Making Sil 1.3 for Android

[Pete Mack]

I made a list a couple days ago, in no particular order, of things I noticed playing on an android phone.
http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showpos...84&postcount=8

It'd be nice to use keys with gaps around them: miskeys in roguelikes can be very bad. Most of the other issues are minor.

[Shaosil]

Alright, I think Sil is finally in a place good enough to release on the Play Store! It 'seems' stable enough for now. I still may need to update the package name (rather than com.Sil...) but I already registered a Google Developer account or whatever, so I just need to learn how to get stuff on there next.

Here is what I've accomplished since my last post:

• Added original font. I left the new font alone, because after I painstakingly traced each bitmap character in the original 8x13 font to convert it to vector (android only likes vector fonts), I realized how truly awful it looks on phone screens. However, I did add a font option to preferences if you must have the classic look.
• Fixed background colors. This means walls draw as solid blocks (assuming you have the option enabled), highlights work, etc.
• Added transparency option for keyboard, along with the option to overlay it on top of the game view. Great for playing in landscape mode, similar to what you can do with DC:SS.
• Introduced and then fixed a rather large bug related to the graphics being drawn. Still not sure what causes it, and why it doesn't happen with Angband Variants and DC:SS, since they use nearly identical code. If you pressed keys too fast, the game bitmap could be updated during a draw, causing minor glitches like overlapping or half-blanked-out text. I fixed it by rewriting the draw method to use a queue of characters that were set instead of external draw calls.
• Other minor code improvements that shouldn't affect much.

Eventually, I would still like to get to most of what I had on my todo list before.

• With the introduction of an overlaying keyboard, the 9 "squares" on the screen that are used for finger tap movement don't work when the transparent keyboard is overtop of them. Currently the only way around it is not to use an overlapping keyboard, sorry.
• Slain monsters list doesn't appear
• Add way to view manual from app, or at least link to it.
• Having second thoughts about a single row sliding keyboard. I think the transparent option helps a lot, so it may be more effort than it's worth.
• Want a way to copy over ALL settings from last character on a new one
• Also having second thoughts about filling the whole screen with the game view. Not even sure if Sil would allow that type of aspect ration, to be honest. Let's hear your thoughts on this!
• Probably won't make a way to drag the screen around. I dunno. I'll keep it in my list.

Anyway, I'll post another update when I actually have this thing on the Play Store.

[Pete Mack]

Does it work fully in portrait mode? And can it change font size in landscape? The main problem with the game is that in each mode it is wasting screen space. In one, because a third of the screen is empty. In the other, because the font is too large.

[Shaosil]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

Does it work fully in portrait mode? And can it change font size in landscape? The main problem with the game is that in each mode it is wasting screen space. In one, because a third of the screen is empty. In the other, because the font is too large.

It does work pretty well in portait mode, but you're absolutely right. Sil is by default like 80x25 or something like that. I could mess around with those values and see how it goes, which I may get to eventually. But I did improve the font code a bit - by default you can scale it up and down using the volume buttons, or autosize it to the width or height of your orientation using the pop-up menu. I think that, combined with a translucent keyboard, makes the game more manageable on mobile

[fph]

Thanks, great job! I will try it [EDIT: as soon as it's on the Play store --- didn't read that it's not there yet].

If you want to make it fit better on a portrait screen without changing the gameplay at all, one possibility could be rotating the map view by 90 degrees, so that the long side of the dungeon matches the long side of the screen.
Not sure if it looks good, though, because fonts usually are taller than larger. Just brainstorming...

[Shaosil]

Originally Posted by fph

If you want to make it fit better on a portrait screen without changing the gameplay at all, one possibility could be rotating the map view by 90 degrees, so that the long side of the dungeon matches the long side of the screen.

Yeah, as long as you have the orientation option set, you can rotate your phone and the game view will switch to landscape. It's easier to read, so long as you don't mind the keyboard overlay. Just mess with the keyboard opacity until you get it to a place you like.

[Shaosil]

It's live, download it from the Play Store here!

Well that was fun, took like 2 hours to finish going through the signing and publishing process. I'm open to feedback!

My biggest publishing mistake was the package name... I didn't mean for the extra ".SilActivity" to be on there. Oh well.

[Shaosil]

I've pushed a couple updates out, and added it to GitHub if anyone wants to poke around in my code.

The first update addressed startup crashes that occurred on certain devices (related to the C++ code only being compiled for one CPU architecture... blah), and gave it a prettier icon.

The second update fixed screen tapping for movement, added a "wait" option for center screen tapping, and fixed the slain monster list not showing up.

Since the app has release notes and it's also on GitHub, I probably won't post many more updates to this thread, but I'm tuned in to PMs or feedback as always. Enjoy!

[fph]

Would it be possible to make the active tappable screen areas visible somehow? Maybe just with a slight shading?

(Great work by the way --- It'll be a great way to kill time.

[Shaosil]

Originally Posted by fph

Would it be possible to make the active tappable screen areas visible somehow? Maybe just with a slight shading?

The thought of adding faint grid lines or something did cross my mind before - I've added that to the "might do someday" list