A New Phone, A New Plan

The time had finally come. I had been waiting so long to get a new phone. Until recently, my sidekick had been the Sony Ericsson w810i, a utilitarian device that served me well since 2007. But as with all technology, it was time to upgrade. And since I stuck it out with my w810i for so long, I figured I now deserved the latest and greatest.

What I wanted

 

My main requirements were pretty simple: I wanted a smartphone with a basic phone+data plan and caller ID.  Since I've been mucking around with Android development, the smartphone would have to be an Android phone.  After much research, I settled on a sexy thing called the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (I'll work on a review of this phone shortly).  I didn't care much for the phone plan details because even the most basic phone plan would generally suffice as I don't call a whole lot of people nor do I care about long distance.  In Canada, it looks like the standard data plan is 500MB/month and I was ok with that too.  The only other thing I really needed was the caller ID for weeding people out. 

A little homework... 

Now that I had decided what I wanted, I started looking at plans.  My original plan was with Rogers and consisted of a very basic $20 plan, $8 for caller ID, and a deprecated $6.95 access fee for a grand total of $34.95 before taxes; not a great plan by any means.  The good thing was that my contract had ended back in 2009 so I was basically a free agent.  I had the power to switch plans or providers as I please without penalty.  I would use that to my advantage.

 

Since I was getting a smartphone, I wanted to add a data plan.  Rogers' cheapest voice+data plan was $50 plus a government regulatory recovery fee of $2.58 (varies by province).  Add in Caller ID ($8) and I was looking at $60.58/month.  To buy the X10 outright would cost me $500 but if I got on a 3 year plan I could get the phone for $150.  This would be my benchmark. 

 

Other worthy mentions were Wind Mobile's promotion ($150 credit for switching an existing phone number to them) and Bell's promotion ($10 off any voice+data plan for a 3 year contract and free Palm Pre phone).  Honestly though, none of the other providers were really in the mix as only Rogers carried the X10.  Wind didn't have a single Android phone in their lineup, and Bell's Android selection was weak.  But still, I could use these promotions as leverage in my negotiations. 

...goes a long way!

On a lazy Thursday afternoon, I decided to call Rogers to see what they were willing to offer me.  I immediately asked for their Customer Retentions department and was quickly greeted by a rep (one thing that has impressed me about Rogers in recent years is that I never have to wait on the phone for long).  I quickly explained my current plan and the new plan that I wanted.  Then I told him about the promotions that Wind and Bell were offering and how I thought that I didn't see anything from Rogers that was competitive with these promotions.  When I asked him if there was anything he could do about it, he politely declined.  I tried again and again from various angles (reminded him of all the services I had with Rogers, the number of years I had been with them, etc.) but this dude just wouldn't budge.  After a couple minutes of this I knew he was going to stonewall me so I gave up and ended the call.  From reading on forums, I knew that discounts were based on the rep's discretion, so I would have to try again.

 

The next day I called Rogers retention again.  This time, I told them I wanted to cancel because the guy from yesterday was not willing to give me any discounts.  I again explained what phone and plan I was interested in, informed the rep of the various promotions out there, and reminded her of the years and services I had with Rogers.  This rep was much more agreeable with me and asked me to hold on for a couple of minutes while she "worked something out".  When she got back to me, she gave me $10 off the $50 voice+data plan AND free caller ID!  On top of that, she said that I had built up credit for these past few years that I had been with Rogers and that entitled me to $50 off the phone.  After giving me a few extra bonuses - waiving of the activation fee and a few months of unlimited calling - I ended the call on a much happier note.  The end result?  I am looking at $100 for the X10 and $42.58 for voice+data (500MB data) and free caller ID with free unlimited messaging as part of the package!

Tips on how to negotiate with Rogers

So, what should you do when negotiating with Rogers? 

 

First off: do your homework!  Figure out your requirements and what Rogers plans and services satisfy them.  Then find out what other providers offer including promotions.  Figure out everything down to the nitty-gritty.  When I was talking with Rogers, I knew exactly all the fees involved including the old $6.95 access fee (no longer applied to new plans, but existed in my original plan), the government regulatory recovery fee, and the emergency access fee.  Also, you should be aware of your limits.  If you just started a contract, haven't been with Rogers for very long, or don't have other services with them then won't have much to negotiate with.  

 

Secondly: make a plan of action.  Before calling Rogers, I had written up a short plan of action.  In it, I put in some info on how I would approach the rep, what I would ask for, what I expected to get, and what to do if the plan doesn't work out.  You see, I'm quite bad at improvising.  If I didn't have a plan of action I'd most likely fumble and botch things up.  I think it's better to be prepared anyway. 

 

Third: be aware that discounts are based on the individual's discretion.  As you read above, my first call to Rogers ended in stalemate and I was prepared for that.  You just have to keep trying.  I have read stories of other people trying 4-5 different reps before they got one that gave them a deal. 

 

Fourth: Keep your cool.  Be patient.  Don't lose your temper as it gets you nowhere. 

 

Good luck getting that deal!

 

Why are you doing this?

Often when I reach a point of frustration during a project, I ask myself "why am I doing this?"  And often times, I am unable to really answer that.  By then, I have either lost sight of what I wanted to do or never really knew to begin with.  When this happens, you lose your mojo, get lackadaisical, and this project becomes yet another unaccomplished half-assed job.  That's why it's important when you set out on a journey to know what you plan to accomplish.  It helps you keep your focus especially during the rough roads ahead (and the roads WILL get rough!).  Here are some of mine:

Goal 1: Finish a game. 

How?  Here are guidelines I've set for myself to help me reach this goal:

1. Quick turnaround.  I want this first game to be completed within half a year.
2. Simple and easy.  Keep the game 2D because 2D is easier than 3D.  Don't bother using OpenGL ES for now; Android's SurfaceView will work fine with a small number of sprites.
3. Don't over-engineer, over-think, over-analyze.  Don't focus on pixel perfect collision detection algorithms.  Use simple, albeit inaccurate, algorithms because they can be revisited later on. 
4. Mimic an existing game.  Basically, I want to walk a path that has already been traveled.  I'll think about originality for my next project!
5. Keep motivated.  How?  By focusing more on results you can see.  Work on graphics before gameplay mechanics.  Work on implementing functionality before working on code optimization.

Goal 2: Make some money!  

Let's face it.  I'm doing this mainly to get some additional revenue aside from my regular work.  The plan is to eventually put this game up on the Android market for mass consumption. 

Goal 3: Make the game fast-paced.   

In high school, I made a turn based game which was lots of fun to make.  But ultimately, it was not a fun game as it was just too static.  This time, I want to make something that requires reflexes!

Goal 4: Learn about game design. 

I don't need to learn everything about it.  I just need to get something out of it.  Now that I think of it, this one is pretty much a given. 

 

My plan is to revisit this post during my development and use it to keep me from losing sight of things.  What are your goals on your own journey into game development? 

 

Side Note: I've been skimming through this guy's blog about his journey as a game developer and came across this interesting article.  It talks about keeping motivated during development.  JW: You don't know me, but thanks for the article!  Hopefully it will help me maintain my focus on my own journey. 

 

2D Collision Detection: Part 1

 

Last night, I completed my simple 2D collision detection function and tested it.  It works!  Before I divulge the details of my algorithm, I'll show you my process.  When I was researching algorithms, I came across some common ones people were using:

 

1. Bounding Box algorithm: put each object into a bounding box and then determine if two boxes intersect each other  

2. Bounding Circle algorithm: put each object into a bounding circle and then determine if two circles intersect each other (offhand, this one seems quicker and possibly more accurate for more organic shapes than the bounding box algorithm)  

3. SAT using convex polygons: This one is more complex than the other two and requires significant work beforehand.  Basically, you need to create a convex polygon for all objects (likely a manual task), and then you can use SAT (Separating Axis Theorem) to determine if two polygons intersect each other.  My thought is that using SAT will be the most accurate algorithm, but I got scared off by the thought of having to calculate normals for each edge and the shear number of projections involved.  Also having to manually set up polygons for each object seemed like just too much work.
   

I figured that I would start simple, so it would have to be either bounding box or bounding circle.  The basic algorithm would be:

Given box A and B and vector V that represents the movement from A to A':

1. move box A to A'. 
2. if A' intersects B, then reverse A' to the point where it no longer intersects B.

 

The problem here is: what if B is between A and A' and V is large enough such that A' passes B? 

 

In such a case, A would simply move right through B.  I looked online for solutions on this and the only solution I found was: keep vector V relatively small (ie: Don't move A so fast!).  I could understand that in most cases, this would not be an issue.  But what if B was skinny? 

 

In such a case, it would not take V to be very large before this problem occurred.  I was determined to find an algorithm that would not only account for the starting and ending position of A, but also the path of A to A' (the darker red area below).

 

 Next time I will look into the strategy of how to implement this.