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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!
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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!
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
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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).
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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
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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.
Hi guys!
I've just released my second project to the Play Store, and it's a FREE 2D game in which you control a truck and race it to the finish line. The levels are easy at first, but then get tricky as you progress. There are 16 of them for starters, but I'm preparing new levels for every update!
The feature list goes like this:
•customize your car (suspensions, wheel size and more!)
•customize control options*
•realistic 4 wheel drive
•level variety
•addictive gameplay
•build for new and old hardware (has an ugly mode for very old phones)
You can try it out, from its Google Play Store page--> http://goo.gl/SBULv
And you can follow us on Facebook--> http://goo.gl/Z6YEO
We're open to opinions, and ideas! For support you can always e-mail us:
[email protected]
Fun game.
Maybe you should integrate the "about" and support in the screen. The motor noise in the menu's is quite disturbing.
Oh, and you won't need the wakelock permission, I think. Intuitively, I would choose to place the steering on the left, and the gas/brake on the right.
The first level I played was quite hard
Hey thanks for trying it out, you're our first "customer" for this game
I understand, I will be trying to see how I can make options for the controls to be customized. By the way, if you go to Options, you'll see there are a couple of control options (although I personally prefer those I've made default).
With the engine noises I'm not that happy, and that's currently being worked on.
Thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it!
New update this weekend with lots of fixes, and improvements!
Game is very nice, but graphics could be better.
Why there is no question when you turn the game to on/off sound?
Hello, and thank you for trying out Crazy Wheels!
To answer your post, we are working first on a sound update, then we will update the graphics, so the game will look more polished. The update schedule is one new version a week, so we don't affect our user's data plans.
Regarding the sound toggle, we thought that having it in a menu, instead of a simple button, would prevent accidental turning on/off.
Sent from my HTC One V using xda premium
Licence Violation
This game is obviously based on my game - "Wheelz".
You have broken the terms of the General Public Licence I published the source code under. This is completely unacceptable, and illegal.
The terms are very liberal - but you have broken them, taken a game that is Free software, and closed it for your own personal gain.
You seem to have made no attempt to contact me and ask if you can re-use my code under a licence other than the GPL.
I have submitted a copyright infringement notice to Google before sending this message.
I suggest you immediately:
-publicly apologize at the start of you games description on the Google play store.
-contact me to find out what terms you may keep distributing this game on.
-generally be more ethical.
If you follow these actions, we can probably come to an amicable agreement.
My email is [email protected] - though you did know that having removed it from the source code...
Hello everybody,
I just wanted to present my new app "Robioactive", I have programmed in the last month. First I go to the story and following the app itself, then I'll talk about the development.
At the end, I present you a few general questions about your apps, applying your development and feedback
First the link to the app:
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brandy_games.robioactive
If you want, you can skip the story:
<--App-History-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
- The small and sweet robot named "Robi", was sentenced to arrange objects from a conveyor belt properly completely alone and without any help in the factory Robioactive.
- Unfortunately, the small Robi is not very fast, as it has so short and tiny ants-legs.
- Our robot is totally overworked, stressed and need your help.
- Can you help the sweet Robi to assign the Robioactive products off the conveyor belt to the product boxes?
<- End: App-History-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
App, Robioactive:
In this app you must prevent that the objects on the conveyor belt achieve the left end of the tape. This can you do by pressing the product boxes, which are arranged on the top and bottom. For each product correctly assigned a point is awarded. There is at the beginning a small intro with 4 images which explain the game. After that we go directly to the game. There are in total 4 levels. Only the first level is unlocked in the beginning. To unlock the next level you have to reach a certain number of points in the active level. Alternatively you can buy levels with coins, which you get in the game when you're playing, or get Coins in the "MAKE COINS"-part by clicking on the advertisement (I'll tell you more about that later in the chapter app development / advertising). So far I have built "only" 4 Level, however next there will be more available.
App Development:
I am a computer science student at TUM and can do programming (C, C++, Java, Haskell), but I have never dealt me ??with the app development. My goal was that I program an app with some flow to come in Android Studio, Admob, PlayStore etc. within 4 days. The background of this method is that I have noticed from some other app developers that they need 2-3 months for a mature app and then after further 3 months in which the app is to find in the App Store, the Play Store, only 100 Downloads will be reached. This raises the question, it is still worth at all to program Apps, or we, "small" programmer, are powerless against the great app development companies? There are a few more questions in the latter part. The idea for this app is not fallen from the sky, I wanted to build a game that is easy to program, but maximises fun factor at play. However, everyone must decide for themselves.
Design:
I had difficulties to design this app. Unfortunately I have two left hands, regards drawing. However, the app had to be appealing. I didn't want to pay a designer because I didn't know anyway, if there will be a product or not. Therefore, I have worked a little with my Photoshop and made some ugly sketches, but with these I have created a framework with colors and forms. Further problem, I did not know how to fill the backbone. The solution was Creative Commons. I was searching for a relatively long time. Yet I could find a few "nice" images and icons, which were freely available. Given question below for you. Netvertheless I had to paint a few strokes and bars. The same problem arrived with the product video, which I generated with Adobe Animate.
I would pleased if you can give me feedback on the design.
Advertising:
I really do not like advertisment in apps, but I would somehow be rewarded for my work, even if it reaches the end on a Club-Mate or dinner. So I had to make a compromise. I give the user the possibility to click my ads to make them disappear throughout the app for a week. After that, the app is probably uninstalled. But a click per user would be the optimum for me. So I am quite satisfied with less. On top of that you you can generate 200 coins in the "MAKE COINS"-part, to unlock levels. I think that's fair. What do you think about the idea to make the user an app gift by clicking ads?
Programming:
I wrote the entire app in Java, XML is used only for the splash screen. Overall, about 2200 lines of code. I have built the app on the basis of a jump and run game in which was shown on Youtube. However, I had to stop after the chapter 3 of the video series, because I had to develop in a different direction. As a base I used a thread which calls the draw method of Game Panel (Surface View) every x milliseconds, thus changing the surface. The update method will change the position of the objects. So I achieve liquid movements. That works reasonably well. The entire app has only one Activity + one activity for the splash screen. In my Main Activity, Bitmap Images will be visible or not. This works fairly smoothly. One problem is that there are many events that can occur, which I have found after testing the app for one week. Is that too long? If you have any questions about my way of programming, then write me an email to the address below.
Timing:
I had scheduled 4 days for the app, without preprocessing. At the end, it takes 2 weeks + 1 week for testing . On one hand, I had to write my final paper, on the other hand I underestimated some parts of the app development. The designing part has own cost 3 days, seek out the Creative Commons was really tiring. The programming itself has drawn 6 days, adding 1 week for testing and repair. The promo video has cost 1 day, I had to "learn" Adobe Animate (I can recommend the Youtube-Channel "Draw with Jazza"). It was 5-6 years ago that I have looked at Flash, however it has been changed "a little bit". The inclusion of Admob was quite rubbish. This has again engulfed two days. In short, it is a surfaceview and no pure Activity layout so adding an advertisment was not easy and at the end it worked for a reason I do not understand to this day. But that important thing is, it works. Optimizing code lasts 2 days. I had to do that, because it was sometimes a bit too slow. I did not want to program Multithreading, because that would have certainly tooks again one week. So scheduling-conclusion : from 4 days planned to 21 days in the end, anyway I'm happy with the result. I present you below a question about scheduling.
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Questions about the app:
- Have you any guesses to improve the app?
- What do you think about the design of the app?
- What do you think about the app idea?
Questions about your app development:
- How long does it for you to develop an app? (Give an approximate number of lines of code, then I can better classify my project using Cocomo)
- Do you have designers in your team?
- Or rather, do you have a team? (I have my brother, who takes care about website and the legal stuff. I do programming and design)
- do you spend money for your app development? (Design, development, advertising)
- Do you do any advertisment for you app?
- Why do you programm any apps? (Fun, Money, ...)
- Do you use Creative Commons? If so, to what extent?
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I am happy about every opinion that is written down here. Any rewiev would be pleasent. You can write me personally, I will reply to each of the emails you send me and dedicate every question that you have, because the community is very important to me. A feedback from you is 1000 times more informative than a rating in the Play Store. I'd appreciate a download, or share the app with your friends.
I write the same text in several forums, in order to obtain a wide range of possible feedback.
My motto: The design brings the user to download the app, programming to utilize the app.
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Homepage: brandy-games.com
Again the link to the App-Download: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brandy_games.robioactive
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I thank you in advance. Thank you for your feedback.
P.S. the forums entry has also cost me a day, so 21 + 1 = 22 days
Best, Daniel
Hi guys!
Pixelcam is an app that allows you to apply awesome effects to your camera directly while filming or taking pictures.
I started working on this a long time ago and gave up a few times because the android Camera APIs are such a pain in the ass for developers (for me at-least).
The idea came from when I was testing out stuff in libgdx and found out about the things shaders could do in opengl.
I've been babysitting this project for too long. With the latest news from google and prisma, there is one thing left for me to do, just release it and handle the feedback like a man.
PixelCam is an app that applies effects to your camera, it allows you to record video/take pictures with opengl shaders applied directly to the output, so no post-processing is needed and the possibilities are truly endless (Or so I like to think)
I have been able to test on oneplus, samsung and huawei devices, so all crash and glitch reports are welcome, it's the only way I can fix issues and make this app better! Please give it to me raw & uncut.
The app is totally free and has no ads.
ps. the fact that it's the worst named app at this moment is just bad timing I should have released it much earlier
link to app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marsvard.pixelcam
Thank you in advance
Mars Vardanyan
Sounds good
Downloading