New FireTV forum created
dgackey
Austin, TXInactive, PRO, Chef Emeritus Posts: 699
Because the design and development process for FireTV games is so different from tablet- and PC-based projects, I thought it would be a good idea to create a separate FireTV dev forum.
Please use this to discuss your strategies for migrating existing games to the platform, specific techniques for designing to its strengths, etc.
It is here: http://forums.gamesalad.com/categories/working-with-gamesalad-firetv
Enjoy!
Dan
Comments
@dgackey Thank you! I just bought a Fire TV and I am currently waiting on the Game controller to arrive in the mail. I have a project that I am working on now that is specifically designed for it. I will be posting screen shots and animations soon!
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! THANK YOU GS TEAM!!!!!
Sweet! thnx.
Great idea. I'll be picking a firetv up soon to. does anyone know if you have to use the amazon controller with it or does it support other controllers too?
it does support some throu the USB port
@BlackCloakGS, thanks for the info.
@jamie_c It also supports the PS4 controller through Bluetooth.
I have read through the distributed PDF and have a few questions that I would like to ask the following question.
To begin, for the button highlight system I am simply using the following logic:
When actor receives event and if mouse position is inside change image to highlighted Button otherwise Change Button to one that is not highlighted.
Is this sufficient to use with Fire TV? It works well with touch controls on iOS devices. Does anyone have a better solution?
Lastly, I would like to ask more about not using button presses to change scenes directly.
Can some please go into depth with this a little more? Simply put if I can’t use button presses to change scenes directly what is a more suitable solution.
Honestly, I know that simply porting over an iOS game built with a touch-based interface isn’t going to be sufficient enough to create a great Fire TV game.
As a result I want to have the Fire TV Platform in mind when designing a user-friendly interface with the new platform. This will require thinking differently about the user experience and my GUI.
In sum, thank you for your time and help.
Dale
@robertkdale look at the insect intruders example project on how to change scene with out it being a direct result of a button press and highlighting button example.
@BlackCloakGS Thank you!
what i did for the menu system was to create an integer called menuSelect.
then by pressing either left or right, I increment that value using mod(menuSelect+1,X) where X is how many menu items I have.
the based on the value of that integer, I can determine which option is highlighted. (i.e. 0 = play, 1 = settings, 2 = info)
so i have rules that say if button A is pressed AND menuSelect = 0, do whatever
not the only way, but it works well for me.
Hey @dgackey or anyone else. Are we still able to access the original Fire TV forum where it was announced? If so what is the link? Asking because I recall some GS members posting their work that they were accomplishing for the Fire TV and wanted to read through it again. Thanks!
http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/80150/release-candidate-0-13-3-firetv-and-gamepad-support#latest
cool this is awesome i just started this it is great
it is awesome
Thanks! @jonmulcahy Your explanation makes perfect scenes to me. I will be giving it a try very soon.
@dgackey Hey, you guys should ask Amazon for an affiliate commission on all the Fire TVs and controllers the GS members are buying! It would put some funds in the kitty for Graphene.
I just submitted an enhancement to support Amazon Ads for Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.
Please vote for it if you want this feature!! ID # 812
voted!
How long are people finding Amazon takes to review/approve games submitted for the Fire TV?
Just trying to get a rough idea of when would be a realistic cutoff time before submitting a game, in order to still give it time to be approved and within the promotional deadline...
I got roughly 8 hours in average for Amazon to review my games.
Is there no support for iap or ads for fire games?
iAP i think will work, since it works for regular kindle games
but there is no ad network. I think @bobd submitted a feature request for it yesterday, so go vote for it if you want it.
This will make easier for you to find the Enhancement Request to Vote on!!
http://bugs.gamesalad.com/show_bug.cgi?id=812
I am extremely excited and happy right now and wanted to share this with you guys!!!
Look what Controller I am using with my Fire TV!!!
It works when attached to my computer as I can map keys to the controllers buttons and it's connected via bluetooth to my Fire TV and works great!!! I am beyond excited!!! Be Jealous!!! LOL
I will make a video of it in action if you guys are interested. Just let me know! Now I can experience my retro gaming once again! Woo Hoo!!!
Awesome
Am curious as to what others are doing to indicate to the player what the controls are for their Fire TV games? Looking for some ideas!
@KillerPenguinStudios, I've added a Controls Screen that shows a controller with the buttons actions called out, like the one below. The image below is just grabbed off the web, not my actual image.
If you check out the tv demo video I did for A Long Way Home, at 13 seconds you can see the graphic I made to show the controls
Thank you @jamie_c and @jonmulcahy!!!