The Loons have taken off - game launched

Almost three years have passed since I published my first game, and I have been busy :-)

Now, finally, it is time for the next one. I hereby official set The Loons free, and hope they will be well received.

Full details can be found on the game's page.

The game uses Google Admob Ads.

Currently, this is the only form of monetization available to me in my country - three years after the previous game and still no other options :-(
The ads are as unobtrusive as possible and will never be displayed while playing, only in menus and while the game is paused. I am not a big fan of ads at all and would much rather have gone another route, but it is what it is. I am looking into options for adding a paid ad-free unlocker, but at present there is none.

The game does not have any IAPs, so everything is available to everyone all the time. I will not bore you with my feelings on IAPs ;-)

The game also employs Google Play Games Services for it Achievements and Leaderboards. This is not a requirement though and all devices without it will be able to run the game just fine - and Achievements will still work 100% (there is an in-game achievement screen which is used as a fall-back when not logged into Google Play Games); Leaderboards however require Google Play Game Services.

Games are saved when the game loses focus, and you will never lose any progress. Saved games are not synchronized across devices (each device holds it's own local save games) since this game is not one long journey but rather designed for multiple shorter playthroughs. However, statistics are synchronized across all devices and combined into a single set - so all games you play on all devices will be tracked as part of your personal statistics.

The game features a lot more configuration options than is common in most mobile games. The default settings should work just fine for most people so there is no need to go tinkering - unless tinkering is something you like to do. This is the reason for the settings...to allow those who want to to customize as much as possible.

There are some other interesting bits too. The game has popup hints for most buttons and interactive elements (similar to what is found on toolbars in normal apps) - just touch and keep touching on a button for a second or two and a hint will be displayed near your finger. The game also has a complete help system built in which explains all areas of the game and UI.

Instead of me telling you all of this, go have a look for yourself - the game is 100% free (with ads) so check it out now :-)

Links
Game Information
Google Play Store

flipt Updated, again!

(Updated 2012-05-08 to v1.2.1 - Bug Fix for v1.2)

A new version (v1.2.1) of flipt is now available in the Google Play Store!

The game's page has been updated with screenshot showing the new looks :)

flipt is now also available at the Amazon App Store. However, it is still the previous version (v1.2) - I have submitted the new version for review and will update when it goes live.

What's new?

• Added Themes to the game (currently 3: ICS, Fire, Classic). This allows the entire UI to look different.
• Added Tile Themes to the game (currently 3: Default, Fire Safe, Classic). This changes the colors of the tiles used to play the game.
• Added a configuration option allowing the game to run in either fullscreen or standard mode. Fullscreen mode hides the notification bar, while standard mode keeps it on screen. Also, the Kindle Fire tablet (and some other tablets not running on HoneyComb/ICS) display a software navigation bar (with home/menu/back buttons). These are hidden in fullscreen mode, so disable fullscreen mode to display this bar while playing :)
• Added a 'back' icon to the help TOC section. All areas can now be accessed without the use of any hardware/software buttons :)

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that occured when starting a new game from the GAME OVER screen. In this case, when the new game ended, it's statistics would be replaced with the previous game's statistics.
• v1.2.1 Fixed a bug with the fullscreen/standard mode not displaying correctly.

ICS is the default theme and will be enabled after installing/upgrading. Select a different theme from the config menu if desired.
Also, select a different tile theme from the config menu if desired.
Changes to Themes and Tile Themes is applied when leaving the config menu (using BACK or the back button) - no restart required :)
Changing the Fullscreen option requires a restart to take effect.

NOTES

• The 'Fire Safe' Tile Theme replaces orange with silver - since the 'Fire' Theme is very orange it's best to use this Tile Theme with it.
• Standard mode is NOT advised for devices with a 4:3 resolution (such as QVGA) since the top part of the screen will be cut off.

flipt Updated!

A new version of flipt is now available in the Google Play Store!

What's new?

• Added a full interactive tutorial to the game. This should make it much easier for new players to learn the mechanics of the game!

New players will be prompted to start the tutorial the first time they play.
Existing players can access the tutorial from the PLAY menu (when no save game exists).

flipt Reviewed!

flipt has just received it's first review over at droidaphile!

A big thanks to Robert Best for taking the time to check out the game!

Read the review here!

Rendering Text in OpenGL on Android

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Updates:

* November 2013
  - Added v1.1 of the standard example code, with a small
    fix to clear vertex array state after drawing.
* February 2013
  - Added a version that works with OpenGL ES 2.0, provided
    by Aleksandar Kodzhabashev.
* January 2013
  - Added a version that includes z-values for rendering text
    in 3D space. It was written by Jocelyn Demoy.
* September 2012
  - Added a mirror for the code download.
  - Added a Scala port of the code, provided by Alexey Aksenov.

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This post is intended for developers. It describes the method I used for rendering high-quality dynamic text efficiently using OpenGL ES 1.0, with TrueType/OpenType font files.

One of the most frustrating things I have encountered while working with 3D APIs (such as OpenGL) is the complete lack of support for text rendering. Because of this unexplainable shortcoming, we have to implement text rendering on our own. Before starting with my Android game, I had already done this multiple times for both Direct3D and OpenGL, using methods ranging from static text on a bitmap to complete bitmap fonts (usually generated via a tool).

Sadly, these implementations did not translate well to OpenGL ES....so I had to do it again :)

Interested? Keep reading for details and a download of full source code that can be used immediately in any project, without limitation!

flipt Published, finally!

Welcome to the support blog (slog?) for fractious games, my little endeavor to create games.

I am a seasoned developer from South Africa who has just started developing games for Android. In fact, I just finished my first game :) And finally, after a bit of a struggle with Google Wallet and developer registration (I won't bore you with the details), flipt is live in the Google Play Store!

The game is free (and ad-free) so go get it while it's...uhmmm...new :)

flipt is a simple match-3 game with a twist, or rather a "flip". It should work on all android devices (tablets and phones, all OS versions) - I even tested it in BlueStacks. Check out the details page for full info and screenshots.

If you have any problems with the game, or just some comments, please post them here.
Enjoy the game.