Kotlin is also a language that runs on the JVM, similar to Scala (and, of course, Java). It’s just like in .NET you get multiple languages running in the same “virtual machine”, like C#, VB.NET and F#. At the end of the day it’s all down to language preference, as you end up with an assembly compiled to code that the virtual machine can understand. Kotlin isn’t portable to iOS though - for that you’ll need to write Swift, or Objective-C if you’re old-school.
I would honestly suggest looking at going the Progressive Web App (PWA) route as soon as you can though. You can use the Ionic framework to do that, which allows you go build an app that runs in the browser, on Android and iOS all using only JavaScript. Your app doesn’t seem to use many device features that would warrant being “fully native”. So a hybrid mobile app (i.e. a web app, running in a sandboxed little browser with a bridge allowing you to access native device features) will be more than sufficient. You can even do funky animations and transitions with CSS or WebGL (via Three.js or Babylon.js) - if you want to delve into 3D rendering on the web.
Ionic has got some great tutorials and online emulators you can use and also has hot-reload enabled by default, so as you save a code file it immediately refreshes your browser to show what changed. It really adds to the developer experience and makes trying out new features or styling a breeze. If you want to challenge yourself a bit further, maybe look into that to see how you can recreate elements of your app with Ionic. The plus side is you learn to write Angular, React or Vue.js as well… I’d recommend React, as there’s huge global demand and it’s much easier to get going than the other 2.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, as this stuff is a huge passion of mine.
Well I’m broken tired from the day so tonight I’m only going to do admin work for the app so I’ll have a quick browse through what you suggested. No promises though
No way I’m doing actual code tonight. I’ll break something.
I have read up on your suggestions. I like the idea, I will just read more documentation on all of it. I have downloaded VS Code in the meantime to play with if I get a chance. I do find the command line thing interesting/strange. I’ve never seen stuff like that.
I will sit for 30 minutes every day or 2 and just tinker. I don’t want to divert all my attention from the app just yet.
Thank you again for the suggestions. It all sounds very interesting.
Oh, once you really get into any form of development you’ll realise CLI (command line interface) is more than your friend - it becomes a lot more efficient to do most anything. Enjoy the tinker and welcome to your new obsession.
I will be honest, I only installed this to support @entity, and now I can totally see the appeal!
Some notes, and sorry if other mentioned these already above. TL;DR
first impressions are of Egg Inc. (thats a good thing)
i like the few sparkly stars that give you extra cash
i like the countdown to your next buy becoming available
i like the +1, +10 etc feature. Especially the MAX function to buy as many as your cash allows. Saving me time, putting me first!
i like how it counts stars while I was away.
i like the balance of “buy more cheaper stuff now but get less return, but buy more expensive stuff later for higher return”. It plays with my need for instant gratification!
Some random trivia, that star is cut out from one of my son’s favourite little bedtime videos. The idea came to me when I saw it while sitting watching with him. As you know Egg Inc, I equate it to those drones that fly over the whole time.
One of the first things I added as I also wanted it. I wanted to know if I should stick around a few seconds to get the next buy or will it take hours so I’ll come back later. I can’t do quick maths in my head
I see what you did there
The observatories still ‘work’ while you’re away, but only for a certain time. The workers get distracted without you there.
To throw another variable in is the fact that the more ‘sky objects’ you find the higher your boost when you get a Data Upgrade (Prestige). But the way to get sky objects faster is to have more observatories ie, buy cheap. So do you buy lots to get a bigger boost later, or buy big to get more money to buy more to buy to uhhhhhhhh…
So just coming back to this, as I said I am going to look at this some time. It’s on the list, you can look at the Trello now to see all the planned ideas coming.
But then regarding this…
I just need some feedback on some ideas for this.
So for a close button what would anyone suggest?
On the attributions page I have the ‘back’ arrow seeing that you get to that page from the Options tab.
The small arrow is there but I’ve made it that you can actually tap anywhere on that heading bar to go back.
I feel it would look strange having the Back arrow on the other screens as they are displayed from their dedicated buttons on the bottom menu bar. But then I also don’t think it will look nice having a ‘Close’ cross on the right of the bar…
Something that I can do is maybe put a Close button at the bottom of the pages, kind of like the Welcome Back screen. And I’ll lock it to the bottom so that if there are things to scroll that it will always stay just above your finger while the rest can scroll above it.
What does everyone think? Anything I’m missing or better ideas?
Most of the time if I’m not sure how something will look/work or even how it will feel, I just throw it in and see if it’s ok or if it annoys/gets in the way.
I actually like the close bar at the bottom. these days the x is so unobtrusive in many games that I hardly see it just know it is in that top corner and press it.
I played around with it a bit and for testing purposes I tried the time change cheat to see what happens.
Setting phone calendar forward and reopening gave me the away-reward as expected.
Setting calendar back to current time got a bit interesting. Looks like the reward was calculated as a negative, so I ended with a negative balance. This kind of messed with the buy buttons on MAX a bit (shows ±1) , but is not a bad thing to deter cheating.
I think you can expand on this a bit. My idea/suggestion would be:
When your balance is in the negative (indicating cheating) change the starry sky to a cloudy sky, blocking you from clicking.
Instead of showing a negative balance, show a message - something like "Bad weather forecast for the next xxH xxM xxS (based on how long before you get back to 0 balance)
Hi everyone. An update has been released with a few changes. Get the update from the Play Store at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=main.idleobs otherwise it will auto update next time your device checks for updates. I find that if I try to update directly from the store that I have to open the store, then exit then go back into the store for it show the update button.
Idle Observatory v0.9.21 changelog:
Production values joined - I felt splitting the base production values and the bonus values seemed a bit cluttered and not very helpful. I kept finding myself trying to add them together in my head. They are now displayed added together to show one value.
Attributions menu Binocularist name change - Changed all attribution titles to reference dedicated strings file, the same values that the main screen references so now if there’s a change for some reason then both the main and attributions title will change at the same time. I don’t know why I duplicated separate names for the observatories. Must have been tired.
Tap value upgrade rebalanced - The multiplier for the tap value upgrade was making the tap too strong and turning the game into a clicking game and not just an idle game with clicks as extra. The taps are now based on current production with the multiplier increasing the percent of production until a maximum of 100% essentially doubling production as you tap but never exceeding it.
Instant 1 hour production boost added - Added a boost that allows you to receive 1 hour’s worth of current production by watching an ad.
Menu Close buttons added - Added a Close button to the bottom of each popup display to make it easier to get back to the home/Obs display.
Please report any issues you find here or using any of the contact facilities in the app in the About section.
Thank you for trying out the app and your input. Please have a look at the Idle Observatory Trello to see current/future development items.
I see there’s a glitch in the latest release with the 1 hour boost that it only pays out BASE production and not production with the data storage upgrade multiplier. I’ll change that so it pays out the full production, not just the base.
Haha You find x number of sky objects per second, but that total updates every 100ms to make it look flashy. Numbers running fast are cool right…
So yeah, it was just to make it look a bit better, but looks like I couldn’t fool you, you caught me
PS. Real secret answer, some say… there may be a plan in the wind of making observatories discover more than 1 sky object per second… may just be a rumour though.
Looks like it would be fun
You find x number of sky objects per second, but that total updates every 100ms to make it look flashy. Numbers running fast are cool right…