Make formspecs usable on mobile #198

grorp commented 2024年07月12日 14:49:50 +02:00

Problem

Repixture is a very good candidate for a mobile game because of its simplicity. Playing the game on Android already mostly works.

Unfortunately, the formspecs are quite unusable on mobile because everything is way too small. The craftguide is basically impossible to use. I'm attaching a screenshot to show what it looks like:

screenshot.jpeg

Please note that you need to view the screenshot at a small size to see the problem. On my desktop computer, a 30% scale gives the screenshot the same size as on my phone.

Solution

As a proof of concept, I modified some formspecs to make them usable on mobile here: https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/Repixture/compare/master...grorp/Repixture:formspec-magic

goodscr.jpeg
goodscr2.jpeg

(Please note again, the screenshots need to be viewed at a small size.)

However, you probably don't want these modified formspecs as replacements for your existing formspecs. Instead, you probably want to switch between a desktop version and a mobile version of the formspec for each player, depending on what minetest.get_player_window_information() tells you.

### Problem Repixture is a very good candidate for a mobile game because of its simplicity. Playing the game on Android already mostly works. Unfortunately, the formspecs are quite unusable on mobile because everything is way too small. The craftguide is basically impossible to use. I'm attaching a screenshot to show what it looks like:  Please note that you need to view the screenshot at a small size to see the problem. On my desktop computer, a 30% scale gives the screenshot the same size as on my phone. ### Solution As a proof of concept, I modified some formspecs to make them usable on mobile here: https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/Repixture/compare/master...grorp/Repixture:formspec-magic   (Please note again, the screenshots need to be viewed at a small size.) However, you probably don't want these modified formspecs as replacements for your existing formspecs. Instead, you probably want to switch between a desktop version and a mobile version of the formspec for each player, depending on what `minetest.get_player_window_information()` tells you.

grorp commented 2024年07月12日 14:50:05 +02:00

Doing this with raw formspecs would result in a huge amount of code duplication and complexity, so I would like to use this library: https://content.minetest.net/packages/luk3yx/flow/

The benefit is that it would allow me to have the desktop and the mobile layout in the same code, without duplication and without manually repositioning everything. For mobile players, I could simply replace some gui.VBox instances with gui.HBox and reorder some elements.

What do you think?

(I haven't yet made a proof of concept for doing this with Flow, though.)

Doing this with raw formspecs would result in a huge amount of code duplication and complexity, so I would like to use this library: https://content.minetest.net/packages/luk3yx/flow/ The benefit is that it would allow me to have the desktop and the mobile layout in the same code, without duplication and without manually repositioning everything. For mobile players, I could simply replace some `gui.VBox` instances with `gui.HBox` and reorder some elements. What do you think? (I haven't yet made a proof of concept for doing this with Flow, though.)

Wuzzy commented 2024年07月12日 20:51:28 +02:00

Good issue, but not my highest priority right now. I first want to build on content and gameplay.

Unfortunately, I don't have an easy method to test mobile mode right now. But it's nice Minetest finally allows me to check if a player is on mobile. And given that Minetest has been traditionally horrible on mobile anyway (horrible controls), my motivation is not very high.
I still completely agree with the goal here, and that Repixture would, in theory, work well on mobile. I just don't have the experience.

So sorry, you currently just have to get used to the fact that Repixture is basically a PC game. At least for now.

About your suggestions:

I'm probably not willing to use flow because rp_formspec is basically already Repixture’s own formspec library so I rather extend that one. flow doesn't support all formspec features anyway.

The formspec still needs to be carefully designed for mobile anyway, no amount of syntactical suger will get you around that.

I don't like ur first proof-of-concept, the inventory slots look very messy with that empty space. Inventory slots MUST be aligned in a perfect rectangle, this is a hard requirement in this game's design. The only exception is Creative, where the number of items isn't predictable. But your idea of going from left-to-right rather than top-to-button is interesting, I think it might go in the right direction.

Are there other formspecs with problems? What about the chest menu? If this is problematic, then we have a huge problem. ☹️

Another problem: Supporting mobile for real will greatly increase the maintenance work. There's a very real risk that mobile support will exist only on paper since I will let the code rot untested, leaving us in a similar situation like Minetest right now. Especially as long I don't have a quick and easy way to test this for regressions. Officially supporting mobile is, like, a HUGE step, you know!

Frankly, I think I would rather tackle this after most of the other important tasks are completed. Mainly, content, gameplay, balancing, that stuff.

Feel free to keep commenting tho, I am still very interested about your thought because my experience with mobile is basically zero.

Good issue, but not my highest priority right now. I first want to build on content and gameplay. Unfortunately, I don't have an easy method to test mobile mode right now. But it's nice Minetest *finally* allows me to check if a player is on mobile. And given that Minetest has been traditionally horrible on mobile anyway (horrible controls), my motivation is not very high. I still completely agree with the goal here, and that Repixture would, in theory, work well on mobile. I just don't have the experience. So sorry, you currently just have to get used to the fact that Repixture is basically a PC game. At least for now. About your suggestions: I'm probably not willing to use `flow` because `rp_formspec` is basically already Repixture’s own formspec library so I rather extend that one. `flow` doesn't support all formspec features anyway. The formspec still needs to be carefully designed for mobile anyway, no amount of syntactical suger will get you around that. I don't like ur first proof-of-concept, the inventory slots look very messy with that empty space. Inventory slots MUST be aligned in a perfect rectangle, this is a hard requirement in this game's design. The only exception is Creative, where the number of items isn't predictable. But your idea of going from left-to-right rather than top-to-button is interesting, I think it might go in the right direction. Are there other formspecs with problems? What about the chest menu? If this is problematic, then we have a huge problem. ☹️ Another problem: Supporting mobile for real will greatly increase the maintenance work. There's a very real risk that mobile support will exist only on paper since I will let the code rot untested, leaving us in a similar situation like Minetest right now. Especially as long I don't have a quick and easy way to test this for regressions. **Officially** supporting mobile is, like, a HUGE step, you know! Frankly, I think I would rather tackle this *after* most of the other important tasks are completed. Mainly, content, gameplay, balancing, that stuff. Feel free to keep commenting tho, I am still very interested about your thought because my experience with mobile is basically zero.