Hi Josh: To be honest I have pretty much decided not to develop games for Android for the near future. Not saying that can't or won't change at some point, but as has been stated on list several times Android is not currently a viable platform for a commercial game developer. At least, not a commercial audio game developer.
For one thing compatibility is and has been a huge problem with Android devices. Most Android phones, tablets, and other devices are not running the latest version of Android meaning that even though 4.4 does make some necessary strides forward in access most people are probably running something else. It is even possible due to the way devices are updated, and the upgrade policy is fragmented across the Android platform, that many phones and tablets can't even run 4.4 requiring a new device. The only way to resolve said issue is to then develop a game and test it on multiple versions of Android and on various Android hardware. This is a tech support nightmare which is as bad if not worse than Windows machines, because there are so many different possible phones, tablets, etc that insuring compatibility is going to be a lot of hard work for little gain. The second issue is not enough customers. Yes, I know Android use is slowly growing in the blind community. However, the simple fact is compared to iOS users Android just does not have the numbers to make a game financially viable. We have some reliable data which makes it clear Android isn't ready for us to start developing commercially for the platform. Finally, the over all attitude of Android users makes it less likely that they would purchase a game from us where we know most Apple iOS users would. What I mean by that is Google's Android is an open source derivative of Linux, and like a lot of Linux users many of Android's users look for free apps or download and install open source equivalents to commercial products. That alone makes Android a somewhat hostile market towards commercial software because many of its users expect free and open source software and aren't necessarily likely to pay $5.00 or $10.00 for a quality game. Not saying all users are like that, but from what I have seen on the Eyes Free mailing list and elsewhere many of the Android users are known Linux users who believe in free software. People who have repeatedly vocalized opposition to commercial software and the companies that make it. The point being between a general lack of customers, the potential of several customers who expect something great for nothing, and the fact that compatibility is a nightmare it isn't something that I really want to deal with at this point in my life. I may buy and use an Android phone etc sometime in the future, but I am fairly certain that if I want a commercially viable game it would be better off being written for iOS. Cheers! On 1/5/14, Josh <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > Thomas, it would be cool if you could make a game similar to papa sangre > but for android. I have an android nexus7 tablet. I like it better than > the iPod touch. Wish I could play the papa sangre games though. Could > someone into programming maybe make a duck hunt audio game and maybe q9 > for android? put it up on the playstore let me know when its there I'll > gladly pay $4 or $5 even $10 for such a good quality android game. or > how about a droid version of swamp? honestly droid accessibility is on > par with iphone and voiceover and nvda for windows. oh yes swamp for > droid! if you make it I'll pay $10 for that also! walk by alternately > tapping first put your device in landscape mode then tap ottom left and > bottom right of screen to walk or run. to go backwards swipe down with a > finger then walk, swipe up then walk for forwards. swipe up then down in > single motion to toggle between weapons. tap top left of screen to > reload weapon if needed. tap top right to shoot, tap and hold to shoot > as in with a machine gun. slowly swipe across the middle of the screen > to turn yourself around in different directions and to center zombies. > better yet, put your headphones on and stand up. since your device has a > sensor, a compass and things you can stand up to play the game. to turn > and face a zombie hold the phone or tablet in hand and turn your body > around like when you spin in a circle. to hear current direction swipe > left and right quickly. wear headphones while playing swamp for droid > works on jellybean and above. while playing, suspend talkback by making > down and right gesture the l gesture. go near top left of screen while > in swamp main menu do this suspend talkback swamp main menu would be > self-voiceing. to turn on talkback again when done tap power button once > to put device to sleep. hit it again to wake it up and talkback will > wake up too then slide to unlock. > > Josh > > -- > using windows7 laptop > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
