Create your killer app

[cu3e]

well, at least on IOS...

So now its LC 5. The latest version of LC. Update cost money, of course. How are the Android features on this release? Any news from the front?!

[jacque]

The new and improved animation and engine redraw acceleration apply to Android as well as iOS. That made my sample Android game very fast. In 4.6.4, dragging an object could not keep up with my finger, now it can. Note that Android does not support openGL or coregraphics, so you'll need to use the "software" acceleration method, but it works fine for me. For me, the improved animation effects are the biggest advantage. They aren't just for games, all screen redraws for any app are much improved.

Intermittent crashes, startup issues, and other general issues have been fixed. There have been improvements and fixes for supported orientations, which work very well now. I can't remember all the new changes now, but there have been others.

[BarrySumpter]

I'd like a full and exhaustive list of Android related feature updates.

Anyone know what the price is to upgrade from v4 to v5?
And if I do upgrade how long will it last?

I really really feel like any purchase of Android license will go towards iOS development only.
And that any Android enhancements will only be because its an after thought to an iOS enhancement.

Didn't really understand Gamification.
Anyone else totally confused with the Gamification article?


And what is In App Purchases?

What are the LiveCode Development Tools?


----

Update:

Update Addons:
Desktop Deployment : Mac + Windows // $129
Mobile Deployment : iOS // $149
Mobile Deployment : Android // $149
=====
$280 just for upgrade for Win and Android? - no thanks

Still really confused about how licensing works.

Update2:
LiveCode Development Tools:
Included in your package, the full feature set of LiveCode giving you access to:
the visual IDE
scripting language
debugging tools on any LiveCode supported platform

[BarrySumpter]

The new and improved animation and engine redraw acceleration apply to Android as well as iOS. That made my sample Android game very fast. In 4.6.4, dragging an object could not keep up with my finger, now it can. Note that Android does not support openGL or coregraphics, so you'll need to use the "software" acceleration method, but it works fine for me. For me, the improved animation effects are the biggest advantage. They aren't just for games, all screen redraws for any app are much improved.

Intermittent crashes, startup issues, and other general issues have been fixed. There have been improvements and fixes for supported orientations, which work very well now. I can't remember all the new changes now, but there have been others.

from support:

Note that we will be adding the new graphics acceleration and in-app purchasing for Android in the 5.0.1 release very shortly, and this is included in any 5.0 purchase. Or you can wait for that release to upgrade.

[cu3e]

I canceled all android projects and will (sadly) jump the iOS wagon. Well, hope its getting better for android soon. But I don't believe in it.

[jacque]

The note from support is slightly misleading. The accelerated graphics architecture is already in place and I can verify that it works really well. What they meant was that support for OpenGL will be added next. Right now, only software acceleration is available for Android.

[BarrySumpter]

Hi Jacque,
Do you have a test project you can post here so I can verify the 10x speed enhancement?

I've already tried with my gesture scrolling and didn't find any change in speed.

[jacque]

Sorry, I don't have a test app, I've been testing with a stack that's under development for something else. The RR team had one though, but I didn't save the URL. Maybe someone here still has the link. Mr. Weider?

The difference really is pretty impressive once you get it set up right. It takes some optimizing for best results. I'm very pleased with what the engineers have done, though if you aren't writing software that uses a lot of on-screen movement you may not see much difference; the biggest change in this release is the cross-platform rendering engine. My iPad was almost fast enough without the update, but it's my low-spec Android device that really shows the improvements. I never thought that little dog could respond so fast.

[BarrySumpter]

No Prob with the test app.
I may upgrade if it does run 10x fastger.

I guess optimizing and "without rewriting a single line of code" are 2 differnent things?
May have to break down and experiment with that optimization setting.

[jacque]

There are two different types of speed improvements. The first level is the basic engine rewrite, which renders images and movement much faster than before. You don't need to rewrite any code to take advantage of that, your app will automatically inherit it.

The second type makes use of the new properties that were introduced in 5.0, which allow optimizing your particular app to make the best use of the new engine. Your scripts can control the size of the image cache, the size of the area that is redrawn, and which rendering algorithm is used. You don't need to set these unless your app needs the fastest possible redraws for moving objects; the defaults in the engine will work fine. But if you do need fast action, as required by some games for example, then you can set these properties and fine-tune them to get a very fast response that's customized for your app.