If you read the Project news, you already know that I worked on making the game look more like a game, and less like a productivity app from the Android 2.1 era.
As with everything related to displaying stuff on android, this is a sensible matter. Different vendors and android versions have a tendency to display things differently. I tested this on a large panel of android versions from 1.6 (yes, android Donut) to 8.0 (the fresh Oero), but I'm interested in your feedback, especially if you are using an old device, or a cheap one, or an exotic one from a lesser known vendor, or even one with a custom ROM with heavy visual customizations... or if you have some form of visual deficiency.
It's best to post your report as a reply here, but it's OK to PM it to me, especially if you suffer from a visual deficiency (color blindness or other) that is relevant to your perception of the new UI, but that you don't want to share publicly.
You can get the alpha build from a link at the end of this post, riiiight after the long list of instructions you SHOULD read in order to prevent breaking saves, and to install safely.
Information to include in your report:
- Device brand and model
- Android version, including custom ROM details if applicable.
- System language and "Localized resources" preferences setting (What language is used in the UI).
- Screenshots for any issue. It's hard to explain what looks weird without a picture.
- What you like.
- What you don't like.
- How well you can read the text on screen.
What NOT to report:
- You failed to install the APK. If you can't succeed with the instructions below, you probably shouldn't try to install an alpha build anyway.
- You broke your favorite save. Alpha builds DO THAT ON PURPOSE. You can follow the instructions below to make a backup, but overall, you should avoid using the save function at all, except maybe in a new, dedicated savegame slot.
General instructions
Here's a list of what you should do before and after:
- Install a file explorer on your device, like Amaze File Manager (F-Droid link), or ES File Explorer (powerful and versatile, but ad-ridden, and poisons you with notifications until you opt-out in the settings).
- Backup your saves. This is important. An alpha build can permanently corrupt a save if you overwrite it, and can mess up your worldmaps (see below).
- Download the APK.
- Uninstall the Google Play (or F-Droid) version of Andor's Trail, as otherwise, you won't be able to install the alpha build.
- Temporarily allow installation from sources other then Google Play (see below).
- Install it by launching it from the file manager. This is very important on Oreo as otherwise, you risk to allow applications to be installed from your Web browser, and you really don't want that.
- Revert the setting allowing installation from sources other than Google Play (see below).
- Launch the game, and go to the "Preferences" screen, to restore the options, as they were reset to the defaults when you uninstalled the previous version.
- Test the game.
- Report about your experience here. Add screenshots when applicable. Note that all Android devices should be able to take screenshots, generally with a well-timed "Power+Volume down" simultaneous button press. A google search for "Take screenshots on <Insert your device brand and model here>" should give you directions.
- Eventually, uninstall the alpha version, reinstall the Google Play version, and, if necessary, restore your saves (see below).
Backup
- Using the file manager, navigate to /sdcard/, which should be the root folder of the "Internal storage" or "SD Card" device.
- If there is a folder named "andors-trail", you are at the right place. Check that this folder contains a "worldmap" directory and a bunch of savegameX files.
- Create a copy, or a zip, of the whole "andors-trail" folder. You can save this somewhere else if you wish too (google drive or other cloud storage, your computer, whatever...).
- Backup again with a different backup name, just to be sure.
- Delete the "andors-trail" folder.
- Unzip, or move and/or rename your backup so that the game can find the "andors-trail" folder and its content back to where it was.
Allow and disallow application side-loading (installation of arbitrary APK outside of Google Play)
Allowing installation temporarily.
- [ On Nougat (7.1) and earlier ] Temporarily allow installation from unknown sources by ticking the box in Settings->Security->Unknown Sources.
- [ On Oreo (8.0) ] You'll be prompted to grant application installation rights later.
- [ On Nougat (7.1) and earlier ] Disallow installation from unknown sources by unticking the box in Settings->Security->Unknown Sources.
- [ On Oreo (8.0) ] Go to Settings and search for "Install other apps". Select the app you used to install the alpha build, and disallow installations from this source. Next time you use it to install an APK, you will be prompted again.