A LucasArts Adventure in Programming

Did you ever think your life is similar to a game? Today, I recall a time in my career when I was living a LucasArts Adventure.

Every developer I've met over the years seem to have their tales of horror and comedy throughout their careers.

Even I have a number of them.

It's amazing how you can look back on your career and a series of events can strike up a memory or something to trigger an association between two things.

My recent trigger was when I was watching the latest Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer.

When the LucasFilm logo came up, I remembered the LucasArts logo from the old style adventure games, like Full Throttle (intro still kicks butt...and yes, that's Mark Hamill as Ripberger), Day of the Tentacle, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Many, many years ago,I remembered a time when I was working on a project in a company (names withheld to protect the guilty) and I needed clarification on bullet points in a requirements document.

Looking back, this story I'm about to tell felt like a LucasArts adventure game.

What do I mean? Here's how it started.

I decided to head upstairs and talk to the business owner/stakeholder of the project. Now, imagine you are playing a game and controlling your side-scrolling 2D character to head upstairs to find their cube.

The person I was looking for was there. I asked Frank, "I need to get this API finished. Are you the person I talk to about the logic?"

Frank replies, "No, I need this question answered from Bob so I can finish the requirements."

So I went downstairs to talk to Bob. <Moving your character downstairs to find Bob>

"Bob, did you answer Frank regarding this requirement for the API?"

"No, I'm waiting on Jim for his research on the 'Bar' widget so I can finish the 'Foo' widget requirement for the API."

I walked over to Jim's desk. He wasn't there. It seems I had to wait a day before I could talk to Jim. The next day, I went back to Jim's desk.

"Jim, did you get your answer to the 'Bar' question?"

"Yeah, and I just finished coding it. I JUST checked it in."

Achievement Unlocked!

I walk back upstairs to talk to Bob.

"Bob, Jim said he checked it in and finished it."

"Great, I'll let you know when I get the 'Foo' requirement finished, but I need the 'Baz' question answered from Jeff."

Who is Jeff and where the hell is he at?

<Drop by the kitchen to look for clues as to who Jeff is>

You can see where this is going.

Projects are never point A to point B and task is completed. It's more like Point A to B, C, D, E, F, J, and back to Point G and H.

While we do have modern tools like email, instant messaging, and meetings to speed things up a bit (sometimes), there are companies who are still...shall we say...still behind the curve.

When I snapped out of it, I realized this particular experience was a "stranger than fiction" moment.

Do you have projects or moments like this when you can relate a game to your situation? Post your comments below and let's discuss.

The Future of Mobile Apps

With almost 2.4 billion users of smartphones, what does the future of mobile applications look like? Today, we examine a list of ideas of what future apps could be.

With the abundance of mobile devices in the world today, location services are one of the many features in smartphones or tablets required to becoming competitive in any industry.

At last count, there were 2.32 billion smartphone users.

Entertainment, productivity, and financial applications are great, but the majority of users are looking for more with their apps. Depending on their desire, they are interested in the "here and now." What events are happening around me, what can I do right now, and where are they?

While finding a retailer near you and have your phone notify you about a tremendous deal in a store is great, but what other applications are meant for the future in mobile applications?

Location services like Radar and Google Maps present developers with a number of options for these futuristic ideas.

Can you build the next Location-Based Service (LBS) system? Let's look at some practical applications for your next app or website.

Applications

Nowadays, companies providing advanced location services are required to have the ability to include either a JavaScript onto a web page or Progressive Web Application or provide an API for an iPhone or Android app for native apps.

Producing any one of these ideas would make any user happy to use an LBS app.

1. Stay Informed

Mail Delivery/Shipments

Of course, we see LBS with FedEx, UPS, and USPS, but it could expand even further into local manufacturing or distribution with someone going to pick up a personal order driving across town.

Think of it as an Uber with a location tracker to deliver something locally.

Plane Arrivals/Departures

With the amount of Travel APIs available, you can create a real-time mashup with LBS services to show users exactly where a plane is flying along with departure and arrival.

2. Stay Healthy

Track your Run

Another way to use LBS is to track your fitness run. It would record how far you ran, calories burnt, and provide an overlay on a map.

Health Location Services

In a hospital with certain patients and, while it's a little "big brother-ish," it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a coat or robe for knowing where patients wander off to.

With this type of service, it could even be expanded to personal in-house treatment.

"Where's dad/mom?"

"Hold on, let me check the app."

3. Stay Advised 

Social Security: "It's happening where?"

Similar to Waze, this application could take disasters around the world and make it a community-based notification system (possibly calling it "social security?")

In addition, with all kinds of terrorist attacks occurring in the world, would it make sense to avoid an attack area at all costs to minimize casualties?

What if your current location could alert you to an attack happening ten miles up the road? This would give you enough notice to stay away from that area and allow you to alert the authorities.

Or better yet, provide a notification similar to an Amber Alert to people in a certain radius of the area to stay away until it's clear.

Conclusion

It seems the future of mobile applications is up to us to determine what can help us and our fellow man in the world.

With the right amount of ingenuity and imagination, we can deliver top-quality location-based services through websites and applications.

Got an idea? Did I miss one you are working on? Post your comments below and let's discuss.