I've been learning how to develop apps for Android recently and a thought crossed my mind: would there be reasonable demand for an Android client for Crossfire?
I have been developing a design for what such a client would look like, and how it would work. Its in progress, but I feel this is one of those tasks that really only needs to be pursued if there's actually demand for such an app to be developed (I can't even use the excuse that I could make it for myself, since I have no Android nor iPhone).
Does an Android/iPhone Crossfire Client app sound like a good idea for something to develop?
Mobile Phone Client
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SilverNexus
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Mobile Phone Client
That SilverNexus guy? You needn't worry about him.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
I've also though the same thing - phone/tablet is where the demand is now days.
Even though most mobile phones have high resolution, I'm not sure if the game would be playable there.
A tablet makes more sense.
Movement and attack, via touch screen, could (I think) be reasonably done. Touch where you want to move to/attack, to cast a spell, touch the spell icon then where to cast.
Inventory management may get a little messy, just given the number of items in the game (having an inventory of a couple hundred items would not be uncommon), but through quick item slots, might be manageable.
I think the most challenging aspect would be dealing with messages and their replies. I think the free form text reply that is used most everywhere would be pretty clumsy on a tablet (it isn't that great on a computer with a real keyboard). I recall there being various attempts to make it better, but I don't think any where universally replaced, so the vast majority are still type something in.
I think the correct approach for conversations/things requiring input would be to present the user a choice of inputs. However, for lots of aspects (gate password and other passwords), that might just make them too easy. The first one didn't work, try the second one,etc. So there would have to be some consequence to incorrect choices (for example, selecting the wrong password at the scorn gate may mean that the guard on duty won't listen to any password from that player for one day).
All of that is doable, but starts requiring a lot more work than just making a client.
Even though most mobile phones have high resolution, I'm not sure if the game would be playable there.
A tablet makes more sense.
Movement and attack, via touch screen, could (I think) be reasonably done. Touch where you want to move to/attack, to cast a spell, touch the spell icon then where to cast.
Inventory management may get a little messy, just given the number of items in the game (having an inventory of a couple hundred items would not be uncommon), but through quick item slots, might be manageable.
I think the most challenging aspect would be dealing with messages and their replies. I think the free form text reply that is used most everywhere would be pretty clumsy on a tablet (it isn't that great on a computer with a real keyboard). I recall there being various attempts to make it better, but I don't think any where universally replaced, so the vast majority are still type something in.
I think the correct approach for conversations/things requiring input would be to present the user a choice of inputs. However, for lots of aspects (gate password and other passwords), that might just make them too easy. The first one didn't work, try the second one,etc. So there would have to be some consequence to incorrect choices (for example, selecting the wrong password at the scorn gate may mean that the guard on duty won't listen to any password from that player for one day).
All of that is doable, but starts requiring a lot more work than just making a client.
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SilverNexus
- Junior member
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:33 pm
- Location: Planet Earth
It could be implemented with a paperdoll screen (shows what they have equipped and where) that lets them choose from the items valid for that slot to equip. Though that would require several paperdolls: one for humans/elves/dwarfs/etc., one for dragons, one for serpentmen, one for fireborn, and one for quetzalcoatls, assuming we care about the paperdoll's shape (it might break immersion if the fireborn has a human-shaped paperdoll).mwedel wrote:Inventory management may get a little messy, just given the number of items in the game (having an inventory of a couple hundred items would not be uncommon), but through quick item slots, might be manageable.
Picking up and dropping inventory could be implemented with drag-and-drop between ground and inventory views. The only problem then would be partial picks and drops.
With about two month's experience with the Android API, this is quite clearly the easy part of such a client.mwedel wrote:Movement and attack, via touch screen, could (I think) be reasonably done. Touch where you want to move to/attack, to cast a spell, touch the spell icon then where to cast.
I was thinking holding down a touch would equate to running (I assume this can be done, there really isn't a reason why it shouldn't be possible), and have some toggles for brace, fire, etc. somewhere convenient on the screen.
I agree, this is where the most effort will need to be but in to ensure a playable experience. We could get away with a "say" button for conversations, but that merely lightly obfuscates the commands, and might not be enough. Free-form speech is less clumsy than free-form everything, so it would be a step towards a polished end.mwedel wrote:I think the most challenging aspect would be dealing with messages and their replies. I think the free form text reply that is used most everywhere would be pretty clumsy on a tablet (it isn't that great on a computer with a real keyboard). I recall there being various attempts to make it better, but I don't think any where universally replaced, so the vast majority are still type something in.
A thought for passwords: if there is a place where the player is told the password, maybe the quest (might need to be created in some cases) keeps track of whether the player has encountered the password and gives a "Do you speak the [xyz] password?" prompt that lets them choose yes or no. This could also give the game the ability to have the player whisper to the guard and not announce the password to the whole gatehouse. Its less inhibiting than a list of choices, but better suited to a mobile/tablet environment. Though the one password per day (or other duration deemed suitable) limit could still be imposed for those who try to guess it.
That SilverNexus guy? You needn't worry about him.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
He is level negative 4 in oratory, and his singing is worse.
I do agree some solutions could come up to make inventory management workable. Equipping items wasn't my main concern (though a paperdoll is a nice method) - the bigger one is both selling items in shops, and dealing with large stacks of items.
Drag an drop would get clumsy if you have to do it for 100 items. So having a screen of the item, with a button for each item with something like 'sell' would make that workable. Scrolling stacks of items on ground probably wouldn't be much worse than on a computer.
In terms of the main gate password, there is a place where it is told, but players can also tell other players and that is considered valid.
And the gate is one example - I know there are other conversations where the answer may be something the player has to figure out, or may have seen.
I'm not saying that these can't be fixed. The protocol already has some method to ask for replies. One could fairly simply expand the conversation logic to add @reply tags, and if such a tag is present, the server sends the appropriate query to the client. The programming logic behind that is probably fairly simple - what is hard (really more time consuming than hard) is updating all the maps appropriately. Bogus entries could be added as necessary to those tags (in some cases, like conversations with NPCs, there would not be a need for bogus tags)
Drag an drop would get clumsy if you have to do it for 100 items. So having a screen of the item, with a button for each item with something like 'sell' would make that workable. Scrolling stacks of items on ground probably wouldn't be much worse than on a computer.
In terms of the main gate password, there is a place where it is told, but players can also tell other players and that is considered valid.
And the gate is one example - I know there are other conversations where the answer may be something the player has to figure out, or may have seen.
I'm not saying that these can't be fixed. The protocol already has some method to ask for replies. One could fairly simply expand the conversation logic to add @reply tags, and if such a tag is present, the server sends the appropriate query to the client. The programming logic behind that is probably fairly simple - what is hard (really more time consuming than hard) is updating all the maps appropriately. Bogus entries could be added as necessary to those tags (in some cases, like conversations with NPCs, there would not be a need for bogus tags)