If the textures you are using and such are created for one specific screen size, the game is probably going to look slightly different on different screens due to it being stretched or compressed based on the resolution, unless you customize it for every resolution.

I've had very limited experience with Android, so I don't know every detail of the API, but if take a look at the documentation. There might be a function telling you if the users phone has a button or is only touch screen.

This is a guess, but you should know that even though Android apps are created in Java, the programs are run on the Dalvik JVM, which I believe was customized for the Android. So, even though Java is cross-platform, I'm not sure you could simply port it over to another phone that uses the Java VM.

Is it possible to save a file (e.g. saving the game) and load it from another app?

From what I've seen of Android applications, and the API documentation, there seems to be no inherent file dialog function. However, you can create an app (as evidenced by 3rd party apps) that allows you to explore files, but you will have to program this yourself.

Is there a way of doing something like downloading game patches or DLC through the app?

Most likely. The Android is all about being connected to the internet. You should be able to use network libraries to do DLC type stuff.

Quote:Original post by namingway
1. Firstly is it difficulty making a cross compatible app...
2. Is it hard to detect whether the phone has buttons to use or only a touch screen?
3. Is it possible to save a file (e.g. saving the game) and load it from another app?
4. Is there a way of doing something like downloading game patches or DLC through the app?

Those are all bad questions, namin. You should rewrite them all.
1. Instead of "is it difficultly[sic]" ask "how do I."
2. Instead of "is it hard" ask "how do I."
3. Instead of "is it possible" ask "how do I."
4. Instead of "is there a way" ask "how do I."
"Is it hard," "is it possible," and "is there a way" are almost always bad questions. Why bother asking if a thing is hard? Seriously. What will you do if we say it is hard? Not try?

Quote:Firstly is it difficulty making a cross compatible app for different screen sizes and those that have buttons/single touch/multi touch screens?

Not especially difficult, no. Android can handle some of the scaling for you: http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html. Alternatively, you can usually get better results if you do it yourself. As for detecting what the device supports, I don't have any resources off-hand, but there should exist some calls.

Quote:Is it possible to save a file (e.g. saving the game) and load it from another app?

Yes. http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html. Basically you can save a file as 'world readable' and have it accessible to other apps.

Quote:Is there a way of doing something like downloading game patches or DLC through the app?

There's no turn-key solution. You have a few options though:
(1) You can setup some kind of client/server download scheme to pull down new content. This is probably the hardest solution.

(2) For DLC, you can add another app to the market, have it write to shared storage, and then setup your game to look in that space.

(3) You can update your app as many times as you like. The Google Android market has no review process, so putting up patches/added content can be just a process of resubmitting your app.