[WIP] Tablet Port

[nilwolf]

Hi all. I didn't put [MOD] in the topic because technically it isn't a mod. Just wasn't sure where to put it so it's here. In any case, here's me announcing that me and my friend are starting work on a mobile port. It will be primarily be meant for tablets, but we don't plan on deliberately putting any restriction as to what size of device it will run on, at least for now.

Now I specifically did not mention whether we are developing this on IOS or Android and that's deliberate. I don't want to influence the devs or anybody else who may want to port the game to either platforms. We will disclose it as soon as we have something concrete and are somewhat close to a release, or when we realize we need to disclose it. We may eventually decide to port to both platforms, but this will be a learning experience for both of us as neither of us have actually done a whole project for either platform.

Our plan is to duplicate the original game as closely as possible with a few exceptions. One of them is that we're going to support mods assuming it is feasible. Hopefully we will be able to put in .ftl support.

So far we're working on understanding the guts of the game. I'm currently working on code that will load the weapons in blueprints.xml to get my feet wet and a random weapon function to go with it. I'm currently trying to figure out how the weapon rarity is specifically used (i already understand that 0=not available and 1 is more common than 2) in determining weapon availability so if anybody has insight on that, I'd be grateful to hear your thoughts.

[Icehawk78]

Do bear in mind that any version that you create would not be allowed to use or distribute the original game's assets (graphics, events, etc) and that the original developers are most likely looking into creating their own mobile version of the game.

Additionally, if you planned on releasing a mobile version for money, rather than for free, then you'd very likely be looking at serious legal issues, not to mention egregiously violating the trust of the developers, unless you got advance permission to do so from them.

[nilwolf]

Let me address this first.

Additionally, if you planned on releasing a mobile version for money, rather than for free, then you'd very likely be looking at serious legal issues, not to mention egregiously violating the trust of the developers, unless you got advance permission to do so from them.

We have no intentions of asking for payment whatsoever. We're doing this just for the fun of writing the code and playing the game on our tablets. No, we're not doing it so everybody else can play the game on their tablets. We're doing this so that me and my friend can play on OUR tablets. We're not selfish though so we'll share what we can.

Do bear in mind that any version that you create would not be allowed to use or distribute the original game's assets (graphics, events, etc) and that the original developers are most likely looking into creating their own mobile version of the game.

I am perfectly aware that I cannot legally distribute the game assets with the app. Also, tbh, it doesn't even need to be mentioned explicitly. This is something we've considered right from the start so we're going to make it a requirement that one should copy the game assets to the device themselves. Unfortunately, that does mean that users will need some not-so-basic knowledge regarding their device.

Also while we're discussing legal issues, let me just say that we don't plan on put this in the Apple Store or Google Play due to obvious and possibly other not-so-obvious legal issues. Even if we could, going through Google Play isn't really necessary as it's trivial to sideload for most Android devices. As for the Apple Store, aside from the $100 fee that we need to pay to get apps there, we also need to distribute the game assets with the app or if we don't want to require anything as complex as sideloading apps or a $30 investment for a dongle. Not really something we want to do.

As for the developers planning on the mobile version, I believe Justin said something like this in another post: "If you can do it, go ahead, no need to wait for us to do it." Of course, if the devs decide that this is something they won't allow, then we will certainly comply. To be honest, it isn't such a big deal to us as it doesn't really stop us from doing our work. It just prevents us from sharing it which is mostly a bummer for everybody else. Also we have no intentions of competing with them, so if they do their own port, we're going to stop distributing our work.

[hellcatv]

might make sense to use the C# FTL-overdrive engine as a base (since it's still in its infancy), so there aren't 2 codebases to do the same thing

It might mean abstracting SFML a bit for iOS, but it shouldn't be that bad

[Icehawk78]

We have no intentions of asking for payment whatsoever. We're doing this just for the fun of writing the code and playing the game on our tablets. No, we're not doing it so everybody else can play the game on their tablets. We're doing this so that me and my friend can play on OUR tablets. We're not selfish though so we'll share what we can.

Excellent to hear!

I am perfectly aware that I cannot legally distribute the game assets with the app. Also, tbh, it doesn't even need to be mentioned explicitly. This is something we've considered right from the start so we're going to make it a requirement that one should copy the game assets to the device themselves. Unfortunately, that does mean that users will need some not-so-basic knowledge regarding their device.

As above, good to hear.

I now look forward to this far far more than before.

[Attackid]

this project sounds great none the less,
while we wait, you can use Kainy for android to play ftl on your tablet/phone

[nilwolf]

might make sense to use the C# FTL-overdrive engine as a base (since it's still in its infancy), so there aren't 2 codebases to do the same thing

It might mean abstracting SFML a bit for iOS, but it shouldn't be that bad

Unfortunately it isn't just about SFML but also about the limitations that mobile platforms imposes on its apps. The FTL Overdrive team will most likely focus on features and performance, while we will be mostly concerned about efficiency. Also, since their engine is still in its infancy, it's hard to tell at this point whether it will be a good fit for mobile platforms when it has matured.

[AtillaBosma]

Step 1. Get Splashtop for iPad
Step 2. Get Splashtop streamer for PC
Step 3. Play FTL on your iPad
Step 4. ???
Step 5. Profit!

[Icehawk78]

might make sense to use the C# FTL-overdrive engine as a base (since it's still in its infancy), so there aren't 2 codebases to do the same thing

In addition to what nilwolf already said, I'd also add that each of those projects seems to be aiming for very different goals - Overdrive appears to primarily be about extensibility, whereas a tablet port seems like it'd be more focused on simple recreation of the original (without necessarily incorporating all of the extensibility options in Overdrive, since several of those may, among other things, also be not-easily-transferred to a touch-based interface).

while we wait, you can use Kainy for android to play ftl on your tablet/phone

Step 1. Get Splashtop for iPad, etc

I'm curious, how well do applications like these work with controls such as hovering, right clicking, keyboard input, etc?

[AtillaBosma]

might make sense to use the C# FTL-overdrive engine as a base (since it's still in its infancy), so there aren't 2 codebases to do the same thing

In addition to what nilwolf already said, I'd also add that each of those projects seems to be aiming for very different goals - Overdrive appears to primarily be about extensibility, whereas a tablet port seems like it'd be more focused on simple recreation of the original (without necessarily incorporating all of the extensibility options in Overdrive, since several of those may, among other things, also be not-easily-transferred to a touch-based interface).

while we wait, you can use Kainy for android to play ftl on your tablet/phone

Step 1. Get Splashtop for iPad, etc

I'm curious, how well do applications like these work with controls such as hovering, right clicking, keyboard input, etc?

Well, right clicking is done by double tapping, and you CAN hover, but it requires you to slowly drag your mouse over the button.
Keyboard input is done by the iPad's keyboard, so you can't really use it at the same time as playing the game.