Breakthroughs - and misc stuff

So, today started with refocusing on a huge problem that has been holding me back in developing the web app. I was unable to successfully connect to the database and insert a record containing the player data collected in the initial player form.

I had tried many dozens of times, researched, attempted, researched again ad nauseum. I had given up temporarily and instead focused on the design aspects of the game, figuring I might have to pay someone to solve this seemingly simple problem for me.

But today I tried one more time and made it happen! What a great feeling. That was about 5 am this morning and I am still riding high on the buzz.

Progress has been slowed a bit by a 2-week contract with my former employer, with another week to go. But I do manage to fit in a few hours on the game anyway.

Next challenge is to actually save the data from the Create Intention form. After that, displaying the data and editing it. Then I will have a working app that I can start using and my friends can start testing.

If you should be reading this (even in the future) and want to be part of my testing group, please contact me through the Contact Us form on the website. I'd put my email address here, but that's just begging for spammers to do their thing.

Success Now! - You deserve it, and it's FUN!

Something to show ...

 I ask myself sometimes, "What do I have to show for all the hours, years, I've spent on this project?"

And the answer depends somewhat on my mood at the time. For this moment, the answer is ...

I have made some progress in developing the new web app, but still many miles to go. It is often painfully frustrating the pace at which this is progressing, and I constantly re-evaluate whether I should be delegating this piece or that and if so, when. 

But I'm a stubborn cuss, and want to do as much as I can myself. Partly because as I work on it, little enhancements keep coming up (scope creep they say), that I might miss if I just handed it off to a developer. And I love/hate the actual coding :{)

So for now, keep on trucking.

I had hoped to hand some of it off this week, before I start a 2-week contract for my former employer. But alas ...

Still, I think I will end up putting time into the project regardless, because it has become my passion, my obsession even. ONWARD - TO SUCCESS & BEYOND!

BTW, the POC is up on my website at successnow.rocks. Much of it doesn't work, but if you want to follow along and get a sense of what it will be, check it out here.

In for the long haul

 Well, it's been a bit longer than I would have liked since the last post, but no one has complained. :)

Been working on the new Success Now web app. Mostly working on it on my local computer, but have uploaded some of it to my new website. Interesting that what displays perfectly on my screen when working locally is screwed up when I upload it. Guess I'm going to have to do some research on that.

This is so frustrating as my ideas for the game keep coming, but making them part of the game is taking forever!

What to do? Keep on, stay focused and don't give up!

Yup, that is what I am going to do.

The third ... no the 100th ... time is a charm!

... AND ... It's back to the drawing board again. Yes it's true. But it's never back to square one, because there is always much that can be learned from successive failures that mean we don't have to start again at square one. Maybe this time we can start at square 6, or 600.

Much has been learned, and I've nearly come to tears (perish the thought!) of frustration and disappointment as each new approach has proven too difficult for my poor coding talents. Huh!

So, as attractive as the idea of an app has been, I have decided to go back to the web, at least for the time being. Lucky me, pack-rat that I am, that I had squirreled (mixed metaphors anyone?) away a previous, well-developed attempt at a website for the game from about 12 years ago.

Much has changed on the web since then, both PHP and MySQL, the technologies I used to develop the site, have morphed into something that breaks much of the code that I hand-crafted to make the site.

But I have been working on bringing the site back up for the last few days, and am hopeful that this is the approach that will take me to 'the next level'.

I'm going to need some help, so am looking for a PHP developer to mentor me in the harder stuff, but for the moment I am surging ahead slowly.

On another front, my friend Dennis Crow of Breathworkfree.com has submitted his first Android app to the Google Play store. Waiting to see whether it gets approved or not. We've both put a lot of effort into this, so it's exciting to have reached this point.

Until next time ...

Success Now - You deserve it!