3.0.0 beta (ZGE on Android)

Information and change log about the latest ZGameEditor release.

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VilleK
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Post by VilleK »

Hi, sorry that this is taking so much time, I'm very busy now with work and also our little son (now four and a half months old, yay) is demanding more attention (but it is all fun :) ).

Here are preliminary builds. We can sign and upload them next week.

http://www.zgameeditor.org/files/Saucer ... -debug.apk
http://www.zgameeditor.org/files/Eater-debug.apk

Both are looking good now and fun to play (although the switch to left/right movement in your game Jph confused me a little at first :) )
I'm not sure what caused the bitmap problems but it does indeed need to reinitialize all bitmaps after pause because the OpenGL context is recreated and so all textures need to be recreated and uploaded again too.

Please prepare:
1. Application launcher icons, at least one in 36x36 resolution is needed. More info here: http://developer.android.com/guide/prac ... ncher.html
2. New zzdc.dat files if you have any updates.
3. More info for Play/Market: http://support.google.com/googleplay/an ... wer=113469
- "2 screenshots are required. The additional 6 are optional."
- "High-Resolution Application Icon"
- "Description:" etc etc.
4. Register on Google Play so that you can upload and publish apk-files. Alternatively I can do that for you if you don't want to upload yourself.
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Rado1
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Post by Rado1 »

Ville, that's really cool. However, preparing all this stuff will take me 2-3 days. In addition I'm still improving Eater - currently, adding some bonuses.

I tested the both applications and here are my two observations:

1. My first impression was that Eater started longer, little bit slows down during rendering of particles and maybe also movement of pacman was not so smooth as in the zzdc.dat version. I'm not sure, but after several runs it seems to be more or less equal. This could be caused by some process running in background (?). Is there any objective reason for slowing down?

2. In Saucer Invasion the background bitmap is corrupted (as I wrote in one of my previous comment) - has horizontal black stripes and is not tiled smoothly on the background sprite (I can see boundaries). See the attached screenshot (not good quality, but stripes can be recognized; in future I'll use some screenshot Android application).
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Defects of background bitmap in Saucer Invasion
Defects of background bitmap in Saucer Invasion
scr.jpg (42.1 KiB) Viewed 19171 times
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VilleK
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Post by VilleK »

It is no rush with preparing the content, I won't have time for this again until at the end of next week.

The apk and zzdc.dat file version should be identical in performance because they use the same engine and load the whole data file to memory before executing. Please use the task manager in Android to properly shutdown all other apps when you compare performance, just so we can rule out other apps disturbing in the background.

The image look really strange. The background in Invaders work here. I've never seen it corrupted, even after pausing and resuming several times.
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y offs et
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Post by y offs et »

Hi guys. Picked up a Galaxy Nexus yesterday. Will be catching up eventually.
.
EDIT - Well, that went quick! Up and testing.
@Rado1 - So, I played Eater v.4. as an .exe
Pro - Great game, graphics, sound.
Con - I think it plays too long. I got to around level 35 and committed suicide because of cramped fingers, and mental fatigue. I think you should ramp up the difficulty quicker.
.
as a phone game, with our big fingers, you don't last anywhere near as long, so it's great.
.
So, it's a pain to have to power off the phone to clear memory so the new zzdc.dat file is loaded. I may be missing something here; we'll see. To bed.
EDIT - yeah, I was sleeping - not needed.
Last edited by y offs et on Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rado1
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Post by Rado1 »

y offs et wrote:Con - I think it plays too long. I got to around level 35 and committed suicide because of cramped fingers, and mental fatigue. I think you should ramp up the difficulty quicker.
y offs et, thanks for having a look at Eater. You are right, the current level-to-level difficulty growth is insufficient. That's why I'm currently working on adding more challenges (eg., enemies chasing the eater) and also bonuses bringing various advantages. BTW playing exe with mouse is easier than playing on mobile. Once we have support for gravity sensors, Eater can be reworked to save fingers of users and displays of their devices :-)
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Post by jph_wacheski »

Ville- I have set up my Google Play account and have the RSA Public Key when ever you need that,. I will keep polishing this till you need the final file for the build.

I have been working on improving the "player experience" in the game. i.e. added some 'how to play' info. and other text messages. I am attempting to keep it simple, leaving most stuff to be learned through actually playing the thing. Anyone testing this please let me know if everything is large enough to read, understood etc. Note; you can now 'tap' through the zge, welcome pilot, and game-over screens. I also turned down the master volume let me know if it is still loud enough. thanks.

This is another 'slow-build' style game, using that dynamic that I find interesting; each pod caught increases the firing rate of the player, by a very tinny amount,. by wave 5 it starts to get rather challenging. Like several of of my recent games it is not about shooting everything,. it is more about strategically shooting everything, eventually. But in this case you have no way to stop shooting. Casual hard-core,. if that is a thing is what I am aiming for.
Attachments
saucerInvasion_043.zip
.exe for desktop play,.
(55.86 KiB) Downloaded 627 times
zzdc_of_SaucerInvasion_043.zip
droidness
(15.2 KiB) Downloaded 614 times
iterationGAMES.com
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Kjell
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Post by Kjell »

Hi guys,

@Rado - You're probably already planning to do this, but the game could really use a level complete and / or start sequence ( that requires a tap to continue ) allowing the player to catch a breath and reflect on their progress. Optionally you could also let the player choose where ( and when ) to spawn, which adds a small tactical element before a level begins.

@jph - Somehow the camera makes me seasick :cry:

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y offs et
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Post by y offs et »

@jph - Somehow the camera makes me seasick
.
Ha ha - It's a real invasion in space and you are flying by the seat of your pants. Just a thought - in space there is no gravity to hold your lunch down. :oops:
.
I like it JPH - I'd just like the projectiles from the invaders to be a different colour to distinguish them from the {shooting stars(?) }.
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Rado1
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Post by Rado1 »

Is it possible to make Generated TexCoords working on Android? My device always uses ModelDefined.
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y offs et
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Post by y offs et »

Anyway, this was just to get something going quickly, definitely later we could add something like a file selector and also some kind of packager to help make a apk for each app.
@VilleK - The zzdc.dat file displays at the bottom of the sdcard folder because -
1) it's a file, not a sub folder, and
2) z

This is also where a lot of adds display, so in some situations the file is not visible, covered by the add. Perhaps we should have a folder that doesn't start with Z.
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Kjell
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Post by Kjell »

Hi Rado,
Rado1 wrote:Is it possible to make Generated TexCoords working on Android?
Nope, OpenGL ES doesn't have any of the glTexGen functions* What kind of situation are you dealing with?

*They have also been removed from the regular OpenGL since version 3.3.

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Post by Rado1 »

Kjell wrote:Nope, OpenGL ES doesn't have any of the glTexGen functions* What kind of situation are you dealing with?
@Kjell - I want to create something like coin by simple mapping a 2D texture on a flattened sphere. I wanted to avoid creating a new mesh with different TexCoords. It seems I must create a special mesh now :-( . Actually, this is a simple thing, just load a sphere mesh and use: this.TexCoord.X = this.V.X; this.TexCoord.Y = this.V.Y;
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y offs et
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collision of Windows and Linux

Post by y offs et »

I thought to write about some cautions that I have encountered in connecting Windows and Linux, as we are doing here.

1) To load ZGE produced Android files onto your Android device from a Windows computer, you use a copy of the cmd.exe file found in your system 32 folder. This is the command line program in Windows, and I have a dozen or so copies in various folders in my system, for various reasons - one of which is in the platform-tools folder to do this stuff.
So, a while back, experimenting here, I moved the adb.exe file to another folder. My experiment failed, so absentmindedly I placed a copy of the adb.exe back in it's original folder. This failed! I knew enough about Linux to realize that it was probably a checksum error, or something similar, and retrieved the original adb.exe. The point being, you can't just copy files around on Linux like you can on Windows.

2) Errors in writing long command line commands are common using cmd.exe. If you don't know that hitting the up arrow will bring back a copy of your previous error line, it can be a frustrating experience.

3) In cmd.exe , try clicking the tiny black square top left / properties, some time.

4) I'm currently working through some of the tutorials in the android-sdk , using the Eclipse IDE , just to get a better understanding of Java and other things. I'm accumulating some tips on that, in case anyone is interested.
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Post by Rado1 »

Here is the latest, still not the final, version of Eater. Version 0.5 comes with the following improvements:
- enemies having the form of seeking rockets; their goal is to hit eater and to decrease its energy
- bonuses for charging energy to maximum, earning +300 points, or destroying mines and rockets around; they look like coins with different pictures
- added the level intro phase during which eater, drawn in yellow, does not interact with other objects; you can place it everywhere to start the level optimally, without hitting a mine
- small visual updates, changes of steering controllers, and adding sampled sounds to the game over page

I observed one issue: sometimes, the application crashes during playing a sampled sound. This usually happens immediately after a new zzdc.dat file is uploaded. Does not matter how long I wait between uploading and starting time; crash appears also after 5 minutes after upload. When I run it the second, third, etc. time, the crash is very occasional.

Further work: test and tune the overall playability, maybe add some more bonuses and types of enemies, ... whatever.

Any comments are welcome, thanks.
Attachments
screenshot
screenshot
scr5.png (277.12 KiB) Viewed 18963 times
zzdc_exe_of_Eater_05.zip
zzdc and exe of Eater v0.5
(277.48 KiB) Downloaded 607 times
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y offs et
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Post by y offs et »

That's pretty addictive! I got 455 on the third try. I like how it's a short time waster - not long and involved.

The "yes" is kinda hard to figure, until you put the phone to your ear - haven't decided if that's a plus or minus - actually kinda cool also.

The .exe won't start on my vista - says "dsound failed" in a small box in a see-thru screen.
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