In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy talks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. For our first feature in 2014, we have 35-year-old Team Westeros, made up of computer engineers Du Lingyi, Huang Geng, Meng Kaizhi and Zheng Naijia. Together, they developed an a Windows Phone/Windows 8 app for NUS’ internal Integrated Virtual Learning Environment (IVLE).
How did you come up with the name Team Westeros and what does it mean?
Westeros is the continent in the fictional world of A Song of Ice and Fire (and also the highly popular TV series Game of Thrones). It consists of the Seven Kingdoms and is the place where most of the story takes place.
Since two of the initial members (Huang Geng and Kaizhi) are hard-core Game of Throne fans, the team was named after “Westeros”.
How did you come up with the idea of IVLE Metro?
Our initial thought was to create an app that could serve as an entry to the iCreate Mobility Challenge (which is an app development contest) organized by NUS in summer 2013. So the four of us from the same department (some of us barely knew each other prior to this contest) just teamed up and hammered out a rough plan.
As stated in the contest requirement, the target user of the app should be NUS students and it has to achieve certain benefits for student’s study life. So we figured it would be best to base our app on the well established and widely used online learning platform called IVLE (Integrated Virtual Learning Environment). Within one brainstorming session, our team managed to spot a real problem with the current web version of IVLE – the lack of optimization for navigation on touch-screen devices. This naturally led to the idea of developing a native app for the web service, which, as we discussed, shall be based on the strongly growing Windows 8/RT platform. This was when the idea of IVLE Metro emerged.
How did you stay inspired throughout the development process?
Shameful as it is to admit, deadline works as the best inspiration (at least during the development of IVLE Metro). Since all four of us were having full-time internship, all group meetings and most development had to be carried out at night. The progress was initially way slower than our expectation and we were falling behind schedule. But, as is well known to all, deadline is the ultimate productivity booster. In the later stage of development, we carefully adjusted the plan, prioritized development tasks and eventually managed to pull it off.
Did you get any interesting feedback from users of the app?
IVLE Metro got an average rating of 4.1 on Windows Store and many users sent in feedbacks and suggestions. One of the users even contacted us through personal email and voluntarily offered his help to improve the app.
Tell us more about the response and partnership with NUS.
IVLE Metro received extraordinary attention from NUS and, in particular, Mr. Jeffery Tay from Centre for Instructional Technology, NUS. A partnership was initially on the verge of forging, which would make IVLE Metro the official IVLE client on Windows 8. However, we missed the opportunity largely because of the laxness from our side.
How long did you take to finish development?
Development was mostly done during our spare time in school vacation. Everything started in early June and the first release of IVLE Metro became available at the start of August, so technically the development took around two months in total. But the actually coding time was way below that; 60 hours should be a good approximation.
Why did you choose to release it on Windows 8?
First of all, we are all Windows 8 users ourselves and we developed IVLE Metro to fix our own pain. From a platform’s point of view, Windows 8/RT are very promising, especially for students and professionals who need productivity. As developers, we also value the functionality and service integration that comes together with Windows 8, i.e. easy-to-access file directory system and Skydrive integration. Such functionality made it possible to realize some of our initial visions on IVLE Metro.
How was the process of submitting your app on the Windows App Store?
The process was fairly smooth and we did not encounter too much trouble. Frankly speaking, there are certain UI elements and layouts that would be considered as violations of Windows Store App design guidelines (but all for a better overall user experience) and they might cause some troubles during app submission. But with the help of Yizhe from Microsoft, we managed to get IVLE Metro approved on our second app submission (we forgot to include a “terms and conditions” page in our initial submission L).
What are you preferred platforms/tools of choice?
Visual Studio for Windows 8 is the only tool to develop Windows Store app and it is very reliable. We enjoyed using it when working on IVLE Metro.
What tips/tricks would you share with other aspiring app developers?
(1) Start testing the app with potential users early and try to incorporate what they suggest into the app.
(2) Utilize the power of social network (Facebook, Twitter and etc.) to market your app. Creating an dedicated page for the app can truly make a difference.
(3) Trick on using Local Storage from Windows Store app (especially if you want the locally stored files to be accessible by users in Explorer). Once the user grants your app the permission to store files in a publically accessible location (i.e. Documents Library or other places where Windows Store app normally does not have access permit), create your own folder and store the key (hashed file directory) of the new folder in your app’s Setting Storage. Access to the same folder can be restored using the key in the future (instead of creating a new folder).
What’s next for Team Westeros?
Since all four members of the team are pursuing Bachelor’s degrees right now, there is currently no concrete plan to work on another app. However, Team Westeros is still going to provide bug fixing and to add more useful features into future releases of IVLE Metro. Providing long-term maintenance to IVLE Metro seems to be a lot tougher than creating it, but our team is well prepared for any challenge in the future.
How can people find you if they want to learn more about the team?
Email IVLE Metro:
Github accounts:
Du Lingyi DuLingyi
Meng Kaizhi scottmeng
Zheng Naijia laizhouxia
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