into both our new application (Web App) and their application (Game App). Next to each functionality bullet point is a priority marker of either LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH. Throughout the project these will change but are an indicator of what should be done and what is most important to the client. Although they each have their own bullet point, these functionalities are not all equal. Some take much longer to incorporate than others.

There were many things to consider before building out our tech stack. We had to consider time, resources, experience, and usability. Our team had a diverse skill set but that also meant we had to choose products that some team members might not be familiar with. 

We had to use Unity because the product we were going to add on to was already built in Unity. We were able to use whatever we wanted for the admin portal (web app) and ended up with React. One of our developers had a lot of experience with React, another had just started learning, and another wanted to learn. It made sense to use a web application that had a great user interface because the application was already going to need the internet to upload to the database. 

We used forebase as our database as it had a login system that is very simple to implement and the pricing is very competitive. We were able to build and test our app without ever needing to pay. If done right, the database and storage can be very effective. We also used Github for versisiong as it is recommended and a standard for many projects.

We made some prototypes of what we thought the admin portal would look like. These would be the inspiration for the final design. 

We did a lot of prep work before we even thought about programming which was a nice change of pace from previous classes. This was more inline of what an actual software engineering job will be like. Being able to plan for the product is just as important as building the product. If designed wrong, the production phase is useless.