New Android Export Experiences

IntelRobert

Is it possible in the future to reduce the library inside the apk to 10MB or less?

IntelRobert Thanks for the update. I will definitely be trying this out in a little while.

IntelTyler & IntelRobert i tried exporting as an html5 website and then opening the game with chrome for android and the same thing happens...

sounds comes from the earpiece, not the normal speaker...

so it's probably a chrome bug?

my chrome version is 31.0.1650.59 latest version according to the play store :/

EDIT: probably the same as this one: code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail

IntelRobert

Is it possible in the future to reduce the library inside the apk to 10MB or less?

That is not likely. However, we are investigating something that might work for you. You can make an android apk depend on another apk. We could package crosswalk as a separate APK. The first time you start the app, it will check if crosswalk is installed and open up google play if it is not. If crosswalk is already installed, then the app will install/launch. Earlier versions of Adobe Air worked this way.

This makes the minimal crosswalk app be < 1MB. We were concerned that App Developers would think this is cumbersome and would prefer that the crosswalk runtime be embedded in the App so the end user has a single download. What do you think?

Another possibility is to use google's support for expansion files. Ashley's suggestion of the app downloading the assets and relying on caching would be the simplest solution.

> IntelRobert

> Is it possible in the future to reduce the library inside the apk to 10MB or less?

...

Another possibility is to use google's support for expansion files. Ashley's suggestion of the app downloading the assets and relying on caching would be the simplest solution.

For me the vote for the Ashley solution

Ok I've tried building my app a few times changing different things here and there. Once I install the APK, I launch it, get a black screen for about 10 seconds, then an error pops up, reading:

"The connection to the server was unsuccessful. (file:///android_asset/www/index.html)"

Pressing ok made my phone crash the first time, so the other times it happened I have killed the app.

I'll try with a much smaller simpler app and see if I get the same results in a while!

EDIT: I tried building one of the templates in Construct 2 and installed the APK and still get the error above. I also noticed that during the 10 seconds of the black screen, my phone is completely unresponsive.

Another possibility is to use google's support for expansion files. Ashley's suggestion of the app downloading the assets and relying on caching would be the simplest solution.With this wouldn't you need to host your own assets, or would Gplay host them?

This makes the minimal crosswalk app be < 1MB. We were concerned that App Developers would think this is cumbersome and would prefer that the crosswalk runtime be embedded in the App so the end user has a single download. What do you think?

I too think Ashley's solution would be the simplest. It's what I would image using things like push updates would require anyway. Making updates for the user seamless, instead of them having to install a new apk or ipa except for maybe an update to the wrapper itself.

And the build works and ran on an HTC Evo. The touch buttons were a tad laggy. But I'm going to see where I can optimize that I haven't already.

Really glad it's working now. <img src="smileys/smiley20.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Having to download game assets after the initial app download is somewhat a common practice among heavier titles, but that means the minimal app size of 20MB is still there.

Asking the consumer to download an extra application after downloading and installing your game is a harder sell in my opinion. I'd rather have an >20MB app.

Honestly 20MB isn't that big of a file size for android games, but it is a shame that small 1MB-2MB projects get that big.

IntelTyler IntelRobert

will there be another option once The web version is retired?I really would love to continue to use this option for export on my current OS.

Im using Windows Vista for now.

— Thanks for taking the time to try out crosswalk and XDK and letting us know the good and bad. It really helps us know what we have to do next.

Astro The build problem was resolved. A logging option was left on and the disk filled up. I did a couple builds and it works fine now.

RookieDev There is a web based interface to the build system. We are going to retire it in a few months but you can use it for now.

I don't have enough points to post a url so I had to mangle it. Cut/paste and get rid of the X between http: and //

http:X//appcenter.html5tools-software.intel.com/csd/controlpanel.aspx

'start a new app', 'create your own from scratch' 'start with a project bundle' Export from c2 for android. Create a zip file with index.html in top level. Upload that bundle. Click next.You will be in appcenter and select 'build as mobile app' and the 'crosswalk'.

If you want to update the zip file, export from c2 again. Make a new zip. Go to appcenter. 'Update QA' to upload the new bundle. 'Promote' to put it in the production slot. Then build.

This is much easier from XDK so we should find a way for you to use it. Are you on windows XP? What problem do you see?

Here are my personnal test :

Kawaii Puzzle (low spec puzzle for kid)

The fps are great for the 2 export CocoonJs and Intel XDK with Crosswalk.

I've graphic artefect with CocoonJS using the last version with tiled bitmap but it seem to work at all.

So i want to stress them more and export Space Tako Invasion on them :

CocoonJS :

night mode : 21 to 26 fps (depending the number of objects)

<img src="http://www.angelsoftware.fr/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_2013-12-23-00-10-33.png" border="0" />

day mode : 27 to 29 fps (depending the number of objects)

<img src="http://www.angelsoftware.fr/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_2013-12-23-00-11-22.png" border="0" />

Intel XDK CrossWalk :

night mode : 31 to 34 fps (depending the number of objects)

<img src="http://www.angelsoftware.fr/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_2013-12-23-00-12-12.png" border="0" />

day mode : 35 to 41 fps (depending the number of objects)

<img src="http://www.angelsoftware.fr/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_2013-12-23-00-13-37.png" border="0" />

yes, it's somewhat big for small web apps. The reason is that Crosswalk is full-featured web engine. Packaging with it is >16M.

Maybe we can provide some options to let developers decide whether to use expansion file to reduce the size of installed APK.

If you want to test crosswalk, but are blocked by the 25M limit for upload while trying to build:

Start up XDK then click on the 'Debug' tab at the top. Connect your android device to your computer via usb. There is some help information on the screen--you may need to install a driver. Then click the 'rocket' icon and it will launch your app on the device using crosswalk.

The first launch will be slow. After the first time, a project with 51M of assets took 20 seconds to launch on my Nexus 4. Building an APK takes 5+ minutes when you include upload/download time so this is a much faster and easier way to test with crosswalk.

Debug tab also lets you debug your app in Chrome dev tools, profile tab lets you profile the javascript.@IntelRobert, using XDK NEW for iOS I'm getting a black screen testing a project with 7mb of assets. And a white screen on the emulator. Any ideas?

Cipriux

bscarl88 when installing, first my phone says out of memory, so I had to uninstall some old games...and now when opening the game, I see the C2 logo, but when progress bar is almost at 100% the game closes. tryied this 5 times. Don't know If is my low RAm or the game. I have 400MB empty RAM

Hmmm that's odd, it opens on my phone fine, just runs like crap haha

Jase00 This looks like a crosswalk problem specific to your phone software configuration. Can you file an issue at https:X//crosswalk-project.org/jira/secure/Dashboard.jspa

Remove the X after https: above. I can't post URL's yet.

Mention that you are building with XDK. Give the model for your phone and the OS version. Attach a zip of the output of the exporter for a very simple project. JIRA will create an issue number so it would be good to edit your Scirra forum post to include the JIRA issue number so we know how to track the problem.

Ok I've tried building my app a few times changing different things here and there. Once I install the APK, I launch it, get a black screen for about 10 seconds, then an error pops up, reading:

"The connection to the server was unsuccessful. (file:///android_asset/www/index.html)"

Pressing ok made my phone crash the first time, so the other times it happened I have killed the app.

I'll try with a much smaller simpler app and see if I get the same results in a while!

EDIT: I tried building one of the templates in Construct 2 and installed the APK and still get the error above. I also noticed that during the 10 seconds of the black screen, my phone is completely unresponsive.