Chapter 12. Polishing Android Games

The quality of a developed game mostly depends on the final polishing. Polishing is basically a stage in development where the game is improved in every possible aspect to provide maximum user experience. There is no limit to such improvisation. Most game developers allocate a major time period to polishing.

In the polishing stage, the game should be ready for release. Most of the time, the developer faces a time crunch at the end of the development process. Polishing takes a significant amount of time. There are many examples where the developer chooses to polish the game after release. However, it is not recommended from the user experience and retention point of view.

The polishing job is carried out by the full development team, including designers, artists, and developers. It is the responsibility of the product manager and producer to ensure the target polishing level of the game.

Many developers choose to carry out play testing with a significant but...

Requirements for polishing

Polishing any game defines the quality of development. So, it is absolutely necessary to polish any game before releasing it in the market. A polished game performs far better than unpolished games in terms of visibility, smoothness, and user experience.

Polishing Android games covers all the three development components of a game:

• Development polishing

• Art polishing

• Design polishing

Development polishing

Polishing the engineering or the technical aspect of the game development process to improve smooth playability of the game is the main target of development polishing. This section includes programming optimization, memory optimization, and stripping unnecessary code blocks to avoid any extra processing.

Development polishing can be further split into three phases:

• Memory optimization

• Performance optimization

• Portability

Memory optimization

We have already discussed memory optimization in detail in the previous chapter. Memory optimization ensures that the game runs with...

Play testing

Play testing is a part of planning game polishing. Play testing is carried out after the game has been made according to the initial design. It basically reveals the entire user behavior throughout the game.

Here are the fields of exploration during play testing:

• User gameplay difficulty level

• User actions during gameplay

• User actions while browsing the game

• Whether the user is paying or not

• Whether the game is running smoothly

• Whether the user can adopt the gameplay

• User retention

Play testing is planned on a limited group of targeted users. Often, developers release beta versions of the game in a certain region to carry out play testing. The preceding points are basically the advantages of play testing. The only disadvantage of performing such an act is that the developer might lose some audience in the play test region because of a poor initial game plan, which can be improved after play testing. So, it is always recommended that you complete the game with the full game experience...

Taking care of the UX

When it comes to the quality of the game, UX or user experience is the most important factor to be considered. Thus, it becomes extremely necessary to polish the UX of the game.

We can categorize UX polishing into the following categories:

• Visual effects

• Sound effects

• Transaction effects

• Action feedback

Visual effects

The user experience of a game is mostly visual. So, each visual effect adds an extra layer of polishing for the game to increase experience quality. There are several types of users. Visual effect ensures the engagement of the user. Basically, polishing visual effects means each action feedback should be visual.

For example, there are a few users who might be color blind. For them, only color visuals is not enough. This scenario may be improved by introducing visual effects with different shapes of objects or by some other action.

Sound effects

Sound defines the mood of the game. Sound designers design sounds according to the game type. There are two separate types...

Android-specific polishing

Android has a specific set of features and limitations. This opens up the possibility for Android-specific polishing. This can be done on the following features or limitations of the Android platform and devices:

• Optimum use of hardware buttons

• Sticking to basic Android features and functionalities

• Longer background running

• Following Google guidelines for Play Store efficiency

Optimum use of hardware buttons

A typical Android mobile or tablet device has the following buttons:

• Home button

• Back button

• Menu button

• Volume up button

• Volume down button

• Lock/Unlock/Power button

Each button has its own functionality based on the Android standard. It is always a good practice to use these buttons for the exact same functionality in the game.

For example, pressing the Back button should take the user to the previous screen or previous state of the game. The most common use of the Back button for in-game play is to pause the game cycle. Similarly, the Volume up/down button should have...

Game portability

Polishing is the best phase where game portability should be increased to its maximum level without affecting the game itself. In this phase, portability can be increased in three ways:

• Support for various screen sizes

• Support for multiple resolutions

• Support for multiple hardware configurations

Support for various screen sizes

Android has a lot of variety in terms of screen size. The game control system is the main segment affected by varying sizes. When a game is designed, the control system is also planned according to user convenience.

For Android mobile game development, Android tablet controls are usually a bit different from Android mobile controls. The screen size of tabs is usually bigger than mobiles. So, there is more space to be used by the user. The game should be optimized for both small and big screen scenarios for ease of control.

Support for multiple resolutions

In contrast, there are Android devices that have the same screen size, but different resolutions. In...

Summary

Game polishing is an inevitable part of game development. However, game improvisation has no limit. Developers should plan polishing stages and changes to support and meet the development timeline. Game polishing helps a game acquire more users, more retention, and eventually more revenue. A highly polished game covers each and every section discussed in this chapter.

A game must look good, feel good, and be interesting enough to continue. Last but not least, it should be top-quality so that users pay for it or refer other users. Game polishing increases the life of a game. It helps developers plan updates and features, and keeps users in the game for a longer period.

So far, we have covered almost every aspect of game development for Android. However, a developer cannot be at rest even after developing the game. There are certain parameters to be fulfilled to make a successful game. For these reasons, the developer must include a few non-gaming features and functionalities in the...