Mind Map Maker

This project was completed for my computer science A-level. Students had to find a client and create a program for them, I chose my sister and created software to help her revise for her GCSE's. The software had to:

• run on her £70 laptop
• allow for files to be transfered between devices
• allow actions to be undone and redone
• be generic enough to work for any subject

At the time I was finding myself really interested in intuitive UI design so I also aimed to create a simple and unrestrictive system that I felt was easy to learn and use. Though I found I had to cut a lot of it for time constraints.

We were given 24 hours spread over 2 months to create the program and were allowed to choose our own langauges and frameworks. I chose to write the sofware in Unity as I wanted to learn a new engine and knew that unitys use of scenegraphs would let me avoud calculating the scaling and positioning of mind map components.

As one of the software requirements was to run on very low end computers I also had to ensure I was creating scripts that would run as efficiently as possible when compiled, so I ended up finding myself weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of different libraries, often choosing ones with drawbacks in favour of their lower usage of memory.

The outcome

The final system had a number of features:

• Fully working undo/redo system
• The ability to create and link text bubbles
• The ability to import images
• A drawing tool, along with options to optimise lines for slower pcs
• A save and load system
• A settings panel
• The ability to navigate and magnify the mindmap