Pro user: Google Play wants to promote two of my apps - but demands the xxhdpi icon

Solar2D Android
#1

Hi,

it’s always good news (we all need to make a living) when Google Play contacts you and wants to promote not one, but two of your apps (“Freeze!” and “Little Rainbow Fish” in my case).

But:

They send me a list of things I have to do to make this happen, and one of them is to

* include the xxhdpi icon

Here’s the quote from the e-mail from the Google Play Review Team:

  • The launcher icon has to be uploaded in an xxhdpi density, so it can be displayed correctly in higher screen density devices:

http://developer.android.com/design/style/iconography.html

Of course I told them that this is not possible with the Corona Labs SDK (Pro user, I know that I would be able to fix this with the enterprise edition), but well - they just asked me to make it happen nonetheless.

I know that you have lots of things to do, but this one is quite urgent - where is the sense in cool new features, when I cannot get promoted because of already well known problems? :slight_smile:

Best,

Andreas

#2

Hi Andreas,

Congratulations! I think an APK is just a .ZIP file with another extension, so you can probably rename it to a .ZIP file, unzip the contents, add the xxhdpi icon and add it’s name to some list (do a search for another icon name to find the right place) and then re-ZIP the hole package and rename to .APK again.

Completely untested, but seems feasible in my mind :wink:

#3

Hi Andreas,

Does it not work if you simply include the an Icon-xxhdpi.png file in your project directory?

  • Andrew
#4

No, Joshua Quick already posted about this:

Corona Simulator builds do not currently support xxhdpi icons.  Corona only supports the icons documented here…

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#android

 

@Thomas6:

I think this won’t work, you’ll have to do all the codesingning stuff. Had to do this a long time ago when I used Adobe AIR and packaged the runtime into the APK, it was quite an effort.

So the best solution would be for Corona Labs to support the xxhdpi icons, because at some point in time they have to support it, so now would be best because it is a blocker. Please? :slight_smile:

Best,

Andreas

#5

Andreas,

xxhdpi icon support will be available in daily build #1204.  That build has had all of its sample projects updated to use our new “Icon-xxhdpi.png” icon file, which is 144x144 pixels.  This is the same size as an iPad retina app icon.  We’ve tested our xxhdpi icon support on a New Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia Z… and it works great!  Sorry to keep you (and others) waiting for this feature.  (So much to do, so little time.)

#6

Hi Joshua,

this was fast - thanks a lot! And keep it up - it’s great that you’re always implementing new stuff and still are prepared to act fast if something comes up!

Best,

Andreas

#7

Happy to help!  We definitely try our best!

It looks like our daily build system ran into some problems and didn’t publish the daily build.  Sorry about that.  I was hoping to make this change available to you last weekend.  We’re having our IT guy look into this issue now.

#8

Andreas, the daily build supporting xxhdpi app icons is available now.

#9

Hi Joshua,

thanks a lot, just downloaded the new daily build.

And no problem with the weekend, Google sent me a big list with things to change/optimize, they even demand that I change my “Freeze!” icon because they don’t like the rounded corners (I used the same icon for iOS and Android, and now they want me to change the icon and use rounded corners with a maximum radius of 10% of the icon radius).

But whatever, Android 4.3 looks great and if they promote my game for free it’s the least I can do. :slight_smile:

Best,

Andreas

#10

Well, I guess this justifies my reason for making a separate 144x144 pixel “Icon-xxhdpi.png”, because the iPad “Icon-72@2.png” is 144x144 pixels too.  I was briefly thinking maybe I should support using the iPad retina app icon as an xxhdpi icon, but thought maybe developers would like the option to make a separate set of Android icons.  Or perhaps icons that more closely resemble the themes on iOS and Android.

#11

Yes, definitely a good call. I think they started this app icon micromanagement with the release of Android 4.3, and who knows what they will come up with next, like every icon needs a red bandana or the icon can only be half size for free apps. :slight_smile:

#12

Hi Andreas,

Congratulations! I think an APK is just a .ZIP file with another extension, so you can probably rename it to a .ZIP file, unzip the contents, add the xxhdpi icon and add it’s name to some list (do a search for another icon name to find the right place) and then re-ZIP the hole package and rename to .APK again.

Completely untested, but seems feasible in my mind :wink:

#13

Hi Andreas,

Does it not work if you simply include the an Icon-xxhdpi.png file in your project directory?

  • Andrew
#14

No, Joshua Quick already posted about this:

Corona Simulator builds do not currently support xxhdpi icons.  Corona only supports the icons documented here…

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#android

 

@Thomas6:

I think this won’t work, you’ll have to do all the codesingning stuff. Had to do this a long time ago when I used Adobe AIR and packaged the runtime into the APK, it was quite an effort.

So the best solution would be for Corona Labs to support the xxhdpi icons, because at some point in time they have to support it, so now would be best because it is a blocker. Please? :slight_smile:

Best,

Andreas

#15

Andreas,

xxhdpi icon support will be available in daily build #1204.  That build has had all of its sample projects updated to use our new “Icon-xxhdpi.png” icon file, which is 144x144 pixels.  This is the same size as an iPad retina app icon.  We’ve tested our xxhdpi icon support on a New Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia Z… and it works great!  Sorry to keep you (and others) waiting for this feature.  (So much to do, so little time.)

#16

Hi Joshua,

this was fast - thanks a lot! And keep it up - it’s great that you’re always implementing new stuff and still are prepared to act fast if something comes up!

Best,

Andreas

#17

Happy to help!  We definitely try our best!

It looks like our daily build system ran into some problems and didn’t publish the daily build.  Sorry about that.  I was hoping to make this change available to you last weekend.  We’re having our IT guy look into this issue now.

#18

Andreas, the daily build supporting xxhdpi app icons is available now.

#19

Hi Joshua,

thanks a lot, just downloaded the new daily build.

And no problem with the weekend, Google sent me a big list with things to change/optimize, they even demand that I change my “Freeze!” icon because they don’t like the rounded corners (I used the same icon for iOS and Android, and now they want me to change the icon and use rounded corners with a maximum radius of 10% of the icon radius).

But whatever, Android 4.3 looks great and if they promote my game for free it’s the least I can do. :slight_smile:

Best,

Andreas

#20

Well, I guess this justifies my reason for making a separate 144x144 pixel “Icon-xxhdpi.png”, because the iPad “Icon-72@2.png” is 144x144 pixels too.  I was briefly thinking maybe I should support using the iPad retina app icon as an xxhdpi icon, but thought maybe developers would like the option to make a separate set of Android icons.  Or perhaps icons that more closely resemble the themes on iOS and Android.