OUYA Pre-Alpha Demo!
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:11 am
I've finally finished the OUYA version of the pre-alpha Kickstarter demo. Feature-wise, it should be consistent with what you all saw back then, but there have been quite a few subtle changes under the hood.
A ton, actually. I mentioned in the last weekly update that I was somewhat disappointed in the OUYA's performance, having at the time only managed to get the game up to about 40 frames per second, but I was never really worried. I'd been keeping a big list of the things that I could optimize, just in case the OUYA and mobile releases weren't up to snuff. This week, I went through most of the list, and overhauled large portions of unoptimized lighting and rendering code--among other things--,and the end result is a rock-solid 60-frames-per-second OUYA release!
You can find the .apk here! You can install it by navigating your OUYA to Make->Upload, clicking the Upload, browsing to the provided address on your computer, and dropping the .apk file into your browser--your OUYA will take care of the rest! It will install to the "Software" section under the "Make" menu--not your "Games" section--, because I don't want it showing up in my Games section yet; when you are rapidly building and deploying minor changes, it is a little faster to upload and run from the Software section, rather than back out another menu level and then enter the Games section to find the new upload.
Controls are not yet listed in-game, and are highly subject to change (because the UI will be changing as the alpha moves along), but here is everything you need: left stick/D-pad navigates, right stick scrolls the view, O grabs a row or buys a highlighted thing. You'll find that you can also grab rows with the triggers, but their held value seems to reset when the left stick is pressed, and I was unable to find the cause for this in a timely fashion =/.
Some other things to keep in mind:
-This is still pre-alpha, and it is largely the same release that you may have seen during the Kickstarter, which also means that the pacing and balance are skewed a bit.
-Not all elements have been adjusted for the title safe area; I did my testing on a TV that is chopping off quite a bit, and I can see all of the essentials, but even so, I know not everything has been accounted for. I apologize if you are affected by this; it will definitely improve as the UI evolves (as it will have to accommodate quite a wide variety of screens).
-You may still see a few lighting or layering bugs, because I'm still catching them myself. For the most part, only report game-breaking bugs, because I already have a list of the small stuff.
-It is possible to play with the touchpad alone, because internally, it's basically a bluetooth mouse, but I don't recommend it. The OUYA doesn't constantly report its position, which can throw off some of the game's current mouse handling.
I suppose adventurous players could attempt to run this demo on other Android devices. It might work. There are still some UI elements that won't adjust well to other screen layouts, but it really depends on the device.