Mar 20, 2014 - DeeJ

When it’s time to play Destiny, we’ll activate the Companion. It’ll be an application that will keep you connected to the last safe city. You’ll be able to take the experience of being a Guardian wherever life finds you.





But what about the community? Bungie won’t be the only ones talking about Destiny. If you’re wondering how you’ll stay connected to the myriad voices of the city, the community has itself covered. Check out what the dynamic coding duo of John and Justin from Destiny Community Hub have planned.





Talk to us about the Destiny Community Hub. What is it? What service will it provide to the end user?





DCH: You’ve seen from these “Community Focus” updates that the community does a great job of scouring the internet for the latest tidbits of Destiny information. They also help others digest it in an easy manner. The Destiny Community Hub is your one-stop source for all of the latest updates, information, news posts, podcasts, and announcements. Basically, the app is a mobile aggregate of all community created content, focusing on the best community domains around right now.





We’re sold. So where can we get it?





DCH: As of right now the app is releasing for Android devices, and is free! We are in the development of other versions and will be releasing details on that through our Twitter feed.





What inspired you toward such technological shenanigans?





Justin: I entered and won a few games in a Destiny Dispatch tournament. More importantly, I got an email for someone to contact. We asked them: “My friend and I are trying to build some sort of Destiny mobile app. Would you guys be interested in some sort of community app?”





They said it sounded like a good idea but they’d need some more information. John and I created a few ideas for layouts and features for the app. We presented it to Destiny Dispatch and they loved it! A lot of emails and many months of hard work later, we have more than twenty websites featured on the app.





Such ambition! Do you have a background in mobile systems development? Or was this a maiden voyage?





John: I went to school for Computer Information Systems, so that did help. Back in 2010, I became heavily interested in everything Android. The first application I wrote was a fan app for a web series. For the next few years, I began developing apps both personally and as part of a much larger team. I can’t tell you enough how satisfying it is to see someone “out there in the wild” using an application I developed.





Speaking of the wild, how did you go about selecting the community sources that would be featured in your feed?





Justin: It was actually a lot easier than it might seem. The community had really already found each other. Destiny Dispatch was guiding viewers to different community activities weekly. They already had a lot of website links and contacts under their belt. We cannot thank them enough for helping us spread the word to the different community sites about our cause! More recently, we’ve been using Twitter to help spread the word.





We hope to see new community outlets springing up all the time. Are you nimble enough to add new sources without a patch?





John: Short answer: Not yet, but I’m working on it. Developing the backend of Destiny Community Hub was a new frontier for me. I had previously only dabbled in server-side development throughout college. Perhaps I could steal one of your backend developers?





No way! We have big plans for them, and their work is cut out for them. They did, however, enjoy giving your app a test drive. They want to know what’s next for you guys. Any other platforms in the works?





John: Many people have been asking us if we’ll be developing the app for iOS. The answer is YES. Stay tuned for that!





Bungie has always provided unique and amazing experiences to its users. We want to emulate that model and provide the best possible experience we can to ours. Destiny Community Hub will never be perfect. It’s our baby and will continue to grow with the community’s help. We plan on introducing new features and improvements throughout its lifecycle (I already have several of them drawn up on the whiteboard behind me). The feedback we have received so far from our users has been invaluable in development and we will continue to listen.





You sound like us. When you picture this emergent Destiny community in the world of the game, what do you look forward to?





DCH: It’s amazing to see how this community has grown over the past year, and so insane to think that the game doesn’t come out for almost another 6 months! One thing we look forward to is seeing how groups form and build through the use of our app. Using the Bungie forums and the rest of the community websites, you can find a lot of people who have the same interests. They’re already developing their own clans to get ready for the launch of Destiny.



