2018

osSkills [DOCUMENT SUBTITLE] JAMES ORLOWSKI

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Introduction

History of RuneScape RuneScape is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, that was developed by Andrew, Paul, and Ian Gower. The three brothers initially started development in 1998, and a beta version was released on January 4, 2001. Later that year, the brothers formed Jagex Limited to run the operations. Three years after the beta was released, the finished version was released. During the three-year period, there were more than 700,000 accounts created. Although the beta period had officially ended, the game kept receiving weekly updates that kept players signing into the game. RuneScape was becoming incredibly popular year over year, and new accounts were being created at an unprecedented rate. By March 2007, the game had more than nine million accounts created.

Around the year 2010-2012, RuneScape started to show declining trends. The reason for the decline wasn’t just one factor, but a collection of factors. Some factors that may be considered were: increased mobile and console gaming competition, and unattractive game updates. On February 22, 2015, a schism of the game was formed which is called Old School RuneScape, or OSRS. OSRS is a direct copy of RuneScape in 2007, when that time period was exceptionally popular to the game.

To date, both games are still receiving weekly updates. OSRS continues to grow year over year and has surpassed the modern version of the game. Both games are still being run by Jagex, and there are now more than 250 million accounts created.

Workflow of Old School RuneScape The game has 23 individual skills to train on. Every skill has a corresponding level. The higher the level, the more you can do in that particular skill. In order to increase a level, you have to do certain actions in the game to get experience. For example, if you cut down a tree, you will get 25 experience. If you cut down three trees, you will get 75 experience. Once you get to 83 experience, you will increase from level 1 to level 2. To get to level 3, you will need 174 experience, and so on.

The game also has a marketplace where players can buy and sell items. The marketplace updates prices for items roughly every 24 hours. When there is high demand, low supply for an item, the price will rise. When there is low demand, high supply, the price will lower. The game its own algorithm on setting the prices.

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For many skills, you need to purchase items to gain experience. For example, if you want to gain experience in firemaking, you may purchase logs in the marketplace and then start a fire.

Current System (Current Game) • Old School RuneScape consists of 23 skills. Each skill is different from the other and

requires doing different actions in the game. • Each skill has a level assigned to it. Everyone starts out at level 1 and can achieve a

maximum level of 99. • A level is calculated by the total amount of experience in that specific skill.

Each level is determined by the total amount of experience for that skill. As you can see, the experience exponentially rises for each level. For example, cutting down this tree will give you 25 experience added to you woodcutting experience.

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Each item is considered a skill, and the number listed on each item is the skill’s level.

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• There are multiple ways of training the same skill. The game in its current state does not do enough to help players, both old and new, level up their skills efficiently. As a result, many players will research outdated, fragmented, or erroneous guides online. In many cases, these skill guides are vastly different, not only in content, but in price difference and time efficiency.

Current System (Current API) • Old School RuneScape has an API available for: looking up a players’ skill and getting

marketplace pricing data for an item.

o The link below will display a JSON file that will display all of the player’s skill levels and experience. For example, we want to find information for a player named James.

http://services.runescape.com/m=hiscore_oldschool/index_lite.ws?player=James

o This link below will display a JSON file that will display information related to an item inside the marketplace. This will give us information about an item such as the current price. For example, we want to find information of item id: 1277. With the data returned, we know the name of the item is “Bronze sword” and the current price is displayed.

http://services.runescape.com/m=itemdb_oldschool/api/catalogue/detail.json?item=1277

The game has a built-in guide but it is in a very general form. The guide lists all of the possible ways to train a skill.

This can become overwhelming to players as it lists all of the possible ways to train. Most options can be inefficient in time and costly.

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Purpose of the Proposed Application The purpose of osSkills is to combine: the player’s skill level, related item prices from the marketplace, and the data for the specific skill. With having all three components, the application can create a personalized guide on how to train that skill. This application is different from the rest of the OSRS third party tools because none of them combine these three components.

Having the user’s current skill data will allow the app to

Scope of System • Functions

o The user will be able to add a username or remove a username from the table. o The user will be able to select a skill, intending to open its guide. o If available, the user will be able to open up an alternative guide table view. The

alternative table will allow the user to select an alternative guide if they don’t want to do the one that is given.

o Any changes that the users implement will be saved based on the username they are currently selected under. All changes should then be loaded upon application start.

o The user will be able to manually enter their skill level/experience if the API fails to get the information (if the level is too low, the game may not automatically keep track of the skill).

o Items that are being tracked in the application will be taken from the marketplace data. o If available, osIntelli will determine the optimal guide based on cost and experience.

Right now, osIntelli is only available for smiting.

Goals • Become a one-stop shop for players wanting to level up their skills. • Perfect the estimated time left of a given level. User feedback will be essential for this

feature. • Create a friendly atmosphere to where any skill level of player (novice to veteran) can use

this application. • Design a complex underlying system that will provide guides for all of the skills. • Focus on user experience to create an easy to use application.

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Project Plan

Schedule August 5, 2017 – August 13, 2017 Hi-Fi Prototype Design (fill in data between using github history) January 30, 2018 – February 3, 2018 iPhone/iPad Visual Optimization February 3, 2018 - February 5, 2018 Develop & deploy item API server February 5, 2018 – February 7, 2018 Implement “Suggest Content” and send the

suggestion to the webserver February 8, 2018 – February 9, 2018 Finish settings page

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Mobile Application Design • Hints

One of the goals of the project was to make the application to be as simple as possible. Like most apps, there is a learning curve to using their application. osSkills attempts to make the learning experience as seamless as possible for new users. The application will determine if it is being opened for the first time and show hints to help the new user.

(TODO: Show the skill names on the collection view)

• Skill Selection View / Add Accounts

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• Guide View

• Landscape & Split Screen osSkills fully supports landscape and split screen on all supported devices.