Hemisphere Games Forum

Hi, I wanted to try Osmos on my Galaxy Tab (original 7" model, GT-P1000), running Froyo, but the market claims that it isn't compatible. That would be disappointing, but fair enough, if it isn't compatible for some strange reason, it isn't compatible.

However, your list of compatible devices: http://www.hemispheregames.com/faq-andr ... ch_devices shows Samsung Galaxy Tab as compatible!

If you can give me an apk for the demo then I can install it and let you know for sure one way or another

Alex

Hi Alex,

Sure, get in touch with us at http://www.apportable.com/apps/Osmos and we'll hook you up with a separate link to the demo.

Cheers,
Eddy

Just to let you know, I got the demo installed, and it works flawlessly. Smooth, full screen, sound, multi-touch, perfect. Very nice port it is too. Once we can figure out how, I'm certainly going to buy a copy.

Only one negative comment, but I'm going to make it anyway because it's infuriating: If, while playing a level, you show the Game Menu, there's a Return to Game and a Exit to Menu option. If you click the system "Back" button, it exits to menu. This is *wrong wrong wrong* every other menu on Android (including your own main-screen menu), if you click the Back button, you cancel the menu! I've lost my game twice because of this and I've only been playing a few minutes :-/

Alex

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the feedback -- much appreciated!

Regarding the menu, I agree with you 100%. I actually implemented it this way at first, and various people who know Android better than I do (including someone from Google!) recommended I change it so it works as it does now. Apparently an Android standard is that multiple taps on the back button will eventually take you out of an app. =/ Can you point us to some high-profile apps that *don't* do this?

Thanks,
Eddy

Yes, repeatedly tapping on the back button should take you out of an app, that's true. I think the confusion arises because clicking the back button should not, in general, show a menu.

If you look at pretty much any android application, and click the Menu button or otherwise show a popup menu that can be dismissed to return to what you were doing, pressing back dismisses that menu. Pressing back again, after the menu is dismissed, will exit or minimise the app, or move you further in that direction.

What I'd suggest would be that when playing a level, the Back key takes you back to the main screen, rather than showing the menu - that's the way other apps do it. That way, if the menu is shown, repeated clicks on Back dismiss the menu, return to the main screen, then exit. Of course, I can appreciate that the argument against this is that pressing back while you're in a level would mean you lose all progress immediately, which isn't very nice either. Ideally, that shouldn't be the case and you ought to be able to just get back into a level and resume where you left off, but that's clearly a lot of work I doubt you'd want to get into! A compromise might be a popup "Confirm abandon level and lose progress?" message box when you press Back inside a level?

Perhaps your contact at Google might offer guidance on confirmation message boxes, or how else to handle the back button losing progress, although I suspect the official guidance is just "maintain state", I'm afraid!

I'm sure you'll come up with something cunning.

Alex

AlexV wrote:What I'd suggest would be that when playing a level, the Back key takes you back to the main screen, rather than showing the menu - that's the way other apps do it. That way, if the menu is shown, repeated clicks on Back dismiss the menu, return to the main screen, then exit. Of course, I can appreciate that the argument against this is that pressing back while you're in a level would mean you lose all progress immediately, which isn't very nice either. Ideally, that shouldn't be the case and you ought to be able to just get back into a level and resume where you left off, but that's clearly a lot of work I doubt you'd want to get into! A compromise might be a popup "Confirm abandon level and lose progress?" message box when you press Back inside a level?

This is a great suggestion and we've implemented it in today's Osmos HD 1.1 update. Thank you so much!

apportable wrote:we've implemented it in today's Osmos HD 1.1 update

That was quick, nice one! I look forward to seeing the update.

Alex