Introduction
I've been playing this crazy game for quite a long while now... 4,393,784 minutes to be precise (at least, as of releasing this blog post).
That's not a particularly interesting number, to be honest, however it also happens to be that as of the time I release this blog post, I've been playing this game for exactly half of my life.
For those that aren't interested in doing the Maths, I started playing Munzee on the 4th of September 2013, at the age of 8. I'd been playing the game with my Mum for about a year before that, but it was in 2013 that I got my own account as I got my own device to play on (this was before Munzee 3.0 introduced the multiple accounts function).
For those wondering about the name "sohcah", that comes from my initials (SOH) along with my sister's initials (CAH). And yes, the link to Trigonometric ratios in me and my sister's initials was very much intentional... thanks Dad.
I'm not sure exactly whether me playing back in 2013 was within the Terms of Service, but when I met Rob (Here's a photo!) a year and a half later, he didn't complain that I was playing so it was probably fine.
Anyway, this blog post isn't just here to talk about me... I thought now would be a good time to give an update on all things CuppaZee, so let's get into it!
What's happened recently?
I've slowed down a bit over the past few months with CuppaZee development due to college (Americans, see note 1 below) and work, however I've still managed to get a few new changes out recently.
New Authentication System
Although this was more of a behind-the-scenes change, it was still a pretty big step in preparing for CuppaZee V3, and will allow for further expansion of CuppaZee in the future with more awesome tools and features.
All attempts to login to CuppaZee are now directed through CuppaZee's new V3 API, rather than the V2 server, and the entire authentication system is now using a new database.
https://github.com/CuppaZee/Meta
I've recently spent a significant amount of time reworking CuppaZee's entire Munzee Types database to allow for further expansion (eg. adding Badges) and to allow for easier updates, so you'll have to wait less time for me to get new Munzee Types and groups added to CuppaZee.
I rolled this new database out a couple of a weeks ago, with only a few issues... although I did have a lot of people requesting that I bring back the Redeem Store link which I had accidentally removed. Sorry y'all, I'll be more caution about ensuring that link doesn't disappear in the future!
What am I working on?
CuppaZee Create
CuppaZee Create has been in development for quite a while now, and is now being used by some players to design their gardens.
For those unaware, CuppaZee Create is a brand new tool for designing and publishing gardens, as well as deploying in them!
It's got a whole host of unique features not found in other garden designers, such as the ability to add multiple grids, and I'm planning a way to prevent the need for spreadsheets when releasing your gardens, although that's not quite ready yet.
CuppaZee V3
Bouncer Rosters
One feature I'm really hoping to implement into CuppaZee V3 is a new Bouncer Roster feature. This feature is inspired by the Garden Gnome rosters found on Eeznum, but will be available for all categories of bouncers (Myths, Pouch Creatures, Garden Flamingos, etc).
Badges
Another feature that I hinted at above was Badges. I'd love to show your progress towards missing badges, or even live progress for badges that you have to do within a single day, such as the 5x5 badge or the Pi badges. I can't say for sure that I'll have this ready for V3's release because of just how complicated badges are, but I will try my hardest.
Improved Design
I'm also working very hard to improve the design of CuppaZee across all platforms to ensure the best experience for you all. This will include a new way to navigate through the app, along with improving the clarity of things like the User Activity filters which many find confusing currently.
I'm also planning to allow for more customisation than is currently possible, including making it possible to change distance units on Web, and also allowing you to hide or rearrange features throughout the app so you can get to your favourite features faster... stay tuned for more on this.
CuppaZee Express
Unfortunately, once V3 has released, the CuppaZee Express app will stop being officially supported (although it should still continue to run for a while to come), as the V3 app should incorporate all of its features.
Other features
This certainly isn't the full extent of everything new that I have planned for CuppaZee... I've not gone into the plans for CuppaZee Browse, or many of the other V3 features I have planned, but what's the fun in spoiling everything at once?!?
Feel free to comment or message me with any other things you'd like to see, or make a post in the CuppaZee Testers group on Facebook! I'm exciting to hear what other crazy ideas you want to see me make!
I'm running out of time for writing stuff now... I've got about 30 seconds until this blog post is meant to go live, so I'd probably better wrap things up now. Thanks for reading.
Notes
1. College VS University
The definition of college is different in the UK than in the US! In the UK, college is not university, but post-secondary education.
