I have a HTC Touch Cruise and it is dreadfully slow. I was waiting for the X10 from Sony and thought that would be the new phone I will go with. First it is large, beautiful screen and fast. Secondly, it is on Android which I hope is better than WinMo.
However, a colleague just showed me his iPhone and it is sweet. I never really played with one before because I do not like apple's prison policy, but looking at this it is nice:
* FAST - it runs fast
* Plays movies and music beautifully
* Controlls his popcorn device remotely.
* Accesses his QNAP NAS wirelessly to stream movies and music
* The games he has are GREAT for himself and the kids (Risk, air hockey, monopoly, fighting and shooting, etc)
* The video podcasts and the TV shows he can watch is nice way to spend your traveling time
Even though I dislike the apple prison and the lack of multi-tasking in the devices, they look great and are full of features.
Since I do not have an android device yet, I cannot really see the Android marketplace to see what they have available - cuz the webpage does not show much .
I know not all companies have software for android yet ( For example, OptionTrading/Stockbrokers - ThinkorSwim.com & Audiobooks - Audbile.com), but is the rest just as possible with Android Phones?
But how much can the new Androids do? How many applications are already out there for them?
Does Android sych with iTunes?
We all know everyone dreams of a supported Gingerbread or Honeycomb setup. What expectations do people have for tablets? There are many possibilities for these things. If you could design you own OS or launcher replacement what would it look like? For me I would really like to see a nice selection of themed home screens. A home page, sports page, a movie page, a music page, a games page. Id like to have an all sports page that had all sports tabbed at the top like most sports web sites. Then some scrolling sports scores. Then some sports news below that. Also be able to click on a game and get a nice run down of the game like when you view a game on nfl.com or yahoo's site. I know there are a lot of world news and rss feed widgets and apps but i would also like to see something more streamlined. I would really like to be able to scroll through my media better. Movies with their IMDB image and description would be amazing. Also to be able to scroll through my music with the album art and a nice description too. And I would also like to be able to have something that managed emulator roms. It would be nice if the roms had a cover image and description too. Then if you click to play that rom it would open the correct emulator for it. Remember, this is just what I dream of, what I wish my GTab could be. What are your wishes or dreams for your GTab? Please share.
I wish...
I wish that my little Gtab would bring world peace!
Did this just turn into the Miss America pageant?
If one expects electronic devices to be like dreams expect them to be shattered because before you know it "the next best thing" is always around the corner. That being said I would like android to be more like windows os in terms of having a wider compatibility range (i.e. audio video support, driver support etc. etc.) I don't expect much out of these devices except to perform well & consistently. The customization part is just fluff but does add to the visual appeal.
This is something IMHO where the iPad shines, not very many bells & whistles but works great out the box.
I have started an ad free site/service that lists well designed and honest Android games. Every game that is listed on this site is either completely free with no advertising, has a one time up front cost or one time IAP to unlock the full content ad free.
For each game posted on the site I have a brief bullet point list. This list consists of information like the up front price or the price of a one time IAP that unlocks the full game or removes ads on an already full game. Also listed is the info on if the game has multiplayer, if so what kind of multiplayer (online, local wifi, pass and play). There is also a description of whether the game supports Google Play Services or whether the game supports immersive mode from Android 4.4. Gamepad support and if the game plays in landscape, portrait or both is also included in the description along with whether the Play store or Amazon offer a demo. All of these things I verify myself by playing the game. I also include the permissions of each game so everyone has an upfront idea of what the game has access to. So after the brief bulletpoints and permissions there will also be the devs description of the game from Google Play/Amazon Appstore.
There is a certain criteria I hold of all of the games I post.
- Upfront priced games with full content.
- There will not be any games listed that have pay walls or wait times.
- IAPs will only be allowed if they unlock the full game with a single purchase or removes ads in an already full versioned game.
- No ports of games that were heavily controller designed (SNK ports, Sega ports, Rockstar Games ports and DotEmu ports).
- Ports of touch based games from DS and PS Vita will be allowed as well as ports such as World of Goo or Chu Chu Rocket that happen to lend themselves quite nicely to touchscreen play. There is also a new trend of games being designed at the same time for consoles/pc as Android (such as Leisure Suit Larry or Shadowrun Returns), games designed like these (with touch controls in mind at the start of developing) will be included on the site as well.
- Games must be designed for Android and look correct on all of it's screen resolutions. That means no letter-boxing or low res graphics. This way bad iPhone ports that don't fit on our screens or games that don't bother to support HD devices like tablets will be weeded out.
- Games must look good. Some games out there have great gameplay but their graphics sometimes look like they were designed on Linux in the nineties. Games that fit this description will most likely not be listed as I am trying to encourage well designed pleasing to the eye kind of games. Of course the new trend of retro pixel art games are perfectly fine.
- Developer ethics also come into play. While Square Enix do not have IAPs their crazy online DRM schemes and complete lack of support (Chrono Trigger sound familiar) makes their games more than likely to not be listed. Gameloft, Glu and EA fit in this category pretty well too.
For me personally I feel it has been difficult at best if not almost impossible to navigate the Play Store to find truly well made games that aren't designed from the ground up to nickel and dime you. With most Android gaming review sites lacking any good list of games and most Android blogs publishing mainly articles about the newest Glu games (looking at you Android Central and Android Police) I feel a site like the one I have created will hopefully provide a much needed service for the Android gamer.
Basically this site lists games that look great on phones and tablets alike while also playing great on touchscreens all while ignoring the nickel and diming slum of Android gaming. So if any of this sounds good to you please check it out.
http://honestandroidgames.com
p.s. The site is still growing and new functions will be added. I am also open to ideas so if you guys have any please let me know.
Want to write games on Linux? I do! Here's how to hit the ground running.
This post is a (non-exhaustive) overview of the tools available on Linux, just to show that it is possible to use Linux at every step of the game development process. It's the first blog post of what will be a multi-part series on getting going with indie video game development on Linux.
Linux Gaming: The Golden Age
Once upon a time, the words "Linux" and "games" rarely went together. Linux came in dead last as a viable gaming platform. Of course, over the last few years this has completely changed.
The same story could be told for game development on Linux -- while there have always been a litany of free software graphics engines, the modern indie dev scene tends to shy away from this more "DIY" approach and go for the "batteries-included" game engines. Well, the good news is these, too, are making their Linux debut, and so us Linux nerds now have a glut of options available for making games.
All software I suggest here is free software, and almost all should be available in your repo (e.g. Ubuntu Software Center) for free. I'll go over all the options, and the reasoning for the choices I made.
-------+++---------------++----+-------
Top engine choices for Linux game dev
Non-free: Unreal Engine 4, Unity 3D
Free game engines: Godot, Atomic Game Engine, Torque1
Free 3D graphics engines: Ogre 3D, Irrlicht, libGDX, three.js2
Free 2D graphics engines: LÖVE, Cocos 2D, pixi.js2
1: Has non-free tools
2: For browser-based games
---------+-+------------++++------------++--
There are already tons of articles comparing the two most popular game engines available, both of which have native linux versions, so I won't waste your time with that. Instead, I'll quickly go over the reasons I didn't go with either, but instead went with the Godot Engine.
Versus this proprietary competition, the most obvious advantage is licensing: Godot costs nothing, and I own 100% whatever I make with it, no legalese-thinking required. Similarly, no vendor lock-in. I don't want my game-making business dependent on a corporation that can legally pull the rug out from under me, either through new licensing restrictions, closing off their editor from my platform, or just making controversial decisions and cutting off support for old features that I depend on. I may seem too severe, but I for one have been burned too many times to go down that route again.
Licensing aside, I also simply prefer its approach to scene structure, terse scripting language, light-weight distributable (30MB for the entire thing!), extensible C++ source code (so I will never encounter a brick-wall that can't be broken), and, well, free software ethos: as community-driven software, it keeps the "indie" in "indie game dev"!
2D Graphics: Inkscape, GIMP, Krita
Linux has everything you need for 2D graphics for game development. These tools are useful for building everything from UI elements, painting assets in 2D games, or creating textures for 3D games.
Inkscape is my favorite vector editor. That basically means you deal with "lines and shapes" as opposed to pixels. If you are creating scalable, clean, sharp images based on shapes, this is the way to go.
GIMP is a raster image editor, great for manipulating photographs or tweaking textures. If you haven't used it in a while, you should: It's recently caught up with proper built-in layer folders, a PS-like single window interface, and improved text tool.
Krita is a popular and powerful tool for digital artwork.
3D Graphics: Blender
Under Linux, there is really one way to go for 3D graphics, and fortunately it's a great way: Blender. Although dauntingly complex, it's one of the most popular 3D creation suites available, and integrates excellently with engines like Godot. Personally, I'm a noob at 3D modeling ("UV mapping, y u no work"), but I do know that Blender is pretty dang powerful in the right hands, being used for everything from 3D-animated movies, to level editing. The canonical use of Blender is for creating and texturing 3D models to be imported into your game engine.
If for whatever reason Blender isn't your thing (and you're willing to fork over quadruple digits of cash, yikes), the old industry standard of Maya also has a native Linux version, as does Modo.
Sound effects: Audacity
Despite its out-dated interface, Audacity remains a solid option for recording and editing little sound effects. This has built-in OGG and WAV support, and so it plays very nicely with Godot.
Music: Ardour, LMMS, KXStudio
If you haven't looked into this in a while, you might be surprised at how far Linux audio has gotten. If you are intending to write your own music for your game, you can do quite well with Linux.
If you want to throw together some catchy video game tunes or retro sound-effects, LMMS has you covered, with dozens of built in instruments (including retro synthesizers) and pre-packaged samples. It has a shallow learning curve, so you'll definitely be able to create, well, "something" right away.
Ardour is a "pro-tier" DAW and sequencer. It has both built in MIDI and raster sound support, hosts VSTi and other instruments, and sports non-destructive NLE, basically everything you'd expect. If you want to record and mix a track, or delve a little deeper into music production, it's worth checking out.
It's worth mentioning that a few popular proprietary DAW's have native Linux support also, such as BitWig studio.
For Linux audio, I highly recommend getting this software (and a lot more goodies) via the KXStudio repos. These guys are awesome, they've put together a bigger and more recent selection of audio software than most standard repos. I also recommend that you consider the approach of having a dedicated partition just for music production. If you want to get set up with this, check out my other article: getting started with music production on Linux.
Everything else
Version Control: It cannot be stressed enough... use version control! This keeps you from losing work to mistakes, and makes collaboration much, much easier. While Git (esp. with LFS for game assets), might be the most popular, some prefer Mercurial.
Text editor: Sometimes you'll need to dig into source code or scene files without the use of the IDE. There are a crazy number of high-quality text-editors for Linux, so even pre-installed options (e.g., gedit) are vastly superior to Mac/Windows counter-parts. Personally, I use vim for all my coding and text editing. It has a very steep learning curve, so if you are interested, be prepared to sink a lot of time into it!
Video editor: For editing your trailer, OpenShot is a solid choice
Enter the penguin army
Perhaps for the first time, top-notch tools for authoring everything from game code to graphics to sound on Linux are here! Although I'm new to full-time game development, I have been working on game and audio projects (both on Linux and Windows) for 15+ years now, and today the offerings have never been better.
Do you write games on Linux, or are considering it? Do you prefer other tools? I'd love to hear in the comments!
SOURCE # http://michaelb.org
Florida based 360 VR company 1:9 Technology LLC has paired up with Accomplished Blues guitarist Davy Knowles to bring music and VR fans alike a new app. Now you can experience Davy Knowles in concert right at your fingertips on your Apple or Android! Davy has played with and alongside legends such as Joe Bonamassa, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Kid Rock, Joe Satriani, Warren Hayes, Jeff Beck, Chickenfoot, Sammy Hagar, Peter Frampton, The Grateful Dead and more. This interactive 360 live concert virtual reality app offers music fans the ability to watch, on demand, the entire Davy Knowles show recorded in 360 ° at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT.
A truly unique experience, the app can be used with or without google cardboard in 3-D 360 °. A truly interactive experience, the user has the ability to select individual songs, or to watch a behind-the-scenes interview with the Davy Knowles, allowing the user to be completely immersed in the experience. In app controls include Play, Pause, Return Home, or move to a particular spot in the video, giving full control to the user. For those who do not own a Google Cardboard headset or prefer to watch in 2-D 360 ° on their mobile device, a non-Virtual Reality mode option is available from the app’s home screen. Check out a preview on Youtube here: youtube.com/watch?time_continue=113&v=161ECou2sLE.
Get a peek of the app at davyknowles360.com . It’s available for downloads on Google Play for Android at: bit.ly/2oKTfFC and in the iTunes app store for IOS at: bit.ly/iTUnes360 .