Beginner tips on porting to Android?

[WaveLightGames]

Hi,

I'm working on porting my Windows Phone game to Android. I'm using Unity 3d Pro and porting over the game to something that works in Android is pretty easy. However, I want to make sure I don't make any mistakes in the actual game launch. So I was wondering about a few things:

1 - Is there a way to provide a beta version of your app to someone for testing through the play store? If I can get someone to agree to playtest, how can I provide them a link to a beta?

2 - If the game doesn't work well on certain devices, is there a way to restrict access to those devices? For example, in Windows Phone development, there are 512 MB devices and 1 GB / 2 GB devices and you can restrict someone with a 512 MB device from downloading your game if you know it'll just crash on their device. Is there an equivalent method in Android?

3 - Do I have to specify a particular version of Android needed to run my game? In Windows Phone, it's just Windows Phone 8 ... but in Android, there are lots of OS versions. Do I need to test on various OS versions as well as various types of hardware to make sure it runs or is it safe to assume it'll run on older OS versions provided the device has enough memory?

4 - Any other pitfalls to watch out for before releasing my first game?

Thanks for any advice,

Raj

 

[BetterAndBetter]

1. You can send apk file to the tester directly or share your file any different way. Also Google Play developer console has an option for beta testing where you choose people for beta testing and upload beta release for such purpose.
2.You can filter device screens in application code. Other filters you can apply in developer console

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/1286017?hl=en

3.Its common practice that developer limits app to devices with android older than some version, you can look what versions are more popular now here

https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html

4.Just do it!

 

[WaveLightGames]

Great .. thanks for the tips. Appreciate it.

I release my first game and limited it to Android 4.1 ... which I think is Jelly Bean. Not sure if this is the best approach or not. I'll check your link and make an update if it's incorrect.

 

[railkill]

for #3, you don't have to worry about testing on different versions, it should work as long as you specify the API Level. your IDE should tell you if you have codes that cannot be supported. as for memory, you can test it on an emulator with the lowest setting that you feel, it should be fine, just do it!

 

[KM-Games]

I would try to set the Android Version as low as possible, to keep the possible user base as great as possible.

 

[LordNedox]

I would try to set the Android Version as low as possible, to keep the possible user base as great as possible.

But always considering that nowadays 80%+ has Android 4++ installed. Not worth a lot of effort to make it work on 2.3, at least IMHO