Related
I've been holding off on posting about this here until now because there was nothing really ready to be shown off anywhere outside my buzz account. Well, it's still nowhere near ready for prime time(it's not even really a game yet and crashes horribly on the Droid) but I think I have enough to at least show off where I am in development.
Without further ado, this is Cellulon: Attack of the Virii. It will be a 2-d platformer with 3d elements(the models and such will be in 3d, just no 3d movement) for the android platform. The idea is that you play as a citizen of Cellulon, a civilization of single celled creatures. The planet is attacked by an alien race called the Virii, basically a race of viruses who are bent on taking over. You work your way through stages trying to stop the Virii and save your planet. I'm planning on having upgrades where you can pick up pieces of RNA and drop them in a representation of the nucleus that will be in the lower right corner, and allow you to various new things like floating upwards, shooting needles, climb walls, etc.
I'll also likely release a level builder where 3rd parties can create and distribute their own custom levels.
Anyway, this is still under heavy production(nowhere near test ready) but I'll throw up some screenshots here(to be updated time to time) of where I am currently. The first screenshot here is of the game so far running on my Nexus One, and the second is a screenshot of the PC-side level creator running in ubuntu.
Just put up a video with my progress as of today(now has a bit better of a model for the cell with better animations and better collision detection): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8XQVHH_Rc
This is still very early in the development stages, only has two levels, and no enemies. Nevertheless, it's a fairly difficult level and is bug free enough to let everyone play with it. The controls are pretty straight forward. Hold phone in landscape mode, tilt left to go left and right to go right. Press trackball or menu to jump(dpad center on the droid). Try to reach the far right side of the level to win(it will pop up a little banner saying "You Win!". Fall to your death and you lose. Either will require you to press back to quit and restart the level to continue playing(from the beginning).
Update: Now has a 3rd level featuring enemies. Getting hit 3 times by the enemies will result in a loss. Kill the enemies by slamming down onto them, by jumping over one and then swiping down on the screen. Getting hit or hitting an enemy will make you bounce off of it.
Also, everyone let me know what you think.
I really like the level builder idea, especially if its robust and easy to use...looks promising.
It's viruses, not virii. You've got your Latin wrong.
I've put up another video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBsCsPbgiII.
For this one, I used a screen capture program for Android, which is unfortunately very slow(thus the really slow refresh rate). Nevertheless, I'm hoping this can give somewhat of a representation of what my new refraction effect looks like. I'm quite proud of it, and plan for the main character to look very close to what's shown in the video(depending on the background, of course)
Lookin' good man. Kind of reminds me of a cross between master blaster and sonic the hedgehog 3 (when you'd get the water bubble and bounce around). lol
Hate to bump my own thread, but I have a fairly good reason. I have put up a test version of the game(it's still in really early development and is just one level with no bad guys) for everyone to play with. Read the first post to see details on controls/errata. Enjoy!
grainysand said:
It's viruses, not virii. You've got your Latin wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually he said they were a race of viruses called the Virii
New version is up. It's bug free as far as I can tell now.
Another new version up. Now has a menu structure and better jumping.
i always knew u were upto something great lol, great work man
i just played it, and i must say im awaiting the final release,
Great work!
did you use any tutorials you found online, or just playing around with the samples in the sdk?
cool game
did you use any tutorials you found online, or just playing around with the samples in the sdk?
cool game btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just played around with it and followed sdk examples. Not really any good tutorials on es 2.0
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
yeah thats what I was finding also. I decided to learn how to make android apps before I go into games, maybe it will help me understand better.
New update up. Now has a 3rd level with a new addition: enemies.
nice haha. we need more platformers for android
[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 .
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!
I just published the demo for my first attempt at a decent Android game...it was developed on a G1, on which it's barely playable, but I'm really interested to know how/if it performs on other devices. If you're bored please take a look.
There is definitely a lot of room for improvement in the AI and general optimization, but I really want to make sure I get any stability issues cleared up before I go digging through that code again, I'm still open to criticism/suggestions, though!
If you are able to get it to crash, please give me as much detail as you can.
Niiice will download now
Edit Pretty good game actualy (oh and btw im first rating and comment :L )
Looks good, not bad ! Graphics could be improved here and there, but it's a good concept ! Looking forward to the finished game.
Thanks guys! Yeah I'm really not much of an artist, I don't consider them final, but I don't know that I'll be able to improve on them much either My big plans for the full version are a lot more maps, a few more special attacks, improved AI, and multiplayer if I'm able to get it sorted out.
Pretty good! Glad to see you developing a high quality game!
PS I sent you a little message.
Has potential, it hangs up my moto droid. Hard to negotiate between screesn.
So how do i get this game on my Hero? Just take a picture of that barcode picture and then what?
villian1998 said:
Has potential, it hangs up my moto droid. Hard to negotiate between screesn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it hang during gameplay itself or during the map loading screen? I'm halfway through a complete re-write of the AI that I hope will improve the framerate (right now the pathfinding alone takes something like 60% of the G1's CPU)
ink718 said:
So how do i get this game on my Hero? Just take a picture of that barcode picture and then what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the barcode scanner or goggles app you can scan that image which translates to a market link, or just search for Pirate Skirmish on the market
Awesome Concept!
Works flawlessly on my EVO. I do agree that the graphics could use a little sprucin' but overall the concept is what sets it apart. And multiplayer would make me like the happiest person alive!
Great game, keep up the amazing work!
Works nicely on my Galaxy S, no issues/bugs, a few comments
- green highlighting around which ship you've currently selected is too hard to see
- perhaps require a double-tap to change ship
- maybe slow down gamespeed a little, it's a bit hard to micro.
You could use an exit method, at least back doesn't work on my SGS. Also, a write up, at least something brief on how things work would be lovely, at least if you don't want to turn-off the average Android person who stumbles upon your game.
I just installed the game on my an Evo and it works.
Suggestions:
- Instructions on how to play, move, goals.
- The two player mode was hard navigate. Attempting to select the second player brought the first player to the second players location. Confirming movement when over a second player would be a plus.
- Background sound, maybe waves, music, ocean sound.
- Instead of pumping up the graphics, keep it simple, but decorate the maps.
- Add a story plot at the intro.
Well thats my opinion, love the work, I hope we'll see more. Thanks for sharing.
Great feedback guys, thanks! I've whipped up a How-to guide and posted it on the site (I can't post links yet I guess, but you can get to it from the market)
alovell83, the back button issue should be fixed in 1.3, can you confirm if you're still having issues after upgrading? (Actually introduced a new bug in the process, now it's a little too eager to quit when the back button is hit)
I think it's time I get to work on a settings menu, since everyone is going to have a different preference, so far I'm thinking adjustable HUD/icon sizes, ship selection method (tap, double tap, long press), and game speed. Any other suggestions?
I'm also planning to add a few new special items in the near future. I've got a couple ideas, but if anyone has suggestions for this, now's the time!
Back to the graphics, the castle graphic is probably the best example of what I'm ultimately aiming for, clean and simple...but throwing in some terrain decorations is a good idea, and I'm sure it will help a lot towards bringing the maps to life.
kinda reminds me of a long abandoned game i used to play called world of pirates online
this game has a lot of potential!
Bout to check it out. Market lagging for some reason
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
just downloaded the game. it's pretty good game, just need a li'l work here and there. especially the animation. and one other thing. you should put hot to play. it took me a while to figure how to play.
Well it works good so far on the hero. And I have seen apps way worse that you have to pay for. So by the time your done I'm sure it will be great.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Any way you could provide an APK? I don't know what's going on with my phone but the Market keeps crashing every time I try to DL Pirate Skirmish... not other apps, just that one. Weird.
Sure thing, here is the .apk for version 1.3.2 just published including the How to Play link from the main menu, thanks again everyone.
Since 1.3.1 I haven't seen any crashes in the dev console, but as far as I know these only show up for 2.2 devices. So again, if anyone is getting a repeatable crash, please send me the logcat output and a quick description of how you caused it. If you don't have adb installed on your computer there is another great app called Catlog in the market that will let you save and send logs from your phone.
Awesome, thanks! I'll report back after trying it out a bit.
Update: I got a "This application closed unexpectedly" within a minute or so... I was trying to attack a castle and I was tapping it over and over. I am on 2.2 using a Desire ROM by mattc on an HD2. HD2 normally doesn't have any issues that standard Android devices don't have, but who knows depending on how the app works... I don't have ADB, but I'll go get Catalog and send logs if I can figure it out.
Hey guys, I just finished up this game, I'd appreciate it if you guys could check it out and let me know what you think!
The controls do take a little time to get used to so if you die on your first try don't be discouraged.
apk link - http://www.mediafire.com/?6suhhfks72pnj
Added apk download link to OP. I didn't realize coupon codes wouldn't work for apps.
Thanks for sharing. It's fun that you wrote this game on age 10 and did port it to Android.
Some questions:
I've only played it till world 2, but are there only six levels in the version on the market?
A question about the permissions: Why does it need full internet access?
Some recommendations:
- explanation about the controls, at first I didn't noticed them on the screen.
- explanation about how to play the game in the game. I've downloaded the apk so I've missed the explanation on the market.
- decrease the speed so the controls become less "sensitive". When you're standing on the edge and want to turn around on a fairly small block, the chance is big you'll fall off. I don't think capacitive controls are accurate enough for such a sensitivity.
- ability to save. Because people play games on there phone to kill time. But mostly this if only for a few minutes and then you don't want to start at world 1 every time.
Tricky-Design said:
Thanks for sharing. It's fun that you wrote this game on age 10 and did port it to Android.
Some questions:
I've only played it till world 2, but are there only six levels in the version on the market?
A question about the permissions: Why does it need full internet access?
Some recommendations:
- explanation about the controls, at first I didn't noticed them on the screen.
- explanation about how to play the game in the game. I've downloaded the apk so I've missed the explanation on the market.
- decrease the speed so the controls become less "sensitive". When you're standing on the edge and want to turn around on a fairly small block, the chance is big you'll fall off. I don't think capacitive controls are accurate enough for such a sensitivity.
- ability to save. Because people play games on there phone to kill time. But mostly this if only for a few minutes and then you don't want to start at world 1 every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback. The apk I posted and the Market version are the same - there are 6 worlds, and each world has 4 levels, so there are a total of 24 levels. It has the internet permission because I had originally planned to put Admob ads in it.
I like your idea about letting people save. There is actually a "resume" button if you quit in the middle of a game (not including when you get a game over). I think it would be good to let people choose which world to start at though, so they can start at any world that they've already reached.
I also agree about the controls, this is where I had the most trouble because in the PC version it's a lot easier to control with a keyboard. I'll try to fix them so they work better.
I'll add a "how to play" screen. Do you think it's necessary even in the Market version, do a lot of people download an app without reading the description?
rpimps said:
Thanks for the feedback. The apk I posted and the Market version are the same - there are 6 worlds, and each world has 4 levels, so there are a total of 24 levels. It has the internet permission because I had originally planned to put Admob ads in it.
I like your idea about letting people save. There is actually a "resume" button if you quit in the middle of a game (not including when you get a game over). I think it would be good to let people choose which world to start at though, so they can start at any world that they've already reached.
I also agree about the controls, this is where I had the most trouble because in the PC version it's a lot easier to control with a keyboard. I'll try to fix them so they work better.
I'll add a "how to play" screen. Do you think it's necessary even in the Market version, do a lot of people download an app without reading the description?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I thought there were only 6 levels. Maybe it is also good to mention on the market that it includes a total of 24 levels so people know what they're buying.
It is indeed a good idea to let people select the world that they want to play. Most games you have to unlock the world first by completing all previous levels at least once.
If you going to make a how to play screen anyway, I should also update your game on the market. I think most people will read the description when they're buying an app or game on the market. Only with free apps and games people click on install fairly quick without reading I think.
If you've updated the game please let me know. I shall take another look and let you know what I think about the improvements.
Tricky-Design said:
Thanks for sharing. It's fun that you wrote this game on age 10 and did port it to Android.
Some questions:
I've only played it till world 2, but are there only six levels in the version on the market?
A question about the permissions: Why does it need full internet access?
Some recommendations:
- explanation about the controls, at first I didn't noticed them on the screen.
- explanation about how to play the game in the game. I've downloaded the apk so I've missed the explanation on the market.
- decrease the speed so the controls become less "sensitive". When you're standing on the edge and want to turn around on a fairly small block, the chance is big you'll fall off. I don't think capacitive controls are accurate enough for such a sensitivity.
- ability to save. Because people play games on there phone to kill time. But mostly this if only for a few minutes and then you don't want to start at world 1 every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with everything above, especially the sensitivity of the controls.
other than that, nice start.
Definitely going to try this later
Edit: downloaded and loved the game, takes me back to the contra and castlevania era where controls had to be perfect or you die. With that though I do agree with the first post talking about the sensitivity of the controls, I love being able to use my wiimote to play games like this. Also like the first post I had no idea the controls were on screen, an in game tutorial would be nice. Great game though and I can't wait to beat it so you can start working on part two now
very retro
The market link isn't working and the alternate downloading site keeps saying "Error downloading file. Retrying..." :/ The game looked interesting, too.
31/8: Nvm. I guess Mediafire was messing up last night. Everything I tried to download from there was having the Error message.