Android export questions: compatibility with list object, effects, and text objects.

Quote from MistaSub

Hello,

I am thinking of maybe porting my game to phones once I've completed it. So I figured, now is a good time to start planning for it. I use a lot of list objects, that seem very "Windows". I am concerned about compatibility. For instance, I have a lot of text in my game. I use Tahoma, but Tahoma is not available on non-windows systems. Also, the text-blit object is something I had a look at, but the extension manager shows that to be only compatible with windows.

I could see myself converting the code by hand to appropriate fonts, if that is my only option. I am just curious what is the best way to start planning for this. Also, I want to know if my game simply can never be on anything but Windows, since I use the list object for a lot of things, including path finding. I mean it's never on screen, but I need it for a lot of things.

The only extensions I use is Text-rectangle, and some effects, like dual-glow and photoshop blend modes. I read something about effect switch not working on Android, but that I could manage if the effects still work. The only time I switch effects is when I monochrome my icons, and that I could do by just redoing the art with two frames. Maybe considering trying text-blitter, since text-rectangle is giving me trouble anyway.
If all else fails with the text, I guess I could try some monospace font, and make my own text-rectangle thing. But still, I am concerned with the rest of the things I mentioned.

I don't want to waste a lot of time on making my own text-blitter, and then finding out the game won't work anyway, since I use lists. And I don't know, the lists just look so "Windowsy" it scares me.

Also, I assume active object, array object, background object and string object probably work just fine on every OS?

Thanks again everyone!

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List object is cross platform yeah, I use it all the time too, you can see if an extension is compatible with a specific runtime from the insert object dialog and checking specific runtimes, if an object is still shown then it's compatible with the runtimes you checked
Text blitter is not supported on android, again you can check with the same way I mentioned above

You have a couple of other limitations, you can't have effects on layers or frames, even simple ones like controling the alpha coefficient
Though custom shaders are supported on other runtimes (if they were ported to said runtime, for starters, entirety of mega shader pack was ported to android, ios and mac) and only apply on objects, if you still use Fusion 294.14, you can't have background sampling on shaders, though in 295 (currently still a beta) additional shader capabilities were implemented for other runtimes such as background sampling useful for shaders that sample the background like lens

For fonts it's a bit tricky, you can either choose to use system fonts only or use your own ones, that if they were installed on users device already, which is probably not the case, you would want to use Android Font Embed object, it's dev only though
Any sort of monetization outside of listing your app as paid on playstore is not exactly possible without admob and in-app objects, which are also dev version only

The list object is compatible with Android. There may be some cosmetic differences/limitations, and the mouse controls become touchscreen touches, but the rest of the functionality works the exact same way on Android as it does on Windows.

Quote from MistaSub

I don't know what background sampling on shaders is? So a simple photoshop color overlay, or other effect is not a background shader? Only some that require more complex math's to somehow factor in the background, instead of "overlaying" on it or something? I'm sorry I don't understand shaders at all.

Background sampling means a shader that samples the background (what's behind it), think of lens shader and how it gets and modifies what's behind it to create the zoom effect
On android, iOS and macOS, shaders that sample the background are not possible in Fusion build 294, though with the recent 295 update it's now possible

Photoshop overlay shader (the one from Looki's MegaShaderPack) seems to support all, dx9, dx11, Android, iOS, and macOS, it doesn't seem to be sampling the background, you can see if a shader is supported on said runtime from the Effects picker dialog
If you need more shaders ported that are not available on said runtime you may want join the Please login to see this link. and ask on #shaders channel for a porting request, someone like NaitorStudios may able to help

Quote from MistaSub

I am going to upgrade to Dev as soon as I can afford it, this would be seamless right?

Yes you gonna have almost no problems upgrading to dev, I say almost because the only difference would be your toolbar resetting and maybe some other preferences too

Quote from MistaSub

Also, couldn't I feasibly make the whole game in 294.14, then just compile it in 295 if I wanted to? Deadline is 2 years anyway.

Yes you can, all builds of Fusion are backwards compatible, actually Fusion is still compatible with KnP projects (an engine from 1996)
295 is currently still in beta, should release soon when it's ready

Quote from MistaSub

I was only going to monetize one time payment, but this admob stuff and in-app object things refer to some kind of "in-game transaction"? Because I will definitely not have that.

Admob is an object to handle ads on Android and iOS, like banners, interstitials, videos..etc
In-App Android is an object to handle in-app purchases, microtransactions basically, like subscriptions and such, both objects are dev version only

Quote from MistaSub

I just noticed that I can now change values directly in the debugger during runtime! Have we always had this? I feel like not.

It has always been like this since MMF2 days when the debugger was first introduced, but yea it's not clear at first that you can actually modify some items.