AndroidGuys

Here we go again with another profile on a semi-finalist from the first Android Developers Challenge!  This time around, we’re talking with Steve Oldmeadow about his program, Rayfarla.  It’s not easy to find anything on this one, save for his personal blog.  Even over there, about all you’ll find is “The tag line is “Learn, Make and Play - Music”.  Rayfarla turns your phone into a musical instrument as well as providing a variety of mini games that are music related.“  We thought we’d try to dig a little deeper with Steve.

Thanks for agreeing to do this! Without giving away too much, can you tell us what Rayfarla is and how it works?

Rayfarla allows a user to explore the world of music.  Conceptually Rayfarla is divided in to three components.  The learn component provides an introductory course on music theory along with interactive tools to help visualize some concepts.  The make component allows you to turn your phone into a musical instrument.   Some of the virtual instruments have real world analogues whereas others could only exist as software.  Finally, the play component offers a series of mini games that are further categorized as arcade, art and training.  There has been some misconception that the games in Rayfarla are focused only on learning, I would like to assure people this is not true.  I am a video game fan and there will be games that are purely fun.

Well, that was more than we expected to hear!  Thank you.  What inspired you to start working on it?  Was it the ADC?

It was primarily the ADC.

Nothing wrong with being motivated by money or a good challenge!  So how much time did you end up putting into creating it?

It is hard to give a meaningful figure because Rayfarla built on a lot of work I had done previously.  I started working with Android as soon as it was released but mainly experimenting to see what could be done.  I was also able to pick up a lot of code from my Java ME development work.  However, I can say definitely there was over 8 weeks just on Rayfarla.

So it was more of the challenge and not so much the money.  In terms of specifics, what were some of the challenges you faced?

The major challenge I faced was that a huge chunk of functionality that I rely on for producing music was not implemented in the emulator.  I worked around this by creating a server component that Rayfarla communicated with using TCP/IP.  Creating the server component took up a big part of my development time and ultimately it will be redundant.  However, lots of semi finalists faced similar challenges and took similar approaches.

We’re hearing about all those learning experiences as we talk to you guys.  Conversely, was there anything you found easier than expected?

Generally I found everything that was implemented a dream to use, certainly compared to doing Java ME,  Symbian or BREW development.   You can definitely tell that a lot of thought has gone into the Android APIs and that the designers actually know about what is required to develop a real world application.  The graphics capabilities blow me away.

Why a music app?  Where did the decision to work on something like this come from?

I have a document that contains all the ideas for applications that I have had, there are about 100 ideas.   I basically went through my list of ideas and assessed each one against the ADC judging criteria to see which would have the best chance.  It came down to a choice between Rayfarla and a location based social networking type application.  Given all the location based social networking semi finalists I’m glad I went with Rayfarla.

However, three of my great passions are software development, music and video games so producing something like Rayfarla seemed a logical outcome.  I am an amateur musician, I’ve played in various bands but now I just concentrate on electronic music production in my spare time.

Where did the name come from?  Anything special?

Do Re Mi Fa So La Te Do - technically known as a solfege.  I wanted a name that was unique.  DoReMi was taken.  Nokia used DoMiSo for a ringtone.  I mutated Re Fa La to come up with Rayfarla.

Wow, and here we were thinking it was some Jamaican name or something! Were you the only guy working on Rayfarla?
Yes.  I had some very useful aesthetic and usability input from my wife though.

What have you been doing since the first round ended?

For the short term and since the first round ended my main focus is Rayfarla.  Beyond the deadline for round 2 it probably depends on how soon I can get my hands on Android hardware.  I still have a large investment in Java ME and will continue developing for it.  I’m likely to resurrect my location based application idea, maybe as an entrant for ADC 2, as I haven’t seen anything similar yet.

Did you have anything special lined up for the $25,000 winnings?

I took out friends and family for dinner to celebrate.  My big indulgence was buying some very expensive lambic beers brewed by the Cantillon brewery in Belgium.  The money has allowed me to hire a graphic designer and license a music track for the next release of Rayfarla.  Other than that the money goes towards living expenses, I have a baby on the way so I’ll probably need every cent!

You’re absolutely right.  Save it!  Anything you can share about any OHA members reaching out to you?

I haven’t been contacted by any OHA members but SONiVOX is the only one that I would imagine might have an interest in Rayfarla.

So when Rayfarla comes out, what’s the plan for commercialization?

In terms of the commercial model I am undecided but the likely model will be that Rayfarla is offered for sale.  However, I am very keen to allow people to try it out before purchasing and would like to have some functionality that will remain usable even if people don’t want to purchase, possibly even a Rayfarla Lite that is free.

That sounds like a winner there.  Just a taste is probably all you’ll need to hook someone.  We’re rooting for you in the next round so if you wanna come back and buy some very expensive beers with your $100,000 or more, then we won’t complain!  In all seriousness, please don’t hesitate to swing by and share more with our readers.  Pictures, videos, and links are always welcome.

Thanks again to Steve Oldmeadow for spending time with us to discuss Rayfarla.  As a follow up note, Steve did share with us that he’d have screen shots and video to share after July 28th.