SteemKnights - Development Blog #003

TL;DR

Hive Update
- SteemKnights will stop the server tomorrow for the hive hardfork and will be back after the weekend
- We will consider a full switch to hive once we see the community is there and the needed libraries and servers are updated
- Hive withdrawals will be processed manual until we integrated the new chain completely
- Big Problem: A new Name for SteemKnights! Comment your suggestions below!
Development Updates
- Current situation @mwfiae
- Social Login and extended mobile features
- Working on a quick solution for hive
- @mrbandler is working on the automation of our game development content over all our social media channels
- New Arena
- @cloud925 mostly business stuff and loading screens
Social Login in Depth
- Social Login (Google, Mail) will be the main way to login
- You can then permanently link your Steem account via SteemConnect
- This is achieved by requesting the offline permission and storing the refresh code with Firebase
  - This way we don't have to store the keys/codes directly on our server increasing the security tremendously
  - If firebase is hacked your keys aren't at risk either because a server side secret is also needed to retrieve a usable SteemConnect access code
  - We basically achieved 2FA with that :)
Please let us know what you think of all these proposed changes
Have a great weekend!

Greetings Lords & Ladies,

first of all we will have to address the current development with the #hive hardfork.
To ensure every user of SteemKnights gets the amount of Hive they deserve from the Steem they deposited into SteemKnights we have to stop our server starting tonight.
We will then proceed to make a backup of the current database, so that we can payout Hive as needed. We then plan to start the server again after the weekend so everyone can continue playing as normally.
For now Hive will have to be withdrawn manually by us. For that please go into our discord and drop us a message!

Our future plans regarding #hive:
For now we will stay on Steem and see what the future will bring. If the community switches mainly to Hive and all the needed libraries and services we use (SteemConnect mainly) are updated to Hive we will consider a full switch.
Another problem arises with the current naming of SteemKnights. To resolve this issue please send all your suggestions to our comment box so we can pick the best name for SteemKnights on Hive ;)

Now back to our main topic for our development posts, the current development of SteemKnights

Unfortunatly I (@mwfiae) didn't have as much time for SteemKnights as I'd like to have as there is currently much going on in my life.

To give you a quick summary:

My internet didn't work for 2 weeks
The apartment of my gf burned down because of a kitchen fire
Corona ('nough said)

Which means that I focused mainly on our concept regarding the Social Login and new enhanced features for mobile.

I will also work on a quick solution for Hive to ensure the stability of SteemKnights in the coming days. For more infos see above :)

However my colleagues were as productive as ever to make up for my lacking performance.

@mrbandler is further working on the automation of our game development content over all our various social media channels so that we can focus more on development itself.

He also made an entirely new arena for SteemKnights Classic.

If you want to see how it was done look into our latest development stream. Check it out it's really cool :)

@cloud925 was busy with all the tedious business work we have to do as a german company (GmbH). But he also found the time to implement cool loading screens for SteemKnights.

_{_{Trust me it looks better once it's animated 😉}}

As with every post we want to bring some more light on upcoming features of Eternal Artifacts.

I want to use todays post to bring you some more details on how the Social Login will work once everything is finished. (This may be very techy, so beware!)

The main way to login will be to use email or Google login on your phone. This is handled via Firebase (some of you may heard of it already, it's the industry standard to handle various logins and other features and is a service from Google).
After you have logged in with Firebase you can then link your account with an already existing Steem account via SteemConnect. After this you won't have to use SteemConnect anymore and you can just login with email or with the automatic Google Play login.

This is achieved because SteemConnect will generate a refresh code that will be stored in Firebase and that can be used in conjunction with a server side secret to generate a functioning access code so we can post custom JSON into the blockchain.
By saving the code not ourselves we can ensure maximal safety for our users.
Because this means even if the SteemKnights database is hacked in any way the players key will still remain as save as ever.
On the other hand in the unlikely case that Firebase is hacked your key will still remain safe as the server side secret is also needed and only we have access to that.
Should all of that fail you can just unauthorize SteemKnights on SteemConnect and all the codes are useless and your account remains unaffected by any hacks.
Have I already mentioned that we don't even have full posting authority with that key, because we only ask for the custom_json permission?

All in all this is the safest way to give you all the convenience that you get with Social Login. No more troublesome SteemConnect login. Just start the app and be automagically be logged in via Google Play.

That's it for today!
As always let us know what you think about the proposed changes in the comment section down below. We also appreciate any name suggestions for the Hive hardfork. Also visit us in our discord if you so like.

Have a great weekend!
Yours truly,
@mwfiae