Port to Android?

[j-rod]

So I figured I would throw it out here, just in case it was being thought about. I am getting my new HTC Evo 4G tomorrow. Are there any plans at all for a port to android? I would think it would work well since the move to a mostly mouse controlled UI these days as opposed to keyboard heavy. I know it's likely a dream, but you never know.

[darkgod]

I toyed with the idea in my mind
I'd require adapting some of the GL code to be in line with opengl ES (but it's a good thing anyway).
It'd also require some java clue code obviously and OS specific code for physfs and such.
I'm not sure the speed would be good though and remember the saves are huge :/

One day maybe Or if somebody wants to do it I'll gladly help!

[Postman]

Speed and storage are more then adequate on high end-phones. 1GHz CPU+GPU and 1-4 GB of storage. Small screen is a bigger problem, but android tablets are good enough I think. They also tend to be high-end.

[j-rod]

I'd buy an ArchOS 10.1 tablet just for running TE4, lol. Of course I would never tell the wife that...

[Postman]

Most of the code could be compiled to C++ through the NDK(I think that in NDK 5 even OpenGL is binded to NDK) Without sound only empty framework app in Java could be enough. Disclaimer: my exposure to Android is very limited, only C++ libs for NDK.

PS I run te4 on ubuntu netbook which is not more powerful than last generation android devices.

[Nagyhal]

My netbook which I use to play ToME is a noticeably less mighty creature than my Android phone :3.

Netbook: 1.6GHz single core, no GPU to speak of, 1GB RAM and 1024x600 display
Phone: 1.4GHz dual core, 1GB RAM and 1280x800 display with a passably 3D-capable GPU

Go go Galaxy Note!

I suspect some techie will bring up the mitigating differences in an ARM (phone) vs. x86 CPU (netbook). But what the hell, the one on the ARM doesn't have to constantly sag beneath the heaving masses of Windows application cruft.

This whole discussion has neglected to bring up one of the key selling factors for a TE4 Android edition: The fact that ToME, with its clickable, tappable activation buttons is more immediately suited to a touchscreen UI than any other roguelike on the block!

Of course, as an accredited scholar of the consumer technology user experience, I'd have to advise that certain changes still would need to be made, both in engine and module, to get a seamless, enjoyable bit of game out of TE4 on a touchscreen--but power is certainly not a constraint!

[Emetivore]

If you check out Angband, Angband Variants (which has ToME 2.x) or Roguelike Classics on the Android Market, you'll find that the interface works quite nicely for roguelikes. I assigned my "Toggle Virtual Keyboard" function to my Search hardkey, which allows me to easily show/hide the keys, this makes it surprisingly easy to play with the touchscreen.

[Rappler]

My thoughts exactly. The mouse interface would adapt nicely to the tablet-sized screen of an iOS or Android device with a tad bit of customization.

I've got a port to iOS 5.1 of t-engine beta 38 coming along (slowly) and all of darkgod's observations about porting the engine are indeed true. There are 4 or so trivial GL methods not supplied by OpenGLES (glOrtho, glPushAttrib, glPopAttrib, glClearDepth), some t-engine specific forward ports that need to be made into the newest version of PhysFS (which supports iOS natively), and some iOS specific SDL initialization that needs to happen (SDL window calls are slightly different than other platforms). Additionally, a module using SDL's touch api calls would need to be put in place, along with any tablet-centric UI tweaks.

As of iOS 5, Apple has allowed for apps to use interpreted (but not JIT'd) code, making some performance gains on iOS over the standard Lua implementation. LuaJit would likely work on Android.

Edit: FYI, The Android NDK provides a mechanism to create an Android app from pure native code, no Java required. http://mobilepearls.com/labs/native-and ... IVITY.HTML.

[hamrkveldulfr]

I would just like to say that I would love to be able to play tome on my phone. My computer died on me and for the past couple of months I could only play vicariously by looking through the vault