Don't answer to twinkle toes, its not manly!

Halló world!

I've done a lot of work on my project over the last few days in the navigation department, best described by these pictures!

• Browse. 
• Browse all products.
• Browse by country.
• Select Japan in country subcategory.
• Search Japan products.
• Search results for Japan products. 
• Browse by style. 
• Browse by distillery. 
• Browse by price.

At the bottom of the screen I've added the tab bar control that will allow the user to switch between browsing products and their three lists (wish list, shopping basket and collection). Currently the three lists are multiple instances of the same view that is currently empty as a place holder. In the browse section you have the ability to either browse all products, or browse by a category such as country, style, distillery or price range. Clicking on any of the categories takes you to a view where you can select an option within that category. Clicking one of those (or all products on the top level) takes you to the product list view, where the products for that section are populated.

I've broken up the product listings by letters of the alphabet, which you can jump between using the bar of letters down the right hand side of the screen (which really helps with long lists). On the product list view you also have the option to use the search box at the top to filter the current list of products by a search query.

Both this site, and this one were very useful in showing me how to break up the product list by letter and add the letter index on the right. I didn't end up following their exact implementations as they weren't quite fit for my purpose. Instead I used a single NSMutableDictionary which contained an array list of products for each letter of the alphabet. I then used an NSMutableArray to store all the letters the current product list actually had (there are only 24 letters in the all products list for example), so that I know what to display in the index and which letters to query the dictionary when building the list.

The first site also had a tutorial on how to build a search box, but after some more research I found out that in 3.0 of the SDK Apple added a UISearchDisplayController which basicly does all the work for you. They have some great documentation for this object over here.

All you have to do is create and add a search bar to your table view and then attach the search bar to the search display controller. From here everything is mostly handled for you and you can use some delegate methods to update the datasource of the table view for the query searched.

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    if (!self.tableView.tableHeaderView) {
        
        // Add the search bar
        UISearchBar *searchBar = [[UISearchBar alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 45)];
        self.tableView.tableHeaderView = searchBar;
        
        UISearchDisplayController *searchController = [[UISearchDisplayController alloc]
                                                       initWithSearchBar:searchBar
                                                       contentsController:self];
        searchController.delegate = self;
        searchController.searchResultsDataSource = self;
        searchController.searchResultsDelegate = self;
    }
}

In non-project news, the week before last I started learning how to build a proper WordPress theme. I've dabbled in WordPress before, most using other peoples themes or hacking a pre-made theme to my need, however it seems a lot simpler just to start from scratch. I've been the webmaster of the Final Fantasy VII Citadel for a little while now, but I've really neglected it due to other commitments. One of my biggest desires has been to move its static html pages into a content management system and generally modernise the look of the site, without loosing its look and feel. I took a look at a lot of pre-made WordPress templates, but finally accepted I wasn't going to find anything quite right.

I'm using some of the images of how the site used to look like back in 2001, 2004 and now as some of my inspiration to try and keep some of the look and feel. This is how it currently looks, although obviously there is still a lot to do. Feedback is most welcome!

Inspired by working on a new version of the Citadel, I fired up Final Fantasy VII on my PS3 and ended up getting 40 hours into it (I'm at the start of disc 3). It's been a long time since I had a working copy of the game (my disc one is fucked, so thank you PSN), and man did I forget how much I liked the game. I'm thinking of marathoning through VIII, IX and X once I finish this one, just for the hell of it...

Today was the first day of the second (and last!) semester of my University degree, so it really should be all work from here, but you gotta relax sometime right? Last week I (finally) completed a project I've been doing at work for the last few months (I built a stock ordering system for them, its not at all exciting), so I plan to do a lot less for them in the next couple months (except for my project of course) as we lead up to deadlines and exams.

Oh, I almost forgot; after two weeks I finally got my MacBook back from Apple (if you don't remember, the backlight was turning off at random). If you Google the issue it seems to be a common problem with an "inverter board" (an £18 part) which the Genius said was probably the issue when I took it in. When I picked it up they had replaced the inverter board (which hadn't fixed the problem), logic board and lcd, plus they gave me a new palm rest, keyboard and track pad (the second one in a year) because it was showing signs of getting the crack of doom again. In all a £18 repair became £650 including VAT. Thank God I got the student Apple Care for just £40. Including the palm rest repair last year, Apple has spent over £750 repairing a machine I only paid £800 for. I'm surprised they still like me...

Expecting: Crisis Core

Originally posted on ff7citadel.com and the now defunct fwxd.net.

It isn’t without a pessimistic outlook that many a Final Fantasy fan can look at the looming release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, on September 13th. The PlayStation Portable game, the fourth in a Compilation, is to many just one more way to milk the success of a past blockbuster. Laying in the shadow of something gamers around the globe hold so close to their hearts, can Crisis Core deliver anything but complete disappointment?

History isn’t Square’s greatest supporter when we think about Crisis Core. Especially when large parallels can easily be made with one Dirge of Cerberus, a co-member of the compilation. Like Crisis Core, Dirge decided to place you in the role of a more minor character in the Final Fantasy VII tale, where it could expand on their back-story and characteristics in places that the PlayStation game had not.

Likewise, Crisis Core contains a handful of cameo appearances from Final Fantasy VII’s main party while chucking more new, less than convincing, friends and foes at you than what you would find in a bar room brawl. And it’s in these new additions to what is now a series in a series that the fans explode upon.

New characters, organisations and “hidden” research facilities spring up in more places than a whack-a-mole. For example, why the compilation developers saw fit to stick the blockhead 2D Azul in both Dirge and Before Crisis, games that happen before and after the original game when he was completely absent from it, boggles the mind. But perhaps more controversial is the idea behind the mysterious “G”.

Appearing in Dirge’s secret ending with the signature one-wing, Square is clearly attempting to create history for a character that is absolutely nothing more than Sephiroth with a different name. What I would have given to be a fly on the wall of that developer meeting, I can’t tell you.

Going into Crisis Core, they have already decided to set it prior to the original game (because quite clearly two sequels is the magic number) and that Zack must be the star role as he is the closest possible person a gamer could play without physically giving them Cloud himself. Now all that remains is for the villain to be chosen.

Considering that Shinra currently employs Zack and that they won't fall for another seven years, they are completely out of the question. Sephiroth too, is off the list due to the fact he won’t go bananas for another two years (although the game will lead to this event). We therefore have a Cloud-type protagonist who needs an opponent of his own.

Tetsuya Nomura, seemingly the only character designer at Square, must have truly earned his pay check the day he created Genesis, a man with one wing who clearly has a slight “nark” against the Shinra Corporation. Thus an epic battle between a Cloud look-a-like and a man who is Sephiroth, while not being Sephiroth, will begin in gamers hands when the game hits retail.

Stop me from jumping from the rooftops now.

Of course, while this isn’t to say Crisis Core won’t be a superb game, it’s certainly not of the cards quite yet. The graphics will be second to none on the PlayStation Portable and the frame rate and speed of the game are certainly at a much better advantage now that Sony has lifted the cap off the machines processor. The extra memory in the new PSP-Lite (which include those 77,777 Crisis Core ones) is also a bonus.

Game play wise, the game looks extremely promising from the trailers, arcing more towards an action RPG, something Square certainly has more experience in than a PS2 third person shooter. So then, would Crisis Core in fact get more attention if it wasn’t covered in Final Fantasy VII icing?

Perhaps Square-Enix’s real weakness is its fear that anything not Final Fantasy branded will be swept under the carpet, because following some atrocious attempts at exploring more of the VII story, that is the real problem.

The game is clearly good, possibly great, but its weakness stems from where its tale originates. Final Fantasy VII’s credits rolled when the story was finished, and while questions were left unanswered, that was made on the deliberate part of the developers at the time. It was a story to be marvelled and discussed, but it was not a story to be continued.

With sequels, prequels, movies, animes, cell phone games and additional merchandising and limited editions, the real question is not will Crisis Core be a disappointment, but when this is going to end? The answer?

An unquestionable remake, whether you want it or not, that will further split the fan base apart.

The real lesson Square-Enix should take from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is a simple one. There is milking it, and then there is milking it.