Android Builds Confusion

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m a bit confused as to the building options for Android devices and their subsequent Market Places, well except for nook and Google Play (old name Android Market) those seem fairly straight forward, but my confusion surrounds the Amazon App Store / Kindle Fire. Yes I know there is the build option for Amazon / Kindle however -

I was filling out the details of my app on Amazon’s App Store and one of the items you have to fill out is “Form Factor” with options of Phone / Tablet / Phone + Tablet. Now if you pick Phone + Tablet you still only have the ability to upload one binary (apk).

Now I just downloaded the Amazon Market on my normal droid device. A droid X. Now I understand that the resolutions are totally different between my droid X and the Kindle Fire, also I’m building with the following options -

[lua]application =
{
content =
{
width = 320,
height = 480,
scale = “letterbox”,
fps = 30,
antialias = true,
},
}[/lua]

Now I had someone test my game out on the Nook, and there are no apparent issues there with these settings, but I’m worried about the Kindle Fire and how the game will deploy to both non Kindle Fire devices and Kindle Fire devices when submitting via the Amazon Appstore.

From the Amazon Developer FAQ -
https://developer.amazon.com/help/faq.html#KindleFire

How do I submit my app for Kindle Fire?
Kindle Fire features instant access to the Amazon Appstore for Android. To submit your app for Kindle Fire, simply join the Amazon Appstore Developer Program and submit your app using the Amazon Appstore Developer Portal. If you already have an app published in the Amazon Appstore for Android, we will automatically review your app for Kindle Fire.

From a post here made by Jonathan -
http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/11/building-and-publishing-kindle-fire-apps/

Goes over what to do, (great walk through) but doesn’t address if there are any issues with an app downloaded to a non kindle fire device.

Is there anything I should be worried about with deploying to Amazon Appstore or will this “just work”?

Thanks! [import]uid: 57050 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 323837[/import]

#2

Well my first suggestion is to “Breath” find the “Don’t Panic” button and relax. All is good.

If your app looks good on the Nook with its 1024x600 screen and it looks good on your Droid’s 800x480, then any app downloaded to either a Fire or a Phone should be fine. The Fire’s screen is pretty much same as the Nook. The only issue is a 20 pixel high soft-key button on the bottom, so as long as you keep anything important out of that area or put a conditional in your code to move anything up 20px if you’re on the fire.

Then if you’re happy with it on the 16:9 shaped screen of the Droid, then any other 16:9 will be fine too.

[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 95994[/import]

#3

Thanks for the quick response!

How do you find out if you’re on the Kindle Fire? I know you can find out if you’re on Android or iOS.

Also it looks like the simulator doesn’t help with that 20px soft-key button, so it’s hard to plan for that without the device. Plus wouldn’t that translate slightly different based on my build configurations? [import]uid: 57050 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 96011[/import]

#4

The only way I found out mine was on the Fire was by checking a Fire in Best Buy. I don’t know if I was just an android app or a KF specific one or not.
[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 96013[/import]

#5

Heh, that’s interesting –

Best Buy Agent “Can I help you with something?”
Corona SDK Developer “Nope, just testing my game.”
BBA “You’re what?”
CSD “Testing my game.”
BBA “Why?”
CSD “I don’t have one of these at home and you guys have a bunch!”
BBA “Uh… I think this is against store policy.”
CSD “Well, you see, I want to make sure my game works on the device before I buy a device for testing.” (aka Jedi Mind Trick)
BBA “Oh? Well carry on then.”

I guess this brings up an interesting observation. Since you can put your APK on a site and download it and install it to any device outside of the “Android App Markets” this would be a good way to market no? (probably a bit off topic)

Also … too bad we can’t get deals on devices…
[import]uid: 57050 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 96016[/import]

#6

Well I’m a cheap skate and I didn’t want to spend 99 cents to put my game on there (and leave a trail of login information)

I just went to install apps and looked it up in the app store application.

I’ve been tempted to like install my free apps when I go into Apple Stores. But there is that whole login/password business.

As for Androids, yea, it might be a free way to get some exposure.
[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 96019[/import]

#7

There’s an Optus (mobile phone dealer/telco) store in Sydney with a lot of my apps floating around on display models :wink: [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 23837 reply_id: 96029[/import]