Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Fearless Leader on March 26, 2011, 01:48:15 am
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I know this idea has been kicked been kicked around (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=50293.msg1016502#msg1016502) before. Seeing as how phones have advanced in the past few years, for those of you that remember, they are now more than what most computers were in the 90s.
How feasible would it be to make an app that would be maybe one level from a FS demo? Would it even be legal? FSO runs on OSX, and from my limited understanding iOS is a lite version of OSX.
I would attempt to do this on my own, but the website for developing apps says that I "... should also be familiar with basic programming concepts.", before attempting to create an app, is anyone familiar with developing iphone apps?
I really just want to play freespace on my phone
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It's a multipart problem.
iOS is very different from OSX, that's part one. Part 2 is that iOS apps have to follow a strict set of rules regarding which programming language to use (Objective-C, to be precise. FSO is written in C and C++). Part 3 is the FSO license, which prohibits commercial use of the code. Part 4 is that you'd have to code a new interface for touch input. Part 5 is that FSO uses OpenGL core, whereas iOS devices use OpenGL ES.
So, in conclusion, it might be possible, but it requires a whole lot of work, it probably won't be pretty, and it will probably require you to jailbreak your iWhatever.
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I am dreaming with that since I discover the freespace saga, It would be so awesome, hopes that anyone could achieve that
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Okay, for the non-coding people, porting FSO over to iOS is a prohibitively large task, similar to a full rewrite of the engine. It is not going to happen.
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What about just the non-FSO FS2 demo?
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It's the same thing. In order to get it running, you have to port the engine. In order to port the engine, you have to make all the adjustments implied in my first post in this thread. Doing so is simply not practical.
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Would Android be easier?
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Even if you could get it onto a smartphone, playing Freespace in any meaningful way needs a minimum of 8 or 9 buttons, plus directional buttons... put sll them onto the screen of a phone, and you'll hardly have the space for any visuals of the game.
Closest thing you might be able to get practically is some kind of shoot 'em up engine with FS ships/weapons in it, I reckon.
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FreeSpace shmup?
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We actually have one of those... somewhere. I believe it's called "2D Freespace".
Not a particularly intricate one, but nonetheless.
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Very well then, I'll bring this issue back in another few years. Hopefully, by that point phones, will be advanced enough to be freespace.
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The issue isn't that phones aren't advanced enough, it's that they aren't compatible enough. A phone simply isn't designed to run a PC game, and I honestly doubt this will change in the future. Still, pleasant surprises do happen.
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How hard do you think it would be to adapt the engine to Windows Mobile? Or maybe in a few years phones will be powerful enough to run full Windows 8 (or 9 or whatever)/ OSX?
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The level of compatibility needed for an FSO app to run smoothly isn't limited to software requirements alone; as BW pointed out, the interface must also be adapted. Personally I think this would be the hardest part. As for the actual feasibility of eventually getting the game to work properly on a specific phone OS (interface aside), I honestly don't know as I'm not a coder. Though it all seems somewhat irrelevant in light of the engine's license restrictions. The only realistic route to creating a FreeSpace app seems to be designing it from scratch in the required programming language. This could be done in theory, though the time and effort needed to do so would be considerable.
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How hard do you think it would be to adapt the engine to Windows Mobile? Or maybe in a few years phones will be powerful enough to run full Windows 8 (or 9 or whatever)/ OSX?
They already are. The problem in adapting FSO is that the interface needs to be redesigned completely.
Porting it to Win Mobile requires, among other things, coding of a DirectX renderer. ANd porting the engine to C#. And using the XNA framework.
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How about the iPad. Seems big enough although the interface might still need some work
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Read the thread. Porting to the iPad is just as hard as porting to the iPhone.
Not. Going. To. Happen.
Unless you're willing to do it, of course.
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iphones have enoght 3D power to run FS???
What ill highly recomend is to port the engine to OpenGL ES, and ARM processors, with next gen Tegra ARM processors by nvidia plus Windows 8 running on ARM, we going to see a lot of tablets and neetbooks running with Tegra 2 and Kal-el (next gen Tegra with quad core and better gpu).
http://notebooks.com/2011/02/16/nvidia-tegra-kal-el-quad-core-mobile-processors-announced/
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Lol, people simply do not read the replies, they read the title and say "OMGTHATSGREAT" and then they post their "recommendations" hehe.
It would be *awesome* to have Freespace Open in the iPad, for example, but for that to happen, you'd have to design the entire engine *again*, and then you'd have to simply ignore the open source rights of FSO so that your "app" gets approved by Apple (in where your app must have proprietary rights, some of which you will abandon to Apple itself.... as far as I know).
And to just imagine how you would manage the FSO "mods" in, say, iTunes, it would be hilariously ridiculous.
Nope. Not happening.
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I took the liberty of modifying the Title for this thread to hopefully illustrate the point for people who are just posting based on title and not actual reading.
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iphones have enoght 3D power to run FS???
What ill highly recomend is to port the engine to OpenGL ES, and ARM processors, with next gen Tegra ARM processors by nvidia plus Windows 8 running on ARM, we going to see a lot of tablets and neetbooks running with Tegra 2 and Kal-el (next gen Tegra with quad core and better gpu).
http://notebooks.com/2011/02/16/nvidia-tegra-kal-el-quad-core-mobile-processors-announced/
Go ahead and get us coders the hardware then. And the SDKs. And while we're at it, why don't you go ahead and pay us for it? Because it's not going to happen unless you do that, or a new person comes along and does it for us.
Perhaps Zacam and I weren't clear enough. So let me use large letters.
Unless someone who has the hardware and the enthusiasm and a whole lot free time comes along, FSO will NEVER BE PORTED TO A MOBILE DEVICE.
So unless you're willing to do it yourself, stop dreaming about it.
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What if you get some sort of VMWare for Ipads? :nervous:
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Which isn't going to happen. Apple's app regulations explicitly forbid emulators like that.
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who cares about apple? everyone that owns one knowns about the software restrictions.
I think we can disscuss this once there is more information on Windows 8, all we known for now is the fact it runs on ARM hardware, and that includes the Tegra 2 and next gen tegra processors hardware. Maybe MS will include a x86 emulator por ARM hardware... who knowns. BUt still OpenGL ES is the problem.
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Okay.
ShivanSPS, please, stop. Windows Mobile 8, just like Mobile 7, will be based on .net and DirectX. Porting a non-.net, OpenGL application over is a task of such magnitude that you'd need a team of hired coders to get it done. Which is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So stop dreaming.
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Indeed. I fully concur with The E on all points.
Porting to ANY mobility platform of the hand-held variety is not going to happen, regardless of the hardware or the control mechanisms, simply because we barely have enough people as it is for maintaining the code as it stands and addressing the issues and new features.
NONE of us have the ability or time it would take to handle a task of this magnitude. And then, even IF somebody DOES manage to make it happen, it surely will not end up using the ASSETS as they currently exist, so all of THOSE would have to be ported as well.
So, this conversation is done.
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I reckon you can probably just leave it to sit, no need to lock.
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Yes, we do need to lock. Because people apparently keep thinking that what we're saying here now will be invalid in the future.