Appendix - Spindroid. Development and Marketing of an Android based Fruit Machine. G53IDJ Indiv

Appendix 1.1A- Instructions

The instructions can also be found in-game, however to fully understand the additional features in the dissertation it is important to outline the rules of the game.

Main game

The main game is played by selecting a bet amount and using the spin button to start the reels spinning. The aim of the game is to match 3 symbols the same, or to reach a high enough trail that starts the feature board. The trail is added from the numbers which appear on the fruit symbols. The trail ranges from 1 to 8, which is extended to 9(Start feature), 10(super feature) and 11(Frenzy feature). The trail also has a bonus round available if the user manages to get a trail of 4. The bonus round involves selecting a bonus from a range of nudges, holds, add again and start feature by using the spin button.

If you achieve nudges, they can be used to move a selected reel of your choice by one place, helping you to match three symbols. Holds can be used to stop selected reels spinning on the following round. Add again will add the trail total again, ending in a total trail of 8. Finally, starting the feature can be achieved using the number 4 bonus, or through achieving a trail higher than 8. The higher the trail number, the better starting position when entering the feature board.

Feature Board

The aim of the feature board is to collect the highest amount of coins, or the highest feature.

In order to do this, you must spin the number reel to move around the board. Each square has an action which is written on the square, for example +1 coins, +1 features, or perhaps an extra life. Some squares however, marked with “lose”, end the feature board. This means each time you spin, you’re gambling to try to gain extra features or more coins, but hoping not to land on the lose squares. If you came to the feature board by getting a total trail of 9 or even 10, you will find that some lights are already lit when you enter the board.

If you manage to light up all of the minigame lights by landing on the minigame squares, the minigame will be started. Similarly, if you light up all of the arrow feature lights the middle feature will be started! The middle feature gives you access to move around the middle area

of the board, which has no losing squares, however there are squares which will result in leaving the super feature. Any square which is landed on can be repeated by gambling higher or lower on the last number spun. The numbers range from 1-12, however if you guess wrong then you will be returned to the main game with nothing. At any point you may collect the coins or feature, or continue moving around the board in the hope to achieve a higher payout.

Mini Game

The minigame which can be started from the feature board by lighting all the minigame lights asks you to pick cards from a set of face down cards. These cards add to the features or coins, until the “lose” card is turned. The cards are all face down so you are unaware which card has what effect until turned. When the lose card is turned over, the additional coins and features they earned are shown when returning to the feature board. You may then continue to gamble by moving around the feature board, or collect the prize.

Achievements

Your progress through the achievements can be seen on the achievements page, along with the details on how to obtain each achievement. The achievement will automatically be triggered when the conditions are met. At this point, you will have the option to share the achievement on your Facebook wall with a message to tell your friends!

leaderboard.

You can submit your score at any time by going to the leaderboard screen from the menu.

The leaderboard will show you a list of the top players from across the world for you to compete with. Just select the “Submit Score” button to register or log in, and submit your score.

Appendix 1.5A- Survey questions and reasons

Question Reason

Do you own an Android Device? Check if user meets criteria

If yes, which device? Find which devices are best to support / target for builds

Do you use your android device for entertainment?

Check if user meets criteria

Have you downloaded an Android application from the market?

Check if user meets criteria

Have you ever purchased (Paid for) and Android application from the market?

Find out the percentage of people that may be willing to pay for an application.

Approximately how much would you be willing to pay for an advert-free android game application?

This is going to be used in the marketing review to decide on the best marketing strategy.

Are you familiar with slot machines? How in depth do any instructions need to be?

Do you regularly play slot machines? Find if those who don’t regularly play, would be interested in playing for free.

Would you play a slot machine for entertainment if it did not include any transfer of money?

As above.

Appendix: 2.2A- Top 10 selling applications

Appendix: 2.2C – Sales figures and social media use Android

Name Sales Price Facebook Twitter Google+ Free version available?

Appendix: 2.2C – Top 5 slot machine applications

Appendix: 3.3.2 A- Examples of JSON service JSON leaderboard Example 1

Request: for 5 results, using amount = 5 as parameter.

Call: http://www.spindroid.co.uk/services/leaderBoardJson.php?amount=5 Result: [{"Username":"Bikesprocket

","Score":"1056104"},{"Username":"shell240","Score":"301231"},{"Username":"TestUsern ame","Score":"15000"},{"Username":"BMan","Score":"10421"},{"Username":"Gouldson90

","Score":"9932"}]

JSON leaderboard Example 2

Request: for 10 results, using amount = 10 as parameter.

Call: http://www.spindroid.co.uk/services/leaderBoardJson.php?amount=10 Result: [{"Username":"Bikesprocket

","Score":"1056104"},{"Username":"shell240","Score":"301231"},{"Username":"TestUsern ame","Score":"15000"},{"Username":"BMan","Score":"10421"},{"Username":"Gouldson90

","Score":"9932"},{"Username":"MMouse","Score":"4405"},{"Username":"Freddy","Score"

:"2300"},{"Username":"Matthew","Score":"1010"},{"Username":"Evans","Score":"1000"},{

"Username":"NutterzUK","Score":"999"}]

Appendix: 3.2.4A- The eclipse debuggins tools.

Appendix 3.2.5A- Spindroid application secret and keystore hash key

Appendix: 3.2.5B – Shared message shown on facebook

Appendix: 3.2.7 A- Initial Gantt Chart

Appendix: 3.2.8 A

Appendix: 5.1 A- Meta tags used on the website

This tag defines the content type, telling browsers that the content is html using charset utf-8

This tag tells social media networks such as Facebook to use the image fb_logo if the page is shared.

This tag creates the title for the page if shared on social media.

This tag is the description which will show on search results for google, below the title of the page.

As per searchenginewatch.com (2012), the keywords tag which was once used for catching keywords typed into search engines is now rarely used as it was often misused to create spam or malicious websites. “The only search engine that looks at the keywords anymore is

Microsoft's Bing – and they use it to help detect spam. To avoid hurting your site, your best option is to never add this tag.” (searchenginewatch.com)

Appendix: 5.1B- PHP code used to create the leaderboard page.

<?php

// set up the database variables.

$user_name = "dbo393663543";

//select a database, returns TRUE if found.

$db_found = mysql_select_db($database, $db_handle);

// set number of items to show. Will show less if less results exist

$amount = 100;

//If the database is found, run the query.

if ($db_found) { // query to run

$result = mysql_query("SELECT Username,Score FROM `Accounts`

WHERE 1 ORDER BY Score DESC limit 0,".$amount);

// Start counter at 1, as top score is 1st, not 0.

$counter = 1;

// start adding html to the page to create table.

echo "<table border=\"1\" align=\"center\" class=\"leaderboard\">";

// add headings to the table

echo "<tr><th>Position</th><th>Score</th><th>Username</th></tr>";

// create a row variable as an array, to store each row of results./

$row = array();

// this loops through all results from the DB while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result){

// create a new row, of class leaderboard echo "<tr><td class=\"leaderboard\">";

Appendix: 5.2 – Final Screenshots Menu activity

Slot machine activity

Feature board activity

Minigame activity

Leaderboard activity

Settings activity

Achievements activity

Achievement unlock example

Achievement activity showing 15k achievement.

Instructions example

Appendix: 6.1A – Emulator Configurations

These android emulators have been selected to fill in the gaps which have not been testable using the real devices available during testing. The Desire Z has a keyboard to test, using Android 2.3. The HTC One X tests Android 4.0 and higher screen densities. The below devices are to test a range of screen sizes, android versions, and densities

Emulated Device Android Screen Keyboard

HTC Evo 4G 2.2 800*480

Density: 217

Google Nexus One 2.2 800*480

Density: 252

HTC Flyer 3.2 600*1024

Density: 170

Desire HD 2.3 400*800

Density: 217

Appendix: 6.1B – Test Plan

This is the test plan carried out on the test devices and emulators. The beta test will work also for user acceptance which can be based on the feedback from the beta test. For all forms or options, erroneous data and edge cases should be tested. Throughout tests and for all

activities the visual appearance and the performance of the application should be monitored.

Results are noted in the test summary section of this dissertation.

Main menu

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

Play button starts main activity

User is at the main menu Press the play button.

Check correct activity

Achievements button User is at the main menu. Press the achievements button

Achievement activity starts

Settings button User is at the main menu Press the settings button Settings activity starts.

Sound (On) Sound is turned on in the

Main Game

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

Spin button User is on the main game Press the spin button. of the reels when they stop

Sound(off) User is on the main

Nudges User has nudges function

available

Holds User has holds function

available

Select to hold reel.

Repeat for all three reels

The held reel should not spin.

Hold all (extreme) User has holds function available

Select to hold all reels The reels should not spin, the trail should

Trail held User has trail held function available

Spin the reels When calculating the total trail, it should include the last trail total with the new numbers to get the new total trail.

Trail correctly counts User has span the main game wheel

Check that all the lights are fully functioning and that the trail total is correct

Trail lands above 8 User has achieve a trail

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

User can move around the board smoothly

User is on the feature board

Press the spin button. User should move the number of squares the

If the reel returns a higher number after spinning, the

If the reel returns a lower number after spinning, the should light up. If the last light of the super feature or minigame, it should start the appropriate feature.

Collect coins User is on featureboard with collectable coins

Collect features User is on featureboard Select collect. Press The correct feature should

with collectable feature “collect feature” in the

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

User can turn over cards,

The user is the minigame Select a card, check the number of coins or

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

internet connection.

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

Share User has met the

Achievement lights User is on the

achievements activity

Settings

Test case summary Pre testing criteria Test Steps Expected Results

About User is on settings

page

Appendix: 6.2B – Real test devices.

Device Android

Version

Screen Size Resolution Processor Memory

HTC Hero 2.3 3.2 Inches 320*480 528 MHz

Single core

288MB

HTC Desire Z

2.3.3 3.7 Inches 480*800 800 MHz

Single core

512MB

HTC One X 4.0.3 4.7 Inches 720*1280 Quad-core

1.5 GHz

1GB

HTC

Sensation XE

2.3.3 4.3 Inches 540*960 Dual-core 1.5 GHz

768MB

Appendix: 6.4C – Download rate from android market.

Appendix: 6.4A- Browser Statistics by Month, provided by w3c.

Appendix: 6.5.1- Emulator test results

Problem found Environment Resolution

Slow performance Android 3.2.3, large screen size

Attempt to reproduce on real device. Could not reproduce, emulator slowness is a known Android problem.

Can get nudges, then hit the bonus and win holds, ambiguous buttons act for holds and nudges.

Not environment specific Make it so that it is not possible to get holds if the user has 1 or more nudges

Not environment specific The images have been entered into the array in the wrong order, fixed the

Not environment specific The spin button becomes enabled when the number of reels left spinning is equal to 0, rather than when the third wheel stop spinning. This was an issue caused by holds or nudges, if the third wheel was held. with a unique layout file for x-large screens. However the large range in size within this category means that the

developers guide, but further work into the appearance on the larger screens needs to be done. This is added to the further work section, and until fixed the tablet devices will not be supported.

Progress has been made on fixing this issue but due to the requirement for much larger images this screen size will require a redesign for optimal visual appearance.

Appendix 6.5.2 – Real device test results

Problem Found Environment Resolution

The hold buttons are too

HTC Desire Z Disable keyboard changes using the manifest file.

Everything seems too small HTC Hero No possible solution, correct sizes shown but the device screen is relatively small.

Resolution is to disable small screens for beta testing, support will need to be added after a

possible re-design.

Vibrate function does not work when win is triggered

HTC Sensation XE Add permission to vibrate to the manifest file. This was missed on emulator testing due to not having a vibrate function.

Appendix: 6.5.3 – Beta test results.

Problem found Environment (If known) Resolution When numbers make up a

System hangs mid spin Version number 9

Running CyanogenMod's whilst this is a big problem it is not happening for most

users. Further research and perhaps a rooted real device is needed to find the cause of this issue. This will be added to further work.

Crash on super feature, not sure of cause

Version 9 This was found to be an issue

which makes it possible to cause an out of bounds exception when searching for the super feature images after moving around the board fully once.

Appendix: 7 – Feedback from beta users.

In document Spindroid. Development and Marketing of an Android based Fruit Machine. G53IDJ Individual Dissertation Joint Honours ( 20 Credits ) (Page 63-93)