Hello everyone,
I’m aware that there are a few interpreters available for Android, but I’m wondering if there is any software that allows you to publish individual titles? As in, publish your own, single game to the Android market?
Thanks!
- Andrew
hey, your pee simulator is well worth my 2 cents
Stop that, namekuseijin. You’re not adding to the conversation.
I have to wonder, does HH mind? After all, he did write a pee simulator.
I don’t think there is an easy one-click kind of export to Android for Inform currently. However with a little bit of work I think it could all be wrapped up into an Android game.
Do people prefer that, though? I am rather surprised when these questions crop up, I always thought an interpreter that played everything was better than a single apped game. Especially in this day and age of extreme of multi-platforming.
Authors clearly prefer that - the question sometimes pops up, and it was one of Alex’s sources of pride with Quest that he could appify a game, and Zarf had made spiffy apps of his games that had the benefit of adding some extra touches here and there. Now, Zarf’s case I can understand - it’s not just apping the game, it’s adding something extra to take advantage of the platform. But on the whole, do players prefer to have an app for each game as well?
I hope I’m on-topic enough, incidently.
Also, apologies for creating multiple appy words.
People who are already comfortable with IF might prefer a single interpreter that plays everything. But if you want to get people who don’t play IF to try your game, I think it’s a lot easier to point at a single app and say, “download this, it’s got everything you need.” Especially on mobile, where installing a game and opening it in a general interpreter is even fiddlier than it is on a PC.
Plus if you’ve got a single app for your game, you can list it individually on your app store(s) of choice and get all the associated benefits - you can sell it, get app store reviews, potentially even featured app status if your game does really well, etc.
Fair enough. I just hope the author is considerate enough to provide both versions - someone comfortable with IF might not wish to keep some games separate and cluttering things up.
Thanks! That game has been quite popular online. One person was even enough of a fan that it led to them getting me on the VIP list at the IGF awards this year. Also, I made a larger game that came 10th in IF Comp 2012, and was also nominated for an XYZZY award. So there.
Emerald’s post basically lists all my reasons for asking. I’ve poked around a little myself and have found some pretty nifty interpreters, but not one that would allow the individual release of a game. It would be easier to get people you find, run, and play your game, and as Emerald said, would allow you to get all the perks that come with releasing your own title. Plus, it would just be cool to be able to whip out your phone and say “check out this game I made, you can even easily download it yourself!”
I think it would be an interesting experiment to see which games (if any) did well, though there would be a risk of people just releasing anything with it, damaging the public’s perception of IF. There are only two of my games that I’d consider releasing (In a Manor of Speaking, and yes, Don’t Pee Yourself because it’s still surprisingly popular online today). But if there is nothing out there that can let me do it without doing a bunch of Android programming myself, I guess I’m out of luck.
In general the game author won’t be the same person maintaining the general interpreter. I’m not the one who supports iOS Frotz. So I’m not in charge of “providing” my games in that form.
As long as you “provide” the raw glulx/zcode files it should be enough, and this is what almost everyone does anyway.
With the exception of people who distribute quixe-only versions of their games. Grrrrrr.
If they’re distributing their game through Quixe you could just download the gblorb code… it’s not like they can prevent that.
How? I’ve only seen one example, and I don’t remember where it was, but it seemed like the Quixed game had the original code completely wrapped inside the Quixe interface, with .js files I couldn’t extract the game from. Unlike Parchment, where a little sleuthing can direct me to the actual game file.
If I’m wrong in my Quixe assessment, please do let me know.
Actually, I’ve found an example that’s always irked me severely. “It is your responsibility”. If I go to “http://frezned.com/responsibility/interpreter/” (arrived there mostly by experimentation) I have access to “http://frezned.com/responsibility/interpreter/It%20Is%20Your%20Responsibility.gblorb.js”. This is the file I had to conclude, after some reading up, that I could not extract the actual GBlorb from.
EDIT - …oh.
frezned.com/responsibility/It%20 … ity.gblorb
Never thought of that. Brill! Thanks for stimulating my gray cells!
Ah, Tom from Australia! He’s cool!
You just have to know the directory structure: frezned.com/responsibility/It%20 … ity.gblorb
If he hadn’t uploaded that it would be possible to extract it from the .js file. Cut off the top and bottom and it’s just a base64 encoded gblorb file.
Arr, I just this very second figured that out. 
But thanks a lot!
If you download the blorb.js file and shove it through a base64 decoder, you’ll get the original file out. There are various ways to do this. I would use a Python script:
cat Responsibility.gblorb.js | python -c 'import base64,sys; dat=sys.stdin.read(); dat = dat.split(chr(39))[1]; dat = base64.b64decode(dat); sys.stdout.write(dat)' > Resp.ulxNote that in this case the file is actually a js-encoded Glulx file, not Blorb. I’ll have to check and see if I7 always does this.
O-kaaaay… bit more complex than I’d normally be able to handle, but I’ll keep it in mind and, if necessary, browse for simpler ways (“Python” and “Ruby” are words that immediately bring me out in goosebumps - not being anything like a programmer, I have only the faintest notion of these species). Thanks for the info.