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Android Android Test without Module

Erayd

Erayd

Member
Is it at all possible to test my android games without purchasing the android module first? I'm asking because the old Game Maker Studio version allowed that, so I have been able to work on my game in that environment. Now having studio 2, I don't seem to have that luxury. Does anyone know if there are plans on adding that feature in the future? I fully plan on buying the module soon, I just can't right now, money isn't there.
 
F

Frostbite

Guest
I am trying to determine best language and engine to use for a specific style game and I am having some trouble with this. Android is my biggest focus, but iOS would be great too. I was messing with conventional languages, but the whole Native aspect feels like i'll lose motivation. GoDot I finally came to terms with, but even though its been a while, I made my first game with GM 17 years ago and I can make virtually anything I want. Last week I decided to get back into it, but I don't want to fork over money just to test it. I need a way to create a demo, show it to a team I have in mind for their talents and there's got ro be a way to make sure what im working on is going to work with Android. Currently I dont have GM 1 on my new PC. I can still use that and test it right? For rhose who have the modules, am I overthinking this? Does the export to Android modules work well, and will I then have the tools to test different resolutions, Android versions, etc? I just find it strange that I am hearing that there are no plans to support testing before I purchase the modules.
 
Mike

Mike

nobody important
GMC Elder
If you have a license for GM1.x, you can still download, install and activate it.
 
G

Guest

Guest
The Google, Admob, and Facebook extensions have been reported to be out of date; the marketplace release dates and reviews support this. The Blind Samurai guy said that YYG's extensions were more trouble than they were worth. So, I'm slowly trying to test these on a dummy game before using them in my game. The Android setup instructions are out of date. And currently, GMS2 cannot make an APK that does not require external read/write, network status, and internet permissions, whether you need them or not. I submitted a support ticket on this a couple weeks ago and never received even an acknowledgment, although a YYG staff posted here in the forums that it'll be fixed in the next release.

Although GMS2 has a button and a menu option suggesting that it has some kind of virtual device support, but I don't think it does. It actually can't even build an APK unless it has a device attached. You can, of course, just start a virtual device from Android Studio and use that, although I ran into a bug where GMS2 failed because the app had not yet been installed to the virtual device (of course); I got around that by sideloading the app once, and then it worked from there on out. But there is no device compatibility testing within GMS2.

The only way that GMS2 can be worth $400 (or $1) is if it can release to the major app stores and guarantee stability and support after release. There's no way to know if it can fulfill that promise until you get there. I am not optimistic.
 
F

Frostbite

Guest
That was what I thought. Thank you for clarifying that. Perhaps I will give it a shot in a few months but I am defininately going to wait. Thanks all for the feedback, and op for letting me hijack the thread lol
 
Erayd

Erayd

Member
So, it's been a while since I posted this and have been deep inside of the android development environment provided by GMS2. I bought the export module almost two months ago and am about to release a game with a bunch of features people say are messed up or out of date. I can confirm, yes they are out of date, but they are not unusable. I got admob to work perfectly, display regular and test ads, a couple weird bugs but I figured it out. There is very little documentation on it so I was mostly going in blind which is why people have such a hard time with it. As well, I could not do more advanced advertising strategies for example like the video with a reward system. I was however able to run full screen interstitials and banners. GMS2 simply doesn't have the extension updated to allow the use of ads with rewards.

Facebook had some issues at first but I eventually at least got it installed but not working, I had taken a break from it and haven't gone back, but so far so good. Also next to no documentation. The google extension works great as well. I got achievements working, I got leaderboards and logging in working, plenty of really cool interactivity. There is however again, almost no documentation. I had to resort to older forum posts and articles with out of date but similar examples and references but I found my way. The documentation exists, but its got a lot of missing info in it. I have since been able to set up a google account and loaded my game to the beta channel which means I have been able to build an APK. It wasn't easy to track down, but I was able to find it deep inside a folder for my game in the temp directory. I'm hoping the location can be moved in the future for where the apk is loaded to since it couldn't have been in a more confusing area and nobody on the internet knew it was there.

Hopefully this info can help either the hijacker or the staff on something, I'm looking forward to the future android updates as the GMS2 system isn't difficult to use once you know how to use it. In fact I wrote an object which I plan on importing to all of my future games which takes care of setting up ads and achievements as well as leaderboards, all automatically so I don't need to think about it so much anymore. Just know that there is a way and GMS2 is in fact worth it.
 
S

SmallyBiggs

Guest
Is there any alternative way to ensure that our games would run properly on android phones, before purchasing the mobile license?
 
rwkay

rwkay

GameMaker Staff
GameMaker Dev.
You could use the Free 60 day trial for Amazon Fire devices (they use the Android OS at the base level) - you will need an Amazon device, but they are relatively cheap (I got mine for £25 in a sale over the holiday period, and they are on sale frequently) - this will tell you that your game(s) are working on Android (the setup is the same/similar for Amazon Fire and Android).

Russell
 
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