APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
Johnathon Schendel
SD1230 Module 3 Lab 5.1
ITT-Technical Institute

Abstract
This paper is my Application Development cycles with both the Waterfall method, and the Prototype Method. I will go over what will happen in both methods, and what I prefer, at the end of the paper. I have decided to develop a game for this paper, so all of my decisions and planning will revolve around the making of a small mobile game application.
The Waterfall Method First of all, I need to go over the system and software requirements of my environment. I plan on having this game being able to be used on a LG Tribute Android device, which is this writer’s current phone. So I will have to keep in mind the hardware that this application will run on, which can be found on the device, or the LG manufacturer’s website, and then to run on the android version 4.4.2, which is my phone’s current firmware version. Then, I will need to design the game I would want to make. I would want to make a game about upgrades, where you click a button, and each time you click the button, you get a point. You can get upgrades to get more points per button press, and then even get points without even pressing the button. This type of game is called a Idle game, or incremental game. In this phase, I would design the game. Making the name, developing the GUI, (graphical user interface) designing the upgrades and how the game will progress, find or make sounds to implement into the game to make it a little more exciting, and decide where to have the add spots, so ads can bring in revenue for the game being developed and put on the android market.
Then is the coding phase. I will code the game out here. Using the Waterfall Approach, which is unfavorable for this kind of software, a lot of time will have to be spent here in the coding phase, to make sure no errors are here. Then, I will move on to the Testing phase, where I will test the game, and look for any bugs or errors in the programming and attempt to fix them accordingly, so things are working properly. Then finally, the Operations phase, where I will put my game on the Android app market, the google play store and keep maintenance for the game, so if any bugs arise through use from the users, I can handle them accordingly, and keep the game maintained and possibly give updates to the game. Although I do not agree with the Waterfall Approach, it can work in certain lights. It has its strengths.
The Prototype Paradigm
Developing my game through the Prototype would follow only a few of the same steps as the Waterfall Approach. The system requirements would still need to be reviewed, the game would still need to be designed, and the game will still need to be coded. However, once the game is done being coded, I can put the game up for sale on the market as an early ‘Alpha’ version, which means the first early version of my game. From there I can get direct user feedback, see where the game needs to go from a user’s perspective, taking requests and putting them in the game. I can get bugs and issues found from user gameplay and fix them easily, and not down the road. And after a little while of making changes and adding things to the early game, I can release a new version to the Beta Version. From there the game will be a lot more complete, but with a few major features still from the game. I follow the same processes, taking user information given, making adjustments and corrections, adding features, and making bug fixes. And then I can release the game, once I see that the game is prime and ready to be released. I actually agree with this method of Application Development a lot more then others, and least for game design and development, because it allows for games to fall more into user hands, to shape a game into what user’s want, instead of what the developers views only.

Refrences
Fling, B. (2009). Mobile design and development (Custom 1st ed.). Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly and Associates.
Edwards, R. 2006, March 15th, (The game production pipeline: Concept to Completion), Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/03/16/the-game-production-pipeline-concept-to-completion