As I am digging deeper into Android development, I decided to share some thoughts about it here.
1. Mobile games / Game development
For my point of view (developer and gamer) it is the most interesting part of Android market. I would really wish that more complex games would show up: point and click adventure, RPG or just some shooter with nice controls and graphics. Although I have to admit, many casual games are beautifully polished and they are just pleasure to play (Buka or Jewellust/Devilry Huntress).
I have already spent some time with SDK, and I am aware that writing complex, graphically demanding game is challenging on Android platform. First of all, main there is Java as main programming language. The old programming joke:
“Knock, knock”
“- who’s there?”
…very long pause…
“- Java”
may be funny, but when you write a game on such limited hardware, you suddenly bump into bottlenecks not encountered on other platforms. Excellent talk about Android game development can be found here:
Google I/O 2009 – Writing Real-Time Games for Android. It’s author, Chris Pruett, presents efficent game framework and different rendering methods (Canvas, OpenGL), which I adapted to use with my own project. On the other hand, Mystique is a 3D first person adventure game which overcame platform restrictions. I certainly hope that more games like Mystique would appear on Android market.
2. Malaria Control Mobile
I thought about porting Malaria Control to mobile platforms (IPhone, Android). Unfortunately, current game version have to be modified heavily to run on mobile devices. Changing dialogue layout and setting world map to 2D are easy part, but tower defence gameplay is too big to fit in small display. Another issue is too many educational references that would make a little interest to casual player. I think it could be done, but promoting current, “big” Malaria Control version as application that raises malaria awareness will probably be easier. Nevertheless, I made a dialogue view for Android, which you can check below and compare to PC version:
- Android version (Malaria Control dialogue example)
- PC version (Malaria Control dialogue example)
As you can see, it is not possible to keep space for two characters and dialogue text in mobile version (resolution and device screen are too small). Instead, text would have to float left or right, depending on which character are talking. Of course, it is one of the possible solutions of this problem and it’s not necessary the best way. Those difficulties and nuances are nice to solve, and if final effect is plausible, you can be proud of yourself. Of course best way to check usability is to observe someone playing your game or using your application.
