An Android app simulating a Game Clock.

Download: Android Market | Source

Objective

To simulate a Game Clock, typically used in Blitz Chess, Bug House, and other 2-player board games.

Description

The Chess Clock App is an Android app, intended to substitute a game clock when one isn’t available. As such, it strives to emulate a common game clock in the most intuitive way possible.

The clock is initiated by pressing either one of the two button on-screen, indicating white player’s first move. In doing so, the time on the black player will start decreasing, until he or she presses the black button to indicate the end of its turn. The process continues until either the time on the current player expires, or when a player wins. The timer can be reset when the timer is paused, or when a player expires.

The app was developed with Java, using Android SDK v2.2. It was complete by one person in 3 months.

Results

The Chess Clock App went through many revisions to accommodate requested features and complaints. Through play-testing and reviews, a heavier emphasis was put on providing non-visual feedback to indicate button-click registration, and to present the delayed or incremented time in a clear manner.

The app was praised for providing enough feedback to the player, allowing them to focus on the game longer. In addition, the clarity of both the player’s time and delay was lauded as well.

A few criticisms were pointed out, however. The process of changing the game duration, for example, was straight-forward, but not immediately obvious. Furthermore, those used to using a mobile chess clock application had a hard time interpreting that the first button pressed automatically defaults to the white player (part of Chess rules).