So as I discussed previously, while I'm not exactly enamored with the end product (although it did make it to the top 50 of the Cyber Jam somehow), I'm going to continue a little further with Apex Diver and use it as my first release. Actually getting a project to release is something that I've yet to do, and there's bound to be issues and things that go wrong along the way, so I'm happy to use this as a test not only for getting to mobile, but also for adding in the other important stuff like scaling, stat tracking and advertisements.
Presently: I'm pretty sure I've got the scaling working... The game runs on both my tablet and my phone at the moment, both using different resolutions. I've fixed a new and random bug where the shaders were causing a crash and did a lot of optimisation in an attempt to increase the frame rate. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to make it run smoothly on mobile devices. I found another way to scale away shaders/effects if the device can't handle whats happening on screen. The best part about this is that I don't need to test all kinds of devices and set stuff manually, but the flip side is that I'm a little unsure of what the baseline device that can handle the game is (although apparently, it's around a 2012 Nexus 7 level).
Still to come: I've gotta look at adding stat tracking, which seems like it should be a pretty easy thing to add, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to use mixpanel which makes me a little sad. Google's tracking seems like a possibility though, so I'm interested to see what that entails. If nothing else, I can use Flurry. As for Advertisements, at the moment I'm happy to use whatever is in there, but maybe Tapjoy would be a better fit (if that's even possible). Oh... and I've got to remember to set the onscreen instructions specifically if it's running on a touchscreen/keyboard (and maybe control pad?).
I'm not too worried about extending the gameplay at the moment, but I do need to store settings and stuff permanently (like what shaders should be left on/brightness levels). I may as well look at adding in highscores or minigoals. If I change the gameplay at all the first thing will be something to discourage sliding all day.
I think I'll either make an .apk available within the week, or put up a private build on Google play or something when I've got most of that stuff done. Then, I'm just going to sit on it and decide what else to do with it after playing it a bit. I've also decided I'm going to work on a couple of other things at the same time (as discussed previously, Mighty Hammer, as well as another project with Drew called Repeat After Me).
I think I'm also going to try and make a point of posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from now on. If you know me in real life and I miss this, feel free to harass/hurl abuse at me.
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