Bush Lite - for mobile devices

[Tim]

Azzer asked me to put together a suggestion for a proposed Bush Lite version, which should run well on mobile devices such as iPhones, smartphones, PSPs and even standard mobile phones.

I have put together a semi-functional demo and I must stress that the emphasis is on the features and functionality of a Bush Lite version. The design is roughly how I would suggest it, but a better HTML developer will be able to spruce it up and make it look nicer.

You can view the demo at http://www.timster.co.uk/bushlite - I recommend viewing it on your favoured mobile device or using an online emulator. I recommend Opera Mini's web-based emulator, as this is a very popular mobile phone browser.

You can access the mobile browser emulator at http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/

The main idea behind the demo is to remove lots of stuff, which is unneeded when accessing Bushtarion when using a mobile device, while keeping enough so that users can play in "emergency" situations as well as in scenarios where they aren't at a computer, but wish to send out an attack or manage their account.

I would greatly appreciate comments and suggestions on this so that in the near future, hopefully, Azzer can begin working on a mobile version of Bushtarion.

 

[BlackWolf]

This is so insane!
I think you have once againg shown us Timster why you are so liked person among this community!

You simply OWN us all with your intellect and will to do things for this game. That lite looks exactly what I thought lite bushtarion would and should looks like. I am sure someone can find something to complain or to change, but I still think this is such an awesome job yet again from you, for this game, you should have been nominated as an honored player or something long time ago!

 

[Tim]

Thanks for the comments Blackwolf

Following on from a discussion on IRC about this, Exadra has suggested having funds & server time displayed on each page.

Is this something you would like to see? Something that is necessary?

Where would it fit it, without making the page too complex?

I did consider putting these into the design, but I deliberately left them out on all pages except for overview for aesthetical reasons.

Another thing to consider - a lot of mobile browsers don't support JavaScript properly and therefore the "live clock" function wouldn't work. Would this reduce the usefulness of a clock on every page?

 

[BlackWolf]

I think time is must to see, we all are running around ticks and bush clock. So knowing the time is a must! It is actually most important aspect of bushtarion even some people dont recognize it. Funds doesnt matter on military page, but it matters on hiring. Yet no matter where you are knowing the time and to be exact how much theres left is the thing. So to take funs or not is about to individual. As such I think Azzer could easily enable too for people to enable/disable things on each page.

That would take very little time from Azzer and wouldnt stress CPU of server. and after all is what makes bushtarion above other games.

Also I wish you add stuff like send all/ usage of a,h etc things. (But isnt that undependable of actual mini bush?) Polos extension does allow us to send all out with 1 button, so I dont see why it couldnt be added to both mobile and actual bush.

 

[Tim]

I have added a clock to top of all pages - but it does need to be a static clock due to JavaScript issues on mobile devices.

A/H on military page can work ofc, that's all down to Azzer coding it into the actual lite version. You can put anything into the demo however and it will still demo the features for you.

 

[f0xx]

This is so insane!
I think you have once againg shown us Timster why you are so liked person among this community!

You simply OWN us all with your intellect and will to do things for this game. I am sure someone can find something to complain or to change, but I still think this is such an awesome job yet again from you, for this game, you should have been nominated as an honored player or something long time ago!

You have your strong moments from time to time wolfy, even if they happen once in five years and that's your charm.

I can't find better words than BW.

Go Timster.

 

[Martin]

I agree 100% with both of BW's posts.

Top chappy!

 

[Illumination]

If this happens, Ill pay to have internet enabled on my phone again

 

[Azzer]

Fantastic work Timster, thanks. I honestly had absolutely no concept of a mobile version of Bush - as I've said before, I've never gone online on a mobile device. I think the sort of thing you've come up with would be relatively simple for me to do.

I'll leave this thread for another couple of weeks (largely while I work on other things like finishing the tutorial), and then will have a crack at starting work on a mobile version, pending further feedback from users of mobile devices.

 

[Dark_Angel]

Excellent design proposal Tim.

I think you've done well to capture what is important and what isn't.

Entirely agree with your emphasis on lack of imagery (other than the obvious inclusion of the weather icons).

Also think the "Quicklinks" are a very good idea, rather than having a navigation pane taking up a % of the screen.

Only thing I would say, and this applies mainly to users with touch-screen devices, is that there should be sufficient space between URLs so that it's easy to click a link without accidentally hitting another.

 

[Tim]

Only thing I would say, and this applies mainly to users with touch-screen devices, is that there should be sufficient space between URLs so that it's easy to click a link without accidentally hitting another.

I will be testing it with a number of touchscreen devices (as well as "standard" devices) to ensure it performs well and has good usability in a real-world environment.

I know a few players use touchscreen devices on a regular basis too (I don't) so I would also appreciate their views on whether it is easy enough to navigate.

Azzer indicated that he only wanted one specific Bush Lite application, so the difficulty was in creating something which wasn't too heavy for smaller screen devices, but also something which wasn't too lite for those users with bigger screens.

 

[Max]

Tim, fantastic work.

Seriously, I am now considering buying a mobile phone to play bush on it for my 21st birthday Just marvellous.

 

[pinpower]

Azzer asked me to put together a suggestion for a proposed Bush Lite version, which should run well on mobile devices such as iPhones,

I know this is only a demo of what it would be like, but if you try and view the page on the iphone its really really small! Like a whole load of white with the page in the top middle all small and unreadable...meaning you have to keep zooming in.

Although you can use the normal bush page fine with the iphone it would be nice to have a quicker/stripped down version where its just the size of the page. Dont know if this is possible, as i guess you'll be mainly designing it for less internet capable phones (just normal WAP)

x

 

[Tim]

I know this is only a demo of what it would be like, but if you try and view the page on the iphone its really really small! Like a whole load of white with the page in the top middle all small and unreadable...meaning you have to keep zooming in.

Although you can use the normal bush page fine with the iphone it would be nice to have a quicker/stripped down version where its just the size of the page. Dont know if this is possible, as i guess you'll be mainly designing it for less internet capable phones (just normal WAP)

x

It can be done so that it automatically extends depending on the screen size of the device. I will make a few modifications to it tonight or tomorrow to demonstrate,

 

[pinpower]

I know its not great quality, but its better than trying to explain it.

 

[Cyrus]

i thinks thats down to azzer playing about seeing what links are needed for a 'squashed down' version of bushtarion or maybe he just totally messed something up.

 

[Tim]

i thinks thats down to azzer playing about seeing what links are needed for a 'squashed down' version of bushtarion or maybe he just totally messed something up.

Nope - it's down to the iPhone/iPod Touch browser. Azzer hasn't touched the mobile version yet and won't be for a while, he's said earlier in the thread that he has other priorities, such as the tutorial system.

Basically, the iPhone browser is a mobile version of the normal Safari browser and it displays like it would on a normal PC, just smaller - try accessing the link in your PC browser and then imagine it like 10 times smaller.

 

[rooney]

awesome work tim, playing on my phone was possible, but it crammed the sun picture and all the info on the top (funds/time of day/score etc.) into a small space so was hard. this will make it easy! much love for the work <3

 

[Benneh]

Looking good Tim!

 

[Steve_God]

Just tested it on the default browser on my LG Viewty, and that type of design seems perfect!!!
Nice work Tim

The only one suggestion that I'd like to make sure is included if possible, would be to see the new 'Incoming Mobs Notes' displayed next to the incomings on the incomings page.