FLARE
Caanoo Port
Friday, December 23, 2011 - 19:54
Hey the caanoo is a 540 - 750 mhz, 128 MB Ram (16 MB Reserve for for Textures / Models) linux handhelp with an opengl es 1.1 gpu on chip. It has a 320x240 resolution touch screen and a full joypad. It can run diablo 1 via emulator, but its not too fast.
Flare could be the killer game for the caanoo. Is there a chance for a caanoo port, since sdl should run on the caanoo?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAANOO
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?/forum/90-caanoo/
PS: Yes I own one, and would to see Flare ported to it^^
It's certainly possible, and I'll try to make the engine flexible enough to work on such a platform.
In the short term, here are some tricky parts:
Other issues not related to the Caanoo, but I'd want to consider:
So it's all possible. Maybe we'll find a Flare + Caanoo enthusiast who writes code. I'd be happy to advise someone interested in helping. If left up to me, it'll be a while before I can get to it (sometime after Flare reaches 1.0 for the current platforms).
* Currently the menus assume a 640x480 minimum screen size. We will be working on menu configuration soon, so I'll try to make smaller menus possible.
This will take some time...
* Touch-screen doesn't really work with mouse-hover. So everywhere I'm currently using tooltips wouldn't quite work on a touch device.
The Caanoo got an analog stick which works can work as mouse, you can even left click with it.Hmm or maybe do it like diablo 1 with using the joypad.
* The current memory usage and power requirements are high. But concessions could be made for a smaller device: e.g. scale all the assets to 50%, use fewer frames of animation, avoid full alpha-channel images, etc. Basically a new "core" mod could be created with assets optimized for small devices.
Good idea. The gpu is quite powerful, but scaling is a pain since it can only scale YUV in hardware. Lower resolution should be fine :).
* Some small devices don't have touch. Maybe the engine should completely support that gameplay? e.g. arrowkeys to move a cursor to navigate menus, powers aim the way the hero is facing. Powers like Teleport might not be possible without a pointer.
I think this way is in general more playable. A touch screen is maybe not exact enough to aim at the enemy. Its more the "click on the screen to start / stop a song / video" thing.
* Some small devices have only touch (e.g. phones). Maybe the engine should support that as well.
This market is the future. But remind that the icontrollpad is on the market to make a phone a handheld. And that the phones got better touchscreens.
"So it's all possible. Maybe we'll find a Flare + Caanoo enthusiast who writes code. I'd be happy to advise someone interested in helping. If left up to me, it'll be a while before I can get to it (sometime after Flare reaches 1.0 for the current platforms)."
I could do it, but have to much work to do. Im currently working on www.savage2.com to improve the game. Sorry no time :'(. But maybe ask at openpandora.com (they would love to have the game and some coders work for both devices) or http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?/forum/95-emulation-caanoo/
Pickles and Notaz (and Ari) are great coders. The penjin people (C++ engine) could help problably too.
Btw. great game, I would love to see it native for the caanoo :)
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