Finding a contract coder

[steveo]

I'm working on a small mobile phone project and I'm strongly considering LiveCode for implementation. I'll need a programmer. I'm hoping to find interested parties or suggestions on the best way to find one.

It's a game about negotiation and player verbal interaction that does not rely much on native phone functionality. The players enter some settings and push some buttons. Their activities are controlled by timers and instructions from a database.

The database will have 2-3 tables that help control game play and an English localization file for screen elements. The intent is to add other languages later.

I will be providing:
- Wireframes
- Flowcharts
- Tables in CSV format or MySQL if preferred
- Table field descriptions
- Function descriptions
- Variable descriptions
- Graphics

I'm not a programmer, so I suspect that some of the above will need a bit of modification, but its a good start.

Initially the game play tables will be bare bones because it will take a while to develop the content. However, there will be enough records for full functionality. I'm hoping that I'll be able to slowly add the records myself without future assistance from the contractor to create uploadables file to the marketplaces. Is that possible?

I hope to start with Android and iOS, but will also consider other LiveCode OS's that have some kind of Marketplace functionality. I'm open to suggestions.

[MikeinHawaii]

No time like the present moment http://runrev.com/academy/index.html?a=fbss

[steveo]

Thanks Mike. Very tempting, but I don't have enough free time.

[steveo]

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hasty. My gut reaction was "7 weeks of my time! I can't do that." First I need to know how much time per week do I realistically have to put into it. Also, are there any tutorials available to supplement course materials that can be used to skip ahead? Any answers to these questions would be appreciated.

[shaosean]

You might get better luck contacting a consultant directly and requesting a quote from them.. Check out the list of consultants on Rev's website http://www.runrev.com/support/consultants/

[MikeinHawaii]

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hasty. My gut reaction was "7 weeks of my time! I can't do that." First I need to know how much time per week do I realistically have to put into it. Also, are there any tutorials available to supplement course materials that can be used to skip ahead? Any answers to these questions would be appreciated.

I do not want to steer you away from any developers who may be able to provide what you want, but at the same time I love Live Code so much I feel the need to pass on the karma to others. Try this link: http://livecode.byu.edu/ for a really good study on the subject. 7 weeks and you could be blazing.

[FourthWorld]

The suggestions for learning LiveCode are valuable - it's very liberating to be able to work on the project yourself. Even if you hire out the initial build, being able to add your own enhancements for future versions is personally empowering and can be very cost-effective for your business. Once you learn LiveCode, not only will you be able to add stuff to your product easily, but you'll find all sorts of great ways to make useful things for your office. Many of the back-office operations in my own office use LiveCode, from product fulfillment to CRM and more.

That said, if you'd like a hand getting the initial project up and running, or even just need some personal training to help you get started, I've been providing those sorts of services for this language since 1997 and would be happy to discuss options with you: ambassador@fourthworld.com

But do check out the BYU pages and the tutorials at RunRev.com. I think you'll find that LiveCode takes a little effort at first to grasp the gestalt of how it works, but once you get the hang of it the investment pays big dividends going forward.

[steveo]

What we have here can be summarized by Karl Marx's variation on the old teach-a-man-to-fish adage, ""Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity."

What we also have here is still some confusion on my part. It takes seven weeks, but how many hours per week? Let's assume I'm a fast learner. Would it be 5 hrs, 10 hrs, 15 hrs., etc?

Thanks for the links shaosean and MikeinHawaii. Fourthworld - I'll be contacting you if I decide to buy a fish.

[MikeinHawaii]

What we have here can be summarized by Karl Marx's variation on the old teach-a-man-to-fish adage, ""Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity."

What we also have here is still some confusion on my part. It takes seven weeks, but how many hours per week? Let's assume I'm a fast learner. Would it be 5 hrs, 10 hrs, 15 hrs., etc?

Thanks for the links shaosean and MikeinHawaii. Fourthworld - I'll be contacting you if I decide to buy a fish.

How well do you retain? How fast can your read? Why is it a dumb idea to price electrical work by the square foot? Too many variables to give the proper answer to how many hours a day you would need to spend.