iPhone port started!

[Max]

you're really fast - that looks amazing...

[nanjupaca]

Wow, it really does look amazing. But maybe the buttons on the startscreen could be bigger so they are easier to press?

[JemDaddyO]

Ok, now that I am in the right thread and everything....


SHAAAWeeeeett!!!!!

Let me know if I can help test in any way. I have a 1st generation 8GB iPhone.

As far as throwing in my 2 cents for the app I would not be shocked at a 100 MB size. Myst took up almost 500MB and needed even more than that to unpack and install on the iphone. Course, it doesn't have the replayability this will have. I eventually deleted it once I finished it. I definitely recommend cutting out lots of music. I rarely listen to game music and I see so many complaints about games that don't allow the gamer's own iPod music to be played rather than the game soundtrack. Sound effects are good, and even vibrations when a unit it killed, but music should be optional and not overdone.

Will the maps be zoomable? And will you keep the "next unit" hot-key function?

[Zarel]

It does indeed look amazing

A bit of unsolicited feedback, but...

The splash screen that I threw together, when the game is launched.

The loading screen that we know and love heh

If you fade the background of the splash screen a bit darker, I think that'd make the logo stand out more, and you could directly add the loading bar to make a new/better loading screen.

The main menu looks ok in lower resolution... But I might redo everything to give it some more polish...

Yes, definitely. I'd say, move Language into Preferences, and possibly make it scrollable. You should at least make the list fill the whole vertical space - it looks like it'd be pretty hard to tap anything otherwise.

Or maybe have it just be:

Campaign
Multiplayer
Load
More
Quit

And then put Tutorial, Add-ons, Language, Preferences, Credits into a "More" screen.

The campaign selection screen might need some work.

As this is a mobile device, it should obviously fill the whole screen. Other than that, I think it'd be good if you just resize the images a bit.

Campaign intros come out very well. The text is small but pretty readable, although the kerning is a bit too compact. Have to put some screenshots on the device and see how it looks there...

I dunno, it doesn't look like it'd be very readable on the device itself. I'd say make it slightly bigger.

Unscaled tiles look good at this resolution, and have the perfect amount of detail. Scrolling around the map will be quick and easy, by dragging a finger around on the screen. Tap on a unit to select it, tap on a spot you want to go to (which will show the footsteps), tap again on the spot to confirm and move.

An idea would be to have unit details disappear unless you actually have the unit selected (i.e. tap on it).

[Aethaeryn]

Nice screenshots.

The main menu looks ok in lower resolution... But I might redo everything to give it some more polish...

Make the menu buttons a little bigger since it's a touch screen?

And if it's only in one language, the language button is unnecessary.

[ancestral]

Nice screenshots.

The main menu looks ok in lower resolution... But I might redo everything to give it some more polish...

Make the menu buttons a little bigger since it's a touch screen?

And if it's only in one language, the language button is unnecessary.

Aethaeryn raises a good point, and actually, I think Apple has got some documentation or procedure on displaying apps in different languages. It seems like there might be a way to load it with strings of a certain language dependent on the system language, just as OS X apps work.

However, I could be very wrong

[KylePoole]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, just what I need after long hours of debugging!

I was thinking of moving the tips from the main menu and putting them on the loading screen, like most other games. That way the long loading times aren't so painful if you have something to read, plus the main menu can be redesigned. Maybe have a new character portrait each time, like the wesnoth.org homepage... I guess the main menu screenshot was a bit old, I recently increased the button size to be easily tappable, as seen on the campaign selection screen.

The map should be zoomable using the typical iPhone pinch method, since there is already code for zooming the map.
I was thinking of putting a "next unit" button above the "end turn" button, since I find myself using that hotkey all the time.
I cut out the language support because it takes up so much space, 60mb or something. Plus it had a string of dependencies that I would have to make work on iPhone. But of course I am biased because I only speak English...

Once it's running on the iPhone I'll ask for some volunteers

[teg]

Following your progression in the port is really interesting and it looks really good !

I was thinking of putting a "next unit" button above the "end turn" button, since I find myself using that hotkey all the time.

Wouldn't that be "dangerous" since you can click on end-turn unintentionally while pressing next-unit ? You should probably space them more.

[JemDaddyO]

Yes, you don't want inadvertent pressing of End Turn. But I see Next Unit as even more critical on the iPhone than on a PC since the view of the maps is likely to show fewer hexes. I use that hotkey all the time anyway to make sure I haven't forgotten about that stray scout that was "off the screen" in a remote corner of the map. The space bar hotkey might also need a place for those units you want to end their moves. Maybe tapping the unit twice. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll wait to see screenshots of a unit actually selected and receiving orders. I'm just thinking about minimizing menu tapping. Uniwar gives you options which is a nice feature and a good point of reference.

[Aethaeryn]

You're moving faster than I expected. Will a 1.6 be released or will this not be ready until a 1.8 release?

Will this keep up with the major stable version numbers (1.6, 1.8., 1.10 or 2.0, etc.)? Minor?

[Sangel]

That's some fast movement, KylePoole - congratulations. As you can see, you have a rapt audience for your project!

Must-haves:
- all mainline campaigns
- downloadable content
- cross-platform multiplayer

Other feature cuts, such as reduced animation frames or smaller graphics will be determined by the memory situation and/or performance. But my goal is to bring as much of the Wesnoth experience to mobile as I can...

While wishful thinking probably isn't very helpful, I must say that when you stated that you intend to include multiplayer, the first thing that popped into my head was "instant wireless match-ups with Apple's zero-config API!" - truly, that would be incredible. But that'd be something for the future. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing about your progress.

[KylePoole]

You're moving faster than I expected. Will a 1.6 be released or will this not be ready until a 1.8 release?

Will this keep up with the major stable version numbers (1.6, 1.8., 1.10 or 2.0, etc.)? Minor?

I think I'm on track for a release in another 6 weeks. I plan to keep the project updated with the other published versions on an ongoing basis, both major and minor.

[JemDaddyO]

I know we're a ways off but how does a demo or test of an iPhone app work exactly? I have known of other app devs who have used a body of beta testers, but never found out how they did it without loading the app on iTunes for all to see.

[Urs]

De-lurking just to say that I owe you my first born child.

Really, this is awesome! I've kept thinking this would be a really cool "what if", but the fact that your making it real is incredible.

/lurks.

[ancestral]

I know we're a ways off but how does a demo or test of an iPhone app work exactly? I have known of other app devs who have used a body of beta testers, but never found out how they did it without loading the app on iTunes for all to see.

The app development toolkit includes a simulator on the computer.