Editor’s note: This article is to become part of a series based around 3rd party applications and developers.
As most will probably know by now the EVE community is built up of a lot of technically gifted people who have experience in computing outside of the EVE Universe, in fact I imagine a lot spend most of their time on computers even if it’s not just for gaming.
Within the sandbox nature of EVE Online CCP has given players the opportunity and flexibility to use the tools given in the API/ESI to create their own applications with the information available on all accounts and characters.
One of the newest tools to the market is one made by LightNK as announced on this reddit post. I spoke with the developer to discover the motivations behind the project and any plans for the future.
EN24: What made you start this project?
LightNK: I started this project because I noticed some legacy apps are not using ESI and may discontinue after legacy APIs are no longer supported. I wanted something simple to follow up on my characters from my phone… without all the extra stuff about that exist [sic] in EVEMon or Aura apps.EN24: Do you have any overall plans for it?
LightNK: My plan is first to see how people react to the app and what they are interested to see added to it. I intentionally released it with only basic features, and plan to develop according to “market demand”EN24: What are your thoughts on the changes to the API/ESI?
LightNK: The change itself is good, and I like working with the ESI interface. It just makes me sad we will be losing some nice legacy apps :frowning:EN24: How long have you been working on it for?
LightNK: I’m currently in China and we have almost 2 hour break in middle of day – an hour for lunch and an hour for nap 🙂 So, for the past 2 months, I was dedicating that “nap hour” for some coding.EN24: Is there any intention to make it available on multiple platforms?
LightNK: I have no intention to develop it for platforms other than Android, mostly because I hate Apple stuff and we already have some nice PC / web-based apps – so no need to invest on that either. I may add more localization support tho (I made an effort adding Chinese into it since the recent migration into Tranquility).
With the removal of the old API system existing applications will either need to be updated or be replaced by new variations under the ESI setup. The introduction of the system has forced all groups across New Eden to modify their existing authentication configuration and require additional permissions from capsuleers to maintain the same level of information control. However, one thing which will now have to be reviewed is the recruitment process as a lot of groups used the API tools such as jackknife to assess an applicant before acceptance.
If you would like your application or 3rd party software discussed and announced then feel free to contact me on [email protected] or Amymuffmuff#6824 on discord.
