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Show HN: I built an Android game (play.google.com)
114 points by grantland on Jan 31, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 62 comments


Gorgeous. It's one of the few games I've seen (Gyro[0] being another one) that truly look at home on Android.

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.submachine....


Not sure what you're talking about. Is it that the primary colors make you think of Google and therefore Android?


It matches Android's new design guide (http://developer.android.com/design/index.html) extremely well. Most games get a pass on adhering to styling guidelines because, well, they're games. The colors, fonts, iconography and layout are all in line with what the design guide emphasizes.


Yeah, what Lukeas said. They more fit the OS style, whereas cutesy games feel more at home on iOS.

Bonus: An example of a game that feels written to fit in with Windows Phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigduckgam...


Looks visually like letterpress. Very different gameplay I imagine.


Simple concept and excellent design. Just read the blog (http://blog.kiip.me/), it seems that making puzzles and games does not seem to seem to be core to kiip.me?

Can you share the decision to create this app? Was it a showcase on an app being integrated into the kiip reward system?


This game concept was actually one of the games that inspired Kiip. Two of our Co-founders, Amadeus and Courtney, had created it for iOS under the name of Skeemo before Kiip and wanted to reward users who got high scores. We since re-branded it as 7x7 and it became our testing platform for our SDK as well as to showcase our reward system on iOS.

I've been wanting to create 7x7 for Android for a while to be a reliable testing platform for our SDK as well as to showcase our reward system on Android. I finally had some free cycles recently and made it.

If anyone is wondering why it looks completely different than the iOS version, it's because they let me (an Android engineer) do the design all on my own too :P

7x7 iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7x7/id423677957?mt=8


I really like your design for it: very simple and elegant.


This feels very polished. Fantastic work. How did you implement this? Is this done using RenderScript and standard layout elements or some OpenGL/gaming library?


Thanks! I actually made everything with regular Android View elements and used Animator for all the animations.


Wow could you please consider open sourcing it or posting a small tutorial? I'd love to learn how to do something this beautiful without a game engine.


I won't be open sourcing it, but I might consider writing a small tutorial at some point.

For now, you could dig into the Android source code to learn how to modify drawing, layout and touch events of Views and ViewGroups. Here's also a good post on Animator: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/02/animation-in-...


Wow, very nice. Really shows how minimalist design can let you use the framework without resorting to OpenGL and still look great.


I'd love to see a writeup with some code samples. Android view animation is something I've never really got the hang off.


Subtle design influences from Letterpress, looks like.

I don't have an Android device so I can't say more than that, but it looks nice!


I had the same thoughts.


It looks very much like Letterpress to me. I assumed they were both built using the same framework. Although the developer's comments seem to indicate otherwise.


Letterpress on iOS was custom OpenGL [1], this one is native Android UI

[1] http://www.macstories.net/featured/a-conversation-with-loren...


Too bad it's not compatible with Android 2.3.3... looked fun !


It was originally supposed to support 2.3+, but due to timeline constraints I had to release it as 4.0+. I'll be looking into 2.3+ for a future release though!


I recall that sub-3.x Androids are about 40% of the market in Google Play, so yeah it's worth doing. (I'm sure there are many more low Androids out there that are simply used as phones and never touch the store)

Game looks great! I'm installing it remotely on my Nexus 7, but from the screenshots I was instantly reminded of Letterpress' visual design.


What cellphone do you have?, i just played in my Motorola Defy, modded with CM10. Great game btw.


I have a Defy too, but with CM7. Is CM10 working well on yours ? And can you tell me where to find it ?


CM10 works flawlessly for me, i use the Quarx build with 2ndboot (custom kernel), you can use this FAQ that will guide you in the entire process: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1795647


Awesome, I installed it today and everything is good so far... thanks!


Cyanogenmod 9 and onwards are based on 4.x, so what does that have to do with this not working on 2.3.x?


My intention was to inform the original poster that probably he could upgrade his device using CM10.

Coincidentally he happens to have the same phone as mine, wich i upgraded with CM10 and a custom kernel and it works (way) faster that the original 2.3.x with motoblur.


Awesome game! Only thing left to improve is to make a tutorial just like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.submachine.... - instead of a list of instructions :)

I've also just made my first android game as well called Plasma Tennis - a Real Time Fluid Dynamics Game for Android:

Show HN link: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5148664

Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labs.quant...

I'd love to get some feedback as well :)


Back in 5th grade art class, our class put some dyes in a water basin, then "printed" the swirl patterns onto a paper by placing said paper on top of the water surface.

I remember being quite fascinated by the patterns on the paper, and also the swirls that were made when adding food coloring to water. I definitely would have loved this kind of game back then (and even now of course), so maybe there's some merit to re-skinning the game for a younger audience :)


Nice game! Reminds me old times playing Lines[0] on Windows 95 on my aunt's computer

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Lines


I downloaded it shortly before an office party....And i spent the entire party playing the game. It is real neat!!!


Great game, very polished, but it looks like there's some kind of graphic glitch. After clearing 3 or 4 blocks, the top left Menu/Back button/area starts changing colors. Here's a screenshot: http://ompldr.org/vaGF3bA


It seems like an indicator of the current progress of the stage.


I thought of it as a glitch too.. till I made enough progress in the game to find that it was a progress bar. Would be better if it started from the right of the 'up' button and not from the very edge of the screen.


Yeah we noticed some people didn't get it right away. We tried a few designs and this one was the best D:


Indeed, it's a progress bar.


Waaaait. It's made by Kiip? But Kiip is a rewards network, right? (Based on their Twitter, https://twitter.com/kiip) I don't know they are into creating games too.

Oh well, will download and try it. I like their founder, Brian Wong.


Lovely little game, and nicely designed, but as someone with red-green colour blindness I'm having a really frustrating time distinguishing between the green and orange squares. It'd be a lot easier if you increased the contrast/luminescence between the two colours.


I'm planning on adding a color blind mode in the future that does something like this, hold tight!


Great design, very simple yet entertaining. If I may ask, how much time did you spend making it?


Thanks! This was done over the span of 2 months of on and off development.


Really great design and a nice face lift to a classic game. My only complaint is no local high score board - or at least tracking of the top score.


Thanks! High scores will be in a future release, I promise!


Love how smooth and minimal the design is. Great work.


I get:Your device is not compatible with this version. I have a Samsung Galaxy of previous generation.


Sorry, it's 4.0+ at the moment. I'm hoping to open it up to 2.3+ in the future!


This is the best game I've played on Android. Just wish that I could get more Kiip rewards in it...


This is not compatible with Ginger Bread... you will loose lots of potential downloaders.


I'm sure there is a reason for this. But it indeed is something OP may want to consider. Gingerbread is almost 50% market share.

Source: http://developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html


As simple as the graphics are, I'd wonder whether it couldn't have been done another way. You're definitely right, not targeting 2.3+ is kind of a big deal.

The game is very decent, though; runs very well on the Nexus 7, solid gameplay, nice mechanics.


It was originally supposed to support 2.3+, but due to timeline constraints I had to release it as 4.0+. I'll be looking into 2.3+ for a future release though!


What was missing in 2.3 that made it non-compatible?


Looks like a great game! Any plans for a windows phone version? ;)


This looks great. Now I just need an android to play it on. :c


It's like a quieter version of candy crush, awesome!


This is an interesting well designed app. Congrats


The advertising "rewards" are a bit much.


I love you, grantland.


<3


its pretty


Are you 6 years old, autistic or female?


can you open source this?




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