Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
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Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
Hi everyone,
first of all let me thank both cjhopman and alep for their both great Android versions.
As I have bought both and played both quite a lot (on a nexus 7 - and I also play it on the PC) I will try to share my thoughts about them and compare them; all criticism are there with the intent of giving suggestions, I would love to have each one take the best from the other!
Price:
I'm ok with paying for Wesnoth on Google Play; alep's version costs less, so we have a clear winner here.
Updates:
cjhopman's version didn't have any update in ages, whereas alep's one is constantly updated and fully aligned to latest PC versions. No contest here too.
Speed of play:
cjhopman's version is really faster than alep's, but it's based on 1.8, so it's not a fair comparison
Playability:
cjhopman's version has a great touch screen interface, alep's one uses mouse emulation which feels very different from touch; it's getting better from version to version, but I still think cjhopman's interface is far better and better suited to mobile devices.
Completeness:
cjhopman's version is missing several useful menu entries, not the ones you use all the time, but it's sometimes frustrating when you are used to PC version; alep's version seem to have every menu entry the PC has: great, but it's very common to pick the wrong option unless you have really tiny fingers or you use a stylus. I guess some middle ground between the two would be best.
Integration with PC:
Since alep's one is aligned with the latest on PC, you can simply sync the save games and literally pick up where you left on another device; I think this is alep's version killer feature. That's not possible with the other version.
Overall:
They are both very good, but I prefer alep's version, if only it had a better finger touch interface it would be almost perfect; also a "big", always visible, next unit button would be great!
One note, it is strange that alep's version has the same name as the PC game, but it's not the official one; I undestand that cjhopman's version came out years earlier, but I really think alep's one is far better in terms of completeness and faithfulness!
Thanks again, I hope this could be useful for someone.
first of all let me thank both cjhopman and alep for their both great Android versions.
As I have bought both and played both quite a lot (on a nexus 7 - and I also play it on the PC) I will try to share my thoughts about them and compare them; all criticism are there with the intent of giving suggestions, I would love to have each one take the best from the other!
Price:
I'm ok with paying for Wesnoth on Google Play; alep's version costs less, so we have a clear winner here.
Updates:
cjhopman's version didn't have any update in ages, whereas alep's one is constantly updated and fully aligned to latest PC versions. No contest here too.
Speed of play:
cjhopman's version is really faster than alep's, but it's based on 1.8, so it's not a fair comparison
Playability:
cjhopman's version has a great touch screen interface, alep's one uses mouse emulation which feels very different from touch; it's getting better from version to version, but I still think cjhopman's interface is far better and better suited to mobile devices.
Completeness:
cjhopman's version is missing several useful menu entries, not the ones you use all the time, but it's sometimes frustrating when you are used to PC version; alep's version seem to have every menu entry the PC has: great, but it's very common to pick the wrong option unless you have really tiny fingers or you use a stylus. I guess some middle ground between the two would be best.
Integration with PC:
Since alep's one is aligned with the latest on PC, you can simply sync the save games and literally pick up where you left on another device; I think this is alep's version killer feature. That's not possible with the other version.
Overall:
They are both very good, but I prefer alep's version, if only it had a better finger touch interface it would be almost perfect; also a "big", always visible, next unit button would be great!
One note, it is strange that alep's version has the same name as the PC game, but it's not the official one; I undestand that cjhopman's version came out years earlier, but I really think alep's one is far better in terms of completeness and faithfulness!
Thanks again, I hope this could be useful for someone.
Re: Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
I totally agree with your analysis, and specially with the conclusion:
I suggested alep to change the interface to something more touch-friendly, but he doesn't seem to be interested. If he did, I wiuld buy his version for sure (only tried the demo, but I really don't like the virtual mouse)Overall:
They are both very good, but I prefer alep's version, if only it had a better finger touch interface it would be almost perfect; also a "big", always visible, next unit button would be great!
Re: Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
I think it isn't missing interest, but rather technical reasons:gnomius wrote:but he doesn't seem to be interested
Would you really prefer a version 1.10 with the old interface that will never update to 1.12 or higher as the code isn't easily portable?alep wrote:Besides, I honestly don't like the approach of that version, which includes major modifications of the UI to adapt it to touchscreens.
I mean, with this approach every upgrade will need a great effort
Re: Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
That's my point; I'm not familiar with wesnoth's codebase, but I guess much of it has nothing to do with UI (AI, network, rules engine, sound, most of rendering and so on). All that would be unchanged.aquileia wrote:
Would you really prefer a version 1.10 with the old interface that will never update to 1.12 or higher as the code isn't easily portable?
A further step could be to decouple user interface and events, so to reduce the amount of unmergeable code; after all "unit selection event" is a concept by itself, whether it starts from a mouse click event or a "touch" event and the same could be done for all other events.
I mean, both cjhopman's and IOS port prove that touch screen works wonders with Wesnoth, making it extremely enjoyable on those platform, wouldn't it be worth the work?
That's what I mean by "best of both versions", I understand alep's point of view, but I think it would be better to build upon what's in common, instead of focusing on what is, and and always will be, totally different.
Re: Wesnoth for Android - wich one?
Yes, the iOS port from dai lin is superb, and has the best of both Android versions. That's what I would like for Android too! 