Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Feedback and support for the Android versions of Osmos
kaiw
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Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Sun Aug 16, 2015 12:59 am

Hi there

I have two devices with the same google account (one of them with a SIM card) and would like to play Osmos HD in multiplayer mode when on the road.

What I tried:
- Bluetooth -- does not work on Android
- connect devices via portable wifi hotspot
- - "In The Room" -- does not work, since technically the two devices not on the same Wireless network
- - "Google Play Games" -- does not work either. Can't connect to myself. I even put myself in the circle on google plus, but cannot select it (visible but greyed out in Osmos HD).

What is the right way to do this? (Sorry, didn't find anything in the Forum)

Best regards,
Kai

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eddybox
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby eddybox » Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:10 pm

Good question kaiw! Indeed, we added bluetooth support on iOS specifically for this use-case, but bluetooth on Android proved too erratic/unreliable. The only thing I can think of is to create a 2nd Google account to use on one of the devices and play over Google Play Games. (I've done this myself in the past for testing purposes.) Hope that helps!

kaiw
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:04 pm

Hi Eddy

Thanks for the reply. However, a second google account would mean to repurchase all the apps/games, reconfigure all the services etc. on the second device. Not really an attractive option.

If one device acts as a hotspot for the other, the two devices can obviously communicate with each other. Can't you exploit that?
Any other ideas?

Best regards
Kai

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eddybox
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby eddybox » Sun Aug 30, 2015 7:57 pm

Hi Kai,

Your hotspot idea is interesting, Kai. I don't have an Android device that can act as a hotspot (no phone, just some small & large tablets), but I just tried connecting my iPhone and iPad in that way. (Bluetooth off on both devices. iPhone acting as a hotspot and iPad connected to the iPhone's hotspot/wifi.) And it worked! I was able to play Osmos between the two devices in local mode. Hopefully it'll work on Android devices as well! Have you given it a try?

As for creating a 2nd Google Play account, it could just be a basic account that you wouldn't normally use. I'm pretty sure you can switch between Google+ profiles on a device, so you could still use your primary account on both devices (for downloads, etc.), but switch to a 2nd account on one device when you want to play Osmos.

Anyways, curious to hear how that hotspot thing goes for you!

Cheers,
Eddy

kaiw
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:37 am

Hi Eddy

I connected the two devices via the hotspot-WLAN and tried "In the Room", but the device that acts as hotspot tells me "The world is muted". The other device tries connect to the first one (it finds the first device correctly), it tells me "Connecting to", but doesn't succeed.

I then tried the other idea, a second google play account. I created that and added each other in circles. I opened osmos hd on both, choose multiplayer, google play, and selected the opponent on both devices, then "play". Both devices then showed "waiting for players", and the opponent's status was "invited". after a while, both devices timed out "not enough players".
I assume, I shouldn't have both devices inviting each other, but one inviting and the other accepting the invitation. However, when having one device inviting, the second one never told me that I'm invited and should accept.

Did I do something wrong?

Best regards
Kai

P.S. I'd prefer the hotspot option, since it doesn't incur network charges, which can be quite high when abroad. And google doesn't need to know everything... ;-)

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eddybox
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby eddybox » Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:29 am

Thanks for trying all that, Kai!

Weird about the hotspot "World is Muted" thing. I guess iOS and Android detect wifi connectivity a bit differently. =/

We've found that Google Play Game Invitations don't work very well unfortunately. (Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. We haven't found much rhyme or reason as to why.) Please try an auto-match game between the two devices. (ie. Have each just look for a random opponent.) The "lobby" isn't that busy these days, so if you initiate the search on both devices at the same time you'll have an excellent chance of connecting your two devices.

I hear you on preferring the hotspot option. Bluetooth has probably gotten a lot more reliable in 2 years since we added multiplayer on Android. We should try to get that working again.

Cheers,
Eddy

kaiw
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:16 pm

Hi Eddy

Concerning "the world is muted": if your program just asks if the device is connected via wifi, the answer "no" is actually correct, since it really isn't connected to the internet via wifi (wifi might actually even be disabled). Maybe instead of asking "am I conntected to the internet via wifi" you could ask
"am I conntected to the internet via wifi" OR "do I have a hotspot activated".


ConnectivityManager connManager = (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
NetworkInfo mWifi = connManager.getNetworkInfo(ConnectivityManager.TYPE_WIFI);
if (mWifi.isConnected()) {
unmutetheworld;
}

WifiManager wifi = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
Method[] wmMethods = wifi.getClass().getDeclaredMethods();
for(Method method: wmMethods){
if(method.getName().equals("isWifiApEnabled")) {
unmutetheworld;
}
}

Thanks for the idea with the auto-match. I'll try that, but obviously this is a less than ideal method, for several reasons.

Bluetooth would be cool, of course.

Best regards,
Kai

kaiw
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:05 pm

I just tried auto-match and promptly connected to someone else. Not what I'm looking for...

So hotspot or bluetooth would be awsome :-)

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eddybox
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Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby eddybox » Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:04 pm

Aha, a programmer! :) Thanks for the snippets, Kai. Agreed with your analysis.

Sorry to hear your auto-match got interrupted. The good news (for us) is there are still a significant number of people playing Osmos multiplayer online, but it makes it hard to connect to a specific person.

To be fully transparent, it's been really hard to get any development-movement with our Android partner of late. (You'll understand why it isn't so easy for us to switch if you read this post: http://www.hemispheregames.com/2013/11/ ... xperience/) I'll poke some more to see if we can make headway on bluetooth, or if there's something we can do to make invitations more reliable. I don't expect a quick turnaround on this though.

Thanks!

kaiw
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 12:40 am

Re: Multiplayer with two devices/one account when on the road

Postby kaiw » Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:27 pm

I see. And I don't know if my idea about asking for the hotspot activation translates to iOS. And if yes, if it then translates back to Android via Apportable. Hm.

Oh well. Of course I'd still appreciate it, but I understand that it might not be as quick a fix as I imagined.

So in the meantime I'll just have to carry a third device to use as a hotspot for the other two. Then in works...

Cheers
Kai


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