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Game graphics on Android phones

I've been playing around my newly bought Nexus One and one thing I've found is that while graphics and colours when doing most things in general are so vibrant and beautiful to look at, games look decidedly 2nd rate.
Why is that? Is that something to do with the hardware or the APIs provided by Google? It would be nice to see something like Plants vs Zombies on the iPhone. From my limited use I find the graphics on my Nexus One slightly better than the 3GS on everything except when it comes to games, where it is left far behind. I found that really weird.
On a related note, I'm no developer myself, but I'm of the opinion that the success of the platform will depend a lot on 3rd party development, which means a lot of support given by Google to developers. What's the situation like now? How easy/hard is to develop for Android phones and what are the scopes for improvement?

Bump.
Any opinions from Android developers on here?

its because pre nexus one/desire there was only one android phone which could even play good graphics and that was the moto droid .
give the developers some time ... now that more powerful android phones are coming out, we'll see more and more better looking games ... as an example look at raging thunder 2 ... you might not like racing games but that game has exceptional graphics
nothing as good as the iphone yet, because iphone always had a very powerful gpu from the get go so all of iphone game developers have had that much time to play around with them ... android just started getting powerful gpus
hope that answers ... and anyone with more knowledge, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong

alienwolf426 said:
nothing as good as the iphone yet, because iphone always had a very powerful gpu from the get go so all of iphone game developers have had that much time to play around with them ... android just started getting powerful gpus
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Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. Which new Android phones have good GPUs on board?

Watch out here comes the "Droids"
TT1986 said:
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. Which new Android phones have good GPUs on board?[/QUOTE
Galaxy S doing video game demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpP5QljEqow&feature=related
Galaxy S vs. Iphone 4:
http://3gsiphone.com/jailbreak-and-...-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-video-review-part-1.html
Reading about GPU:
http://androidandme.com/2010/03/new...bird-chip-to-have-3x-gpu-power-of-snapdragon/
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jhnstn00 said:
TT1986 said:
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. Which new Android phones have good GPUs on board?[/QUOTE
Galaxy S doing video game demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpP5QljEqow&feature=related
Galaxy S vs. Iphone 4:
http://3gsiphone.com/jailbreak-and-...-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-video-review-part-1.html
Reading about GPU:
http://androidandme.com/2010/03/new...bird-chip-to-have-3x-gpu-power-of-snapdragon/
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Whoa! That is good.
Excellent stuff, good times ahead then.
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Click to collapse

its mostly due to the fact that a lot of older phones (eg. the htc hero) dont have gpus whatsoever. the moto droid had a gpu, therefore could run good graphics in a 3d game. the samsung galaxy S has a great gpu on the cpu die and will run some really impressive games on it, in fact, it could run much better looking games than on the iphone.

for a art developers view
Ok well I'm a 14+ year vet of games industry on console games, in technical art production, but my view would be the same as a programmer I would suspect. Just like when doing a multi-platform release back in the ps, saturn, n64, dreamcast etc... days, you dont really want to do lots of work for all platforms. Neither do you want to cut your biggest market chunk out by them not getting the experience others get with better hardware. This takes me back to PC days when we have powerVR primary GPU's, or ATI, or Nvidia, or matrox, well the list got big. The graphics capabilities sometimes had to be addressed almost as if they were different platforms (this is b4 HAL abstraction sweetness and todays DX domination). I suppose at the end of the day, I would not choose to dev only on android for the SGS, that cuts some 99% of the market out. What apple has done is have fixed hardware and Development LIBs for that hardware. This makes it very easy to give all iPhone users the same experience. With android, too many variances in hardware and capability, also maybe hits taken from phone operator system additions and services.
So in my opinion, you cant have such and open system that can have lots of variations and get games in numbers and quality that we see on iphone. Not cause android phones cant do it. Cause not all of them can etc, and it's too varied.
Just my opinion

deanwray said:
So in my opinion, you cant have such and open system that can have lots of variations and get games in numbers and quality that we see on iphone. Not cause android phones cant do it. Cause not all of them can etc, and it's too varied.
Just my opinion
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I see what you mean. It's a lot like Console vs PC isn't it? I'm a PC gamer but i can understand why publishers/developers prefer console because they don't have to deal with a large variety of hardware. In other words, optimizing gaming experiences on Android phones could be harder than on iPhones because of the same reason.
Lets hope the difference isn't too big though.

TT1986 said:
I see what you mean. It's a lot like Console vs PC isn't it? I'm a PC gamer but i can understand why publishers/developers prefer console because they don't have to deal with a large variety of hardware. In other words, optimizing gaming experiences on Android phones could be harder than on iPhones because of the same reason.
Lets hope the difference isn't too big though.
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Porting from PC to console and vice-versa is probably easier than iPhone to Android, though.
I remember Valve saying that porting The Orange Box over to the Xbox 360 was very easy. They said something like they put the PC code -- with a few changes like control configuration -- through a 360 compiler and the game was up and running.
Also, with the PC, you have just two major processor brands (Intel and AMD) and two major graphics card brands (NVIDIA and ATI). The APIs and stuff are also far more mature.

google could do what Palm did.
Palms PDK allows porting of iPhone games to the Pre in a matter of hours.

theineffablebob said:
I remember Valve saying that porting The Orange Box over to the Xbox 360 was very easy. They said something like they put the PC code -- with a few changes like control configuration -- through a 360 compiler and the game was up and running.
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That's probably because it's made in XNA or some other cross platform code. That's one of the things pulling me toward WP7 (that and Zune Pass ).
Devs can write one code base, and in a matter of days have it ported to all major Microsoft software. As an Android dev myself, that would be amazingly useful did I also produce desktop software. I mean think about it, write an app for PC, then also target XBOX360, ZuneHD, normal Zunes, and WP7 all with essentially one codebase with very few small changes between them. That's some amazing stuff.
I toyed with XNA before and it is a beautiful way to code. Not to mention that the C# it uses is essentially Java with a few modifications.

Is Android ever going to be a viable gaming platform?

Ok, I had a Samsung Galaxy S this time last year which I ended up returning within the 14 day "Trial" and went for the iphone 4 instead.
My main concern and the main reason I went back to Apple/ios was because of the fantastic developer support the idevices have, they have pretty much every major big name developer and all the indie developers making games and apps for the platform, this just wasn't the case with Android last year, I was soooo disappointed by the gaming side of things with android.
Anyway, a year has passed and i'm back! this time with an Xperia Play with the latest Android OS and i'm ready to see how much has changed in that year! but wait..... still pretty much how I left the scene a year ago with the exception of gameloft and rovio who now release decent games on the platform.
My questions:
Where are all the big name developers on Android? why aren't they here? will they ever be here? infinitly blade, plants vs zombies, real racing, field runners, we rule etc?
Where are all the great apps and games from the Apple App Store? surely its easy to port them over to Android? and the ones we do get look bad compared to the idevice versions even though our android devices are more powerful, why is this?
Have I backed the wrong horse again? I really hope not......
I love Android as an OS, very cool but I can't help but feel it is lagging so far behind in the app/game/appstore race that it can't ever compete now, am I wrong?
Our Android devices are very powerful, why are no games showing off our hardware? Asphalt 6 looks stunning on my Xperia Play and using the gaming pad is amazing but is that it?

1. Money. Still it's much easier to monetize your work in AppStore than in Android Market. First, Android community likes openness, free software, etc., but iPhone users... they could spend 1000$ for a featureless I'm Rich App ;-) Second, it's much easier to steal/pirate apps on Android.
2. Native development was neglected by Google for long time. Main effort was put into Java development and C didn't have access to many Android APIs. Recently Google has added most of required APIs, but...
3. Android devices are poorly supported by their manufacturers. If you want to use newest features in your app then you have to develop for <6 months old devices. And, as mentioned above, many features which are important for gaming were added recently.
4. Device differences. Even if all Android devices would be perfect and fully compatible with each other, there're still various screen sizes and resolutions, CPU/GPU power, etc. When you develop a game for iOS, you have to buy iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2, test it on these devices and set visual quality specifically for them, so game will run smoothly. If you want to develop for Android, you have to think of potentially every possible screen size, ratio and resolution, you have to test it on as much devices as possible and try to guess proper visual quality on a device or add feature for setting it by the user - as in PC games. It's much more complicated.
But I'm not a game developer, so maybe some of above problems aren't true and maybe there are more of them.

Brut.all said:
1. Money. Still it's much easier to monetize your work in AppStore than in Android Market. First, Android community likes openness, free software, etc., but iPhone users... they could spend 1000$ for a featureless I'm Rich App ;-) Second, it's much easier to steal/pirate apps on Android.
2. Native development was neglected by Google for long time. Main effort was put into Java development and C didn't have access to many Android APIs. Recently Google has added most of required APIs, but...
3. Android devices are poorly supported by their manufacturers. If you want to use newest features in your app then you have to develop for <6 months old devices. And, as mentioned above, many features which are important for gaming were added recently.
4. Device differences. Even if all Android devices would be perfect and fully compatible with each other, there're still various screen sizes and resolutions, CPU/GPU power, etc. When you develop a game for iOS, you have to buy iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2, test it on these devices and set visual quality specifically for them, so game will run smoothly. If you want to develop for Android, you have to think of potentially every possible screen size, ratio and resolution, you have to test it on as much devices as possible and try to guess proper visual quality on a device or add feature for setting it by the user - as in PC games. It's much more complicated.
But I'm not a game developer, so maybe some of above problems aren't true and maybe there are more of them.
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Thanks! I didn't want to sound negative but would love to see Android do well on the gaming side of thing, hopefully this will happen one day?

Plants vs Zombies is due to be released on Android in the next couple months.

technoplunk said:
Plants vs Zombies is due to be released on Android in the next couple months.
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Is that it?!

If you were a developer at Google.............

Hello everyone,
Just for the sake of fun. If you have been given the opportunity to decide the future of android, What would you do? Which feature do you want to see in android?
May be people @ Google are 'really' watching this thread. Who knows?
Shoot your opinions
PS: I would say, a multi user (logoff and on) feature so that one can change profiles in office and home. (Haven't seen this as native android feature)

Feature wise, I'd push for smoother graphics, put an end to the "iPhone is faster" trolls.

Smoother ...more exclusives to android.. game mostly ...as gamevil seem to stick every thing on iPhone first ..
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One of the things that holds back game developers is having to do extra work to support multiple GPUs (Tegra, OMAP, Adreno, etc). It would be nice if Android had something like DirectX on Windows where the GPU brand doesn't matter, instead the GPU is certified for a DirectX # level and can run all games up to that #.
There have been some good games out there that were Tegra only early on for example and when you see its incompatible with your graphically capable OMAP device its not good. Judging from the reviews left people don't like when this happens.

I really don't understand why android cannot run as smooth as iphone, i think it's really system problem rather than hardware's problem...

crazyricky said:
I really don't understand why android cannot run as smooth as iphone, i think it's really system problem rather than hardware's problem...
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Apple have a few phones they build inhouse, and create software and drivers for it, that they can constantly tune and improve.
Google on the other hand, have to support an unlimited amount of devices and drivers, so they don't get the same time to improve drivers. Not to mention you then get 3rd parties with their own skins and what not.
It's the price we pay for freedom

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean vs. Apple iOS 6 vs. Microsoft Windows Phone 8, which is better

Very interesting and in-depth comparison of all the features provided by three main mobile OS.
Android 4.1, iOS 6, Windows Phone 8
The article shows Android 4.1 has 13 superior features compared to other operating systems
Source

I don't think it's fair to compare iOS/Android with WP8 yet.
It's not even out on the market yet.

B777Forever said:
I don't think it's fair to compare iOS/Android with WP8 yet.
It's not even out on the market yet.
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But most features are already revealed, Perfomance is the only thing that cant be compared ATM.

iOS so conservative

B777Forever said:
I don't think it's fair to compare iOS/Android with WP8 yet.
It's not even out on the market yet.
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That is true with all three OS compared in the article. None of them are out on the market right now. Its meant to compare the upcoming mobile OS from three main players in smartphone industry.

it says Kernal for iOS is OSX?? I think its darwin!
also Android is Prone to virus' lol...they all are. Its the same for all, you have to install it.
Personally I think that was a bad review

mojo22 said:
it says Kernal for iOS is OSX?? I think its darwin!
also Android is Prone to virus' lol...they all are. Its the same for all, you have to install it.
Personally I think that was a bad review
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It says OSX because its the XNU kernel used in OSX
I agree with you about the virus part.. you have to install the app. but the fact that some apps become available makes it prone to viruses. Apple has locked down the app submission process to eliminate such threats.

Interesting article!
Thanks for sharing
This feature really pwns → Wide Open For Customization

hum...
Anyway, I hope them to come out soon Korea.:laugh:

Thanks for sharing. The table of comparisons really is interesting though I don't think "prone" is the proper word to use.
Sent from my LG-P990 using xda app-developers app

mojo22 said:
also Android is Prone to virus' lol...they all are. Its the same for all, you have to install it.
Personally I think that was a bad review
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I know, where do people get this from? They are basing it on the fact that its the only platform where you have the option to install from outside an authorized app store without jailbreaking, meaning its possible to install a virus if you are careless. I suppose there have been a few in Google Play but they usually look suspicious anyways.
You have to accept installation of any program, your not going to see a drive by download on Android, so for the majority of people who install popular apps from Google Play they will never have an issue.

Jellybean master race

np231 said:
Apple has locked down the app submission process to eliminate such threats.
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Click to collapse
Not really. Just last week they found a malware app in the IOS market.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

After reading the source; problem 1, the three main OSs are Android Apple, and Blackberry. Anyone who tells you differently is telling a blatant lie.
Offline Reading list, yes Android has this. Introduced in ICS natively.
Social gaming yes, there are tons of real time multi player games. Game loft live if you want points and play with friends
Wifi syncing Yes. Been here since 1.5 or 2.1.
Full device encryption, yes
Windows doesn't have a bookstore to my knowledge. Tablet support is not there either. RT is not WP8.
Native ticketing system?
Tons of stuff they didn't mention like Web kit browser, native YouTube etc.....
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

vetvito said:
Social gaming yes, there are tons of real time multi player games. Game loft live if you want points and play with friends
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2
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I think the article is only native support, gameloft is a 3rd party. This makes me wonder, when will google release their own social gaming center integrated into the OS? Google Play is a much better name for that than their one stop shop for music, apps, movies, phones, etc.
Otherwise I would hunt the author down, and smack him in the face, because there is most definitely a phone finder service for android (the 3rd party ones on android are better than the "find my iphone" by apple)
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Deleted, sorry...

Social gaming sucks ass right now on Android.
Android desperately needs a game center styled app like iOS.....
I mean even doodle jump has multiplayer on iOS fer chrissake.

on the tastes do not. so out of here all relative, for whom this is a plus, but for someone and cons. I like the android because of its simplicity and availability of source code freely available!

I will tell you something, open source ALWAYS WINS !!

tranceph0rmer said:
Social gaming sucks ass right now on Android.
Android desperately needs a game center styled app like iOS.....
I mean even doodle jump has multiplayer on iOS fer chrissake.
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Click to collapse
looking at how hard google is pushing Play Store (Books, Movies, Magazines, Music).. I'm sure Google has something in works..

[Q] these games be ported to armv6 devices

hi everyone im new here and quiet new to the rues too.
but I wanted to ask if any devs could convert games like (clash of clans or the hobbit:kingdoms of middle earth) If that is possible.
help will be much appreciated

Clash of Clans for ARMv6 devices
spikanor said:
hi everyone im new here and quiet new to the rues too.
but I wanted to ask if any devs could convert games like (clash of clans or the hobbit:kingdoms of middle earth) If that is possible.
help will be much appreciated
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Click to collapse
Hello.
There are certain games can be played on these devices, and there are certain of them that cannot be. There are many factors to running a game on a 'Legacy' device, which can be the RAM of your phone, your CPU frequency, etc. I'll try doing some research on 'Clash of Clans', and see if it really IS possible for the game to be run on our Legacy devices. Having too much to do, I won't really be able to compress it myself (if the game is capable of being run on our devices, that is). But I'm trying to get some time and to finish up that post on how to get heavy flash games, video streams, etc. running on EVERY phone, from Legacy to the best ones. Hopefully, I will get it done in the next week or so. It will most probably be posted on the General discussion page for all phones. After that, I'll work on sharing ways of speeding up your phone tremendously (by increasing the RAM of your phone using your SD card!).
Regards,
Xx_Jafours_xX

Xx Jafours xX said:
Hello.
There are certain games can be played on these devices, and there are certain of them that cannot be. There are many factors to running a game on a 'Legacy' device, which can be the RAM of your phone, your CPU frequency, etc. I'll try doing some research on 'Clash of Clans', and see if it really IS possible for the game to be run on our Legacy devices. Having too much to do, I won't really be able to compress it myself (if the game is capable of being run on our devices, that is). But I'm trying to get some time and to finish up that post on how to get heavy flash games, video streams, etc. running on EVERY phone, from Legacy to the best ones. Hopefully, I will get it done in the next week or so. It will most probably be posted on the General discussion page for all phones. After that, I'll work on sharing ways of speeding up your phone tremendously (by increasing the RAM of your phone using your SD card!).
Regards,
Xx_Jafours_xX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So any success in running clash of clan on lg p500 ?

Abhijeet Dhuri said:
So any success in running clash of clan on lg p500 ?
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Click to collapse
Ah, yes. 'Clash of Clans' has been successfully converted to Armv7, and (hopefully!) will be coming up on Armv6 very soon. If you're good at converting Armv7 to Armv6 (and the other way around), you should just try and convert the game to Armv6! Trust me, there have been many more people who have asked me about this 'Clash of Clans' game. I have very less time in my hands currently, because of all these Exams that have come up, so I'll try converting it myself hopefully in the next couple weeks. And, by the way, why don't you also regularly search and see if the game has been converted or not? Here's the link to the 'Armv7' conversion:
>http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49244961#post49244961
Sorry for the incredibly late update!

When you post it bro?
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