App Ideas

I'm a junior college student starting my senior year in August this year. I am a Computer Science major and one of our graduation requirements is to design and implement a project. I want to design a mobile application for two reasons: to complete my graduation requirements and to make a little money. So my question to RIU is, does anybody have a idea of an app that you would find useful or fun.



Thanks
Big Mike

Hey man I just got my first programming job and they are all hot and heavy for augmented reality apps. Not even finished products, just seeing what's possible. I never got into it because the equipment costs money or requires 3rd party API's but they hired me to learn the API's of the stuff they want to use, and make our own.

What would be killer for finding a job:
Tracking objects in a video stream. So you take a piece of white paper and set it on a dark surface and have a video recording it, then if you pick the paper up, move it around, rotate it, the software first recognizes the object, then tracks it's movement/rotation. Then in a game engine you can render objects on the paper that interact in dynamic ways.

Not a lot of people working on the stuff, and the ones who are have big bucks to burn just investigating concepts.

edit:: I got hired primarily for my experience with a game engine I learned outside of school.

Thanks for the reply.

That's definitely something I will have to research because I don't have any familiarity with that kind of technology. Also, like you said it would really help me on the job market and I need as much help as I can get. I've been struggling trying to find a internship to give me some experience to put on my resume.

big.MF.mike said:

Thanks for the reply.

That's definitely something I will have to research because I don't have any familiarity with that kind of technology. Also, like you said it would really help me on the job market and I need as much help as I can get. I've been struggling trying to find a internship to give me some experience to put on my resume.

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Yeah man I'm in the same boat except throw medical problems into the mix. A year ago I couldn't even get a returned call for shitty game tester jobs.

This was just dumb luck and I found the right place not even off a job board. I registered on a freelance site to do javascript/css/and unity 3d jobs and the company was looking for someone local because they have physical equipment which eliminates outsourced indians, so I sent them links to stuff I've made. They use outsourced programmers but are busy enough to make a new position at the company and train someone internally. It was the only job I bid on and they PM'd me their contact info, I had an interview and it was awesome.

tumorhead said:

Yeah man I'm in the same boat except throw medical problems into the mix. A year ago I couldn't even get a returned call for shitty game tester jobs.

This was just dumb luck and I found the right place not even off a job board. I registered on a freelance site to do javascript/css/and unity 3d jobs and the company was looking for someone local because they have physical equipment which eliminates outsourced indians, so I sent them links to stuff I've made. They use outsourced programmers but are busy enough to make a new position at the company and train someone internally. It was the only job I bid on and they PM'd me their contact info, I had an interview and it was awesome.

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See, I'm thinking it's going to be the same way for me. So, I'm trying to come up with some ideas on little projects that I can do to be able to show companies my skills. Unfortunately, I suck at coming up with ideas.

You can make a virtual sundial app,for kicks if it has not been done allready.

Or for people that manually angle there solar panels.An app that shows optimum angle month by month.Some people just split the difference with a set/forget,and some readjust every 6 months.There maybe some people who would like a monthly reminder for optimum angle to there cells.

May not be hot now,but just a thought.

Dalek Supreme said:

You can make a virtual sundial app,for kicks if it has not been done allready.

Or for people that manually angle there solar panels.An app that shows optimum angle month by month.Some people just split the difference with a set/forget,and some readjust every 6 months.There maybe some people who would like a monthly reminder for optimum angle to there cells.

May not be hot now,but just a thought.

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That's a great idea because a lot of people don't use solar panels at the moment, but I think eventually it will become a major market. On top of that, people use their phones for almost everything. So, that's definitely a great idea.

Thanks
Big Mike

I have an idea i have wanted to get out there for a while. This app is a game which is fairly simple and can possibly make great hits. My idea is this; make the game where it consists of different color orbs (or balls). Choose a color that you must touch in order to get past the level. Make it easy at first, like 3 or 4 colors and moving slowly across the screen. Then, as you progress, make more colors (not too complicated though, such as making colors like teal. Keep it simple, such as red blue black pink etc.) and then make the balls go by the screen faster (but keeping some still going slowly of course. Rule of thumb, keep it diverse). This will make the objective addicting, simple, and challenging. If you want to progress further, you can add in packs where it consists of more orbs (remember to keep one orb with a color objective, i.e. 15 red 15 black 10 green and 1 blue. In this case, blue is the objective to find.) You can also add in obstacles for a more complicated challenge, for instance, a black bar (or block). When an orb passes through this block, or bar, it cannot be touched, or in this case (due to it being black) seen. There are many ways you can go with this, but why stop there? Just be creative. Remember, it doesn't matter how stupid the idea may be, you can make it fun no matter what you choose!

Thanks CountryCowFreakJr

That sounds like a game I would be addicted to. I think I will make this my first project.

some way to quickly/silently take cock shots you can send to girls.

ilikecheetoes said:

some way to quickly/silently take cock shots you can send to girls.

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lol i don't think my professors would approve of that

Here's some AR I got setup today:
[video=youtube;75IIO7nhY80]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75IIO7nhY80&list=UUuPUwB98LX-ir9PKx1aN6Mw&index=1[/video]

Make a leaf problem recognition app

Snap pic of problematic leaf, perhaps add measured/known values, the app then tells you a likely condition and possible solution.
I'm betting lots of people willl help test drive the app and give free feedback

@tumorhead what IDE do you use i've been trying to get eclipse but i've been have some problem with the file

automated said:

Make a leaf problem recognition app

Snap pic of problematic leaf, perhaps add measured/known values, the app then tells you a likely condition and possible solution.
I'm betting lots of people will help test drive the app and give free feedback

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that is a great idea!!! thanks bro

big.MF.mike said:

@tumorhead what IDE do you use i've been trying to get eclipse but i've been have some problem with the file

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Unity 3d game engine, I use C# in Monodevelop and Unity compiles it when it imports it. You have to have a pro copy of Unity to use plugins which lets you use Eclipse and tons of other non-unity 3rd party stuff. I have a pro copy at work. At home I just have a basic copy with android and iOS basic licenses. The basic version is fine for games but for augmented reality and stuff you need pro. They have a 30 day pro trial I installed on my gf's computer and I'll just use a different email address to get another trial when it runs out heh

Also the way Unity works, if you have an android license you install the android SDK and when you build the app Unity serializes everything and puts it back together in android SDK to build a native android app. Same for iOS it builds the app in xcode. So you just write everything in C#, and you can build it in iOS, android, PC/mac or browser.

You can also integrate kinect and other sensors as input.

tumorhead said:

Unity 3d game engine, I use C# in Monodevelop and Unity compiles it when it imports it. You have to have a pro copy of Unity to use plugins which lets you use Eclipse and tons of other non-unity 3rd party stuff. I have a pro copy at work. At home I just have a basic copy with android and iOS basic licenses. The basic version is fine for games but for augmented reality and stuff you need pro. They have a 30 day pro trial I installed on my gf's computer and I'll just use a different email address to get another trial when it runs out heh

Also the way Unity works, if you have an android license you install the android SDK and when you build the app Unity serializes everything and puts it back together in android SDK to build a native android app. Same for iOS it builds the app in xcode. So you just write everything in C#, and you can build it in iOS, android, PC/mac or browser.

You can also integrate kinect and other sensors as input.

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thats actually good news because i already know c# but i was told with eclipse you had to write in java which i would have to learn on my own. thanks

ilikecheetoes said:

some way to quickly/silently take cock shots you can send to girls.

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The new LG smartphone that integrates into the fridge, washer, dryer, and TV already does this.. just stick it down your pants and say 'cheese' out loud, it'll auto-take the pic.

big.MF.mike said:

thats actually good news because i already know c# but i was told with eclipse you had to write in java which i would have to learn on my own. thanks

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hehe I'm the opposite, I had to take Java in school and learn C# on my own heh. But they're extremely similar, and with pro unity you can use java as a plugin if you ever desire. For advanced dev you can use java or other language as a shim to interface with external libraries, but it's beyond the scope of game development.

They have good documentation as well, it gives good examples you can hack up and there's a wiki with tons of code to use for inspiration. There are a lot of free tutorials and example games to learn from as well. Shit I got my job because of my experience with it using it as a hobby for 3+ years and it's the best job I've ever had. I used to work construction but still coded as a hobby.

I'm not posting any of ideas here til I patent them.