Teleports Drugwars
Github repository
Introduction
With thousands of daily user the popularity of the newest game on Steem is unseen, and it would be nice to have additional alternative and more mobile way of playing the browser based game, with the benefits of it being a Android app, this resulted in the unofficial DrugWars Android app and the Teleports project, which goal is to bring more Dapps to Android.
This unofficial DrugWars app is made in consultation with @hightouch, to ensure optimal functionality in this kind of 3rd party app, reports on performance and possible bugs are and will be shared back to be improved.
The Teleports Drugwars Android app loads the drugwars.io game and display the page in the app, and will therefore always show the latest version of the game that you would also see with the browser, but without the need to open the browser and navigate to the page, and by just pressing the app icon to launch the game.
The Teleports project details on Fundition are updated
More information about the Teleports project can be found in the Teleports introduction post.
Teleports Drugwars - Android app
Drugwars icon to launch the app
Teleports splashscreen
Upgrading the headquarters
App Features
- Open source
- Android v4.3 and up compatible, Phone Tablet and TV
- Display www.drugwars.io with the benefits of it being a mobile app
- DrugWars app icon
- Teleports splashscreen shows the Teleports logo and more apps button, this button opens the still to be further developed Teleports landing page located here.
- Fullscreen, rotatable
- Back button refreshes the game
Besides compatible with the latest versions of Android for Phones, Tablet's and TV's, it should work on other (and or older) Android powered devices like, Android car radios, Android picture frames. you could even convert one of your Android device in a always on, interactive DrugWars dashboard, with the use of a phone or tablet holder or stand you maybe already have laying around. Hang it on the wall or make it stand on your desk or bookshelf to keep you updated about the game, and your productions and progress.
Android TV compatible
- Works with Android TVs and Android TV boxes like the Nvidia shield tv boxes, Xiaomi TV boxes, and Android tv's from Sony, Philips etc.
- Available on the Android TV Homescreen as a tile
- Available in the Games section
- Some control with the Android TV box remote, this needs more work
- Press and hold the back button to refresh the page
At the moment navigation works best with a mouse connected, but it is already possible to use the Android TV box remote, but there is no selection box around the selected item which makes it difficult to navigate. This will need to be looked further into, a improvement on the drugwars.io website could be needed to make this work properly, this is communicated back and will be looked into.
Tested on the Xiaomi MI TV box, this is one of the first official Android TV boxes, but it should also work on for example on the at gamers aimed TV box from NVIDIA, the NVIDIA Shield.
Drugwars App on the homescreen of Android TV
Drugwars app is displayed in the games section.
Teleports Drugwars app launched and showing the Buildings screen
Teleports Drugwars app on Android TV, (in this animation still with the old background / icon, and old Teleports logo but this is updated to the new icon with the new background, and new Teleports logo)
Future developments
- Create a Teleports landing page / website
- Make the Teleports Drugwars apps available for download on the Teleports website
- Add more customization features to the app
- Create more apps for other Steem Dapps that don't have a Android app: Magic Dice, Steemmonsters.
The Teleports project details on Fundtion are updated with a schedule.
The development in Android Studio can be a troublesome and slow process and making these apps and the project around it involves effort into multiple facets.
The Teleport apps are free to try, but if you like them and continue to use them, please consider sending @Teleports a 2 SBD or more donation with Fundition, or in a transfer.
Because of the technical approach some things could look different, but will be looked into to be fixed in future updates on the app side, or fixes from @hightouch on the game side.
At the moment it is already a fun, convenient and alternative way to play DrugWars. Using it on Android TV needs more work, but it works well on mobile phones, tablets and other Android devices that have a touchscreen.
Teleports Drugwars app v1.0 for Android
Download
Find me on Discord, if you have questions or suggestions or leave a comment, what features do you want to see, better Android TV compatibility or more developments for the use as a always on dashboard?
Technical details
In opposite to Steemport, the project had the same goal, but was made with MIT app inventor, Teleports is made with Android Studio, not a quick way of developing with all it's dependencies and compiling each time to see the results on Phone and TV, is a slow process, but Android Studio brings a lot more possibilities in return.
Github Repository: Teleports Drugwars
Github Commit
Implementation details
Splash screen timer, after the timer finish the main activity (drugwars.io game) get's loaded.
Link to file: SplashScreen.java
To be able to display the dapp websites, webview is used in activity_main.xml the WebView component is based on the Chromium open source project and uses this for browsing with webview.
Link to file: activity_main.xml
Link to file MainActivity.java
The url have a added reference so that the Dapp owners can differentiate the traffic coming from the Teleports app.
On the splash screen the user can press the more apps button, that will load the still to be further updated landing page, more buttons and features will be added here as well.
Link to file: SplashScreen.java
Because a website is loaded it can be useful to refresh the site, therefore the back button is set to refresh the game/site.
Link to file MainActivity.java
The application loads in full screen immersive mode.
To fix a issue with the immersive mode, where the keyboard would mess it up, the following code is added.
Link to file MainActivity.java
To make the app / apk compatible with Android TV's Leanback launcher, the following code is added.
Link to file AndroidManifest.xml
To make the app icon(banner) show up in the Leanback launcher and in the games section, this code is added.
There was a small problem with the internal naming, this is renamed to "app" and over i had to reupload it several times to Github, but it should be all setup and ready now.
Used Images
- banner.png (The image for the icon on Android TV)
- logoteleports.jpg (Teleports logo used in the splashscreen)
Compiled APK
- The APK is compiled for Android 4.3 and up