Android controls
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:56 am
I was a big Rocks and Diamonds fan 12 or 15 years ago. I now use an Android 2-in-1 without a PC and have been playing another boulderdash clone once in awhile. When I learned about the Android version of Rocks and Diamonds yesturday it mae me very happy, but there's an issue with the controls.
The on-screen buttons were clearly made for a phone and are too big to reach comfortably on a tablet. The buttons should be proportional to the screen size with small, medium, and large options, like all my Android projects. The 'swipe' controls are too sensitive by default but at least I can customize them. I wouldn't really call them 'swipe' gestures, though, since you don't have to lift your finger between moves, which would make it more precise but slower. I have both swipe and drag mode in Gemsters, along with three other touch screen control schemes, each with 'small', medium' and 'large' options.
I am a game designer myself, but with no PC, I started porting my old yBasic palm games to RFO Basic! on Android. I developed with SDL back around 2001 after learning about it by playing Rocks and Diamonds, but even if I write a fix, I doubt I can build the project on Android (maybe with AIDE, but haven't tried it yet).
As a fan of the games portrayed in R&Ds, one of my first games using RFO Basic! was modeled off of Sokobon but with many more objects, such as one-way-squares, falling floors(can only pass once), keys, doors, gems that must be gathered, hammers that can break certain walls, and the ability to hide objects under blocks.
If anybody wants to see how I implimented touch screen controls they can find Gemsters hosted on the RFO Basic! forum. Abyss, a souped up Sokobon tribute, is there too. The sixty levels might not be as quite as puzzling as some of those for Sokobon, by I make up for it with the trial and error frustration of hidden objects.
laughton.com/basic/programs/games/Abyss/abyss.apk
laughton.com/basic/programs/games/Gemsters/gemsters.apk
The on-screen buttons were clearly made for a phone and are too big to reach comfortably on a tablet. The buttons should be proportional to the screen size with small, medium, and large options, like all my Android projects. The 'swipe' controls are too sensitive by default but at least I can customize them. I wouldn't really call them 'swipe' gestures, though, since you don't have to lift your finger between moves, which would make it more precise but slower. I have both swipe and drag mode in Gemsters, along with three other touch screen control schemes, each with 'small', medium' and 'large' options.
I am a game designer myself, but with no PC, I started porting my old yBasic palm games to RFO Basic! on Android. I developed with SDL back around 2001 after learning about it by playing Rocks and Diamonds, but even if I write a fix, I doubt I can build the project on Android (maybe with AIDE, but haven't tried it yet).
As a fan of the games portrayed in R&Ds, one of my first games using RFO Basic! was modeled off of Sokobon but with many more objects, such as one-way-squares, falling floors(can only pass once), keys, doors, gems that must be gathered, hammers that can break certain walls, and the ability to hide objects under blocks.
If anybody wants to see how I implimented touch screen controls they can find Gemsters hosted on the RFO Basic! forum. Abyss, a souped up Sokobon tribute, is there too. The sixty levels might not be as quite as puzzling as some of those for Sokobon, by I make up for it with the trial and error frustration of hidden objects.
laughton.com/basic/programs/games/Abyss/abyss.apk
laughton.com/basic/programs/games/Gemsters/gemsters.apk