Getting Started In Android Game Development

rbgrn writes "If you're interested in developing a game for the Android platform, there is a lot you need to know. If you have previous experience with game development, moving over to the Android platform won't be all that difficult. You will mostly just need to learn the architecture and API. If you're new to game development, here is a list of must-knows for getting started in Android game development. This is a good starting point for developers seeking to write any type of mobile game."

Comments

using mobility, blending realities

[Singularitarian2048]

I'd like to see an RPG that uses the google phone's GPS feature to involve you in quests that blend real life and the video game universe. Perhaps certain tasks can only be achieved from a particular location in RL. Perhaps you are assigned to meet a particular player in RL in a certain location and achieve some goal together.

This is like Hideo Kojima's game Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand, which comes with a solar sensor for your Gameboy, and certain portions of the game cannot be completed without actual sunlight. However, GPS adds a lot of potential that hasn't been explored.

Re:Good general guide for game development

[Jimmy_B]

I hate games that don't do this. If the computer player and I are the same species, we should have the same limitations. Why should the computer player be able to do more stuff than a human player?

Because reproducing the player's limitations is an enormous amount of work for nearly zero benefit. You can either spend months writing code to compute what the bots can see, AI to make it look around at the right times and remember where players that have ducked behind cover were and predict where players might come from, or you can just let the bot see through walls. If you want the bot to only use the buttons the player does, you then repeat that sort of problem twenty times, each with a theoretically possible solution but extremely tricky solution. Forcing the bot to use the player's interface is basically a waste of time, time which could have been spent on features that actually make the game fun.