Noyb

Android Games

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GameDevStory is $0.10 today, along with some other stuff on the official Google app store.

And for non-sale games I've played recently:

  • ChuChu Rocket - Port of the Dreamcast puzzle game. Awful load times and missing human v. human multiplayer from what I can tell. Game is still entertaining. :tmeh:
  • Cut the Rope - Charming at first, then starts demanding more precision than you actually have control over and confusing timing puzzles with actual puzzles like every other puzzle game ever. :tmeh:
  • Enviro-Bear 2000 - Who is driving? Bear is driving! How can this be?! :tup:
  • These Robotic Hearts of Mine - Solid spatial reasoning puzzle game. :tup:
  • Vanitas - Tale of Tales' notgame about shaking a box full of random crap to minimalist string accompaniment. :tdown:

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Eric Chahi just released Another World for Android.

It's working really well on at least my phone, but sometimes I really hate the touch screen controls.

Anyways, I played through it on one sitting on hard difficulty that resembles the original difficulty. Such a cool game, I have played through this game so many times now on Amiga, PC and Android that I have the whole game's world map in my head.

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Sorry to resurrect this thread, but it very likely that I'll have an Android in my future and there is something I need to know.

Are Android apps universal and tied to one account or tied to a machine? I might try to get a Kindle Fire later and I'd hate to have to buy something twice.

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They're tied to your Google account, but does Kindle Fire use Android? I thought it was its own OS.

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There's a new Android Humble Bundle up with some fun stuff in it, plus the soundtracks. Especially Machinarium's music is amazing.

Yep, buying this. Between this, Curiosity, A Bards Tale, and the MLP Games I might have to buy my own Android device just for gaming rather than "borrowing" one like I do right now. Which I suppose means my skepticism of tablet gaming is now over O.o

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They're tied to your Google account, but does Kindle Fire use Android? I thought it was its own OS.

It uses its own OS based on Android.

Android apps work on the Fire, HOWEVER they need to exist & be purchased through Amazon's App Store. So I'm pretty sure any apps you buy on Google Play are not transferable to the Fire. However, apps that you've got on Amazon's App Store on any Android device (Amazon branded or otherwise) will be transferable to your Fire.

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I'd suggest to not buy Amazon's Android devices. The OS is really heavily customized and locked down walled garden style. I seem to remember that you can't even get Google's own apps in those Kindle Fire devices and those apps are the best for Androids!

Also there is no Play Store, just the Amazon app store. With rooting the Kindle Fire it may be possible to install the Play store apk, but I'm not sure.

If you are going for a tablet, best tablet at the moment is seriously Nexus 7. 32GB models are just now coming out.

I just wish Google would open the Nexus store in all countries, it makes me really angry to read that Google is selling the new phone Nexus 4 16GB for 350 dollars in USA n the Google Nexus store, but in Finland LG, the operators and brick&mortar shops are ripping off 600 euros for the 8GB model! It's really insane, like they don't even want to sell the phone!

AB: Star Wars came out yesterday, it's weird that even that it kind of bastardizes the whole Star Wars thing, it still looks like to be the best AB game that Rovio has made so far.

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The thing is, my iPod Touch is dying and I need a replacement, my cell phone provider has a point reward system in which I could trade in for a new phone. I don't want to turn this thread into "Which phone should I get?", if you want to give me advice, it's better to PM me, but it looks like the more recognizable ones are Xperia and Samsung Galaxy (Ace or Mini?).

The main reason I wanted a Kindle Fire is for reading books or comics on it. The Nexus does look better than the Fire HD, but I don't think the Nexus phone is in list of phone I can trade in my points for.

It's the recent Humble Bundle that reminded me that maybe I should get an Android, hopefully I can get one before the bundle expires.

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Just remember to always research your electronics purchases beforehand.

The good news is that you can root a Kindle Fire and unlock it, which I highly suggest. I've been playing Super Brothers: Sword and Sorcery from the Humble Bundle, and it is an absolutely brilliant little game. I tried it for the PC and the control scheme just doesn't work. You NEED a touch device for this thing. And now that I'm using one it's fantastic arty style and one of the best games I've ever played in terms of sound design make it very cool indeed.

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I feel like iOS still really leads the charge in gaming. I am an android user (and something of a FOSS fanatic really) but I can't deny that iOS gets most apps first and a lot of stuff seems to have a pretty long exclusivity windows (even if that is just waiting on port work). I would like to see google strap a social angle onto their gaming. Openfeint is [thumbs_down] I think something built into the OS and tied to your google account would make a LOT more sense.

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I feel like iOS still really leads the charge in gaming. I am an android user (and something of a FOSS fanatic really) but I can't deny that iOS gets most apps first and a lot of stuff seems to have a pretty long exclusivity windows (even if that is just waiting on port work). I would like to see google strap a social angle onto their gaming. Openfeint is [thumbs_down] I think something built into the OS and tied to your google account would make a LOT more sense.

OpenFeint is also getting shut down soon. If google would step up with gaming, it would 100% be tied into google plus somehow. That's where they've been heading for the past year full steam ahead. Can't wait to spam-post my highscores to my circles.

There is no way around iOS when it comes to games though. If you want the best video games platform on a smartphone or tablet you'll have to stick to apple. My anecdotish experience suggests that it is this way only (mostly) with games. For everything else there isn't much missing and then android has some fine exclusive non-game apps of it's own. That doesn't mean I think there aren't games on android; quite the contrary, android has been really good at the catching up game this past year. But the most unique games people keep talking about are usually exclusives to ios.

To get a bit back on topic here, these are some Android games I have enjoyed in the past:

- Z (yes the old pc game) on a tablet (can't really recommend it on a phone size screen)

- Final Fantasy 3 (the actual part 3, but this is the 3D DS remake which is pretty well done)

- Chrono Trigger (the iPhone port version which was well done)

- Draw Something

- Puzzle Quest 2

- Plants vs Zombies

- World Series of Poker ("WSOP")

- the usual suspects: PS1, SNES, GBA, ScummVM emulators (if you own the original games of course)

Something I haven't tried but heard good things about is Splashtop 2 for turn based PC games like XCom or Civ 5 via a tablet.

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I just got a droid tablet for my birthday, it's mainly for books, comics and... ScummVM. At this moment I'm playing Day of the Tentacle and I feel like I'm a little kid again! 8D

It's hard getting used to the controls, the FAQ says the camera button is the right click, but my tablet doesn't have a button for the camera.

I have a Cthulhu game from some indie bundle, but that's about it...

I'm probably going to get the Humongous games that are on Android, and Mame, but I don't know what else to put on it. What's the equivalent of TouchArcade for Droids?

Man adventure games look great on this tablet. Has anybody tried the Dosbox for Droid? I wouldn't mind having Commander Keen and Jill of the Jungle on this thing....

I know I'm going to complain about the terrible controls, but I want to play all my old games on this thing.

I don't know if this is off-topic, but what do kind of case do you use for a tablet? This isn't like an iPod, there are cases with support, cases that are like folders, sleeves.... It was easier when you just have to choose the design, not the type. :|

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Jesus, how can this thread be so dead... does anybody play anything on their Droid that isn't from a Droid Humble Bundle or ScummVM?

 

I was looking at the store and didn't see anything that ground breaking, I bought the Giana Sisters since it's the best platform game I know of on iOS, but I didn't really see anything else that peaked my interest since I already have the Room I and II.

 

I was sad to find out that Civ Revolution isn't on Droid, but FreeCiv looks interesting, it's like a port of Civ II? 

 

I know the Droid market isn't as good as the iOS one, but there has to be something interesting out there, right?

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I play Ingress, Androminion, Threes and Shattered Planet on my phone atm. Nothing all that interesting.

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Ingress is great, though I did lose steam (god, I just capitalized Steam and had to go back to fix that, so weird) when I hit L8 and there was drama in my local community. Still occupied much of my time and my thoughts for a good 3-4 months off and on, nonetheless.

 

Threes also gets my recommendation as much of the gaming community's. I like QuizUp for a pop culture trivia type game thing. Ridiculous Fishing is also on Android and I play that now and then, though I do feel like I missed the zeitgeist on that one.

 

I spend 99% of my gaming time on Android playing Puzzle and Dragons. There's a reason some hideous number like 80% of Japan's population plays it. It's Bejeweled/Puzzle Quest-ish game with Pokemon-ish RPG/collectathon elements and a nice social component that I basically can't stop playing. The game tells you every day how many days you've played it consecutively and I'm nearing my 300th day of continuous daily play.

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I like QuizUp for a pop culture trivia type game thing.

I played QuizUp for a little while, and then I thought about what their economic model is. Since there isn't any way to spend money in the app and I wasn't seeing any ads, the only thing I could guess is that by playing the game and picking categories, you are essentially creating a really specific profile which they can use/sell for targeted advertising. I know this sounds kind of tinfoil hat-ish, but the idea creeped me out, so I uninstalled it.

I haven't played much on my phone lately since it has a tiny amount of internal storage and I can't seem to move anything to my SD card. I have played a bit of Out There on my tablet though, and found it to be pretty interesting. It seems like a stripped down version of FTL that might even be a little more bleak than FTL. Actually now I just wish there was an Android port of FTL.

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I played QuizUp for a little while, and then I thought about what their economic model is. Since there isn't any way to spend money in the app and I wasn't seeing any ads, the only thing I could guess is that by playing the game and picking categories, you are essentially creating a really specific profile which they can use/sell for targeted advertising. I know this sounds kind of tinfoil hat-ish, but the idea creeped me out, so I uninstalled it.

I haven't played much on my phone lately since it has a tiny amount of internal storage and I can't seem to move anything to my SD card. I have played a bit of Out There on my tablet though, and found it to be pretty interesting. It seems like a stripped down version of FTL that might even be a little more bleak than FTL. Actually now I just wish there was an Android port of FTL.

 

There is a way to spend money in the app, you can buy time-limited XP boosters that actually are fairly expensive.

 

That said, the data collection thing you said could certainly be true. But I personally have no reason to trust QuizUp less than any other number of websites/services that could similarly develop a ridiculously specific profile for me. Can see why you might not like that possibility, though.

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I beat hoplite for the first time! 71 after exiting at depth 16.

Has Remo played this? Seems right up his alley.

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There is a way to spend money in the app, you can buy time-limited XP boosters that actually are fairly expensive.

 

That said, the data collection thing you said could certainly be true. But I personally have no reason to trust QuizUp less than any other number of websites/services that could similarly develop a ridiculously specific profile for me. Can see why you might not like that possibility, though.

 

I must have missed the boosters when I had it installed.

 

Anyway, I'm not trying to go off the grid or anything. I use enough Google services (Android included!) that I'm sure there are countless marketing profiles of me out in the ether. Still, some of the questions in QuizUp just felt like they were randomly generated from data scraped from Wikipedia questions rather than more authored like something like You Don't Know Jack. For some reason that seemed to make a difference in my impression of it.

 

On a happier note, I'll second graddy's point about Hoplite being pretty great. I haven't beaten it yet, but it is my go-to "waiting for the bus" game since it is small enough to install on my phone without any trouble. 

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Going through my apps almost all of the games have been from Humble Bundles, except for a few.

 

Threes.  Mmm.

 

Double Fine's Dropchord is installed... but haven't gotten to it yet... threes....

 

The original Kingdom Rush was in a bundle, but the sequel Frontiers hasn't been.  It's more of the same, which is fine by me!

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Super Stickman Golf 2 - physics-y golf game, free

 

Threes - a ripoff of Doge 2048

 

Neuroshima Hex - turn based strategy game played on a hex board. Very satisfying once you grok it. 

 

UniWar - Advance Wars on a hex board

 

Super Hexagon - Super Hexagons

 

Ridiculous Fishing - Fishing, also Ridiculous, maybe racist 

 

Out There - kind of like FTL but without all the fun parts, is basically fine

 

Elder Sign - Cthullu Yatzee, is also basically fine

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Huh, I just noticed something. As much as we loathe Google+, it's integrated with your Droid and what you play on it, and the best part? If a friend of yours gives a good rating to a game, it's likely to appear on the Google Play front page!

 

That's how I discovered Deep Dungeons of Doom, it's pretty great, it's a super simplistic rogue like game, you can pay for money and other things, but it doesn't seem necessary so far. 

 

All you can do is attack, defend and use an item if you have one, the game has "missions" that give money and reputation, which can be used to buy PERMANENT upgrades or a potion if you find a vendor and you have the money.

 

It's all about timing, the enemies telegraph well enough when they attack, but finding the exact time to block is a bit more difficult with some magical attack. Also, if you attack right at the same time the enemy does, it's considered a riposte and does extra damage.... the enemy can do the same to you if your not careful.

 

I was pretty happy and surprised to see I had collected one of the three items that I assume I need for some final dungeon. Did I mention how great the game looks?  :tup:

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