[Android] Lemmings-like game (WIP)

[LJLPM]

a glimpse to my current work-in-progress tileset, which uses black and white shades, because it reads very well on screen (very nice contrast, very good looking!):

[LJLPM]

In order to have a quick look at the created tilesets, I've edited the 1st post: it will gather the previews of existing tilesets http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />
Here are the current tilesets (atm, I've just focused on the Terrains. There is no animated Object yet).
Please note that each tileset will provide unique Terrains of course, but, for graphic comparisons, and when possible, I will use tilesets' common tiles for showing each type of Terrain (hence the Rock/Canyon, Ice, and Gray screens that show the same level)

1/ rock/canyon:
http://s8.postimg.org/tkdjddhid/tileset_rockcanyon1_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

2/ ice:
http://s14.postimg.org/owlsq0lpd/tileset_ice1_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

3/ desolation:
http://s13.postimg.org/evgbhi053/tileset_bw1_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

4/ pillar/sand:
http://s30.postimg.org/yg7259b8x/tileset_pillar2_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

5/ tech/sci-fi:
http://s27.postimg.org/59h5f566r/tileset_space0_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />


... bonus: here's another screenshot with the Rock/Canyon tileset, because I like how easy it is to create nice rocky landscapes with this tileset http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />
http://s18.postimg.org/6ri2rfvmh/tileset_rockcanyon2b_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[Prob Lem]

I must say, I absolutely adore the sci-fi tileset - it reminds me a little bit of the (far less detailed, by virtue of its host platform) sci-fi/city style tiles from the Atari XL/XE Lemmings clone, The Brundles (you can see the tileset http://youtu.be/83YOTj6f2sg?t=1m4s" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">from 1:04 in this video).

I also really love the ice set. The sparkliness comes across really well. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

[LJLPM]

Thanks http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" /> My favorite tileset is probably the "Ice" tileset: it's very clean on screen, and it has a nice "old videogame" look.
All the tilesets render well (even the "Desolation" tileset, although it doesn't look fun in the preview thumbnail), and they'll come with many Terrain items!

edit: "Pillar/Sand" tileset added

[LJLPM]

Thanks http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />! I keep on working on the tilesets, and here comes my "Brick" tileset:

http://s17.postimg.org/e87e8opvj/tileset_brick2_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[ccexplore]

Looking good! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />  I would actually advocate not doing the "common tiles for comparison" thing here.  At first I didn't even read that sentence and got the mistaken impression that some sets are just palette-swapped version of others. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" /> And even knowing that now, it still feels like the comparison is doing no favors to the tilesets being showcased.  Better to feature the things that are unique to each tileset to highlight their potentials.

[LJLPM]

Yes, I agree, it's not that good to use common tiles for showing the tilesets. I'll take time to create new levels for showing the Canyon, Ice, and Desolation tilesets (different level per tileset).

Below is a preview of the new tileset I'm working on: "Colors"/"Colorful". It's the game's 7th tileset.
It's not finished yet -I want to add more tiles- but it's already looking good, and I really like the in-game display (well, it's... colorful).

Here, the level and the tileset aren't hardcoded in the game.
I simply copied/pasted the level and the tileset to their respective directories on the tablet ("PC -> tablet" copy/paste, via USB), and then, in the game, I loaded the level using the game's "Load Custom Level" feature (it's this feature you would use to load levels you have created, or levels you've downloaded from the net). No difficult stuff, it's very easy to load custom levels in the game.

- designing the level in jLevelBuilder(top), level's preview screen(middle), playing the level(bottom)
http://s30.postimg.org/6fr7dhmw1/screenshot.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[LJLPM]

Still working on the game: no big changes, but I fixed many things I wanted more "polished", and I also re-coded/re-worked some parts of the game in order to improve the compatibility between different Android devices (while trying to maintain a stable soft!). The game seems really stable so far: this is cool!
But, I encouter some troubles with the audio part (there are some known issues with the Android Media Player): the audio part seems ok on the Nexus7 tablet (with a recent Android 4.4), but it's not the case on some other devices with lower Android versions (in tech terms, Exceptions are thrown, and I fear some stability issues then). Atm, I totally disabled music and sfx... dunno what to do with this yet... http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/undecided.gif" alt=":-\" title="Undecided" class="smiley" />

Anyway, some visual stuff now: one can zoom-out to see the whole level fit on the main screen (unlike the map below, it's animated with Objects' animations, so it's pretty cool to watch the entire level live http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />), and I've also added a slightly bigger zoom (it may be useful when playing the game on small screens). I like this "zoom" stuff, and you can see the result in the screenshot below.

- top:max zoom-out (whole level displayed), center: game's original  size, bottom: max zoom-in (it's pretty close, isn't it?)
http://s11.postimg.org/jzv3qgdlv/Screenshot_2014_12_17_small.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[LJLPM]

I've just made some experiments with level sizes, and the game works well with 3200x640px levels (= double height than in Lemmini's levels). Not really sure if I will actually use this feature, but here's a screenshot showing two stacked 3200x320 levels http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" /> (in the screenshot, I used the maximum zoom-out in order to see the whole level: it makes plenty of room for the Lemmings to evolve in, isn'it?). You could also notice the use of multi entrances and multi exits. And the Lemmings selection works well, too, as I succeeded in making Lemmings reach an exit while I was playing exclusively with the maximum zoom-out mode (very tiny Lemmings)! I really hope the game will make Lemmings fans + Android users happy, and I can tell you that the current result is very promising! And don't forget that you'll be able to create, load, and share your own levels!
Stay tuned!

- using the maximum zoom-out mode, one can see two stacked 3200*320 levels:
http://s15.postimg.org/kjdlwxjwb/Screenshot_2014_12_20.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[LJLPM]

 http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" />
Ok, what started as a simple experiment (see my previous post) is now fully handled by the game, so you can expect "big" levels in the game (levels that are freely scrollable, both on the vertical and the horizontal axises, and levels whose max dimensions are 3200x640px).

[LJLPM]

I've set a poll for Android-device owners that are interested in the game I'm coding: I would like to know what's the Android version of your device (phone, tablet, ...) ?

The game will likely require Android 4, and if you use Android 4.4, then the game can run 100% fullscreen (no Android stuff at all on screen, just the game running, and that's pretty neat!).

edit: the game won't use Android 4.4's full screen mode because when the player clicked on the map, at the very bottom of the GUI, it may lead to make the Android navigation bar re-appear (Android specs) and, thus, the player could exit the game while she/he just wanted to click on the map 

[namida]

4.4 on my phone, 4.0 (IIRC) on my tablet... I never use the latter though.

Should note that it's a semi-unofficial build I use. The highest official build for my phone is 4.3, but a different model of it does have an official 4.4 ROM, and I'm using a version of that that's been ported to the model I have.

[LJLPM]

Recently, I tested the game on an Android phone (Android 4.2), and the results are... stunning!
Everything fits well on screen, visual rendering is gorgeous, and the game is 100% playable on a phone's small screen!  Initially, this project's target devices were tablets (because of the tiny Lemmings), but this statement is no longer relevant as the game works very well on phones, too
Nevertheless, there's a bad news: I encountered a big nasty bug that doesn't occur on the tablet (Android 4.4), and, atm, I have absolutely no idea about what's going on with this bug. Argh! 
Finally, a little bit of teasing to conclude: friends who saw the game found it really, really cool! Stay tuned!

[RubiX]

Exciting.  Sounds like you are getting close to release.

Your tilesets sure do look fantastic.
Rubix

[LJLPM]

Thanks
I've pretty much finished coding the game, but there's still a lot of work to achieve before I can say the game is ready.

Here's a rough TODO list for you, guys, to better visualize the game's current status:
- fix a mysterious (memory?) bug that occurs on phones (Android 4.2) but not on tablets (Android 4.4) (while previous bugs were pretty easy to find and fix, this one really puzzles me...)
- about the tilesets: create some more tilesets + expand existing tilesets (recently, I've added new tiles to the sci-fi tileset) + add proper Objects to the existing tilesets (atm, for my debug purpose, I simply use Lemmings' doors, traps, lava, ...)
- design levels, of course (currently, I use quick'n dirty levels I've made to test the game -as well as Lemmini levels, too-)
- add new skills to the Lemmings, maybe? (for example, recently I thought about including interesting zombies mechanics, as found in namida's Doomsday Lemmings, or new stuff like that...). But, actually, I'll probably go easy on including new game-mechanics, because, otherwise, the game will never be finished...

I can say that this project (and I include the dev of jLevelBuilder for creating the levels) is my biggest video-game project so far: so be assured that this project is very hot! And, hopefully, you shouldn't be (too) disapointed with the result