Warmaclock alpha testing call

If you are interested into helping out alpha testing the Warmaclock application, please contact me by clicking the button below:

You can also PM me in either the Privateer Press or Lost Hemisphere forums. Search for the user Angrax.
All help is appreciated.

Warmaclock* application - a chess clock for Steamroller tournaments

Who participates in Warmachine and Hordes Steamroller tournaments knows very well that practice makes perfect. When asked what lists to take to an event, very often the experts give the following answer: "the list you are most comfortable with".

Playing your list over and over again and throwing it in as many scenarios and against as many casters as possible is the way to go. Get to know what models to activate in which order and, just as important, make sure you can run it effectively on the time constraints.

Me and the folks around my local game store like to every now and them run friendly games with Steamroller rules, including timed turns. We do this for many reasons: to spice it up a bit and run away from the conventional caster kill, to have the excitement of running against the clock and to train for future events. Except that we do not have a chess clock available every time we need nor the ones we have available can simulate round length and call the "dice down", effectively simulating the random round length calculated by the event organizer.

Thinking about this, I realized that there are no clocks optimized for a Warmachine/Hordes experience for the iPhone and Android and I decided to roll out my version of a chess clock for Steamroller tournaments. As a good utility application, the clock should be simple to use and specific to the problem at hand. It has to be fun and have the graphical appeal of the game and a superb UX.

So rolling out a list of requirements, this is what I came up with:

• it must be built around Steamroller tournament rules (specifically the Game Timing section of the 2012 rules);
• the configuration panel must reflect the Steamroller rules and must not be generic;
• the interface must be easy to use and to configure without any help;
• the application must calculate round time and simulate EO's "dice down";
• the clock must use Steamroller terms and
• the UX must match the atmosphere of the Iron Kingdoms and the Steampunk theme; art and sound included.

No, this is not your conventional clock

Thinking on how I could implement it, and wishing to get my try on doing a 3D like flipping animation on iOS, I decided to use a flip clock as the basic interface for the timers. After a few days of development, I got to a result I was happy with. All the rules have been coded, the configuration panel is fully functional as well as the clock interface itself.

The base application screens

With the basics in place, I can put the application in alpha testing while I work out the details for the user interface. I'm not a designer and I will have trouble rolling out anything more complex than what I have above, so I would love to have someone working with me to create the full user experience and graphical assets.

Stay tunned while I roll out the alpha testing phase.

* Temporary codename. Final name still to be decided.