Re-launched Ninja Legacy on Android, using Intel’s Crosswalk compiler
August: GO HERE FOR UPDATED ARTICLE!
Edit: June 2014, I’ve taken it off the store temporarily for a remake.
Developing a HTML5 game means there’s broad compatibility, from browsers, facebook, windows 8 to mobiles. However, a critical point is during the code porting/wrapping to mobiles. Currently, few services are available, those that are have major negatives (especially for bigger apps/games).
We’ve previously used Ludei’s CocoonJS but it’s major drawbacks includes: Slow load times (loading every asset into memory at the start eventhough it does not need it) and too many required permissions on mobile devices. We feel in its current form, CocoonJS is fantastic for smaller apps or games with less art assets, but due to its handling of assets, it is unsuitable for larger HTML5 apps.
Enter Intel’s XDK compiler using Crosswalk (based on the Chrome browser engine), it handles loading assets much better, layout-by-layout and minimizing ram usage. We went from requiring 440MB of free ram with CocoonJS to about 240MB with Crosswalk. The difference is massive in terms of device compatibility, requiring 440mb free ram limits our game to devices with 1GB or greater, whereas with Crosswalk, it runs on devices with 512MB.
Also, XDK offers configurable permissions and plugins, with only the network permission as being required.
Taking this route, we’ve released a lite/demo version for users to try out and a full paid version.
On Android now: Ninja Legacy: The Forbidden Scrolls.
Overall, Crosswalk/XDK performance is spectacular, Ninja Legacy manages to run smoothly on older devices with weak dual-cores and 512mb of RAM! Surely, with Crosswalk/XDK, HTML5 gaming on mobiles is more than possible, even for larger complex games.
When Crosswalk/XDK updates to include support for Google’s AdMob and Store, it will be the go-to HTML5 compiler for Android (we’ll also release a full version Ninja Legacy, Ad supported).
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Congrats on the release mate 🙂
I am also using intelxdk with crosswalk as we speak.
Wondering if you found a way to limit devices based on RAM on googleplay or via crosswalk preferences.
Our game seems to require devices with atleast 1GB RAM, although some 512MB or 768 MB ones can still play the game.. but the risk of it crashing is high. I’d like to limit off the install to 1GB+ devices
Thanks. I’m still waiting on XDK to have proper support for AdMob and Google Store. 😀
As for the limiting devices based on spec, we all wish Google would have that function to allow devs to set a minimum target for RAM.. but alas, there’s no way of doing it besides removing out of the 5000+ devices one at a time. Just make sure you specifically request at least 1GB devices in your App description. I don’t have issues or complaints regarding that since its clear in the app’s description.
hmm true 🙂
I’m also waiting for XDK’s admob support 🙂 … meanwhile using leadbolt ads; then again … it has issues with crashing on clicking (probably a x-walk issue).
Thanks for the tip of writing in app’s description.. I guess I shouldn’t delay the launch anymore.. just go with that 🙂