Author Topic: Blockland Remote App for Phones  (Read 2915 times)

Man, this topic got derailed fast

mainly because of your inability to detect a joke

mainly because of your inability to detect a joke
Sorry, I'm only ten


back on track

iirc coding for iphone is strictly limited to mac os/apple computers since the language it uses is limited to them. if this is true, this ironically means that only mac users - which tend to have a lot more issues with BL (eg shaders) than others - will be able to develop this (disregarding the possibility of multiple computers being owned, but whatever)

although this would be interesting, it probably wouldn't be effective. all methods of linking the phone to the computer is bound to have lag that would probably be unacceptable ingame. that and the fact that a mobile developer can actually make $$ if they spend their time on a serious app means this is unlikely to happen ever ;(

back on track

iirc coding for iphone is strictly limited to mac os/apple computers since the language it uses is limited to them. if this is true, this ironically means that only mac users - which tend to have a lot more issues with BL (eg shaders) than others - will be able to develop this (disregarding the possibility of multiple computers being owned, but whatever)

although this would be interesting, it probably wouldn't be effective. all methods of linking the phone to the computer is bound to have lag that would probably be unacceptable ingame. that and the fact that a mobile developer can actually make $$ if they spend their time on a serious app means this is unlikely to happen ever ;(
yup, and also adding apps to the app store requires a license which costs around 80$ a year. I'm sure that nobody would pay that for a simple Blockland app for Iphones.

honestly android would be the way to go -- the SDK and such is free and there's multiple app stores as well

honestly android would be the way to go -- the SDK and such is free and there's multiple app stores as well
Yup, it's easier I believe.

back on track

iirc coding for iphone is strictly limited to mac os/apple computers since the language it uses is limited to them. if this is true, this ironically means that only mac users - which tend to have a lot more issues with BL (eg shaders) than others - will be able to develop this (disregarding the possibility of multiple computers being owned, but whatever)
you can bypass this by using web sockets or a web-server middle man

In a completely conceptual sense, there really are only two ways this concept could be carried out.

1) Redevelop the entire engine into a 'pocket version' that runs on these mobile devices

or

2) Some kind of way to launch the game on your computer and then just remote-control the application through the internet

Neither of these are really great. The former one would obviously work better than the latter in a finished product, but the issue is that redeveloping the engine is a massive undertaking that I'm sure nobody would have the time to do. The latter option would obviously have other issues, the remote computer would need to have decent enough performance to produce a stream and then also have a decent internet connection to upload the video stream. Then to add the to obscurity of usage the phone you want to use it on would need to have an internet connection that not only could download the streaming video, but also have a low enough latency to make the controls feasible and not imperatively delayed. So in most cases you would only get a fast enough connection by being on the same LAN, which defeats the purpose of the mobility.

tl;dr: no.

Who said we had to have a video stream? The idea is just to make it a controller - it doesn't have to be playable from the phone

Who said we had to have a video stream? The idea is just to make it a controller - it doesn't have to be playable from the phone
I did seem to misunderstand this concept overall, but now I'm a bit dubious on how useful this really could be. I'd think the phone would just be a clumsy secondary control, like a worse alternative to using a controller.

This would be a great way to eat up data, but it'd be worth it.


I did seem to misunderstand this concept overall, but now I'm a bit dubious on how useful this really could be. I'd think the phone would just be a clumsy secondary control, like a worse alternative to using a controller.
The concept I come up with is not in any means use the phone as a controller for the game except for controlling vehicles which frankly would be easier to do and quite fun, it's basicly just an extension of the menus and other things.

This would be a great way to eat up data, but it'd be worth it.




wifi