Help in game architecture - Android Apps and Games

Hello everyone, first time in developers forum here ^_^
Creating a clicking game for android, inspired a lot by the web game clicker heroes.
I'm facing a few methodical dilemmas and would like to know your opinions about those.
The application is going to be statical, a shop in third of the screen, while the other 2/3 will consist of a monster that can be clicked and some buttons that will pop-up a menu.
1. Fragments- i read a lot about these, not sure if i need one for the shop part, and if so how do i make it have tabs?
2. Saving data- the app is offline and i dont mind saving in local without it being encrypted, should i use SharedPrefrences or some other thing?
3. Calculate time from closing up to opening it or between pauses
4. If not fragments, how to replace widgets with one another?
5. Should i do everything in 1 activity? The app itself isnt requiring more
6. Each monster has unique picture and death animation, how to arrange and use it correctly in the resource file and java file?
7. Should i envelop everything in classes and keep the mainactivity java file clean?
Andddd finally im sorry im such a newbie, i just have a lot of passion and after hours of searching i havent found any guide that EXPALINS and not just shows how to use specific thing
Thanks in advance,
Else~^

Related

Best android apps!!

Android Market has been growing with an average app submission of 10,000 per month. Whether this figure is the actual number finally ending up in the Android Market is unknown.
I wanted to create a list of Apps that I just cannot live without. I put my finger on them at least once every hour and sometimes even more.
The silent geniuses of this world, who mostly reside here at XDA Developers and elsewhere have made some wonderful innovations which just hits your technological G spot.
I have compiled a list of just few of the apps, with descriptions adapted/adopted from others who have done the hard work.
1. SWYPE
Swype is a quicker way for you express the love or hatred (or BOTH) for your girlfriend. The format of swyping yours words is second only to the keyboard, as stated by the developers. I use it on a daily basis and it is probably the one of the best app around as it makes an already simple task further simpler.
2. Advanced Task Killer
Lets be serious guys and gyals, we as humans (animals) have the tendency to want more whether we need them or not, so we have lots of apps on our phones. The task killer just clears up the apps that take up our precious memory including itself. Simple, no more explanations.
3. Dataviz Documents To Go
DTG will let you view, edit and create Microsoft Office documents and view PDF files. You also get a full suite of formatting tools and a word counter. Its Microsoft Office on your Mobile Device...Simple. It works just great. It takes a bit getting used to as even though the options are available it will be while before you can use it with the same ease as on your PC/ Laptop.
4. Beeb Player
It is the BBC iPlayer on your Android Machine. There might be other apps which offer the same service but none as easily as the Beeb Player. I spend many nights catching up on my comedies from BBC. Not even BBC could make one as good as the Beeb Player (Hint Hint)
5. ASTRO File Manager
Makes your phone feel like a computer, and makes you feel like you're in charge of it. You can use it to install APK onto your phone as it also acts as an app installer. It opens up your phone to give you more of a view of where things are so you could browse for that file you downloaded but just have forgotten to install it..
6. Extended Controls
This app builds on the existing controls feature. It gives you more options which you would want to have in the home screen. The app/widget can be customised according to your preference. Just pretty!!
7. Beautiful Widgets
Beautiful Widgets is a set of widgets that run on the mobile Android platform. It comes with skin able clocks where developers submit their own themes. Choose modes/ themes according to your mood. Now with Live Animated Weather..nice!!
8. Angry Birds (Game)
"The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles."
How can these words not get you into your castle storming mood and just throw chickens at pigs (crazy i know)...the game should be called Crazy Birds, well that's just me...
9. Twitter for Android
There might be a few more Twitter apps but i just prefer the originals. Spend a lot of time running my business through twitter. Among my many famous conquests on Twitter are Lisa Ann (The Pornstar) Tiya Sircar (Vampire Diaries) Conan O'Brien...
Follow me on twitter ajconsultant
This is my first thread and I hope to better my skills in future threads.
Peace guys and gyals and keep safe.

[Q] Review for my app/game

I´v published my first app on the Android Market. However I have little people in my direct suroundings who have Android Phones so hopefully there are a few people here who can help me by telling my what my application misses.
e.g. I think my app uses little battery power. So maybe anyone can confirm this to me?
becouse i am new to the forum (or .. well not new, but little posts) I can not put the link to my app here. Search on Triton Bubble Breaker on Appbrain or Market to download.
It is a bubble breaker game. Why I developed it when there are other alternatives on the market already? Because I missed the feeling I got when playing it on a old phone for the first time. Wanted to make it faster, simpler, free and maybe add some extra features (that should not be disturbing the simplicity of the game)
(when you are a coder.. I have (maybe a simple) question. When the game is finished I like to save the Score. However I can not do this from a DrawView? only from the main activity, so that i have to use menu buttons to call saving the score... is there a way to save data from view/drawview? )
Thanks in advance, and i wander what you think of my first attempt building a android app.

Looking for a good 'Word' Game

Guys,
I'm looking for a good 'Word' game for the TF.
Not one like Scrabble or where you have to re-arrange a group of letters to form as many words as you can.
No, what I'm trying to find is one where you are first presented with a collection of letters in a large block and you then have to tap on each letter to form a word. You are then given a score for either the length of the word or the type of letters used.
As you tap away and a word is formed, the remaining letters above drop down the screen to replace the ones you have used and are then replaced with new ones from the top... if you get my drift.
I don't like timer's as I like to take my time, pause if I want or come back to a previously saved game.
It's a bit of an ask but can anyone recommend such a game?
You're describing the Dropwords game almost exactly (it does have a timer).
There are free and paid versions on the Android market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.eekgames.worddrop&hl=en
Regards,
Eric
Perfect Eric... Nice one.
When you said it had a timer I very nearly gave up on it as I don't like timers, I like to take my time and save so I can come back later.
However, because you took the effort to post I should take the effort in trying it out.
I'm very pleased I did because on loading I immediately noticed you can select a variety of speeds for the timer..... including a 'non-timer'.
Also, you can save the game and return later.
Perfect Eric..... perfect.
Good suggestion....it's a lot of fun...but it's not optimized for tablets...it would be even better then.
@Beards,
You're welcome. It's one of my favorites.
You actually helped me out - I never bothered to check out the timer options.
Thanks!
@rpavich,
It may not be optimized for tablets, but it works great full-screen on my Transformer.
Some time ago, I was also looking for a similar game (on a different OS). So much so that I made my own, which seems to fit your criteria. The name is Wordsler and is available in the Android Market (I don't have 8 posts here, and apparently not allowed to place a direct link yet).
It's got a non-timer mode, a 2 minute timer mode, and an online mode (where everyone gets the same sets of letters within a 24 hour period).
This is just a spare-time hobby, and I'm not great with graphics, so it's nothing fancy or shiny, but I think the gameplay works quite well.
Silkswift said:
Some time ago, I was also looking for a similar game (on a different OS). So much so that I made my own, which seems to fit your criteria. The name is Wordsler and is available in the Android Market (I don't have 8 posts here, and apparently not allowed to place a direct link yet).
It's got a non-timer mode, a 2 minute timer mode, and an online mode (where everyone gets the same sets of letters within a 24 hour period).
This is just a spare-time hobby, and I'm not great with graphics, so it's nothing fancy or shiny, but I think the gameplay works quite well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For anyone else, here's a direct link to the game Silkswift mentions.
I had a quick look at the two pictures shown of the game on The Market. It wasn't much to go on but I downloaded and installed.
Unfortunately as soon as I went to run Wordsler it then asked me to download two sets of libraries.
Nothing is mentioned on either The Market or your developers Web Site of these libraries being required so to anyone not knowing what these are or what they do, I think most people will then do as I did which was to close the App down and uninstall.
If Wordsler is going to need additional files to run you do need to let the downloader know in advance and explain why they are needed and what happens when they are run.
HI Beards,thanks for checking it out. My apologies for not mentioning the additional libraries here. The description in the market does mention them at the beginning (with a few stars for emphasis), but it probably could use a better explanation. The extra libraries are part of the android-qt project (port of Qt apps to android).
Silkswift said:
HI Beards,thanks for checking it out. My apologies for not mentioning the additional libraries here. The description in the market does mention them at the beginning (with a few stars for emphasis), but it probably could use a better explanation. The extra libraries are part of the android-qt project (port of Qt apps to android).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, going back to The Market I see you have now added the information on the libraries required. You also now mention it may be better to install over Wifi.
This is a good call and another reason why you needed to mention the additional libraries in The Market link.
It would also be good if you stated the actual size of the additional download. That way the installer knows full well what to expect, which in turn makes for a happier user of the software.
Although I don't think it is what I am looking for (I prefer a much larger rectangular block of letters with actions similar to that of Dropwords).
However, I'll give it a try for you. Will report back later... have a very busy day ahead.
Silkswift said:
HI Beards,thanks for checking it out. My apologies for not mentioning the additional libraries here. The description in the market does mention them at the beginning (with a few stars for emphasis), but it probably could use a better explanation. The extra libraries are part of the android-qt project (port of Qt apps to android).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good game dude, i'll rate it on my computer since we can yet on market. Like said previous, you have a lot of extra sceen, so bigger blocks would be great. It would also be nice to have "Validate" button up with the words, and maybe a "Clear all" for quickly deselecting all, but that doesn't really matter. Thanks for the free DL!
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

[Game][4.0+]Robioactive, some questions about your Apps

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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homepage: brandy-games.com
Again the link to the App-Download: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brandy_games.robioactive
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

Hooked on your phone/p0rn? Help make the first HumaneTech smartphone experience

Hello everybody
Small intro:
I'm building a startup to create the first HumaneTech smartphone experience. For you.
Our project is to create a smartphone experience that is: Excellent. But not addictive.
A smartphone experience that respects your brain. And doesn't mess with your neurotransmitters. To allow you to use your phone without getting hooked, If you want.
To do that, we want to remove/redesign features that are addictive (believe me ! ) :
Glowing colors on screens
Notifications (the pings, the red numbered icons)
Thumb scrolling down (twitter/fb/etc news feed scrolling)
(and many other things)
We understand the psychology of it but we don't have tech skills (yet).
Let's say you have a smartphone/internet/p*rn addiction. And you want your own phone to help you.
Can you imagine android with :
AI based image recognition & filtering
One unique browser (designed to filter p*rn)
DNS/ HOSTS file based p*rn site filtering
Forced Google/Bing/etc SafeSearch
Phone use analytics (amount of time spend on X website/app etc)
Customisable "self parental controls" (limit the amount of time you can use an app, access a website,etc to keep you more productive) that you cant easily remove once set, to protect you
Customisable internet filters (hard to remove)
And in a moment of weakness, no easy way for you to remove it?
We thought of an app but all it takes is to boot in safe mode to bypass it (or not?)
Can we develop a customised Android that flashes like a ROM on a users phone and makes these changes?
We realise anybody motivated enough could do most of the above on his phone himself. By installing 4-5 third party apps, for example. But it wouldn't be perfect.
It could be easily removed. And the average user wants it easy to install.
Any ideas? I have very little technical skills and I'm still looking for answers on how to do this.
Thank you !
P.S.
First post so I'm not allowed to post links
Please go to HumaneTech dot com to understand what this is about.
There is a already a Chrome extension that filters nude images using AI. Its called vRate and works through a server
P.P.S.
I apologise in advance if I posted this in the wrong area.
This is in no way intended to promote a product. Nothing has been coded yet. I'm even willing to pay for a short conversation with someone who can answer these questions.

Categories

Resources