Hydra Slayer version 13.0a for Android

[Z]

Hydra Slayer has an version for Android devices now!

The gameplay is almost exactly the same as in the normal desktop version (includes the auto-explore mode which did not make it into the desktop version yet and there are some other minor changes).

I think Hydra Slayer is better for handhelds than an average roguelike, because the amount of different keys required to play is small (4 movement directions + switch weapon + inventory + pickup, and you rarely have to do anything else), and thus should work for devices without keyboard. The Android version uses the different screen type (things are rearranged a bit in portrait mode), buttons, and has graphics, which make it quite a pleasant experience.

Website: link

EDIT: Corrected the first line.

[Darren Grey]

Wow, cool!  Works nicely on my HTC Desire, but it doesn't seem to recognise the volume controls for weapon switching.  Would be nice to have one of the icons dedicated to this, since it's a frequent command to use.

How did you get the text working on Android?  This is the first game I've seen to use a proper ASCII display.

[Z]

Wow, cool!  Works nicely on my HTC Desire, but it doesn't seem to recognise the volume controls for weapon switching.  Would be nice to have one of the icons dedicated to this, since it's a frequent command to use.

Thanks! Strange, volume control works for me both on my phone and on the emulator...

How did you get the text working on Android?  This is the first game I've seen to use a proper ASCII display.

I just display the characters, nothing special in this...

EDIT: I still don't know why volume control keys do not work for Darren, but you can now change weapons by touching them (well... this one needs much precision) or by pressing buttons which are drawn on screen. Also you can touch menu items and the Back key is working correctly.

[kipar]

Idea is really cool, but on my ZTE V9 its absolutely unplayable.
1. Sound buttons works, but make stupid beep each time i press them.
2. There are no more hardware buttons on my device (only menu,home,back) so i must use menu for every action.
3. I don't understand how to start playing without for choosen race (because when i double tap it chooses random race and start a game with it).

On-screen keyboard (or some method to show default onscreen keyboard) would be great.

[Z]

Idea is really cool, but on my ZTE V9 its absolutely unplayable.
1. Sound buttons works, but make stupid beep each time i press them.
2. There are no more hardware buttons on my device (only menu,home,back) so i must use menu for every action.

Yeah, I am currently making it more playable on button-less devices. The idea from version 12.2 was poor and I'm going to replace it with a new one.

3. I don't understand how to start playing without for choosen race (because when i double tap it chooses random race and start a game with it).

I'll document it better.

On-screen keyboard (or some method to show default onscreen keyboard) would be great.

Have you tried long pressing the menu button? This shows the onscreen keyboard for me on my Samsung Spica (in any app), but I don't know if it is universal.

Sorry for releasing unplayable versions, but I don't know much about Android development and I don't know all the devices. I'll need some reports to make it work everywhere.

[Z]

OK. The new version (12.3) is out. Hopefully it will work great on all Android devices (with buttons, without buttons, with keyboard...).

Also the analyzer algorithm has been improved, and I have checked that I don't need to restrict its limits (I have loaded my winner and Potion of Knowledge still works nicely with his equipment), so there are no longer differences between gameplay on desktop and Android (except one minor improvement).

[Z]

OK, I have finally decided to look for the bug which caused Hydra Slayer for Android to freeze and close sometimes (quite often, actually). The bug is fixed now. Also the game runs faster now due to an optimization in transferring the screen data from JNI to Android.

In the meantime (that is, since my last announcement on these forums) I have fixed some interface issues. I hope that it should be playable on most Android devices now, but please tell me if you have any suggestions for improvements.

For non-Android users, there is just one small bug fixed (auto-explore mode sometimes worked incorrectly).

Download Hydra Slayer for Android from the Android Market, or the PC version from the website.

Also, I have started a blog where I will post new releases of my projects.

[Z]

A new version of Hydra Slayer for Android (13.0a) is released on the Android Market!

On one hand, this fixes some bugs. You can now show the soft keyboard ("show keyboard" in the menu), and the game should now detect corrupted savefiles, and offer to remove them (instead of silently crashing again and again). It also should no longer create empty savegames (which resulted in a slayer in an empty level). There are some other minor improvements.

I am also experimenting with Swarm, which is a SDK for enhancing Android games with social features such as achievements, leaderboards, and friend lists. So, you will now be able to compare your scores against your friends, and fight for achievements. Since some people might not want it (due to Internet permissions or a slighly larger size) you need to download another version of Hydra Slayer, named Hydra Slayer Swarm.

Since these features are only for Android, there is no new version for desktop.

Good luck Hydra slaying!