Angband for Android 10 (volunteers needed)

[Yamaneko]

I'm super happy with the Android port. Usually I play in portrait mode with the fit width option. But zoom-in and zoom-out mapped to the hardware volume-up and volume-down buttons respectively is really helpful.

On Android I play much slower compared to the desktop version. This is not necessarily a bad thing; playing on Android has a certain flow to it. For me, the interface is well done overall.

I use tap on screen for movement. This works well most of the time, but I also ran into some walls because I tapped slightly off, like I wanted to walk west but somehow my big thumb landed on southwest. Maybe an optional and very transparent 3x3 grid overlay would help me.

In addition, I was wondering whether it might be helpful to extend the keyboard by including F-keys. Let's say five of them.

Some frequent commands on Android require multiple taps and are more cumbersome compared to a full-blown hardware keyboard, such as "list of monsters" or "cast netherbolt." If I had five F-keys, which I would be able to easily remap, I would put list of monsters on F1, list of known objects on F2, netherbolt on F5, or something like this. This is not about remapping key commands. Instead, it's about having additional keys to make some commands more easily accessible and more convenient while keeping the original keyset intact. Ideally, I would be able to assign F-keys to keystrokes such as m-a-a (or whatever I happen to choose).

But as said, I’m very happy with this port, so these suggestions are more for convenience.

Finally, I recommend to have a look at the Android port of DCSS (ASCII version). There too the interface is done quite well IMO.

Again, thanks for your efforts so far.

[Diego Gonzalez]

The game has 3 keyboards, the normal one, the "Sym" and the "Ctrl^".

If you tap in the "Sym" key you get access to the F-keys and other stuff.

Long press over "..." and "Ctrl^" trigger different levels of keyboard visibility.
Long press over p,f,o,u trigger (Ctrl-P, Ctrl-F, Ctrl-O and U, the last one is the "use" command).

I like your idea about the tap "zones" very much. Will do that.

I installed DCSS briefly on my phone some months ago. I'll take a better look now.

Thanks!

[Yamaneko]

Originally Posted by Diego Gonzalez

The game has 3 keyboards, the normal one, the "Sym" and the "Ctrl^".

Yes, I know about the three keyboards. As said, I find the interface well done actually.

But why not allow for some more customization by adding five (or whatever number) of additional buttons to the interface that can be mapped and re-mapped by the user? I called these buttons "F-keys" in my last post. They can be optional of course, but would allow to increase the flow of gameplay without tempering with the original keyset.

I didn't know about long-press p to trigger Ctrl-P (and the others). This is nice.

[fph]

On a touch interface, it would be very cool to use gestures (for instance, swipe up for "use", swipe down for "monster list"), but I have no idea how hard it is to implement it.

[tg122]

In terms of UI and Key mapping, i find that Nethack for Android works really well. You can create customizable, scrollable key mapping ribbons on the bottom of the screen and down the sides. This doesn't intrude upon the playable window too much, and you can easily access the keys you frequently use by mapping them the way you like. The reason why it works so well is because you can create multiple key ribbons and its highly customizable.

I found that I was able to map it so that I could have the frequently used keys all at my fingertips, and the less frequently used keys would require me only to have to scroll slightly to access. It may be worth trying Nethack out if you want to see how this works.

[Diego Gonzalez]

Yes, the current keyboard implementation is kind of "fixed", little open to customization. It's actually a modification of the classic "bottom" Android keyboard.

Angband is very interesting, most the time you use only a few keys, and suddenly you need many.

The ribbon approach is the right way. Thanks!

[Pete Mack]

I am trying to play in tablet mode on my netbook. Unfortunately the on-screen keyboard doesn't have escape or backquote on any screen (let alone on main screen.)

[Diego Gonzalez]

The escape key is bound to the back button of the device. Your netbook has one?

I'll add the backquote key soon.

[Pete Mack]

Got it. That is a little tricky, since the toolbar gets hidden on keyboard input. Another question: how to choose a smaller font? I am seeing something like 18 or 20 point type with the default.

[tg122]

I've had some time to play this more over the last day. Wow, this is an excellent port. I think the keyboard and interface works really well, and I can enjoy playing the game without struggling against the interface. I like specifically how you can use the "..." key to hide most of the buttons quickly, so you always have the keyboard at your fingertips, but can quickly hide it to see what's going on on the screen. The only minor difficulty I have is when I have to keep switching between the different keyboards. For this reason, I think that combining this current keyboard approach with a vertical, scrollable ribbon of programmable keys/macros on the right hand side of the screen would be perfect for me. That way I would have all the major keys I need from the main keyboard, and can program whatever other keys/macros on the right hand side to minimize having to switch keyboards.

Thanks again for creating this port. I love Angband but it's difficult to find time to get in front of a PC these days and this allows me to be able to play still. I'm sure there are probably a lot of other people in the same boat as me. Keep up the good work!

Edit: Maybe the right hand side of the screen wouldn't be the best place for the ribbon, because that would put it right next to the directional keys and cause a lot of accidental presses. Also, is there a vertical bar | key anywhere? I'm having trouble figuring out how to drop arrows in your quiver.