Angband on Android

[david3x3x3]

I'm working on getting Angband working on Android (the OS on the T-Mobile G1 phone). I've got a version ready for testing if anyone is interested. Just send me an e-mail.

[retrobits]

Angband for Android has been updated! The new version can be downloaded from angdroid.org or from the Android Market.

It's been a while since the last release, but it's finally here. Most of the improvements for this version were contributed by Dan Vernon and Sergey Belinsky.

This latest version is much faster than the old version and is based on a newer version of Angband (3.1.2v2). It uses the Android Native SDK to get the most speed possible out of your mobile device. Not much has been done to enhance the app for touchscreen users. An Android device with hardware keyboard is still pretty much a necessity to play.

The previous version save file format is incompatible with this version. If you got upgraded and lost a character that you were playing, don't worry. The character isn't lost. You can downgrade to the previous version by clicking the link at angdroid.org with your phone's web browser. After you are done with your old character, you can upgrade again.

FYI, for Samsung Epic 4G owners, this version has improved display/font support for hi-res WVGA devices. Best looking mobile Angband ever I think. And since one of the devs (*ahem*) has an Epic there's a handy undocumented feature: the Emoticon key is mapped to the Control key.

support site with forums:

http://angdroid.org

googlecode project page:

http://code.google.com/p/angdroid/

[d_m]

This is great news!

I'm going to install it on my Nexus One just to see what happens. Is there any obvious work that I could do to make the touchscreen more feasible?

[retrobits]

Is there any obvious work that I could do to make the touchscreen more feasible?

We could really use some help to dev and test for touchscreen support. If you are an experienced developer and have a passion to see improvements in touchscreen Android Angband we would be glad to add you to the project.

Right now there are 3 ideas, and all of them in my mind are for the newer wvga devices. There are no doubt other good ideas we haven't thought of.

1) Portrait orientation, keyboard on the bottom, Angband runs on the top, simple side-to-side flick scroller to move the view as needed. See the Android market port of Nethack for an example of this technique.

2) No keyboard, shrink display slightly, add a row or two of assignable buttons for macros.

3) Transparent keyboard overlaying the whole landscape fullscreen.

[Nick]

2) No keyboard, shrink display slightly, add a row or two of assignable buttons for macros.

This has been done in the WinCE port of FAangband, and to some extent in the NDS port of Vanilla.

3) Transparent keyboard overlaying the whole landscape fullscreen.

There is some of this in the NDS port, too - although I can't recall to exactly what extent. That probably doesn't help much, as I suspect the overlay mechanism will be platform specific, but it might give some ideas.

[david3x3x3]

1) Portrait orientation, keyboard on the bottom, Angband runs on the top, simple side-to-side flick scroller to move the view as needed. See the Android market port of Nethack for an example of this technique.

This might work especially well for for tablet devices running Android.

Another thing that might help, and I haven't looked at the code much, but I know that Angband frequently prompts you to choose from a list--an item from your inventory, equipment or the store, a spell from your book, etc. If all of these lists used the same API for getting a choice, we could hook into that for a platform specific UI that could let the user tap on one of the choices.

[Whelk]

Thanks for the new release. Very awesome.

[AngelicPenguin]

2) No keyboard, shrink display slightly, add a row or two of assignable buttons for macros.

I thought this worked great in the NDS port. As someone who used a lot of macros, you could easily assign your macros to these keys.

[takkaria]

This might work especially well for for tablet devices running Android.

Another thing that might help, and I haven't looked at the code much, but I know that Angband frequently prompts you to choose from a list--an item from your inventory, equipment or the store, a spell from your book, etc. If all of these lists used the same API for getting a choice, we could hook into that for a platform specific UI that could let the user tap on one of the choices.

Pretty much all menus in current HEAD use the same menu API (except item selection), and many of them have used the same interface since 3.0.8. The way it's done probably won't allow really easy integration into Android, but it certainly shouldn't be too difficult.

[retrobits]

We just uploaded a new version to the Android Market: Angband 3.1.2v2.4. New features include:

- virtual keyboard
- long press shows menu for display properties
- volume keys change font size
- visible game screen can be dragged
- improved save performance
- improved installer

some screenshots (Samsung Galaxy S):

[Derakon]

Have you considered hiding the player's stats, money, experience, etc? That would let you reclaim some columns for dungeon display, and that information doesn't need to be referred to often.

[AngelicPenguin]

Awesome update!

Are there any plans to add the above mentioned macro buttons? I found with the NDS port, I could play the game by hardly using the keyboard at all with those buttons.

[retrobits]

Awesome update!
Have you considered hiding the player's stats, money, experience, etc? That would let you reclaim some columns for dungeon display, and that information doesn't need to be referred to often.

Good idea. Currently in this Android port you can size the font appropriately and slide the sceen to the right a bit to hide the stats display -- maybe I could automate this somewhat, but stores would be a problem. It would be really nice if the Angband code would support more of a customized screen layout, but if it does I've not seen it. Also I'm hesitant to do major surgery on the base code.

Awesome update!

Are there any plans to add the above mentioned macro buttons? I found with the NDS port, I could play the game by hardly using the keyboard at all with those buttons.

I haven't played the NDS port yet, but I will give it a try and see what I can bring over to Android.


Thanks for the input.

[Nick]

It would be really nice if the Angband code would support more of a customized screen layout, but if it does I've not seen it.

FA has an option for having the status at the bottom of the screen; Un allows you to put it in a separate window.

Also I'm hesitant to do major surgery on the base code.

If you find a good solution, it's likely to end up in the base code.

[Zababa]

Good work with adding the virtual keyboard. Now I can finally play Angband on my Galaxy S. That was not possible some weeks ago when I first tried it.