Connected devices that support ‘hackable’ software development are becoming increasingly common: the Lifx, the Holiday by MooresCloud, Philips Hue, and so on.

This talk will explore the development of a number of iOS apps built for the Holiday by MooresCloud, including a device discovery app and a musical visualiser. The talk will summarise the best practices for developing IoT-related apps for iOS, how to talk to such devices in a reliable and network-friendly way, and best practices for UX and interaction with IoT devices.

We’ll showcase our past work, demonstrate what we’re working on now, and present a number of demonstrations of our approach to building mobile software for IoT devices.

In this session, I will summarise what we think makes a good children’s app from both a design and a technical perspective, with examples from our own work and others. Attendees will come away with a set of solid dos and don’ts for building mobile games for children.

What gestures are good in children’s games? Does load time matter? Why shouldn’t you include ‘trash can’ imagery? Is there a right way to do in-app purchases in kids games?

On the face of it, Android Wear and the Apple Watch are very similar: they’re both wristwatches, they’re both closely tied to your phone, and the tech media are unaccountably excited about both of them. But how do their differences affect you as a developer? This session explores what it takes to design and consider the same application for the two most prominent wearable platforms in existence today.

In this talk, you’ll learn how to build and design a great application for both platforms. You’ll learn about:

• The design patterns that Apple Watch and Android Wear (and to a lesser extent, other platforms like Pebble) share
• The design patterns that they don’t share
• How to think about multiple same-but-different design patterns for same-but-different hardware at the same time
• Finding the common ground in your ideas and design

This design-focused session will explore what it means to be a watch app, and discuss how a “watch app” is not the same as a “mobile app”

In this session, you’ll learn about game design: the art and science of constructing enjoyable, engaging games. We aren’t doing any coding, and we’re not talking game engine development – instead, we’ll be taking a deep dive into game design theory, using it to understand how people interact with rules, and how to use it to improve your community, your company, your project, and your software.

Video games are the most glamorous of the electronic arts, but splashy graphics and amazing sound aren’t the defining feature of games. Games are the world’s only interactive artistic medium, and good interaction needs to be designed. Today’s master crafters of interaction design are game designers.

In this session, you’ll get a fresh perspective on user experience design and community engagement by understanding how people are interacting with the fastest-growing form of entertainment in the world.

Topics covered in this session include:

• Why games work, and how to analyse and build engaging experiences
• The Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics framework: what it’s good for, and how to use it
• How to understand what a game’s doing, and how to build for fun

We’ll take this knowledge and apply it to real world examples in the realms of UX and UI design, community management, project management, and company building, as well as a few examples from the actual game development industry.

There’s nothing better than containerizing things. Everybody loves microservices. Brand new programming languages are the new hotness.

In this session, we’ll combine all three: we’ll explore the use of Swift for the construction of microservices, which we’ll containerize using Docker. Learn how to use your mobile development skills for non-mobile Swift development.

Focusing on the Swift open source project’s releases, we’ll walk through Swift setup, installation, community, and tools, and then teach the basics of Swift programming as we create and containerize a simple micro service. We’ll be using Docker for Mac.

By the end of this session, attendees will:

• understand the basics of Swift
• know how to install, and work with Swift on Linux
• know how to build a simple microservice with Swift
• be aware of the possibilities of combining Swift with Docker

We promise, despite the buzzwords, this is actually useful! Inch ever closer to being a full-stack developer using only Swift.

In this session, you’ll learn about game design: the art and science of constructing enjoyable, engaging games. We aren’t doing any coding, and we’re not talking game engine development – instead, we’ll be taking a deep dive into game design theory, using it to understand how people interact with rules, and how to use it to improve your community, your company, your project, and your software.

Video games are the most glamorous of the electronic arts, but splashy graphics and amazing sound aren’t the defining feature of games. Games are the world’s only interactive artistic medium, and good interaction needs to be designed. Today’s master crafters of interaction design are game designers.

In this session, you’ll get a fresh perspective on user experience design and community engagement by understanding how people are interacting with the fastest-growing form of entertainment in the world.

Topics covered in this session include:

• Why games work, and how to analyse and build engaging experiences
• The Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics framework: what it’s good for, and how to use it
• How to understand what a game’s doing, and how to build for fun

We’ll take this knowledge and apply it to real world examples in the realms of UX and UI design, community management, project management, and company building, as well as a few examples from the actual game development industry.

KEYWORDS

Design, Games, Rules, Interaction, UX

In this session, you’ll learn about game design: the art and science of constructing enjoyable, engaging games. We aren’t doing any coding, and we’re not talking game engine development – instead, we’ll be taking a deep dive into game design theory, using it to understand how people interact with rules, and how to use it to improve your community, your company, your project, and your software.

Video games are the most glamorous of the electronic arts, but splashy graphics and amazing sound aren’t the defining feature of games. Games are the world’s only interactive artistic medium, and good interaction needs to be designed. Today’s master crafters of interaction design are game designers.

In this session, you’ll get a fresh perspective on user experience design and community engagement by understanding how people are interacting with the fastest-growing form of entertainment in the world.

Topics covered in this session include:

• Why games work, and how to analyse and build engaging experiences
• The Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics framework: what it’s good for, and how to use it
• How to understand what a game’s doing, and how to build for fun

We’ll take this knowledge and apply it to real world examples in the realms of UX and UI design, community management, project management, and company building, as well as a few examples from the actual game development industry.

KEYWORDS

Design, Games, Rules, Interaction, UX