Database Info

[APP] Geo Wars - A location based game for the HD2

[PORTED TO 3D]
Major tasks done:
3D view, world, perspective
3D primitives
Textures
Lighting
Materials
accelerometer mapped to camera
Major tasks to be done:
- Ray tracing (for picking)
- BoundingBox collision
- Rework game logic (pratically done, just need to add Z axis to the game logic)
- Include soldiers
- Include boats
- Improve performance
- Enhance graphics.
- Use compass to rotate the camera/player's position
Hi
I'm a master degree student, whose final project is to develop a location based mobile game prototype. Although the development is nearly complete, there is some tweaking and adjustments still to be done. As such, and being a member of this community for some time now, I thought i should not only seek your help, but also share this creation of mine. I will describe what it is, how does it work, what bugs does it have (still some unfortunatly) and finally, what i need from you guys.
Description
The game is basically a Tower Wars kind of game. You are a general who was given the task to hold you sector from the invading enemy forces until backup arrives. You're only hope is the experimental technology the government gave you that allows you to instantly deploy machine guns and artillery nests, completly unmaned and automatic. Although these do cost a lot of money, so you have to prove your worth by holding your position and defeating enemy forces.
Game Mechanics
The battlefield is your very own map (yes, from google maps static api xD). Enemies will come from sea air and land, but all of them with some restrictions to their movement, firepower, range, etc. For an instance, while an airplane may move around firing at anything from anywhere, a soldier or a tank must move around the streets, attempting to close in on their target. Boats will only appear if there is water on the map (kinda makes sense). Each enemy unit will try to prioritize its targets, and they have somewhat different AIs. For an instance, a Tank will keep attacking towers while moving in closer to the player's position. Once he gets there it will start blasting the player away. A soldier, however, will always try to attack towers first and only after there are no towers left will he attack the player.
The player can do some actions as well. He earns money for each second he remains alive, for each money filled bag he gets (by moving over them), and for each unit destroyed (each unit provides different bonus money). With this money he can build towers which will do their best to fend of the enemy forces. Each tower works differently, and has different projectily speeds, fire rates, life, costs, damage per hit and projectile type (for an instance, the rocket tower fires homming missiles that never miss its target, unless something gets in the way) The player can (and should also) move around the map (by walking), attempting to draw enemies (such as tanks) into sittuations where those units might get caught in cross fire (be aware that friendly fire works both ways).
So, the player can build towers by clicking on those lettered buttons (each creates a different tower, who'd have guessed?) and by clicking again on an clear area (this area must not have roads or any type of game units in it).
Oh, and in "Settings" you can select the quick game's difficulty, and if you want weather or not to influence the game. Clear weather provides bonus speed and range for all units and projectiles, while rainny or cloudy weather provide penalties to the same.
Know Issues
Since this IS a WIP, there are some (if not ALOT) of issues, them being:
Common issues:
- Weather takes a long time to load, up to a minute (the weather webservice isn't the most accurate or fast around i guess). ALL LOCATION, MAP, AND WEATHER DATA ARE DOWNLOADED IN THE MAIN MENU. YOU CANNOT START THE GAME WHILE THIS DATA HASN'T BEEN DOWNLOADED YET. Just press "Quick Game" from time to time. The button will only work when this data is ready.
- You cannot restart a game. Actually, you have to quit the application (and sometimes even reset your device) in order to start a new "Quick Game".
- Load Game is working, but not for you guys yet. The idea behind of it is to play the game in locations where you physically cant. Basically you'd have to register an account in a site i've created for this purpose (the site was a requirement for this thesis), create the game's there, and then login in the "load game" section and select one of the game's you had created. Works for me in the lab here, but i haven't deployed the website, the DB nor the webservice for this yet.
- Aircrafts can be buggy. And by buggy i mean that sometimes their own rockets blow themselves up. Yes it is funny when you read it down here, but it's not intended.
- Sometimes a ground unit may get out of the road. Completly. Not sure why though.
- The game may be somewhat unplayable in one place, and to easy in another. That's location based games for ya.
- (Feel free to report some extra ones, i'll be sure to add them)
3D
- Soldiers not present yet due to them slowing down the game a lot (geometry too complex, gotta dumb it up a bit)
- Tanks WILL most certainly move away from the streets. This is due to the different coordinate systems used by dx3D and dx sprites.
- Game will run poorly, not due to the complex AI, but due to the poor graphic driver support. Will try to improve.
- You can only position towers when viewing from the top view. Otherwise it is really difficult as ray tracing wasn't implemented yet.
- Player's position may also be erratic due to the different coordinate system.
Requests
Well, this is the part where you guys can help. By now you should notice that while the game works it does so barely. The graphics are cheesy (i'm the one to blame) and the gameplay is IMBA sometimes. So, here's what i need from you fellas.
TRY IT.
No seriously, please do try it.And submit your oppinions about how the game should be tweaked to be more challenging, and what do you think are the issues of Location Based Games themselves. To sum it up i need:
Opinions - on the game, and on location games
Tweak suggestions - the game should be balanced and should make the player move around, but not to tire him or actually force him to be playable. However, players that move around should be rewarded somehow.
Graphic Enhancements - Yeah, game sucks. I need decent sprites. If you got some nice ones that may replace what i've got, go ahead show them ^^. You will be credited. I was thinking of turning the game more GTX like (the main menus are ugly cause i just made them in a rush)
Requirements
You need to have either Chainfire graphics patch or ATI 3D drivers. Why? Because HTC didn't include Direct3D mobile drivers d-_-b'...
If you are reaaaaaally lazy and don't want to get outta the couch, please download FakeGPS, so you can play the game ^^. You can test it easily that way.
Gameplay Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crnOVldfBgM -- A bit (like, a lot) outdated, but shows off a bit of the mechanics.
Here's a screenshot for you fellas:
2D game:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
3D game version:
Download Zip
2D version
http://feupload.fe.up.pt/get/bBLS4QIrwzz0gRW
3D version
http://feupload.fe.up.pt/get/yukIzyB9JM76cdc
--You can extract and place this anywhere on the phone. Just be sure the *.exe and the Textures and Sound folders are in the same folder.
Suggestions
- Multiplayer mode (possibly a 1 on 1 kind of game) (this, if it is meant to be implemented, will take a while. Prolly will only look at it during summer)
- Put the price on the buttons for the bunkers. (done)
- When building a bunker, move around the bunker that is to be build while the finger is on the screen. Deploy tower on mouse up. (done, i guess)
- Optionally choose where to play a quick game (giving it google map like addresses, such as 1242 Imaginary Av, Portugal) (done)
- Change the zoom for the map (in order to solve the tower placement issue and the rythm of how fast the player moves on the map) (done, but perhaps it could be done more elegantly)
- Nice looking menus (comming up ^^)
Suggestions and possible improvements will be placed here.
Oh, and can a mod put the links in this post correctly, just to make it easier for those that wish to see/download it?
Everybody, feel free to post screenshots as well.

About my contribution
Here I am as I promised ... what it goes on the fact is that I do not like a great deal of plays and even I forget that the HD2 has a folder with two or three but ... I was seeing the movie in the Youtube and also because I read here seem to me a very interesting project but for whom it interest him for plays ... what is not my case. Anyway I ask that they help you in this project and that you could present in your theory a final and deserving product of being in the podium of the best plays and ... with a stamp 'tuga' =Português
Regards and good luck

Thanks for comming
Thanks for comming ^^.
I understand that not everybody is crazy about videogames. And i also understand that many people aren't into Location Based Gaming. Nevertheless i thank you for taking the time to read and see my project. I hope others will find it as interesting as you !
I am now finishing the writing of my thesis! In a month or so it should be done, although i wish to carry on with the development of this project.
Kudos, and once again, thanks for showing up

First of all: I LOVE THIS CONCEPT!
Second: I will definitely test this game as soon as I get around to it and provide you with some feedback.
Third: Do you have any plans to implement a multiplayer version? It would be too cool if you could work together with others building defenses, supporting each other...

Looks interesting, will test it when i finish work

I love the idea behind this game and I am currently transferring it to my phone to try it out I will edit this post when/if I got something constructive to say
EDIT: apparently I preffered to make a whole new post?
my excuse must be that this post was not visible when I created the other...

Here are my observations after a couple of games:
First of all as you kind of mentioned, if you press the exit button in the main menu, you will not be able to start the game itself until a softreset have been made.
Secondly the game crashes for me, and gives me an error after about half a minute of playtime.
Third, in the place where i live it is hard to place bunkers as they are too big (even though the form of the bunker would fit fine ).
I would recommend you to make the bunkers a bit smaller.
Recommendations:
Put a price on the buttons for the bunkers so that i know how much they cost.
When i have to place the towers let is be so that when i press a button and then press somewhere on the map, and i keep it pressed, i will be able to more precisely plant the tower, by moving my finger around the screen, and let go when i want to place the tower.
It would be much appreciated if you made it so that you could choose where to play directly from the game And maybe also how zoomed out it should be, as i myself would love to play in for example famous places

MAMeingast said:
First of all: I LOVE THIS CONCEPT!
Second: I will definitely test this game as soon as I get around to it and provide you with some feedback.
Third: Do you have any plans to implement a multiplayer version? It would be too cool if you could work together with others building defenses, supporting each other...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings ^^
Re First: Glad you love it ^^. Really. This concept is somewhat new and not many people like location based games. I would like to know what is your oppinion about location based games in general and why aren't they that much played/developed.
Re Sec : Take your time, i am open to all your doubts and suggestions ^^.
Re Third: You know, you aren't the first to make that suggestion? I'm really considering looking into it, although i thought it would be easier to create a multiplayer where you could opt to spend money buying defensive structures or buying offensive units to attack your foe. That way you could play against anybody anywhere. What do you think?

Shum97 said:
Looks interesting, will test it when i finish work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hoping to hear from you mate ! Glad it caught your interest. Will probably post another video (showing the website and the load game feature). I need to film the game working as well, when the player is moving and the likes.

Hojlind said:
Here are my observations after a couple of games:
First of all as you kind of mentioned, if you press the exit button in the main menu, you will not be able to start the game itself until a softreset have been made.
Secondly the game crashes for me, and gives me an error after about half a minute of playtime.
Third, in the place where i live it is hard to place bunkers as they are too big (even though the form of the bunker would fit fine ).
I would recommend you to make the bunkers a bit smaller.
Recommendations:
Put a price on the buttons for the bunkers so that i know how much they cost.
When i have to place the towers let is be so that when i press a button and then press somewhere on the map, and i keep it pressed, i will be able to more precisely plant the tower, by moving my finger around the screen, and let go when i want to place the tower.
It would be much appreciated if you made it so that you could choose where to play directly from the game And maybe also how zoomed out it should be, as i myself would love to play in for example famous places
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers!
Really enjoyed your analysis. Exactly the kind of feedback i expected!
First : Yes, i kinda am in the process of finding why the heck that is happening. Since i use a different thread to load location data while the game is loading that probably is the culprit. I will check that out as it is a real deal breaker.
Second: When the game crashes do you see any pattern of why it crashes? It used to have a mem leak but it should be corrected some iterations ago. I will try to further test and debug the app as well!
Third: Unfortunatly this is a known issue. Most location based games have a serious issue with some locations. The solution to this is, either we scale down the size of the towers, or we add the option to zoom the map (in the settings for an instance). The default zoom is 18 (used to be 17) because in some situation more than that proved to be excessive.
On with the suggestions
First: True, i didn't include the price on the button. Honestly i haven't done it yet cause the graphics aren't final. But it's true that i should consider something like that in the following versions.
Second: Tower placement is still an issue, yes it is. Your solution seems to be great! The tower will follow your finger while it moves and is only placed when you lift it. That does solve the tower placement issue.
Third: Well, this is supposedly where the load game feature comes in. It allows you to play any game you previously created. It also allows you to keep track of your scores of each of those created games. It is a finished feature and i'm only looking for a place to host the DB the webservice server and the website. Of course i only created the load game feature because it was kinda required. I agree that specifying the place where you'd like to play your game (via text box or so) is probably the way to go! I will definetly try to add that
Well, that about covers it! Glad you took time to play it and to come up with some neat ideas! Will definetly add them to the main post! I will try to add if not all, some ideas and correct some bugs you pointed out

ei05035 said:
Second: When the game crashes do you see any pattern of why it crashes? It used to have a mem leak but it should be corrected some iterations ago. I will try to further test and debug the app as well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have chosen to actually read the errors I get and since I do not get much knowledge out of them I though that you might would I have attached the errors I have had so far (3 different errors in total) and hope that this is usable to you
A little wordlist so you know what it says regarding the words:
"ved" = "by" or "at"
"undtagelseskode" = "exception code"
"undtagelsesadresse" = "exception adress"
"læser" = "reader"

Hojlind said:
I have chosen to actually read the errors I get and since I do not get much knowledge out of them I though that you might would I have attached the errors I have had so far (3 different errors in total) and hope that this is usable to you
A little wordlist so you know what it says regarding the words:
"ved" = "by" or "at"
"undtagelseskode" = "exception code"
"undtagelsesadresse" = "exception adress"
"læser" = "reader"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, seems that the mem leaks are back. Although i am pretty sure were i messed up. The thing is that i tested a mem leak free version of the game and then i changed some stuff that i thought wouldn't affect the game. Guess i was wrong xD. Will look into it. By sunday or monday i will have a new version, with some bugs corrected and hopefully some new features. I am still writting the thesis and its due to the end of this month, so time isn't really on my side for it. But this project will be continued after that ^^. Thanks for the heads up mate!

Looking forward to it and no problem

Well, just finnished correcting some bugs on the fly. They were kinda obvious ones. Mem leak is corrected, although you might notice some slow downs. Mem management is still due to be optimized but you shouldnt experience Out of Memory exceptions anymore.
Aditionally you can now exit and reenter the game. At least as far as i can tell. If you get a Direct3D exception you will prolly have to reboot the device to run again. But this should not appear.
Oh, and you can now say where you'd you like to play the game. This is still a bit buggy but i will improve it soon. This is in the settings part. Also you can now especify the level of zoom in the map .
Some bugs regarding the positioning of the player in the map are expected (especially when using the "Customized location" option... ) but they will be looked at ^^.
I'm now uploading the new version, and will update the first post.
Kudos everybody!

There, updated the first post. Also took the liberty of correcting the links. The game should be more stable now, although i expect quite a few bugs when using custom game location setting and moving around the map. Also, please give some feedback regarding the GPS positioning precision on different zoom levels.
Next iteration i will try to improve the tower placement procedure, and a few other things.

Finishing thesis
Sorry for being this absent for so long guys. Anyways, i'm now in the process of finishing up my thesis. Hopefully even during this week, I will be able to produce a new version of the game with added features. Stay tuned!

Looking forward

Well, sorry for the lack of news, but the new version is up. It should be a little bit more stable (hopefully). I am considering ditching the Direct3D API and going for Opengl ES. Well, anyways, here are the changes:
- You can now play the game without using the GPS module (you just need to un check the "General moves" option, and fill in the address bar with a valid google maps address)
- Now allows for drag and drop towers. You tap what tower you want to add and then tap and drag around to place it accuratly.
For the future version (hopefully comming in a few days) i was considering:
- Abitily to use neither the GPS nor Data connections! Playing an already downloaded map (for starters this will only allow you to play your latest game. In the future i'm thinking about giving players the ability of playing any played game again).
- Reworked in game graphics. Lets face it, the graphism isn't bad. It just plainly sucks. Will aim for a more coherent design...
- DirectX made menus. Yeah, the .net menus get the job done but they do fell very '90ish. A background image and some custom drawn controls would look nice, don't ya think ^^.
Well, the latest is available in the first post. As always, provide feedback fellas ^^. Kudos from me!

Well guys, seems like i'm on a streak. A newer version is out. It is similar to the previous one with a few visual tweaks:
- All images were kind "Cartoonified" now. Looks cool, i'm thinking of doing something like that to the google map image. Whaddya think?
- Also, as sugested, the buttons now contain a previews of the tower's price as well as a miniature preview of them.
The next major version will have all the menus reworked hopefully. After that, (which will take me a lot of time definetly, since i have to create the textures and alter the game itself) i will consider going to OpenGL ES. It should only require me to change the renderer part of my engine (since OpenGL doesnt use sprites, but planes with textures) as well as the picking procedures for integrating the tapping on the screen with the game logic ( Direct3D does this smoothly, OpenGL requires me to use a projection for doing so -_-'. An orthographic one should do the trick ). Will keep u guys updated, and keep those suggestions commin ^^.

thank you i have been tryin to find a game like this . the g1 has a similar game but with zombies chasing u round the streets i think.
tryin it now . and well done .

Settlers of Catan

Hey there,
There is a Settlers of Catan game for the iPhone. I'm wondering if anyone knew of that game being ported to Android any time soon? All I can find for Android is the 'Better Settlers' which helps with setting up the board.
Thanks in advance for any info!
Jeremy

shameless "bump!"
I would guess there would be copyright issues or some such :S

well you could try developing your own game..

I'd like to see settlers of catan on this platform too!

Me too, if someone is interested in doing the gameplay, maybe graphics, or whatever else. I would be happy to do the development.
Doesn't neccessarily have to be clone as such, it can have similar gameplay. Try playing something like Travian, it's similar but not exact.

It's a game I'd love to have on my phone . . . don't know it well enough to have a go at dev, but I'd be happy to alpha/beta/gamma test if someone gave it a crack . . .

there was a flash game i found a while ago - never got it working on my mogul though. Also I could help with graphics if a new game was designed

I'd love a SoC game for my Evo. Any new info on this?
Sent from my HTC Evo using Tapatalk + Swype

This would really be great. Id like a version where you could play with others on different phones via wifi/3g. It would be a lot of fun to play with friends and coworkers through out the day (or week as needed)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

mesasone said:
This would really be great. Id like a version where you could play with others on different phones via wifi/3g. It would be a lot of fun to play with friends and coworkers through out the day (or week as needed)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. This would be an awesome
Multi-player app especially if you could save and resume a game. You'd almost have to have one person host the game so the data is all housed on one SD card.
Other thoughts are the ability to change the rules before starting, built in chat and or push to talk functionality, bartering alerts, next turn alerts, review of score and previous actions, the list goes on.
If someone is serious about developing this then I am totally willing to help think it through and create graphics. Send me a PM.
Sent from my HTC Vogue FroYo using XDA App

Settlers of Catan Android game in the works
I've been having a dabble with android development and have been working on a Settlers of Catan game as it is such a great game and it's a good way to learn android dev.
I'm ready to admit that someone might beat me to it, whether by making the iphone version available to android or whatever, but still if anyone is interested in a) helping out on the project b) doing some testing or c) pimping the game, let me know! You can contact me on cettlersofsatan at gmail dot com.
It's currently in SVN online in a single user repository. But I would happily move it to Google Code or something if others were interested.

I'm as eager as everyone else to see this project pull through. And stone do NOT lose faith. It is always better to have an option then only one option for a game/app.
I have assembled a list of people who expressed interest in helping:
stoneskin - work in progress
niknah - dev
Willuknight - graphics
ii Candor ii - graphics/thinktank
DJGibbon - test
You guys should really get together especially with stone and get cracking! Heard some good ideas and plenty of offers to help. The XDA community NEEDS A SETTLERS!
Thanks guys!

I'd love to help too. I don't think can commit the time to help with development though. Real life is just too hectic lately. However, I'd love to help testing.
If the time opens up, I'm interested in helping with development.
As to graphics, just no skills to bring to the table. Although, I did have a thought last night on this subject. The game might be more playable with simpler graphics. Instead of trying to have an understandable picture of sheep/ore/... on the hexes, just use colors. Light green for wool/sheep, dark green or brown for lumber, goldenrod/yellow for wheat, dark grey for ore and dark red for brick.

Work in progress!
Gino, Latenk, thanks for the feedback. Here's the deal.
I agree, simple graphics to start with, I've uploaded a screenshot, but before anyone analyses it too much , let me state what I want from the project initially.
1) The basic game (i.e. no expansions) in full.
2) Multi-player (up to 4 initially) or single-player (with AI) on one phone.
3) Basic graphics, but a clean separation in implementation so that the graphics, special effects, zoom, board rotation, whatever the monkey-magic one wants, can be added ON TOP OF the rest of the app.
4) Game is free (shouldn't be any copyright issues right?) and would be great if it could get onto Android Market or equivalent.
5) Open source?
I hate graphics, hate the tweaking, fiddling, pixel-adjusting and so on, so I've knocked up the simplest GUI imaginable. I've slapped on a handful of buttons which as you can see, have rubbish little text labels - RD = Roll Dice (in one of the screenshots it's displaying the number rolled), BR/BS/BC are build road/settlement/city, MR = Move Robber, C=Cancel, D=Done, X=exit.
In these shots I'm not even playing a game, I'm in a test mode where I'm just free-building. My colour is white. So a hex-side is painted white for a road, the small circles are settlements, the large circle is a city. The large red circle is me selecting a vertices. As you can see, the current player (Bob) has no resources (free-building) but resources are laid out with shoddy little cards.
So the graphics are v. poor. But I'm not too concerned right about it right now.
Where have I got to?
I've got the basic 'model' in place. That is the game model that maintains hexes, vertices, hex-sides and their roads/settlements/cities.
I haven't even touched on AI, ports, trading.
I'm trying to build the app cleanly, so the views have no concrete knowledge of the game model, and any calls to it are interfaced out.
But this is my first Android app, so I'm learning from scratch, possibly comitting all sorts of Android crimes.
I'm a full-time .Net developer, so I'm kinda fitting this in around job/family and so on, so progress is slow.
Here are my thoughts. I'll aim to get this to a clean/stable state within the next week or so, then if others want to get involved in dev I'll create a Google Code project (or equivalent) and sort it out from there.
I'm currently building against 1.6 because I have an X10 mini. It would be great to support up to the latest API versions.
Ok, uploading the images now. Graphics ARE AWFUL but I'm focussing on the game at the moment.

By the way, if anyone knows what licensing/copyright issues there are with something like this please let me know. I've currently called the project 'Cettlers of Satan' 'cos that made me smile. If rights issues meant it can't go through market places then so be it, but would be great if someone could research this.

Haha, you know that is a basic layout but gets the job done! What you could do is have the game map be at least twice as large as say the resolution of a N1 screen. Enable finger scrolling and/or pinch to zoom (comlpex perhaps but a thought) and let people move around the game map as needed. That'd allow for better graphics, larger maps, and a larger feel to the game. The HUD could possibly go up either side of the game map. In fact I'd say make landscape mode MANDATORY so you have the extra real estate.
Check this out: http://games.asobrain.com/
That is what I envision this game like. That game is everything this game COULD be and he even found ways around copyright. Check that game out, play a round or two and it will give you plenty to think about/use as inspiration. Obviously no need to copy, but you can use it for ideas.
Lastly, the previous statement someone made about notifications is pure gold. Allow people to play their turns then pass to the next with a notification appearing. Great ideas.

I've been there before, but a while ago and he's closed all unactive accounts and stopped registration unfortunately.
If you are a member maybe you could upload a couple of screenshots or explain to me how the GUI works in more detail.
I love the idea of finger scrolling/pinch/zoom etc. I'm gonna give some of that a go tomorrow. But like I say, what I'm initially trying to achieve is
GUI
Model
in a clean separation. So any visual representation would be possible. I'll try and knock out some basic zoom/finger scroll effects just to convince myself that my rudimentary framework will hold together.
Thanks for the quick feedback mate.

This shows the basic layout, how it all works, the HUD and such. Again this would have to be adjusted for the handheld, but in general it looks and works great!
In the top left is a pane for the players in the game. It shows Player Name, Player Color, a count of the cards in the players hand, any held and/or played D cards. This pane can be hidden if the player wishes.
The pane on the bottom left shows all things the plyer can buy and what it takes for the player to buy them. (in the android version I imagine this being a tab you can bring up to buy/see what you need and have.
Below that pane is Played Cards, and Table cards which speak for themselves.
Of course along the bottom you see your hand.
On the bottom right you have 3 buttons, claim victory, trade, and end turn.
And of course you see the dice.
Top right is the chat box.
All of this again is simply for inspiration and not for copying. This gives you a great idea of a fleshed out game and how it could look on a handset.
This is a trade window.
Two things of note here. First notice the top left. WHen a player gets cards on a roll, they show up face up for a brief moment. GREAT idea if possible to implement something similar.
Secondly, bottom right is what appears to be a chart. That shows how many times a number has been rolled. This is more advanced than what we'd need, but an interesting idea and prob easy to implement.
Now on this one a couple things to point out. Look at how they do cities and roads. Similar to what you've suggested. I was thinking maybe circles with symbols on the top (kind of like tokens or markers). Of course maybe more intricate and detailed models could be added later.
Also, that speech bubble that popped up shows where the person played their road or city or settlement. This is ESSENTIAL in some form or another on this game. Plan to include SOMETHING like it.
And lastly, this picture shows what it looks like when a person trades succesfully. Again not necessary but certainly handy.
I must repeat again that I DO NOT CONDONE OUTRIGHT PLAGIARISM with anything Asobrain has done. This is purely for inspiration and research. This should give you PLENTY of ideas!
I've got tons!

This is a beautiful start. Couple thoughts.
- The desert color isn't clearly distinct from wheat.
- The name will have to be something other than "Settlers of Catan". I'd avoid the current name for two reasons. One, a lot of us will take some degree of exception to the Satan reference. Two, it's not really different enough to dodge trademark concerns.
- I despise needing to scroll around in a game to see everything. This is my main complaint with "Pirates & Traders".
- On such a small screen, keep the UI as simple as possible. AsoBrain is wonderful. But, it is designed for a largish screen. (BTW, I hate that he killed old accounts when closing registration. I was away for just about the exact period to get locked-out).
- As we proceed, I'd like to plan for a multi-device/network play. This game would be awesome in a peer-to-peer, networked model.
Thanks for getting this started.
P.S. I *REALLY* like how you did the board. The buttons: meh. The board: Wow!

GinoAMelone said:
This is a beautiful start. Couple thoughts.
- The desert color isn't clearly distinct from wheat.
- The name will have to be something other than "Settlers of Catan". I'd avoid the current name for two reasons. One, a lot of us will take some degree of exception to the Satan reference. Two, it's not really different enough to dodge trademark concerns.
- I despise needing to scroll around in a game to see everything. This is my main complaint with "Pirates & Traders".
- On such a small screen, keep the UI as simple as possible. AsoBrain is wonderful. But, it is designed for a largish screen. (BTW, I hate that he killed old accounts when closing registration. I was away for just about the exact period to get locked-out).
- As we proceed, I'd like to plan for a multi-device/network play. This game would be awesome in a peer-to-peer, networked model.
Thanks for getting this started.
P.S. I *REALLY* like how you did the board. The buttons: meh. The board: Wow!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Agreed, the desert should be a tan, and wheat clearly a gold.
2. Also agree. It cannot even closely resemble Settlers. We can worry about the name when we have a game worth naming (I was thinking something like Travista, or something resembling travelers).
3. That is why it'd also be prudent to include a pinch to zoom or zoom controls. Let the player get in close if they wish, or let them sit way back and view it all from a distance.
4. Agreed. Simple yet elegant/complex in its design is what I'd like to see. Again give the player the option of getting as complicated as they wish. This can be easily accomplished with tabs that the player can pull out as needed. The only thing that should remain on the screen is the players hand, and a few essential buttons. Look at a game called PocketEmpires, use that idea for assembling tabs. I do feel that certain tabs should be entirely devoted to one type of action (like a building tab).
5. Once you have a basic game framework laid, you can work on making it work across the board and with all devices. The dev should focus on getting it to work native first, then move onward. As for a p2p network GREAT IDEA! If there is a way we can link this either by device or via a server that'd be the best way. Allow players to run through an entire game, or let players take their turns and move on to another player (IE pass it back and forth via notifications, similar to how Scrabble works on the iPhone).
I only wish I knew any code/dev tools to help with. All these ideas and nothing to do about it!

Football Manager 2012 handheld for Android

For those who like the Football Manager series for the PC, the Android version has recently arrived!
http://www.sigames.com/news/14114/Football+Manager+Handheld+makes+Android+debut
http://www.sigames.com/news/14115/Football+Manager+Handheld+for+Android+out+now
I bought it earlier and I must say...very impressive, however...it only has a lower resolution and doesn't make full use of the 1200x860 resultion for the Galaxy Note but that is being considered by Sports Interactive!

the lower res is keeping me from buying it, for now.

and its rubbish

I didnt play it yet but the resolution is just crap!!!
Sent from my N-7000 using hands...

thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing with us, but the video isnt about FH 2012...

I agree but for $9 I expect a quality product that at LEAST takes advantage of the entire screen.... Not some half assed compatibility
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

mauaus said:
I agree but for $9 I expect a quality product that at LEAST takes advantage of the entire screen.... Not some half assed compatibility
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats your right - I've done my best to ensure the game works on as many devices as possible, now the game is out we're looking to provide additional skins for devices during updates to the game.
I apologise that we couldn't get these ready for release, but to be honest we're still trying to assess which of the myriad of different devices/resolutions are the most important to support at present (I looked at automatically scaling the display to fill the screen but on a text heavy game it ended up rendering in a blurry manner and I felt it better to go with crisp text in a bordered window than give people headaches).

Marc Vaughan said:
Thats your right - I've done my best to ensure the game works on as many devices as possible, now the game is out we're looking to provide additional skins for devices during updates to the game.
I apologise that we couldn't get these ready for release, but to be honest we're still trying to assess which of the myriad of different devices/resolutions are the most important to support at present (I looked at automatically scaling the display to fill the screen but on a text heavy game it ended up rendering in a blurry manner and I felt it better to go with crisp text in a bordered window than give people headaches).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really didn't mean to come off as an ass haha I hope you will support the note, it sold pretty well and has a solid following.. Lots of people mentioning the note in the si boards and in Google play reviews.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

mauaus said:
I really didn't mean to come off as an ass haha I hope you will support the note, it sold pretty well and has a solid following.. Lots of people mentioning the note in the si boards and in Google play reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Note does appear to be popular and I hope that we will be able to support a HD skin for it in the near(ish) future - we're doing the utmost we can to support the game to the best of our ability and will be rolling out updates for the game as promptly as possible.
In case its of interest to people this is the current 'state of the update'' taken from the SI Games bug forum:
#3.4a - First Android Update
Improve alignment of text on dialog box (HD Skin)
Add warning if app is run on a device with inadequate resolution
Welsh Manager Performance Award Fix
Port Vale Point deduction
Fix rare issue in European comps if a minor club wins major competition
Fix for Vans Trophy issue if a conference club qualifies for Europe
Minor text fixes (grammar and translations)
Improve the manner in which players react to bankruptcy
Added apostrophe to keyboard
Fix crash if you slide out physical keyboard while scout search is happening
Improve accuracy of required storage space calculation
Fix very rare corruption of player history in long term saves
Hardware Back button now does 'back' in the game when applicable
(Please note we won't indicate any items on here until they're completed - this included new skins, so the fact that something isn't present doesn't mean it won't be done - just that its not completed at present)

I'm suprised you didn't develop for a tablet target screen and scale down. Rather than aim for the small screen and scale up. Alas though it doesnt quite fill the screen I have many other niggles with the game that irritate me a lot more than the res!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

davexeno said:
I'm suprised you didn't develop for a tablet target screen and scale down. Rather than aim for the small screen and scale up. Alas though it doesnt quite fill the screen I have many other niggles with the game that irritate me a lot more than the res!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at that approach but found that the different aspect ratios between the various devices available made it untenable - simply put as you scaled down the text became blurry and unacceptable for reading imho.
As such the safest approach was to implement skins for various resolutions and use them, the current HD skin works on all devices - but isn't optimal for the larger tablets at present.
If you have other niggles then please by all means post away - any constructive feedback you can give will help me continue to improve the game (I like people actively complaining about my products so long as they do so in a constructive manner ...people just saying 'its great' don't help it improve as much as someone explaining what I might do to improve it).

Marc Vaughan said:
I like people actively complaining about my products
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that must have come in handy over the years!
Very impressed with the level of support as always, Marc.
I will buy this but I might wait until there's a Note skin.
-
A dream piece of functionality for a handheld FM game would be drawn 'playbooks' which would be perfect with the Note's pen input - tap two points to indicate a pass, draw a line to indicate a move and scribble to tell Pav to "just f-ing run around a bit" - that sort of thing.

JolyonS said:
A dream piece of functionality for a handheld FM game would be drawn 'playbooks' which would be perfect with the Note's pen input - tap two points to indicate a pass, draw a line to indicate a move and scribble to tell Pav to "just f-ing run around a bit" - that sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I LOVE that sort of concept - but its a long term thing I'm afraid, it takes time to move an application forward, especially with a small team (the FMH team across all three platforms (Android, iOS and PSP) consists of me and Richard Jones as the only developers) ... I've lots of plans in this direction don't worry (along with various sketches of how I want the HD skin to eventually look.
Please bear with me - its a long journey to where we're heading, but I hope you enjoy the ride

Marc, between the SI forums and here (probably others too) I'm surprised you find any time for development. Appreciate the time taken to improve the game.
I'd like to have the option of telling players what to do at set pieces, both attacking and defending; 'cover the far post', 'pressure the keeper', that sort of thing. Also the option to give the team a right b0llocking at half time would be good.
Really enjoying playing FM again though, even with the black borders. Nothing else is getting a look in, game-wise, at the moment.

I shall update with my niggles when I get more chance to fully 'absorb' myself into the game. Little things like easily comparing player stats is one, but as I'm a bit of a noob to this game it could well be there's an option I've missed!

raines43 said:
Marc, between the SI forums and here (probably others too) I'm surprised you find any time for development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not a big believer in sitting around idle while I wait for things, as a developer there are frequently times in the day when you're waiting for a build to be done or a test to finish ... when thats the case I often nip online and try and make a post or two.
Appreciate the time taken to improve the game.
I'd like to have the option of telling players what to do at set pieces, both attacking and defending; 'cover the far post', 'pressure the keeper', that sort of thing. Also the option to give the team a right b0llocking at half time would be good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I'll be expanding the game feature set in the future HOWEVER its vital imho that I keep the game flow nice and fast and easy to pick up and use, its for this reason I'm not rushing to put such options into the game... this isn't to say I won't do it, but I want to ensure its done right and the speed and feel of FMH remains intact when I do so (ie. watch this space, but its probably not something I'll do quickly as part of an update).
Really enjoying playing FM again though, even with the black borders. Nothing else is getting a look in, game-wise, at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool - glad you're enjoying the game
---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 PM ----------
davexeno said:
I shall update with my niggles when I get more chance to fully 'absorb' myself into the game. Little things like easily comparing player stats is one, but as I'm a bit of a noob to this game it could well be there's an option I've missed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're correct that there isn't currently a 'compare' option in the game - its something I want to add in, but its the actual 'UI' approach to it which I haven't got down 'pat' yet .... once I come up with a system I think is intuitive and easy to use I'll definitely look to add that in.

Update is out for the game and it now runs at full screen (it's actually 1280x720 but you can't tell it isn't full screen). Haven't checked out everything else that the update does but what I've noticed so far: The ball animation is jerkier on the game highlights, as are some player movements. Also one of my players hit a shot over the goal and onto the roof behind but it gave it as a goal. That hadn't happened in the 5 seasons I've played before the upgrade. Still, happier having the full screen mode than not and still loving the game.

Another bizarre 'goal', my player kicked the ball out over the half way line (off the bottom of the screen) and it was given as a goal.
Have to ask why has the exit game button been removed from the main menu screen? To leave the game I now have to press the home button and then close FM2012 in the task manager. A bit clunky.

raines43 said:
Another bizarre 'goal', my player kicked the ball out over the half way line (off the bottom of the screen) and it was given as a goal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check into this.
Have to ask why has the exit game button been removed from the main menu screen? To leave the game I now have to press the home button and then close FM2012 in the task manager. A bit clunky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 'exit' button had to be removed I'm afraid as a very small minority of devices (5 reports) had problems with it working - the effect of these problems was severe for the individuals concerned (ie. crashed the devices or caused issues with the SD Card) and so I felt it was better to remove it as I couldn't track down the reason it was occurring for them.
I am however planning on including an 'invisible' exit option in the next update - ie. clicking the 'back' button on the game entry page will then bring up a 'are you sure you want to quit the app' option - hopefully that'll be the best of all worlds for everyone (he says optimistically ).

Thanks Marc, I've played quite a few more matches and nothing else weird has happened since the halfway line 'goal'. Unless you count Barnsley being 3rd in the Premier League as weird.

[APP][4.0+][Free] The Typist: Quick Typing Tests

Hi guys,
Just released my app called The Typist: Quick Typing Tests! It's fairly straightforward, it measures how fast you can type on a phone or tablet and can chart your typing speed results over time. Also supports Google Play leaderboards. I couldn't find a good typing test app so I ended up just making my own.
Features:
Test your typing speed with different speed tests based on popular books
1, 2, and 3 minute tests for the ultimate in typing test flexibility
Detailed results page: see your words per minute score, total number of errors, and most frequently mistyped letters
Track your progress with a chart of your past typing test results
Compete against your friends with a local high score list and Google Play Game Services leaderboards support
Compatible with different keyboard layouts - try them out with The Typist and see which ones actually help you type faster
Works well on both phones and tablets
Free updates and support for life
Straightforward permissions: The Typist requires internet, network state, and Google Play billing to serve ads and the ability to purchase the ad-free version. We don't need access to your contacts, location, or your Facebook account! (but if you want to upload your score, you will need to use your Google Plus account)
Want to support The Typist's development? Please rate it and/or unlock the full version of The Typist (removes ads) within the app. Thank you!
Available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thetypist.typingtests
Compatible with 4.0+/ICS and above. Free/ad-supported and in-app billing for the paid version (removes ads).
Please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Nice little app, needs some ironing out to do
Hey bloggert,
Frist of all, it's a sweet app and since there seems to be a famine of good typing test app on touch screen devices, it's a really good one.
I came upon this thread because I was going to embark on the same road to develop myself a typing speed tester.
The UI of your app is "A" grade and I just loved it.
That said, there are also a few shortcomings of your app. You seem to have designed a typing speed analyser for a full machine at it's core, just like the others. Your app tries to keep track of each character the user types, and that actually defeats the purpose of the app on a touch screen device. Also your app seems to disable the predictive auto-completion of many of the keyboards which actually is the biggest selling point of such ones like "swype", afterall typing in a touch screen device is completely different from the keyboard, so why apply the same methodologies?
What I think the app must do?
1. Let the user type-in a whole text and provied a button that says "submit" and the app should just time it all. This is essentially to let the user correct all the words which went wrong with the auto-correct and auto-complete and all other shinanigins. Maybe your app can also keep track of the time taken by the user to enter the last word and hit the submit button, may be help user to clock the time it takes to fix the stupideties( I am not sure though if this is such a great idea) and provide feedback of somekind on the same.
2. Once the user has submitted the text, now your app does what it already does, check for the characters, are all good, what was the accuracy (most probably it would be hundred, if the user is not dumb), and now you can give the speed.
How will this help?
I think this will help user do justice on the various keyboards out there who rely on various methodologies to input text and probably help the creators of various kinds of input methods to judge the usefulness of there methods when speed is the question.
Am I stupid?
Maybe....:silly:
Hope to hear your comments on it all.
flide

Not stupid at all. This is good stuff and I appreciate the feedback.
You are correct in that The Typist tracks every character. However, the app actually only cares about certain characters (namely spaces, since these determine where words start and end, and I need these to know where to highlight the current word and the last incorrect word). So it's okay if a keyboard uses auto-completion (or any other feature that inserts words), as long as it or the user inserts a space to indicate that the word has ended.
With that said, I'm not actually sure why auto-completion doesn't work. It's definitely not disabled on purpose, and I never noticed this before. I've tried a number of keyboards and typing in partial words and then selecting it from a list above the keyboard works fine, as well as swyping methods, but auto-correct never seems to kick in. I'm going to look into this later today but it should be fixable.
As for the going back and correcting words - I'm a little hesitant about this, and the app does prevent the user from going back or selecting old text (beyond using backspace) on purpose, mostly because in testing the potential to mess up the word tracking and cause errors was too great. In the end I figured that possibility of things screwing up was more important than the need to go back and change a word, and so the cursor selection block was put into place. I don't know if this is the right decision, as I still don't have enough feedback really to really judge. This is why I didn't originally go with the option 1 suggestion.
For option 2, The Typist actually does do this already - the real error checking is done after the test has completed (checking all of the words constantly during the test is pretty time-consuming, and so the app only shows you the last mistyped word) as well as the speed counts.
flide said:
Hey bloggert,
Frist of all, it's a sweet app and since there seems to be a famine of good typing test app on touch screen devices, it's a really good one.
I came upon this thread because I was going to embark on the same road to develop myself a typing speed tester.
The UI of your app is "A" grade and I just loved it.
That said, there are also a few shortcomings of your app. You seem to have designed a typing speed analyser for a full machine at it's core, just like the others. Your app tries to keep track of each character the user types, and that actually defeats the purpose of the app on a touch screen device. Also your app seems to disable the predictive auto-completion of many of the keyboards which actually is the biggest selling point of such ones like "swype", afterall typing in a touch screen device is completely different from the keyboard, so why apply the same methodologies?
What I think the app must do?
1. Let the user type-in a whole text and provied a button that says "submit" and the app should just time it all. This is essentially to let the user correct all the words which went wrong with the auto-correct and auto-complete and all other shinanigins. Maybe your app can also keep track of the time taken by the user to enter the last word and hit the submit button, may be help user to clock the time it takes to fix the stupideties( I am not sure though if this is such a great idea) and provide feedback of somekind on the same.
2. Once the user has submitted the text, now your app does what it already does, check for the characters, are all good, what was the accuracy (most probably it would be hundred, if the user is not dumb), and now you can give the speed.
How will this help?
I think this will help user do justice on the various keyboards out there who rely on various methodologies to input text and probably help the creators of various kinds of input methods to judge the usefulness of there methods when speed is the question.
Am I stupid?
Maybe....:silly:
Hope to hear your comments on it all.
flide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

More thoughts
well thinking about it again, I will say that the idea of allowing the user to correct all the text after it's done is... well not so brilliant, and I will let it go at that.
And about the predictive text feature, for my keyboard the top bar which is suppose to show the possible pridicted words is not visible, so I am not able to use them... don't know if that is a problem with your app or it is a problem with my keyboard (8pen) because it does not show up also when i am trying to use VIM. May be you can check on that if something in particular triggers that kind of behaviour.
Also, you should look up for klavaro. It has 3 criterions for typing : Accuracy, velocity and fluideness, and to tell you the truth I like the concept very much, specially fluidity. Here's the link : "klavaro[dot]sourceforge[dot]net[slash]en[slash]manual-en[dot]pdf"
Will be appriciated if you can think of something to accomodate the fluidity angle, might be difficult but let's try. If something comes to my mind compatible with the touch input, I will share.
Let me know your thoughts.
flide
---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 PM ----------
I more request.
Can you include a few texts in plain english, I mean all small case, minimal punctuation, no symbols or numbers... something message like. just to test how good you can hold for every day tasks.
Just a thought.
flide

Ergonomics
One more quick idea.
It's a pain to keep looking at three different places while typing using most keyboards (not 8pen though ), namely :
1. What is supposed to be typed
2. The Keyboard
3. What am I typing
I think the 3rd point can be eliminated if app is somewhat modified. Rather than a text box to enter the displayed text, the user can actually override the displayed text... let me try and explain a bit more clearly.
The text, that needs to be typed, is initially displayed in BLACK. Now, rather than highlighting the next word to be typed, the already typed characters should be in BLUE, and all the wrong ones in RED. This mechanism essentially solves the 3rd problem, the user has just 2 places on the screen to strain his/her/it's neck, there is an inherent highlighting as to what needs to be typed (the first BLACK character), what has been typed correctly previously, in BLUE, and what was typed wrong, in RED.
THINK ERGONOMICS!! :cyclops:

Thanks for the updates
Since you never replied again, I thought you forgot all about your app... But you were hard at work and YES, now my predictive options are visible again. :victory:
+1 for the update and you should not bother to appologise for adding a ad in the app. It's your hard work and you have the right to earn over it.
flide

Hi, I was wondering how about like Antutu you could add a leader board to this which mentioned a username(like it already does) and his device and the scores.
I think it'll make the app much more popular and probably turn it into a benchmarking app for one handed usability of Android cell phones. While individuals will battle it out for the top spot, the addition of their device in the table will show which device feels best for typing.
TLDR; Add a 4 column leaderboard
Position -> Name -> Device -> Score

its multilanguage?

I thought the auto complete was disabled on purpose because then it would not be accurate on how we are typing, because technically we would be letting the device type for us. I rather like the fact we have to actually type every letter ourselves, because then I think its more challenging and more honest. So I would actually be bummed if you did allow auto correct or auto complete to work in this app.
I found nothing wrong with it aside from the fact you have to manually allow your score to be added to the leader board. The first time I did it, I got my best score since trying it a few more times but cannot add it to the leader board because I did not press the "add to leader board" on the top left, I had not even noticed it, until the 2nd go around.

Possible addition
KyleSforza said:
TLDR; Add a 4 column leaderboard
Position -> Name -> Device -> Score
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the leaderboard should also have the "input method" column stating the keyboard used for the test.

BUG Found!!
Hi bloggert,
I think the a bug/error has been introduced with the update 1.2. I have attached a screen shot for reference.
As you explained in one of your post that "spaces" are monitored to highlight the current word.
You are correct in that The Typist tracks every character. However, the app actually only cares about certain characters (namely spaces, since these determine where words start and end, and I need these to know where to highlight the current word and the last incorrect word). So it's okay if a keyboard uses auto-completion (or any other feature that inserts words), as long as it or the user inserts a space to indicate that the word has ended.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the input method I am using, there are 3 predictive options available to type when I am not in the middle of typing a word namely : , . ?
After I type a word a space is automatically inserted as soon as my finger up, but if i select any one of these then that automatic space is removed the character is inserted and space is set again in the wait of the next word.
What your app seems to be doing is, whenever i utilize any of the three the current word shifts one step ahead and there is a mismatch between the "actual" correct word and the one being highlighted in BLUE.
Please look into the issue. It's very distracting.
flide

Hey!
This is a cool app; I've been missing a typing test for some time. Some additional feature requests:
Dark theme (for amoled users)
Practice mode: an additional untimed mode where we can import our own texts
The latter, in particular, could be very nice in training for the usual tests!
Thanks again for the app!

Hi,
I'm using a Samsung tablet with a floating thumb keyboard.
The Text does not recognise that and still says in the middle of the screen, behind the keyboard. (See added Screenshot)
Also would it be possible to highlight the wrong words red in the existing text and not in the written text?
IMHO that would be better....

Your app got hacked

A good app

[APP][4.0+] Flym Fork RSS Reader

RSS reader offline fulltext articles with images, optimized for traffic economy
This is a separate branch of the Flym RSS reader application
Main functions:
- RSS feeds of articles
- search for by keyword when adding feed
- download offline full-text versions of articles with images
- import / export of the channel list from OPML
- filter articles by keywords or regular expressions
- full screen reading mode
From the modified:
- loading articles from site without rss (all site links will be loaded as articles)
- keyword to mark articles as favourite when loading new ones (with notification)
- collapsing (folding) the groups of feeds
- swype article left|right to mark read|favourite
- the ability to hide read articles per channel
- bold type of reading articles
- view shared link from other app (e.x. browser) in app mobilized
- limit the number of downloadable images of the article
- the ability to download individual images of the article
- a detailed description of the process of downloading articles to understand what the application is doing at the moment
- the counter of the consumed traffic
- setting up automatic marking of articles as read while scrolling the list
- setting the display of the text of articles in the article list (these two items are useful for reading forums)
- tap area to go to the next / previous page while reading the article
- quick transition to full screen mode and back, as well as showing / hiding the action bar
- much more ...
apk View attachment ru.yanus171.feedexfork_0.7.9_107.apk
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.yanus171.feedexfork
Github: https://github.com/yanus171/Flym\
This app does NOT synchronize with online news feed readers (i.e. Feedly)
This application is free, without ads, open source
Feedback and suggestions are welcome

Amazing! The best of its kind!
Flym Fork is everything I wanted a RSS reader to be. It's interface is very similar to Flym which I was already using when I discovered Flym Fork. I prefer Flym Fork because it is updated regularly (basic Flym hasn't been updated since march 2017).
I can easily filter RSS feeds with keywords. I can customize the RSS lists like I've never been able to before (I can see a picture preview, the title AND a preview of the content).
I'll subscribe to this thread with hopes that this app will grow with even more options!
---------- Post added at 12:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------
Hey there, I noticed a strange issue but I'm pretty sure I am doing something wrong. It would be nice if someone can explain what is my issue.
I'll show it with a simple example :
https://www.kijiji.ca/rss-srp-meuble-de-jardin/saint-hyacinthe/jardin-de-ville/k0c686l1700151r20.0
It returned nothing within Flym Fork BUT I can see one entry from it's original http URL :
https://www.kijiji.ca/b-meuble-de-jardin/saint-hyacinthe/jardin-de-ville/k0c686l1700151r20.0
Today, I deleted the feed and entered it again. Now it shows the entry.
I wonder if a "restart" feature would be useful for this sort of scenario. I see many advantages for it :
if I accidentaly deleted entries and I wanted them back, I could hit the restart button on this specific feed and everything would be trashed and loaded back again. Right?
Talking about deleted entries, maybe a trash bin with a custom cache time (like 24 hours) would be useful?
I'm just throwing ideas in. If there is already an option that allows to do what I want, I would be glad to hear how to do it.
Thank you!

Hello !
A RSS-reader is one of the main - and the key apps I use on a daily basis. What I mean by "the key app" is that I highly value being up-to-date with all of things I find interesting and important.
Over the years I've been using several RSS-clients. At some point I've met one particular app which seemed promising - but over the time ads were added and using the app wasn't convenient any more. To make matters worse splash-screen has been introduced - which also slowed the app (in the long run I find very important to be able just to instantly open an app).
So I needed the research again - to find another RSS-reader which could be right for Me. During the research one thing I found strange: several apps looked pretty similar to the one I've described before. Soon I've discovered Flym and its various forks, i.a. FlymFork by Yanus171. I picked a few which seemed most promising and contacted their developers (including the original app), equipped with some insights and key-requests which I've found crucial (like - for example - being able to enlarge text-size or switching articles by volume buttons). Only one person answered - that way I've discovered an app which I use to this day. Moreover, the app is more and more convincing and appealing - because new features are introduced, which also make a big difference in terms of both usability and user-experience as such. This is also why I am interested in this app's development: I'd love to see it growing, being more user-friendly (especially regarding average users, which requires a proper attitude) and a little bit more elegant and flexible. All of that is My dream which I'm brave to have because of how promising the app is now - and its Developer seems to be open-minded, generally responsive to various requests, ideas and loose thoughts.
What I find most useful so far:
User-friendly text size:
You can enlarge both article's - and articles list' text size - separately (which is important). It is crucial for Me because of limited vision/eyesight, I highly need big text and only in FlymFork I've found sufficient level of text size in articles and articles' lists. I guess there are not many users with limited eyesight out there - but that "trivial" tiny thing like enlarging text-size to pretty big may be crucial and final factor allowing some users to just using the app, let alone using it conveniently.
Convenient reading:
switching articles by volume buttons, "tap areas" and remembering the position of reading per article. All those features are fundamental in terms of usability, how easily and fluently You can use the app. I use volume buttons to switch next/prev articles - and combine it with tapping on top or bottom of the screen to scroll it up/downward. This way You can browse/read articles very easily and quickly - especially given that displayed articles are automatically marked as read. I find especially amazing that by tapping the top or bottom area - it scrolls exactly the whole content of the single screen - no matter where I've scrolled it before. Besides it's very convenient to have that ability to scroll the text exactly one page down/up - in case if You use volume buttons not to scroll, but to switch articles. On top of that FlymFork remembers where You've stopped reading all the articles - which is also very helpful.
Killer feature: Important Articles (so far it is known as a filter "mark as starred"). I subscribe several RSS channels and browse them when I have some "spare time" between other - main activities I'm highly into. As I've mentioned before, it's important for Me to be up-to-date with all I find interesting (several matters represented by favorite RSS channels). As far as subscribed channels are concerned, among these You may find information which You consider high-priority (maybe it requires an urgent action/checking out/etc.). One example could be posts on time-limited offers: if You check RSS news only from time to time (like Me, during "spare-time-windows" ) - it's easy to miss any urgent info. But if You'd be notified right after that kind of high-priority info shows up - it could be a game-changer. In other words: regardless of how often You are able to check the (RSS) news - You no longer miss anything important.
Read It Later (so far it is called "starred items"). My approach to RSS is that sometimes I have the time to read something - or just to quickly browse articles to pick up potentially interesting ones to read later. A wonderful thing is that I can put interesting articles "on the buck burner" with the certainty that they won't dissapear - regardless of time span I chose in the app's settings. This is another feature I find crucial in terms of how much this app is really helpful and useful in everyday life, fitting in various lifestyles (more or less time to read).
Kind requests - what I think would be a good idea to implement and make the app growing:
I. Nomenclature - be more user-friendly.
I think there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of how the app communicates with users - especially keeping in mind average users who just want to be up-to-date with all they like/they are interested in. No need to be a computer geek, power user, etc. I'm sure there are many users who don't know what RSS is - but would be definitely interested in being in touch with all which is important to them (via RSS channels). It would be sufficient to supply an app which will communicate with them using non-technical language, this way being more comprehensive, avoiding various potential confusions derived out of "non-technicality". I think this is a good idea to care about average people - not only users with the knowledge, however basic or advanced. I'd like to see the app which I could use without knowing all the technical details - FlymFork would be excellent being that way - and in the same time maintaining more "geeky" features somewhere "under the hood" (like - for example - handling websites with no RSS feed!). As a result both user-bases would be content: power users with their needs - and average users with almost no technical knowledge and nomenclature in mind.
Moreover, by implementing various "touch-ups" within the nomenclature itself the app would become more human = more friendly. And this would be one of key-factor to choose FlymFork instead of any other app.
I would suggests several touch-ups:
Rename "Favorites" as "Read It Later".
I think it would be definitely more precise and understandable than "favorite". Imagine You are an average - non-technical user. Then imagine You see "Read It Later" option in the app: it's very easy to know what that feature is for. But why I (or an average user) could "mark something as favorite"...? I think it would be much more convincing to put it as "Read It Later".
"Articles" instead of "entries" or "posts".
This one is a request of similar mold as previous one. Although there are many users (programmers? ) who are accustomed to name things as "entries"/"items" - there are even more users for whose it would be much more friendly to name things simply as "articles": more human, more understandable, without need to think "Do I really know for sure what does 'the entry' mean?". So I highly suggest to change "entries" into "articles" app-wide, everywhere where a word "entry" (or "entries") is used - to change it into "article/articles". For example, instead of notification message "XX new entries" I would suggest "XX new articles". Moreover, for FlymFork to be more friendly I would love to see it put as "You have XX new articles to browse." . It would be so exciting to use an app which is so friendly - on a daily basis ! Small change, but big impact - I'm sure the angel (not the devil) is in the details .
"Updating (which could take some time), please wait..." instead of "updating" - and "You have XX new articles to browse." instead of "XX new entries".
While updating, FlymFork displays two notifications: one is displayed only temporarily and contained originally only the time of the update - the other informs how many new articles has arrived. Since the temporary one is often displayed even a few minutes - it could be a little bit confusing. Fortunately now it has been changed into "updating" - now I know what is happening and why I'm still seeing this notification on the bar. To make it accordingly more friendly (as I've pointed out earlier) I would suggest to change sole "updating" into "Updating (which could take some time), please wait...". This way there is no place for any confusion or uncertainty on what is happening - moreover, users are now prepared that updating can take some time, and it's not complete yet (and this is important information). When updating is complete, FlymFork displays a notification "XX new entries" - I would suggest to change it into "You have XX new articles to browse." - again, to make it more human/more friendly/more understandable. I think many users would appreciate it.
"Important Articles" instead of "Mark(ed) as starred".
I refer to the 'Important Articles' concept I've mentioned before. Many people would benefit from this feature if it would be clear what is it for. I think what would help is to rename it from "Mark as starred" (in the filter configuration) / "Marked as starred" (in the notification) - to "Notify on Important Articles" (in the filter config.) and "New Important Article" (as notification).
"Full articles instead of excerpts" instead of "retrieve full text" - again: more understandable for average users.
If I will notice another instances where we could have the app communicating with the user in a more friendly way - I'll let You know, but those above are essential because they are most often seen by users while using the app.
II. Multiple fonts.
I think the more flexible an app is - the wider user-base it can reach (because it can meet more individual tastes). Ability to change the article font (as well as the font of articles' list - it may be one setting for all) could make more users smile . For example, I would especially recommend the font "Lato Light" for it resembles widely known "Roboto Light" propagated by Google, but in My opinion is more "fluid" and elegant - or less "edgy", to put it differently. Wherever I can, I use Lato Light - it could be great to have it here ! More information on Lato font You can find here (I recommend to read the 'about' section for those who are interested in typography - You will find interesting information there!): fonts.google.com/specimen/Lato.
III. Progress bar.
With limited sight I could barely notice its existence - but it looks like great idea, to have that subtle progress bar accompanying reading and indicating how much we are engrossed in the content . I think this bar would be, however, a little bit visible - and still subtle (I'd love to be able to set My own color to it!). Now the hour displayed next to it is so tiny... The progress bar being so small has no use for Me - but it does would be useful if a little bit bigger and placed on the background (of the color according to app's theme). BTW, not everybody is interested in being always informed what time is it - so it would be definitely great to be able to turn off displaying the time alongside progress bar somewhere in the options.
IV. FTP synchronization.
Although this is not crucial - I think it would be something making FlymFork considerably standing out, especially if You consider that FlymFork "does NOT synchronize with online news feed readers (i.e. Feedly)". I think it would be much better to be able to synchronize several things over the FTP. I saw that feature in Anki - an Android app to memorizing. On one side it has its own cloud with the synchronization service - but on the other it offers its users an ability to synchronize via their own FTP server (!). I find this feature amazing and - although I'm not a developer - I guess it would be done: to implement synchronization via user-defined FTP server. It should synchronize everything needed for fluent, transparent usage of FlymFork on multiple devices. An ideal effect should be not to feel that anything changed when You grab another device. So we need synchronization:
[*]List of subscribed RSS feeds/channels.
Status of reading (which articles are read, which not yet - and which are marked as starred/Read It Later - plus notification on Important Articles).
Position of reading per article.
Last viewed article (if enabled in settings).
Also FlymFork should notify if any problems with accesing an FTP server occurs - as well as on successful synchronization. Besides, it would be good to be able to choose the synchronization's interval somewhere in settings.
I'm not sure if would it be possible but maybe You could add a Google Drive as another place to synchronize?
V. Localization.
Although I'm all right with using the app communicating in English - I know there are many users who don't know the language, using their own native one. In My case it is Polish - and I would be interested in translating the app into Polish in order for FlymFork to communicate in this language when Polish Android instance is detected. What do You think about it?
Bugs:
Multiple "External link" items on the sidebar.
Using the app over the time there are many "External link" items on the bar - which contain an error message ("Error: attempt to invoke...") and seem to be useless. If I suppose correctly that they are not necessary - it would be definitely great to hide them in order to the sidebar not being littered.
"Setting up automatic marking of articles as read while scrolling the list".
I can't find or observe this option in action - where is exactly located? Is it possible to turn it on/off? If no, would it be (I think it would be a good idea)?
I wanted to cover all topics but I think it would be better to publish it now and add any further remarks at some later point - this way You could make FlymFork better earlier . So I hope You find the ideas described above useful.
Kind regards,
Thomas Leigh

First of all thank you for app reviews. They will infulence the app development.
volt26 said:
I wonder if a "restart" feature would be useful for this sort of scenario. I see many advantages for it :
if I accidentaly deleted entries and I wanted them back, I could hit the restart button on this specific feed and everything would be trashed and loaded back again. Right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After you have refreshed the feed the last update time is remembered, and the subsequent refresh will only load the articles after that date|time. There is a Delete all option in artcile list menu which also resets the last feed date time. After that operation, subsequent refresh will load all articles that exist in the feed. But there may be loaded articles in FlymFork, which do not exist in feeds (feed contains only last several articles). Such artciles would NOT be loaded after Delete all operation

TJMulder said:
"Setting up automatic marking of articles as read while scrolling the list"
I can't find or observe this option in action - where is exactly located? Is it possible to turn it on/off? If no, would it be (I think it would be a good idea)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Long tap on feed and check Show article text in list. In this mode atricles are makred as read automatically while scrolling (It was a bit hard to realized that feature). This mode is very usefull to with short text articles, like forum post which have RSS. (But now it is possible even without RSS)
Buy the way in the next app release View attachment ru.yanus171.feedexfork_0.7.2_100.apk there will be a new feed setting Load type that allows to load the url not as RSS, but as webpage. So we can load the articles from webpages which do not have RSS In such a case all web page links are loaded as articles, and the url is also loaded as article too (It isritythe first). To reduce the amount of links the filter should be applyed to feed. You'd better temporaly turn on Show articles url setting for that.
It is very handy to filter using regular expressions checkbox. But I realize that requires advanced knowledge. But you can mail me and I will give you required regexp filter for your page.

yanus171 said:
Long tap on feed and check Show article text in list. In this mode atricles are makred as read automatically while scrolling (It was a bit hard to realized that feature). This mode is very usefull to with short text articles, like forum post which have RSS. (But now it is possible even without RSS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You for pointing out. Indeed it works - and it works in a gently way: not marking articles as read just after they disappear from the screen, but a little bit later (scrolling-wise).
It is amazing feature and it would be excellent to have it working in the "Unread" list, would it be possible? I mean article text displayed also in the "Unread" list, alongside marking them as read while scrolling.

I am getting an error with this link archstrike.org/rss/news
Code:
At line 45, column 264: undefined entity null
github.com/ArchStrike/ArchStrike-Website/issues/6

Zragon said:
I am getting an error with this link archstrike.org/rss/news...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this version https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dDzBRh9zDe1DT_Gu-00SE-hla2i8A1sb/view?usp=sharing

TJMulder said:
Thank You for pointing out. Indeed it works - and it works in a gently way: not marking articles as read just after they disappear from the screen, but a little bit later (scrolling-wise).
It is amazing feature and it would be excellent to have it working in the "Unread" list, would it be possible? I mean article text displayed also in the "Unread" list, alongside marking them as read while scrolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, i have about 90 feed sources and receive 1K news to read.
I need something to sort out what i need to read and save what i will read (read later feature will be really useful too)
I'm currently using Aggregator RSS (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tughi.aggregator)
I recently noticed flym fork. I's really good.
Take a look at Aggregator, maybe you'll find something to implement in flym fork.
I use RSS everyday.
Thanks for your app.

4Freedom said:
Yeah, i have about 90 feed sources and receive 1K news to read.
I need something to sort out what i need to read and save what i will read (read later feature will be really useful too)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about set as favourite button?
4Freedom said:
Take a look at Aggregator, maybe you'll find something to implement in flym fork.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe YOU will point me to features usefull fo YOU?

By the way here is new version View attachment ru.yanus171.feedexfork_0.7.9_107.apk
- min auto update battery level
- setting to not display read article count
- language select setting
- font size sttings were enlarged
- Android 8 compability
- bug fixes

yanus171 said:
Try this version drive.google.com/file/d/1dDzBRh9zDe1DT_Gu-00SE-hla2i8A1sb/view?usp=sharing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tested and working.

yanus171 said:
What about set as favourite button?
Maybe YOU will point me to features usefull fo YOU?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, of course.
Here is a list of point about why I am using Aggregator right now.
It does not want to be a criticism for its own sake, but a list from which to take inspiration.:good:
LONG PRESS on feed list allow me to "mark as read", "create exclusion rule" and "share".
WEBSITE ICON option to view website icon instead on letters/images (Main page) .
SPEED It took about 7 minutes to fetch all feeds, vs 1 minute by Aggregator.
NETWORK USAGE 90MB used vs 3MB used by Aggregator. EDIT: Probably related to images.
GUI I think Aggregator has a better implementation of the material design guidelines (Layout/Icon/Menu/Sidebar) .

Custom refresh interval per feed?
Hello, I still use Flym Fork and I love it! It's that great!
I do have a feature suggestion that would totally change the game for me (and probably other users) : can we set a custom refresh interval per feed? I have some feeds that must be refreshed every 5 minutes while some of my other feeds can be refreshed once a day.
Right now, EVERYTHING is refreshed on the same timer.. It generates a lot of useless refreshes on some of my RSS feeds. It generates data and battery usage that I can avoid.
Thank you!

Flym Fork+TTS
Flym Fork is amazing app. I promised to write something how I use it. So:
I have some RSS sources with interesting articles, but no time to read. But when I travel or do something boring housework, I have time to listen.
So I often use menu option "share all text" and send them to @voice app. (Resp. option @voice add to list".)
I collect list of interesting stories and when I have time I listen it.
If you want use @voice, you need good TTS system with good natural voices. For me is the best option "Vocalizer", where I bought some good voices. (For English I like UK English Serena, for Czech language Iveta.)
I also use it for reading books in FBreader and "Cool reader" apps.
That is all Flym Fork is one of my most useful app.
Best regards
Pavel

I have two issues.
#1 soompi.com/feed
I set it to retrieve full text but I'm getting an error 404 instead.
#2 feeds.feedburner.com/TheHackersNews (from thehackernews.com)
Full text works but this content extract rule does not work:
Code:
thehackernews.com:id=articlebody

Hi guys.
First thanks dev, this app is awesome.
I just experience some trouble with the widget which is not updating. Any idea?
I'm on EMUI Oreo with Lawnchair launcher.
Tried to disable all battery oriented settings for both the launcher and this app without success.
Is there something I'm missing?
Thanks for your help.
Miaou

Did you tick the option to let the app always run in background aside from disabling battery optimization? I had trouble wirh some messengers if that wasn't enabled.

x2k13 said:
Did you tick the option to let the app always run in background aside from disabling battery optimization? I had trouble wirh some messengers if that wasn't enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the app updates well, it's just the widget which is not updating

Hello @yanus171,
at first thank you for Flym Fork (Handy News Reader). I did a pull request for the german translation update. Would you send me a beta please to check if all strings are right?
Thank you and happy christmas