I know launching a beta test for a demo seems pretty conservative. However, since this entire process is quite new to me I wanted to control the launch as much as possible. I'd rather slow walk the release and the game have balanced mechanics, acceptable difficulty and most importantly I want the game to be stable. When you release any app to the android marketplace, you literally have thousands of devices at your fingertips. One of the differences between planning an app for android versus iOS is screen size and resolution. Every iPhone 5 in the world has the exact same size screen and resolution. In contrast look at current gen Samsung Galaxy S7 versus Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Not to mention the difference between manufacturers. Or the difference between phones versus tablets. I chose to use Gamemaker Studio as my game development engine because I was new to coding and game development. I assumed that since it had the ability to port to multiple platforms the display would be taken care of. Stop laughing. I said I was new to whole deal.
The commands and functions of Gamemaker Studio definitely gives the developer the tools to control the view to a point. (It's primarily for 2-D development although 3-D development is possible) As a newbie I didn't know to pick a platform, produce a finished game & support for a time before looking to port the game to another platform. So in the beginning I was making a game for the PC. It didn't need touchscreen functionality. I didn't need to worry about graphic limitations. The reason I switched to mobile platforms in the middle of my dev cycle is because I got intimidated by the art quality that was being used in PC gaming. I get it, you've played Minecraft. Minecraft did amazingly well. Cool. Now go look up how long it took for Minecraft to be developed and by who. I don't have that reputation, time, network or funding to take the chance that I can make a product that proves the exception to the rule. I also didn't have the money to pay a graphic artist to work with me for the life of the project. That's a whole other blog post that I probably won't write, because I believe everyone I worked with did the best they could & that's what counts. I now know how to properly obtain art assets and commissioned art. I am thankful for the process and the people I've met.
People(and by people I mean those who play games) are intrinsically more forgiving of graphics on mobile devices, meaning that my game art was going to be a major turnoff for the majority of potential customers on one platform, but not so much of a deal breaker on others. As a first time dev, I can't afford the risk. So the game BECAME mobile. That means changing view ratios, view sizes, taking out the lighting system & the amount of objects I can have on screen. It probably added a year of development time because I was new to programming and had to learn everything as I went. But I have overcome and the demo is ready for its close up...kind of. Wish me well.
The commands and functions of Gamemaker Studio definitely gives the developer the tools to control the view to a point. (It's primarily for 2-D development although 3-D development is possible) As a newbie I didn't know to pick a platform, produce a finished game & support for a time before looking to port the game to another platform. So in the beginning I was making a game for the PC. It didn't need touchscreen functionality. I didn't need to worry about graphic limitations. The reason I switched to mobile platforms in the middle of my dev cycle is because I got intimidated by the art quality that was being used in PC gaming. I get it, you've played Minecraft. Minecraft did amazingly well. Cool. Now go look up how long it took for Minecraft to be developed and by who. I don't have that reputation, time, network or funding to take the chance that I can make a product that proves the exception to the rule. I also didn't have the money to pay a graphic artist to work with me for the life of the project. That's a whole other blog post that I probably won't write, because I believe everyone I worked with did the best they could & that's what counts. I now know how to properly obtain art assets and commissioned art. I am thankful for the process and the people I've met.
People(and by people I mean those who play games) are intrinsically more forgiving of graphics on mobile devices, meaning that my game art was going to be a major turnoff for the majority of potential customers on one platform, but not so much of a deal breaker on others. As a first time dev, I can't afford the risk. So the game BECAME mobile. That means changing view ratios, view sizes, taking out the lighting system & the amount of objects I can have on screen. It probably added a year of development time because I was new to programming and had to learn everything as I went. But I have overcome and the demo is ready for its close up...kind of. Wish me well.
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