Mobile?

After tinkering with the alpha a bit, I realized that I'll probably find myself running some web searches, maybe taking some notes, trying an online tool, on my phone as I wait in queues, get bored at meetings, and whatnot.

Then I realized that doing this will be pretty hard without access to the clues I get from within the game client. For example, if I have a chunk of cyphertext to decrypt, I can try running online tools on it, but I first need to get it on my phone's clipboard somehow. But even if I just wanted to run web searches, I'd still need to remember all the details of the clues I have.

Sooo... any projects for a mobile client? Even if it's just limited to showing the clues, it'd be pretty neat.

 

I ran into a similar problem. I installed the client in an AWS VM so I’d have access to it from work (during lunch and break time of course ;P) without having to install it there. As I suspected it still ran like a dog even on “fastest” mode. I ended up just copying all the clues into Evernote and keeping track of leads that way as I found time to investigate them on my phone or tablet. I still had to remote to my VM to enter attempts to solve the missions, but at least I could leave the alpha app up at the entry screen. A mobile client would work for me also, but so would a web client or slimmed down desktop client.

 

I have made an HTML 5 version of the situation room. Anashel has asked me explicitly not to include the other parts of the client.

See here: http://client.agentcatalyst.net/

 

For me, the order of priority would be

1. Access to new mission details as soon as a mission is released
2. Ability to copy clues to clipboard as Greenhead suggested
3. Access to details of "bookmarked" missions
4. Access to submit screens to attempt solutions

Anything else would be gravy.

For me it is all about making the information easier to access and the ability to submit missions more easily while on the go. I am not looking for tools to make it easier to investigate missions, but I would not turn them down. I actually like the work it takes to solve them. The best extra goodie I can think of that would be useful to me would be integration of the mission screen with the forum thread on that mission, assuming one is created along the lines like Santiak has done for these four.

 

Pretty much what Rohva said. Basically, the scenario I have in mind is - I'm out somewhere, I have five minutes to kill, and I want to spend them thinking on a TBW enigma, but I don't want to have to set up my own notebook system. Give me a fast, barebones interface that loads in one or two seconds, with the mission details, the clues, and the submit button; nothing fancy. An HTML5 client running on a website would be plenty enough.

 

I am also looking forward to a mobile client. TBW is why I have a mobile phone at all. (Until recently, I didn't because phones are just another way for people to annoy me.) Every good field agent needs to stay in touch with HQ.

However, at this stage I wouldn't be wanting HQ to devote many resources to mobile, yet. The client is not fully featured and in alpha testing. There is probably a lot of Season One content yet to develop. Myself, I think TBW's future relies more on having a basic system that works flawlessly and content that awes the gaming community. Also, I think it is unclear how much effort will be required to make a browser-enabled interface that respects all of the rules built into the client (like content unlocks, agent progress tracking and so on).

That said, we live in a mobile-communications society. It is reasonable to want mobile access. Most of this thread centers around *having the clues available and *having a submit button.

I think we as a community can handle the clues with no more effort from HQ than their blessing to do so: Santiak has already developed a really good way to handle discussions in the forums. I like the idea of adding the clues into the first post of each mission thread. (sorry about the extra workload, Santiak)

A submit button, and the backend processes to support it, that might use a lot of resources just to be sure it is working right. I think it is reasonable to wait for that.

I do expect the dev team should be thinking about enabling mobile access as they develop the backend processing.

 

I would tackle this, but @Anashel has his plans and as a software dev, I don't like stepping on toes. I bet we'll see something, but not until the client is ready. There's still a lot to do, from what I can tell. With desire for such a client, I'm sure we'll see something in the future. Just probably not the near future.

 

I like Deepthroat's idea!

 

That's exactly what I was thinking about when I decided I "needed" a mobile.

 

If we want to talk about what kinds of things we'd like down the road I agree with Deepthroat that making use of mobile specific features would kick the game up a notch. I see the kinds of features that I and some others have asked for right now as just introducing some basic required functionality that will need to be there in any event. I honestly would not ask for a commitment to anything more at this stage of the game.

If an actual mobile client is created, though, I agree that it should not be treated as just an alternative to a desktop client but as a different kind of tool that is further developed in its own right.

Geolocation services specifically seem to offer exciting possibilities. A location aware mobile client could alert agents to the nearby presence of other agents. Missions might also activate or progress only when approaching a certain location. Perhaps there could be group missions that initiate when a certain number of agents are in close proximity. In lieu of typing coordinates as solutions as we have been doing perhaps we could instead snap a photo with embedded location data and upload that or use a mobile client accepts info only when submitted from certain locations.

In the "I hope you have really good lawyers" category you could also require the use of a mobile client to transfer data to/from a target computer to complete a mission objective. Or agents could acquire or pass on data to each other using Bluetooth or some Bump-like service.

A simple HTML client will provide the kind of basic functionality I am looking for right now, but if mission designers will actually go the route of mobile integrated missions, then I am willing to wait if limited dev resources are instead invested in something that will end up being a more feature rich, genuine mobile client such missions would require. I expect the basics would also end up in there anyway.

 

A good model for the Geolocation services I would say check out Ingress. It's Google powered so it's advanced because of their backing. It also has some ARG elements when it comes to group activities (I.e. Finding locations of events.) if anything it would be good inspiration.

I would definitely like the hub and a chat function. As beloved as the IRC is, it would be great to have something that doesn't log me out when my phone sleeps and I loose out on what people say while my screen is dark.

I love the notes feature in the client, perhaps at some point we could get a 'shared notes' section between friends for those more extensive missions.

 

Yes mobile! Please! Something like this http://watchdogs.ubi.com/watchdogs/en-gb/mobile-app/index.aspx
it can filter voice, encrypt and decrypt images or text - to discuss secrets among agents.