16 replies to this topic

[Mikko_M]

So would you like the opportunity to play MOO 1 on your Android, iOS or Windows mobile phone or tablet? Personally I think MOO 1, with probably just a few graphics updates, could be a great candidate for a mobile game, as I have heard that it has more simple gameplay mechanics than MOO 2.

 

Also another reason why I am suggesting MOO 1 and not MOO 2, is that at least I personally only came to play the MOO game series after MOO 2 was released, so I don`t have much experience with MOO 1. And as MOO 1 is already as old as it is I imagine that there are many players out there just like me who don`t really know MOO 1 so well. So basically Wargaming could sell MOO 1 almost as a completely new game.

 

So what do you think? Should a MOO 1 mobile game be made?

[Mikko_M]

EmP64213, on 21 June 2016 - 06:49 PM, said:

 

They can offer Ray Fowler a few millions for RotP source code and make an Android port with MoO name.

 

​But do they need to do that, since as far as I know they own both the rights and the source code to MOO 1?

[Anguille_1]

I would get it at once

[BitGameReviews]

I've bugged and bugged Ray Fowler about making a mobile version of ROTP.  It sounds like it would be a pretty big project which he's understandably not interested in doing.  Hopefully when he make the source code available somebody will pick up the torch. 

 

StarBase Orion 2 is also in the works however Rocco has been very quiet about it.  Hopefully because he's too busily working on it. 

[BitGameReviews]

EmP64213, on 23 June 2016 - 06:32 PM, said:

 

Really? Is it going to be made for any platform I own this time?

 

​multi-platform this time  

[RayFowler]

BitGameReviews, on 23 June 2016 - 09:21 AM, said:

I've bugged and bugged Ray Fowler about making a mobile version of ROTP.  It sounds like it would be a pretty big project which he's understandably not interested in doing.  Hopefully when he make the source code available somebody will pick up the torch. 

 

It works fine on Windows and Linux-based devices. Java is the closest thing to a universal programming language now, which is why I chose it. Apple and Google have both made conscious decisions to restrict their mobile environments to applications made with their proprietary development platforms.

 

As it stands now, the ROTP source code is in a form that will run on Windows/Linux/Mac PCs and tablets for the forseeable future because it is coded to a universal open standard. That's far more important in the long run than making a version for iOS or Android that will have to be constantly updated to avoid breaking with each OS update.

[BitGameReviews]

RayFowler, on 24 June 2016 - 01:12 PM, said:

 

It works fine on Windows and Linux-based devices. Java is the closest thing to a universal programming language now, which is why I chose it. Apple and Google have both made conscious decisions to restrict their mobile environments to applications made with their proprietary development platforms.

 

As it stands now, the ROTP source code is in a form that will run on Windows/Linux/Mac PCs and tablets for the forseeable future because it is coded to a universal open standard. That's far more important in the long run than making a version for iOS or Android that will have to be constantly updated to avoid breaking with each OS update.

 

I love what your doing with ROTP so no complaints on my part. 

[RayFowler]

EmP64213, on 24 June 2016 - 12:50 PM, said:

 

That is true in the case of iOS. Android is way more forgiving about what, from where and for which OS version particular app is.

 

My real-world experience with mobile app development for iOS and Android is just the opposite. Maintaining an Android app is much more work than an iPhone app.

 

When iOS upgrades, everyone upgrades. You make your change and everyone is happy. You are essentially targeting two versions of the OS, at most, and there is a very limited set of hardware and screen configurations you have to worry about.

 

When Android upgrades, very few existing users upgrade. So you end up making changes to work with the new Android, while keeping in place a patchwork of old code needed to keep the game running on old versions. In addition, there are lots of little incompatibilities caused by vendor-specific changes to their installed versions of Android. And users don't care about any of that. If your app has a bug on their cheap phone with a version of Android from two years ago, then it's crap and gets a one-star review on the store.

 

It's why more mobile devs build iphone apps.

Edited by RayFowler, 25 June 2016 - 04:51 PM.

[RayFowler]

EmP64213, on 25 June 2016 - 02:18 PM, said:

I was under impression that more money can be earned on iOS platforms, not that development is more expensive on Android. I don't have experience with iOS development so but as an user I've got an impression that devs HAVE to update constantly or else something will explode with App Store. With Android development I do have some experience, it was back in 4.0.4 (Ice cream sandwich) era and there was still 65% devices on OS version 2.3 (Gingerbread). The solution was to target old OS and provide new OS features where possible. There were ways to make it quite painlessly, sometimes with XML configuration, sometimes with an simpe "if" clause so you could basically developed an app for one and half OSes. As long as you followed Google's design guidelines your app worked everywhere and I'm confident that .apk made 5 years ago would work on the newest Android (assuming reasonable app features).

 

PC has similar problems you mentioned, heterogeneous hardware, multiple OS versions with different applied patches and virtually zero guarantied runtime libraries. 

 

There's more money to be earned on iOS because they don't sell cheap phones. Everyone with an iPhone is someone who can afford an expensive phone, so it's a great market for sellers.

 

Android code is harder to maintain (imo) over the long term because of the long-life of old versions. With iOS, there's a fixed upgrade effort every year or two, and that's it. But of course iOS requires you to use Objective-C or Swift. And least Android lets you pretend to use Java.

[Mikko_M]

BitGameReviews, on 24 June 2016 - 12:12 PM, said:

 

​multi-platform this time  

 

  Well it better be since the iOS version is useless for me.

[GeneralDirection]

While an interesting idea, I don't think you can achieve the same experience simply with graphics updates. The UX for MoO 1 was designed for CRT monitors, whereas pretty much every smart device uses more of a rectangular screen. It would probably need some heavy UX polish / changes. Not to mention the fact that MoO 1 was not designed for touch screen controls.

 

Then there are battery life concerns since smart devices are not really designed for continuous play over a number of hours like 4X games traditionally require. You'd either need to dramatically redesign the pacing with 10-15 minute sessions in mind, or cross your fingers and hope the same level of enjoyment can be taken from the "vanilla" design with the battery as a limiting factor.

 

It's an interesting thought for sure, and it would be cool to see any 4X game do well on mobile, but there are some design challenges based on the nature of the genre that you'd need to overcome. I think once battery life is less of a concern you'll start to see more longer session games surface.

[BitGameReviews]

GeneralDirection, on 01 July 2016 - 06:23 PM, said:

While an interesting idea, I don't think you can achieve the same experience simply with graphics updates. The UX for MoO 1 was designed for CRT monitors, whereas pretty much every smart device uses more of a rectangular screen. It would probably need some heavy UX polish / changes. Not to mention the fact that MoO 1 was not designed for touch screen controls.

 

Then there are battery life concerns since smart devices are not really designed for continuous play over a number of hours like 4X games traditionally require. You'd either need to dramatically redesign the pacing with 10-15 minute sessions in mind, or cross your fingers and hope the same level of enjoyment can be taken from the "vanilla" design with the battery as a limiting factor.

 

It's an interesting thought for sure, and it would be cool to see any 4X game do well on mobile, but there are some design challenges based on the nature of the genre that you'd need to overcome. I think once battery life is less of a concern you'll start to see more longer session games surface

​Thanks for commenting on our thread.   You would be surprised of the capabilities of modern mobile devices.  They have pretty robust graphics capabilities and still can maintain decent battery life.  An example is XCOM:EW with is almost a pixel perfect port from the console version and I can play it for hours on my iPad.  A turn based 4X game would be less demanding then something like XCOM.   Another good example is Planar Conquest which is a reboot of Master of Magic.  It runs great on mobile devices and isn't battery life constrained.

[Archont4000]

There is Civilization game for smartphones/tablets and it works well. You just save if battery is running low. This way it is possible to play one scenario/map for several days.

So MoO1 would be amazing to have on mobiles.

[Anguille_1]

I play Imperium Galactica II on my android tablets and it runs for hours.

 

Also Armada 2526 on my Windows tablets run great without a big battery consumption. However, games like Sid Meier's starships or Civilization V consume a lot of battery.

[Mikko_M]

GeneralDirection, on 01 July 2016 - 06:23 PM, said:

While an interesting idea, I don't think you can achieve the same experience simply with graphics updates. The UX for MoO 1 was designed for CRT monitors, whereas pretty much every smart device uses more of a rectangular screen. It would probably need some heavy UX polish / changes. Not to mention the fact that MoO 1 was not designed for touch screen controls.

 

Then there are battery life concerns since smart devices are not really designed for continuous play over a number of hours like 4X games traditionally require. You'd either need to dramatically redesign the pacing with 10-15 minute sessions in mind, or cross your fingers and hope the same level of enjoyment can be taken from the "vanilla" design with the battery as a limiting factor.

 

It's an interesting thought for sure, and it would be cool to see any 4X game do well on mobile, but there are some design challenges based on the nature of the genre that you'd need to overcome. I think once battery life is less of a concern you'll start to see more longer session games surface.

 

Archont4000, on 12 July 2016 - 05:35 AM, said:

You just save if battery is running low.

 

And there you have your answer for the battery problem, as based on my own experience with my recent smart phone you can`t really avoid any decent looking game consuming a lot of battery. That is just the way it is with smart phones today.

 

And as for the graphics the changes are you currently at least know of if not still work with a certain someone who might be a pretty good fit for MOO 1 graphics redesign.

Edited by Mikko_M, 12 July 2016 - 02:44 PM.

[Argordon]

If one was to try to bring MOO to iPhones... may as well bring this latest version, dumbed down to a tiny galaxy with a small increase in planets per system.

[mikeva1]

just FYI: I have a Nextbook 8" tablet running Android. I purchased Dosbox and Dosbox Manager for Android from the Google store.. Then I installed the original dos based Moo. It plays very well and is.... interesting... to play on a touchscreen system. True, it can be a pain at times but still fun.

 

I still prefer it on my desktop.