[GAME] Blue Hunter [DISCONTINUED][0.4PRE-BETA]

Blue Hunter (Android)
Hello and welcome to the development thread.
Here you can get an imagination of this project.


Introduction / Description
As you might know, Blue Hunter will be the follow-up of the Scan Most Bluetooth Devices game. The reasons for the complete restart of the same intent are those:

- Scan Most Bluetooth Devices was started up in 2010. At this time I had nothing to do with Java. I was a complete newbie. Therefore the code for the complete base was, to put it simply, ****. But I built on this base further and further. After some time I realized, that this can't be rescued anymore.

- The complete intern handling of things wasn't that, what I imagined.

- Some new features I wanted to get implemented were really not fitting into the game structure.

- And of course I wanted to do some new.

For those of you, who didn't know about Scan Most Bluetooth Devices, here is a short description of that, what the game should look like in the future.

Blue Hunter is a level-up game, in which you have to search for Bluetooth devices in range. Each unique device, that you'll find will give you some EXP. While gaining more an more EXP, you will, of couse, get into the next level. For each level-up you will unlock specific small game features, that will make it more comfortable to play. That's not all. You will have the chance to decide, if you also want to play against the others, who play this game, too. For that there will be the Leaderboard. Later you will also be able to add friends, make a player vs. player game, establish your own clan, etc. Achievements will also be integrated.


Changelog
Check out the changelog for a more descriptive view of the changes made.


Screenshots



Permissions
This game uses some Android Permissions. Here I want to explain, for what these Permissions are used:

- android.permission.BLUETOOTH - Is used to receive the state of Bluetooth and to start the discovery of Bluetooth devices.
- android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN - Is used to turn Bluetooth on, when necessary.
- android.permission.INTERNET - Is used to connect to the internet, to get the game synchronized with the game servers.
- android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE - Is used to determinate internet connectivity change.
- android.permission.VIBRATE - Is used to notify the user about a new found device by vibration.
- android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE - Is only used for debug purposes.
- android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED - Used for the Update Service, which runs in the background and checks if there is a new update.
- android.permission.WAKE_LOCK - This is also for the Update Service.

Compatibility

As this game is still in a very early development stage (pre-beta), this game can only be installed on devices with Android ICS (4.*) and above.


Translations
Like in Scan Most Bluetooth Devices I depend on the community for getting translations.
At this point I want to ask you, if you think you can translate the game into your language. If this is the case I really would like to send you to the strings.xml file. There you'll find all strings, that can be translated. Later I will integrate a small platform for translators, which will make them lifes easier. Much easier ! But also this takes time.

Included Translations:

- English
- Dutch (Marc.)
- Czech (Scorpio-cz)

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Oncoming Translations:

- German

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you ! (Of course I will think about a worthy compensation for your work !)

Privacy
Here I want to explain to you, what private information located on your device and got from other devices through Bluetooth is used by this game. This list contains and explains ALL gathered information from the game, you might worry about.

- Serial Number (S/N) - The game uses the serial number of your device, to determinate the installation of the game and to identify the unique game installation. The purpose of the use is, if you reset your Android to factory and after that install the game, it can automatically drag over the application data from the server, without user interaction.
This information is sent to the game server and stored in a database.

- Version Code - This is the internal version code of the game. It is used to check, if a new nightly version is available.
This information is sent to the game server and stored in a database.

- User Name - This is the name you use for the game. It is used to give you personalization possibilities. It's also showed in the leaderboard.
This information is sent to the game server and stored in a database.

- Remote MAC Address - This is the MAC Address of devices which you will found. It is used to determinate the manufacturer of the device and to give you specific expierence values for each manufacturer. (Some devices are more rare than others.)
This information is ONLY sent to the game server, when you are syncing your data with the game server.

- Remote Device RSSI - This is the Received Signal Strength Indication. This is used to display as information to you.
This information is ONLY sent to the game server, when you are syncing your data with the game server.

- Remote Device Name - This is the name of the remote Bluetooth device. This is used to display as information to you.
This information is ONLY sent to the game server, when you are syncing your data with the game server.

- Local Time - This is the time, that is saved, when you find a new device. This is used to display as information to you.
This information is ONLY sent to the game server, when you are syncing your data with the game server.

Note: All the information gathered by the game from your device or other devices is not associated with any other data or information. It will not be used for ad personalization or other things. It is not given to 3rd party companies or persons. This information is private and is only gathered to guarantee an optimal game experience. Your information is used to create statistics for the game itself.


Error Reporting

Please be sure to report any bugs, crashes, also feature wishes here: http://bluehunter.maks-dev.com/issues/


Support
You have questions ? Just ask me. You can send me an email all the time. I will try to answer all your questions.
You can also make feature suggestions.
If you find any bugs, errors, Force Closes, whatever, please feel free, to flood the Issues Tracker. You can also ask questions there, if you don't want to wait.

FAQ

Will this game be published on the Google Play Store ?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

It is already. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maksl5.bl_hunt_sup


Thank you for the time you spent for this !


Download


Support Version:


Greetings !

TheRedDrake said:

Not sure that mapping people Bluetooth names on phones is a good idea even if its just a game. Seems to similar to what Google did with WiFi.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I can understand, that many people like you think very sceptical when it comes to terms of privacy and use of private information by third parties in an application, that can collect a mass of information. I'm aware of the current mindset of people and therefore privacy is a big term I'm mindful of.
That's why I've written the privacy section in the first post that extensive. Of course the list in this section will be updated, if new information is used in the current available nightly.

And that with Google & WiFi. If a big company had the information based on the Bluetooth devices, what would it be useful for ? I mean a Bluetooth device is in very most cases, unlike WiFi hotspots, in a continually movement. The only information, that a Bluetooth device automatically can offer passively and when it is in it's discoverable state is it's mac address, the specific name the user has set, the signal strength(RSSI) and the UUIDs (what this Bluetooth device offers for features). A combination of this information would be mostly useless for a company, even if it is connected with the specific location. The only case in which it could be "useful" would be to connect each different locations, when finding this specific device. But this thought is far-fetched and would be in a very huge conflict with my privacy perception. It would never be implemented in the game. And now to refer to the privacy section, I won't make any information public. The intent of this game is to level up by finding devices, not to gather information.

I hope this gave you a short explanation of my perception on this.
Greetings !

Sorry, about the double post.

In the newest nightly there is the possibility to get informed, whether a new nightly is already available. In addition to that, you can decide, whether the game checks this at start or not.

Because of this, there is one new thing in the privacy list. It's the 'Version Code'. For further information please read the first post. Thank you !

The next thing, that will be integrated is the "core". It's the complete Bluetooth device discovery. Eventually without saving, just discovery. We'll see.

Greetings !

As the game makes good progress and heads for the 0.2 alpha, I updated the Privacy list recently. The core functions are now implemented and I think now I need some volunteers to test the whole thing.

Here some screenshots:




In the third screenshot you can see, that the manufacturer of the devices are recognized based on the mac address.
My please to you is:
Can you report any devices that are declared as Unknown and you know the manufacturer ? That would be very helpful, because then I can set a specific experience-value for these manufacturers. Thanks alot !
Have fun hunting !

@Bunglechunk:
Yes, there will be an import function to use, so you can carry over your score.

As I'm not able to use my own workstation, you won't receive any updates, like some of you may noticed. But that doesn't mean, that there wasn't any progress. I could add some more features and now I'm working on some help pages for users, that may not know some features. You will receive a nightly update as fast as possible.

Greetings!

After long time of silence in this thread, I want to notify you few users of Blue Hunter, that I've updated the first post, especially the Privacy section. This applies to all new nightly versions, that are currently out there.

For more information on the changes, please be sure to look into the changelog.

As for general I can say, the development goes and goes. It feels much more professional as it was when developing for Scan Most Bluetooth devices (which interestingly got much downloads in the past from Google Play).

Also I appreciate if you would take the time to use the Bug Tracking System to report your bugs, you noticied.

Thank you for your support!

Greetings!

Hey Guys,
I wanted to notify you, that Blue Hunter has reached Alpha state. Until now there is a support version available on the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maksl5.bl_hunt_sup.
This will help, keep me motivated to make something really great out of this project, so be sure to check it out.

Blue Hunter now has achievements, which will let you get a permanent boost of EXP, when finding a new device. Also here be sure to check that out! I updated the first post on this thread. There you can find the information.

Now I will focus on the social aspects of the game. Like I said, I want, that you can make 1vs1 games against other players in a specific time period. This also applies to clans, that you can lead or enter. You will have the chance to get friends and write them messages or to boast with your statistics. This is where I wanna have this game and I will concentrate on that for now.

Until this, I really have to ask that stupid question again. Do you have time to translate? Write me a PM. I'm very thankful for that.

Greetings, have a nice day!

@Marc. & NRK77:

Thank you for the time! You can find it here: https://github.com/Maksl5/blue-hunter/blob/master/res/values/strings.xml. Again this file is mostly updated with new strings on each version increment. You just have to send me the translated strings back via PM here or mail, what you like most. Specific characters are no problem. You can use them in your translation. I will check it and then handle it, like Android needs.
Thank you again!

So guys, after some delay, I'm starting to develop further. Sorry for that, but I had many things to do for a while.

I just could integrate a new small feature. I don't talk about much, 'cause pictures say more then words:
Screenshot (Dropbox)

The whole social aspects thing... I did not touch it. But I will. Be sure.

@Snah:
This is a bug that automatically occurs, when I'm too dumb to compare and check the version numbers of the apk and the actual AndroidManifest.xml. Don't worry about it, it fixes itself in the next nightly.

BTW: What do you think about saving geo coordinates when finding a device to show them on a map at a later time?

Greetings!