Serval blog

At last ! Android jumper update with tablet support !

2012-04-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yes Android jumper is now also playable on your glossy/shiny Android tablets (nasty accelerometer bug is now fixed).

Proof inside (yeah running on my new Tranformer Prime with IceCream Sandwich !) :

Update brings also a new background level (to a total of 6) and some little graphic fixes.

Android dev, problem with ADT 17 ?

2012-03-22T10:53:00.003-07:00

Nice explanations on how to fix Eclipse projects with this new release of Android Development Tools.

On the left before ADT 17
On the middle project after ADT 17
And on the right the fixed project running on ADT 17

Android jumper updated !

2011-09-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yes a new version of Android jumper is available on the market, some new features and bugfixes :

Enjoy the new jetpack bonus, get higher quickly (droid cannot die while using the jetpack)
Use the new shield bonus, this protects you from the mutant apples !
New background for level 2
Some bugfixes (in particular a stange NPE that could occur)

Why every android developper should use ACRA ?

2011-09-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

ACRA , Application Crash Report for Android, is very usefull tool that any android dev should use.

In fact it's very hard for an indie developper to check and test his code on every existing device types (almost 1000), the only way to have some crash feebacks (apart from the nice user that take time to post it ;) ) is to integrate a tool in your app that reports those errors when they occur.

Here's an extract of ACRA doc presenting the features :

developer configurable user interaction : silent reports, Toast notification, status bar notification + dialog
usable with ALL versions of android (compiled with 1.5, not tested on 1.0/1.1 but might work... but who does really care ?)
more detailed crash reports about the device running the app than what is displayed in the Android Market developer console error reports
you can add your own variables content or debug traces to the reports
you can send error reports even if the application doesn't crash
works for any application even if not delivered through Google's Android Market => great for devices/regions where the Android Market is not available, beta releases or for enterprise private apps
can be used with your own self-hosted report receiver script
google doc reports can be shared with a whole development team. Other benefits from the Google Docs platform are still to be investigated (stats, macros...)

I've integrated ACRA on my last game , Android jumper, and it gives some very usefull informations like stacktrace, last and initial configurations, device setup ...

I've found several bugs using it, like the issue occurring only on Android 1.5 (sad crash at the launch), and reproduced using the android emulator.

Android jumper video

2011-09-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a hand-made video of my last game android jumper :

Serval games is out !

2011-09-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody , I'm an android indie developper, I develop several games for android as I'm a big fan of this platform.

Here they are :

Android jumper, a Doodle jump clone : https://market.android.com/details?id=com.serval.androidgames.jumper

A "simon says" game :https://market.android.com/details?id=com.glowingsimon

I hope you'll enjoy them, feel free to make suggestions or bug reports here !