Business Update 007: Mission Control Test Flight #1
Hey everyone, here’s a quick update on the state of Crowd Card.
The results from Mission Control’s first test are in - it was an overwhelming success! Everything worked as planned. The event itself was started and stopped successfully in Mission Control’s Event Manager; all sub-events (i.e., individual fights on the card) were started and stopped successfully; one sub-event in the middle of the card was intentionally “ignored” to ensure that a missed sub-event would not break subsequent sub-events; all micro-events (i.e., judging windows for each completed round) were started and stopped successfully.
Although Mission Control ran smoothly and all tests were successful, I made note of several UI components that could be improved during testing. The biggest enhancement was to improve start / stop button logic to ensure, for example, that an event, sub-event, or micro-event could not be stopped prior to being started. To fix this, I implemented logic that disabled stop buttons if no start time existed in the database for that event/sub-event/micro-event. Similarly, I disabled start buttons if a start time already existed but no stop time existed (i.e., a Mission Control user cannot “double start” an event that has already been started). Finally, if both a start time and a stop time existed, I disabled both start and stop buttons and enabled a “reset” button that would clear both start and stop times in the database (I figured this would be useful in cases where a start and/or stop button was accidentally pressed prematurely). Additionally, I added an onClick confirmation pop-up on all event/sub-event/micro-event start and stop buttons that prompts the Mission Control user to confirm their desired action prior to the POST request being sent to the database.
Several other small UI improvements were made - most of which were just visual enhancements to help indicate current states of events/sub-events/micro-events. For example, I added visual decorators to individual micro-events to indicate whether judging for that micro-event has been completed. Note in the photo below you can see improved button logic in addition to the “Judging complete” decorators.
I completed and merged all of these enhancements this week and will be running Mission Control’s second test flight this weekend during UFC 313.
Other Development Updates
Here are a few additional updates on development:
iOS: I’m cruising right along on iOS development. I have decided on using Firebase as the backend, largely because it seems more beginner friendly than other options. Although I’ve read that Firebase can be difficult for large scale applications, my hope is to use it in early stages to get an MVP to market. I will worry about scaling when that time comes. At the moment, I am primarily focused on configuring the backend (Firebase) and building the general views I created in Figma in SwiftUI. Hopefully I will be able to share a few screenshots of the app next week!
Web app: while Mission Control enhancements are made and iOS app development swings into full gear, I will begin to think about the web app. I will start mocking up the Crowd Card web app in Figma over the next few weeks and will share screen shots when they’re available.
Media updates: I officially bought the blue check on X and have been asking Grok for advice on how to grow my presence on the platform! I designed an ad for the Crowd Card app and will consider posting it on X and Instagram soon - I would like to get a little further ahead on iOS development prior to advertising, although I do have a waitlist signup form on the main website. I will make a decision on my advertising timeline sometime in the next two weeks.
Coming Up
UFC 313 is this weekend! As mentioned above, I am running my second test on Mission Control in sandbox this weekend. If all is successful, I will begin looking into pushing Mission Control into a production environment (Firebase) while I keep hammering on the iOS MVP.
Okay back to work - thanks for reading.
Written by Daniel Kuhman, Founder
