Identify blockers to getting the project released

[cesine]

What code can you reuse? This is a difficult question. If you have a Javascript developer who is familiar with AngularJS/Grunt/Yeoman, you can probably re-use the code. If you are not planning on using Javascript, or not using AngularJS, then I would recommend simply use the existing released code as a "prototype" to reverse engineer what the games should do, document the requirements, and then re-implement the games with a stack your developer is comfortable with. I will register you for Phophlo so you will receive a separate email with login credentials so you can access to the stimuli databases and run/breakpoint/explore the running implementation of the games yourself.

What has blocked this project?

• We wanted the project to collect longitudinal anonymous yet valid data which conforms to human subjects requirements so that as the project was used over the next few years, the researchers would be able to continue their publications about the project. This was unnecessary. The games need to run, collect the results accurately, and display the result.
• We also wanted to have a user interface to permit modification of stimuli so that other games/stimuli packages could be added over time since one of the games (SAILS) has a longstanding separate identity and often receiving requests to add new stimuli packages. This responsibility has been taken over by the Haskins lab so this is no longer required by the Phophlo project. Now that the game designs have been encoded in JSON, it will be less necessary for the PIs' students to be able to make modifications themselves, there are quite a few outstanding issues for stimuli modifications which are half done (the audio was recorded, but not yet extracted or put into to the database). You should be able to use the current experimental design JSON, without needing to provide an interface to modify it.
• We originally prototyped the games in BackboneJS, an switched MontageJS to implement the games since the students were able to understand it better than AngularJS, and because it has a drag and drop editor for HTML5 app creation which could be used by the research labs in the future to create new experiments/games. Unfortunately, MontageJS has lost their funding in March 2014 so their code is growing stale and I'm worried about continuing with it if you need to maintain the games for the next 10 years, which is not an unrealistic maintenance timeframe given the lifespan and popularity of the previous SAILS app implementation. We also had trouble loading the image assets using Montage, and the audio loading also needs to be changed to run at page load so that all resources are on time when the stimuli are played, you could do this in the existing implementation or handle this in a re-write.
• We used only volunteer developers and students to work on the project, no one was dedicated to completing it full time. The games themselves are simple, the image/audio assets are ready, and the game flow/scoring is now well understood, having a full time developer would mean the release could be completed on a regular iteration schedule.
• We used Chrome apps to create Desktop versions of the apps, but Chrome apps spec is constantly changing. We removed this target from the project already.

[cesine]

@jfh-crim we tried to brainstorm what code you could reuse, and why the project has been stagnant and what could be cut to make it go faster. maybe this might help you in your estimation!

[jfh-crim]

@cesine That's really helpful. Thank you!

[cesine]

@jfh-crim @hafslo I updated the build dependancies for the teacher dashboard today. this fixed the failing travis build so i was able to merge the pull request #277 from last semester.

docs on building are up to date and hopefully usable in the README: https://github.com/ProjetDeRechercheSurLecriture/DyslexDisorthGame/tree/master/angular_client