Missed Deadlines

It was another good day of coding this morning, but it also included some redesign and re-direction in building the first two Scoring screens.  I was originally drawing them with Sprite Kit, but using the regular old text boxes and labels is working fine too.  I think it will help me in the long run with the eventual scrolling behavior.  (Scroll down as score columns grow, scroll right for more players, etc..)  It cost me a morning, but I only have a rough prototype at this point.  Lucky for me, the app won't be that complicated.  

-- Geek Side Note -- Some other developers or students would probably knock out this program in a caffeine fueled weekend, but I find even the simple concepts take time to fully design and implement.  Then adjust due to feedback.  It is a given that the longer you use a language, the more proficient you are with it.  I am not speaking fluent Objective C yet, but I am trying real hard...  (Sorry Samual L. Jackson's voice sounded good there...)

Rough prototype.  After trying and then discarding a tab bar system, I have the app showing the default T-shaped scoring table with the player names above.  Adjust for extra players, scrolling both ways, and and easy score input.  I tried to keep the option open for using the Sprite Kit scene for other types of scoring systems, whatever that may be.  For now, the T-shaped scoring variations will have to do, I am running short on time.

I love showing off the early prototypes to family and friends.  Unfortunately, you usually find out that you could have used an extra pair of eyes on certain features.   C'est la vie.  Just run back to the storyboard and try out different version, but it will cost time.  In this case, I think I lost a day.  No worries the project is looking good overall, and I should have this first version looking decent by Friday.

-- Geek Side Note 2 -   I also sometimes try out ideas on another App called "App Cooker".  It really is kind of Visio on steroids on my iPad, but also knows iOS shapes, etc...  One of the nice features is that you can 'play' your design for another person to see how the navigation performs.  Looks like a mock up app.  It is really handy for me when I am away from the computer, but want to design.  You still pretty much have to create the entire app over again for real in XCode, but it can scratch that itch to show off an idea.