I'm making a game, and I think it would be PERFECT for mobile devices, and I currently have an iPhone, but buying a Mac just to develop for iOS then purchasing a license to publish the app would be over $500 I don't have. (not to mention the iOS app store is blech)
What's a cheap Android device (phone-size, not tablet, with a touchscreen of course) that I can use for developing my game?
I don't want to use it as a phone, but I want something equal to what a person playing my game would be using so I can have the same experience as whoever downloads it. (but cheap.)
As with iOS development, there is a simulator you can use which is actually quite good. You can start developing your app before even owning a device.
[QUOTE=ZS;39358520]As with iOS development, there is a simulator you can use which is actually quite good. You can start developing your app before even owning a device.[/QUOTE]
Minor nitpick, but Android uses a full-on emulator instead of a simulator. That means it emulates an ARM processor, which then boots up into a Linux kernel, then the Android software stack is loaded in. It's going to be slower, but you're actually running the full OS and your APK on top of that, instead of having the app be compiled differently (targeting an x86 processor instead of an ARM one) when testing.
Regardless, yes, the Android SDK comes with an emulator that you can use to run Android and test any sort of app/widget/service/etc without owning a device.
[QUOTE=ZS;39358520]As with iOS development, there is a simulator you can use which is actually quite good. You can start developing your app before even owning a device. [/QUOTE]
I'd like to test out my app on an actual device instead of an emulator
[QUOTE=HellFire2345;39358992]I'd like to test out my app on an actual device instead of an emulator[/QUOTE]
I hear there is this new thing, its called craigslist! And its cousin, Ebay! In all seriousness, just get something relatively new, you probably want to develop for gingerbread to reach a large audience, because your app should still be supported in JB and ICS. I wouldn't suggest buying a brand new device, the price tag is pretty massive just to make an app, which may not cover the cost of the phone. Try to get a phone off a family member or friend for cheap.
[QUOTE=Topgamer7;39359223]I hear there is this new thing, its called craigslist! And its cousin, Ebay![/QUOTE]
I was aware of that but had no idea what to search for because I've had no previous experience with android
It really depends on what games you are thinking about making, on android the specs can be greatly different from device to another.. even if they have the same android version.
If you are thinking about a really really simple game then go for a low-tier phone, if you are going for a angry birds or similar go for an average-tier phone.
You can even get cheap latest android tablets for around 80 EUR.
Nexus 4. It supports both 2.x and 4.x development.
Is there a way to make a simple bejeweled android game without coding knowledge?
[QUOTE=xianlee;39371225]Is there a way to make a simple bejeweled android game without coding knowledge?[/QUOTE]
no
[QUOTE=xianlee;39371225]Is there a way to make a simple bejeweled android game without coding knowledge?[/QUOTE]
I know it's a joke, but still, why do you guys start learning programming from game programming? Game programming is a pretty advanced thing. Start with learning the language and making simple console stuff, then learn graphics APIs and game programming algorithms, and only then start making a game.
[QUOTE=SiPlus;39375983]I know it's a joke, but still, why do you guys start learning programming from game programming? Game programming is a pretty advanced thing. Start with learning the language and making simple console stuff, then learn graphics APIs and game programming algorithms, and only then start making a game.[/QUOTE]
While I mostly agree with this post I must say that I found my love by really wanting to make games. Starting of with game maker -> Game maker language -> PHP (browser based game) -> c#/c++ this really forced me to learn to think like a programmer. There is nothing wrong with learning programming by making games however you should try and grasp at least the absolute basics first.
On my previous school students were teached programming by giving them a simple software rasterizer which had a update/draw/start method (similar to unity) and giving them simple assignments. This a a perfect example of how to get people into programming in a fun and graphical way. I must however say that starting out in a platform like android that requires reasonable amount of knowledge is not the best idea.
[QUOTE=SiPlus;39399813]3D?[/QUOTE]
No it was a 2d software rasterizer which allowed direct pixel manipulations and then it was drawn to the screen with one quad / 2 triangles.
[editline]29th January 2013[/editline]
You can find some more info here : [url]http://devmaster.net/posts/2844/introduction-to-c-with-game-development-part-2-project-template[/url]
They released a tutorial series based on the older template then the one that was being used in school. It is unoptimized on purpose since when you are in school you will get a optimization class which features all the simd / multithreading / high level optimizations you will need to make it run better.
check out libgdx for programming it btw.. ios support is on the way so could be a good move
[QUOTE=quincy18;39399262]While I mostly agree with this post I must say that I found my love by really wanting to make games. Starting of with game maker -> Game maker language -> PHP (browser based game) -> c#/c++ this really forced me to learn to think like a programmer. There is nothing wrong with learning programming by making games however you should try and grasp at least the absolute basics first.
On my previous school students were teached programming by giving them a simple software rasterizer which had a update/draw/start method (similar to unity) and giving them simple assignments. This a a perfect example of how to get people into programming in a fun and graphical way. I must however say that starting out in a platform like android that requires reasonable amount of knowledge is not the best idea.[/QUOTE]
Knowing the absolute basics is not enough to make a game in most programming languages.
[QUOTE=Dr. Evilcop;39556627]Knowing the absolute basics is not enough to make a game in most programming languages.[/QUOTE]
Its not about the basics, its about learning to think like a programmer. If you don't have the mindset to figure out the program flow and how things might be solved in a programming way you won't make it anyway. Gamemaker really helped me figure that out even if it wasn't programming. Game programming came a lot easier to me because I already had the mindset to solve problems like a programmer even though I couldn't program (I used DND allot at first)
Game Maker is nothing like game programming. Game programming is messing with things like matrices, collision detection, AI and visible surface determination. "Coding" in Game Maker is playing games.
[QUOTE=SiPlus;39574654]Game Maker is nothing like game programming. Game programming is messing with things like matrices, collision detection, AI and visible surface determination. "Coding" in Game Maker is playing games.[/QUOTE]
*sight* I'll refer to your title, making a basic platformer for example in love or xna will require non of the above except for collision detection which is only box collisions (in a simple platformer) You're obviously only thinking about full 3d animated tripple A games that everyone who can program obviously makes. Learning the basics of physics / game loops / whatever through helper applications like game maker or construct is perfectly sensible.
[QUOTE=SiPlus;39574654]Game Maker is nothing like game programming. Game programming is messing with things like matrices, collision detection, AI and visible surface determination. "Coding" in Game Maker is playing games.[/QUOTE]
GML is a great way to start game programming.
[QUOTE=quincy18;39576413]*sight* I'll refer to you're title[/QUOTE]
oh dear
[QUOTE=supersnail11;39577751]GML is a great way to start game programming.
oh dear[/QUOTE]
Whoopsie your* stupid phone :D
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