# Devblog 3: Looking ahead

Hi! Welcome back, glad you could make it.

Last two weeks I've spend time building as well as thinking about the project. My goal was to make a playable scavenger hunt. I achieved this but I also started thinking about other aspects of the app.

I love to share my result, and thoughts with you below!

# Playable scavenger hunt

My main focus for this project is getting to a working prototype ASAP. So in order to do that, I would at least be needing a way to play a scavenger hunt, right?

So what I've done is create a hardcoded scavenger hunt within the app, I don't have a backend yet, heck, I don't even store data locally. The idea is that I can just play this scavenger hunt to try it out to see how the flow should be.

## Flow of the hunt

The scavenger hunt is a basically just alternating between finding the next location, with the 'tool'.

![le_tool.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1667033294833/_X2ll8ofT.jpg align="center")

Then answering the question for that location.

![le_question.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1667033289050/m60kCdayp.jpg align="center")

When you've answered the last location, you will get an overview of your score.

![lo_result.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1667033153823/caVH_qfG2.jpg align="center")

That's it for now. And it works!

## Styling the app

So while I was working on the app, I got a bit annoyed with the default theme. I know this doesn't have priority right now, but the app shouldn’t have to look like 💩 right?

Soon I realized I was spending too much time without getting anywhere close to what I envisioned. So I turned to Twitter:

%[https://twitter.com/SEGVeenstra/status/1584218687103303681]

I've gotten so many great suggestions! Some of you are simply in a relationship with a designer (or helped them become one).

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1667034453545/5bpfiUKei.png align="left")

I've decided to just give it some color with the help of [flex_color_scheme](https://pub.dev/packages/flex_color_scheme). Once the MVP is 'done' I can take a more serious look into branding, probably getting someone else to do it for me.

# Looking ahead

In the last couple of weeks I've also been thinking about other aspects of the app.

## Navigation

As I've mentioned in a previous blog post, I'm using my own solution for state management.
My solution takes some inspiration from [redux](https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_redux). The main resemblance is that it has a *single source of truth*.

But then I hit a bit of a wall. See, Flutter is declarative, right? This is often expressed as `UI = F(S)`, meaning the UI is a function of the state. But when it comes to navigating a Flutter app, this often is not the case.

You'd often tell a *Navigator* to *go somewhere*, like with `Navigator.push`. At least, that's what I'm used to do. Well actually I use [go_router](https://pub.dev/packages/go_router) most of the time but that I use pretty similar, with `GoRouter.go`.
To me, that sounds not really declarative, the *navigation state* is independent from the *app state*.

%[https://twitter.com/SEGVeenstra/status/1582705258689531904]

When I use [bloc](https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_bloc) I don't really have an issue with it. When using Bloc's or Cubits you don't maintain a *single source of truth* in the way Redux and my own solution do.
When you navigate to some page, that page will create/provide the state. So that's a bit the other way around. Now the UI determines which state objects (Blocs/Cubits) should be there.

Now what I would like to see with my solution, is that instead of telling my app to navigate to some other page, I update the state, and based on the state change, the correct screen should be shown.

The difference:
```dart
// Calling Navigator
onTap: () => Navigator.push(DetailScreen(itemId: 1)),

// Updating state
// (dispatch emits an event which will be processed to update the state)
onTap: () => dispatch(SelectItem(id: 1)),
```

I had a nice conversation with someone on Twitter that gave me some hints to how I could do this, so I definitely want to try this out in the upcoming weeks.

## Monetization

Some time ago I've decided that I only want to create pet projects that at least have some potential for generating income. My [puzzle game](https://tiles-apps.web.app/) shared the same intention. I eventually released it for free as a web app instead of a mobile app, but I had plans for monetization.

For this app it is no different. From the start I had an idea about how to monetize this app. My ideas changed a little the last couple of weeks, but not by much. I will share more about this later when I get to implementing it.

# Next up

For the next couple of weeks I want to take a look into the declarative way of navigation and also make a start with adding firebase.

The current scavenger hunt is hard-coded inside the app, so a good first step would be to get this from firebase. Then I can also start working on authentication and saving user progression.
It has been a while since I worked with firebase other than analytics/crashlytics but I've had good experiences with it in a previous pet project. It's gonna be fun!

See you next time!