Hey guys I got a Motorola Droid back when it came out in November, and I have been porting Virus Effect onto the Android Platform since mid December. It’ll be my first app on the Android Market.
It uses OpenGL ES, and multi-touch for controls. Its still got a ways to go, but i’ll be needing some testing for it soon.
To Do List:
Jeez I’m dying to see it on my Hero !
Just don’t forget us the small-screened folks !
Badass! You should port this to the iPhone too using XMLVM! I would definitely buy it.
How do the controls work? As I remember the desktop version requires the mouse to aim. Most (smart)phones don’t have a similar control, plus two-handed control with a phone is physically impossible 
Does that mean it will only work on Android 2.0 and higher?
Thanks for the interest.
@Demonpants: I probably will be porting it to Iphone provided this version gets a good response.
@Mr. Gol: Right now the controls are two touch points, one for the bottom left d-pad. And another for either the circle for aiming, or just touching anywhere else on the screen to aim. I switch back and forth from the two aiming styles, so they’re both pretty useful.
I’ll be adding trackball support, keyboard support and a whole bunch of other combinations like swapping which side the d-pad and the circle are on.
@Ranger: Not sure about this yet, I think the only reason why that might be a yes is the hardware accelerated code that I use. But I can easily check for that, and use non hardware accelerated code. Its already in there, just have to flip the right switches. Although I don’t know how smooth it will run, but I plan on having an option to show or not show map layer images. Basically just have boxes instead.
The reason I was actually asking was, AFAIK, multi-touch is only supported in Android 2.0 and higher.
Also, at the moment, it looks like none of the phones with the slower processors will get the upgrade to Android 2.0 (due to all the new 3d effects).
Well I just tested on a g1 avd and visually it runs fine, so no 3d issues here. But I am getting some force closes issues with the onTouchEvent() method java.lang.VerifyError on the line with queueEvent(new Runnable(){… for the GLSurfaceView.
Otherwise it should work fine once i fix the bugs. I just added a quick keyboard support, which removes the virtual controls, and you aim using the whole screen.
Edit: Well I got the touch event working, but I had to completely comment out all the moulti-touch code. And android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT didn’t help.
Edit2: Okay I got both multi-touch and touch working on separate devices. So now Android SDK 1.6 and up should work.
ITS OUT!
Finally… although its still no where near done. Lol but I couldn’t wait, heh.
Leave me feedback here.
Looks cool. Plays ok. But multi-touch doesn’t work on my G1 (I can’t move and aim at the same time). …from what I have read, I think multi-touch is pretty much impossible on Android 1.6.
Runs fine on the Droid. Controls will definitely take some getting used to though. It was tough to shoot the baddies because I couldn’t get the angle to shoot at quite right. Great for an alpha though, but I bet you’re going to get bad “reviews” because most people don’t care if it’s an alpha or not.
@Ranger: I’m just happy you said it plays okay on the G1, next update will have options to not show map layer textured. Hopefully this will speed it up some. And I’ll be adding support for trackball aiming as soon as I can. But for now you can use the keyboard’s d-pad for moving, and the screen for aiming. Be sure to open it during the game, haven’t added the complete keyboard recognition.
Yes multi-touch is not supported on Android 1.6, I had to redo a piece of the code to make both multi-touch and non multi-touch work. Also about to put in smaller controls as well.
@BoBear2681: I use both the the circle and the whole screen to aim. I’m gonna add another option to just get rid of the circle, and with the smaller controls it will be easier to aim. I was expecting the reviews to be bad, but I hope to pump out updates often so everyone would re-review.
I’ve found that people complain about bugs and stuff, when I fix them and release updates (often with new features as well), people complain about the frequent updates! :-\ There’s just no pleasing those guys… 
Time to annoy some people Just put out an update, fixes the keyboard issue. Added the options I mentioned. And hopefully got a little speed up. Check options for more speed ups.
The next update i’ll be working on will be content, and more controls stuff.
Pre-Update:
2 out of 5 stars
169 total downloads
115 active installs (68% kept it)
Hey…just downloaded it to my Droid. The graphics look good, but unfortunately the controls make it unplayable. Jumping forward is extremely hard. I had to push up on the virtual dpad, then push forward. Very difficult. Could I suggest a simpler interface…possibly just touching on the screen the direction you want to move? If you want to jump straight up, touch above the character’s head. If you want to jump forward touch forward and up, etc. And it would probably simplify things greatly to just be able to shoot in the direction you’re facing and have a simple fire button.
Also, there were no instructions that I could see. I played Level 0 and didn’t see how to proceed to the next level…is there even a next level?
Anyway, good luck with the continued development on this.
Thanks for testing, the virtual d-pad actually has corner buttons so you can jump and move to the right. I’ll add arrows to it, so its more noticeable. I might later on be adding accelerometer movement, so basically tilt to walk either right or left. But that seems kinda off when your trying to shoot at the same time. I’ll test it out and see if its useful.
Thanks for the control suggestion, but i think that would make it a completely different kind of game. I just fixed a big issue with moulti-touch as well, so everyone with Android 2.0 and up can play it easier.
Yeah right now there aren’t any instructions and no point to the game yet. But the next update will include at least a few rooms, possibly episode 1 heh if I don’t jump the gun and release what I have so far.
Well I’m on hero (1.6) so I cannot download it. EDIT : since Ranger has it , I suppose I cant download because I’m in Brazil . Have u put any region restriction for downloading ?
Anyway, from the comments above, I believe it’s far from playable .
My piece of advice to you is , just remove it from the market from now .
You’ll only get bad reviews, and people won’t download it again later .
The final user is not patient and is not willing to spend their bandwidth with something they tried before and didn’t like it . Final users are crybabies . They are like Freddy Mercury , they "want it all, and want it now ".
For example, I never show my works in progress to my girlfriend . Because when I did once she just said “wasn’t that supposed to be a game ?” . Now imagine what would a person who does not love me say after playing it .
I’m saying that because I always liked Virus Effect, and I believe it has a future, but in my opinion you are comprimising that by releasing a very early alpha version to the crazy mob .
If you want people to test your game, just make it available for us in the forums. People will test it . They did it with mh114’s Jewels, kevglass’ Yore Quest, and even with my game though I’m not half as famous as you in this forum .
Well, that’s my opinion . Anyway, good luck !
Did you look up Virus Effect LITE? I didn’t put any restrictions on it.
I’m almost done with the first episode, its pretty hard with no map editor. I’m basically using a calculator and placing all surfaces, items, enemies, and textures in by hand in script. I started an editor so hopefully I can get it done asap.
Yeah, I should have put it up here for testing before putting it out. But I thought the Android section was pretty much dead since there weren’t any posts for a while. Plus at the time I didn’t know you could give it out just for testing, since its my first app. Cool part is I started working on it on Dec. 15, 09. Heh, pretty good for less than a month.
Hm, you can’t just use your editor from the desktop version and just have the same binary format for levels?
that is what I asked him… he had some reason or another… oh right now I remember
it is because he uses different level files in his new physics engine, so the old stuff wont work with it. he doesnt have one for the new desktop version either :-\