I am building an Ipad only game that is set as portrait and I see Apple requires automatic screen rotation on Ipad only app's. Does anyone have a good working setup for screen rotation?
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I am building an Ipad only game that is set as portrait and I see Apple requires automatic screen rotation on Ipad only app's. Does anyone have a good working setup for screen rotation?
I thought they changed that now to recommended and not required.
Well hopefully they did as not every creation really needs to be ran in both orientations.
I will double check Jeff are there any set methods to making orientation change?
You would have to do this all via events
Ok but what object are you using and the settings? or is there some documentation on this?
I think what Jeff means is you'd have to check the orientation and then have events to rotate/re-arrange all your objects for the new orientation (a pain I know!). You can use the Accelerometer Object to detect the orientation.
An alternative may be to have frames for each orientation and switch accordingly
One of my few rejections from Apple was to do with orientation on an iPad specific app. This was for a cut-down LITE version of an already approved iPad portrait only app from April 2010 (note this is for a non-MMF app done in Obj-C and XCode) Here's what they said in November 2010:
Of course, things may have changed again since then! Anybody had an iPad specific app approved without orientation changes?Quote:
We've reviewed your application, however, we are unable to post this version to the App Store because it does not adhere to the iPad Human Interface Guidelines. For information on User Interface guidelines, please see section 10 of the App Store Review Guidelines <https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html>. We have included additional details below to help explain the issue and hope you’ll consider revising and resubmitting your app.
The iPad Human Interface Guidelines state that an iPad application should be able to run in all orientations. Angel Heart HD LITE Oracle Cards - Seraphina of Elvenstone is only supporting one variant of the portrait orientation. While we understand there are certain applications that need to run in the portrait orientation, it would be appropriate to support both variants of this orientation in your application.
Please note that supporting all four orientations, each with unique launch images, provides the best user experience and is recommended.
Please review the Aim to Support All Orientations section of the iPad's Human Interface Guideline here:
<http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/General/Conceptual/iPadHIG/iPadHIG.pdf>
You may also want to review the technical notes "Automatic orientation support for iPhone and iPad apps" and "Supporting orientations for iPad apps":
<http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/qa/qa2010/qa1588.html>
<http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/qa/qa2010/qa1689.html>
Night Terrors is iPad only. Haven't tried it though.
Here's the game on the forum:Night Terrors
A bunch of MMF-built iPad games support only one orientation. Guys at CT though, you should probably be thinking about inserting an auto-rotate feature (as in if the screen is turned upside-down, to flip the game) as it does appear to cause some issues.
Hahaha at Night Terrors, the reviews are wonderful. I wonder if they got the licensing rights to use the photos of the women/forest backround? Shovelware ftl.
I agree with DistantJ an auto rotate feature is the best way to go Clickteam PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I think it is going to be a must have.
But in the mean time has anyone done screen rotation and had consist results? If so please share the way you got this done in some sort of step by step process.
The main obstacle with orientation is the inability to rotate objects like strings, counters etc. Otherwise I wouldn't even mind having to do it all manually.
I'd expect Apple provides some standard functions to achieve this? MMF apps are the only I've seen so far with this problem.
I have seen in objective-c there are five simple lines of script to handle any screen rotation regardless of portrait or land scape. Is there something similar for MMF we can use?
Yeah, we really should have an option that supports 180 degree rotations so that if the player is holding the device upside down (from left landscape to right landscape or from portrait 1 to portait 2, or vice versa), it will turn automatically.
This is apparently what Apple requires from iPad-only applications. There is no need to support landscape AND portrait, but always both landscapes OR both portraits. (sure, some games have been approved with only 1 orientation, but this does not mean all games will go through with similar setup). Also it's a considerable factor in the overall gameplay experience.
Is there some MMF-specific restrictions that don't easily allow the implementation of automatic 180 deg rotation of screen orientation (which is said to be easily done in native Obj-C)? Or can we expect that to be added at some point? Maybe Clickteam could comment.
This is from iOS Human Interface Guideline provided by Apple:
I would like to develop for the iPad, and obviously to minimize the risk of being rejected from the App Store, one should follow Apple's guidelines as closely as possible. Now, how should I go about implementing this in MMF2? I mean it's a HUGE task to support both landscape modes (left+right) manually by reconstructing the game for both.Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple
Can MMF2 as a tool make this easier for developers in the future by adding automated orientation switch, or is this something that the devs need to do manually in the future as well? Would really appreciate some answer from Clickteam.
What is needed to support multiple orientations in my iPhone and iPad apps
MJK I think just like you, if this is reflected in the guideline of Apple, no one can say that the IOS Exporter can generate apps for the iPad. The solution should not be so farfetched.
I haven't tried them out, but maybe CT could look into incorporating these methods in the MMF iOS framework?
Any words about a possible solution yet?
I'm planning on starting a small game development studio for iOS devices using MMF and the iOS exporter, and I can't invest time and money into something that could be rejected by Apple because my games don't support 180 degree screen rotations.
I'm using MMF2 Dev at my job since many years already (making screen savers, various apps and flash stuff), and I would like to buy another MMF2 licence and the iOS export module for my game development company.
I know in some cases, we can probably manage by making everything rotate manually, but this would make things a pain to do, if not impossible in some cases. All object positions would have to be recalculated, movements would need to be changed or reprogrammed depending on orientation... I can't see myself (or anyone) developping a game this way... unless it's a very, very simple game.
So until there's a way to make automatic rotations work easily for MMF apps in iOS, I can't buy it.
It has been made very clear by Apple that for iPad apps (at least) they require proper 180 degree rotation. And one of the app I plan on creating would be iPad only...
I hope this feature can be implemented in the iOS exporter. It's just sad that the absence of this single feature is preventing me from buying the exporter (and another MMF 2 licence) since my main reason to buy those would be to make games for iPads, and right now, it seems my apps would probably get rejected because it doesn't support automatic 180 rotation.
I love working with MMF2 for flash and other things. It's a wonderful product. I'd like A LOT to be able to develop apps for iPads with it, and sell them on the app store.
I hope this gets implemented in a future update of the iOS export module. Because when it happens, is when I'll buy another copy of MMF2 dev and the iOS export module.
Andos is currently testing the solution to this so hopefully we see it very soon.
Excellent news. :)
Hey, I'm new to this forum but have been using click products before.
I bought MMF2 Dev with the IOS exporter a couple of weeks ago and I am really happy with it.
I actually finished making an Ipad Only game today! I'm having some friends test my game tomorrow and if everything goes smoothly I'll submit it to the Appstore tomorrow. I run the game in Landscape setting and I got a bit concerned aswell as to if my game will be rejected. Nice to see that you guys are on it!
Great to hear Jeff!
Yep. Great news indeed! I hope it works well!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sephirenn
Because frankly, so far, I think this is my main concern with the iOS export module.
Other issue to me is screen stretching (would be great instead of putting black bars on iPad when zoomed from iPhone/iTouch screen ratio) but this isn't that much important compared to automatic screen orientation...
Very glad to hear that a solution may be around the corner! :grin:
I have six MMF2 Developer created apps in the iTunes App Store and have not had one rejection despite all of them hard set to landscape right. One thing to consider about this is the need to support right or left splash screens in your Xcode project. While you can just drop them into the Resources folder, perhaps adding them as selections in MMF2 is a good option. While your there a checkbox whether or not to glaze the icon would be nice as well :)
Didn't know you could have the option to not glaze an icon, that would be a good feature to have. I created my first app yesterday and did a nice icon only for it to be a little spoiled with the glaze on the ipad.
I think you have this option in xcode.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikec
Was any of them Ipad only apps?Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith
A bit off topic, I haven't changed the splash screen from the MMF default one but I haven't seen it being used anywhere (not on the simulator or on my Ipad 2). Is it only visible in the final project?
Time to beta test the latest modifications, we will publish a new release version in a couple of weeks.
Cool! I can't wait to see what are all the new features, fixes and modifications!
Looking forward to and I would love to help in the beta testing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Francois
Ipad only apps will NOT be approved by apple that do not rotate period. I have been developing apps for almost 2 years both in 2D and 3D I do produce my 3d games in as a iPhone game and as an HD Ipad game. I to tried early on to submit a Ipad only game without rotation and I was very quickly rejected.
I am really looking forward to this update and I would be happy to help do the beta testing.
As to the glossy icon issue this is a simple Boolean statement change from (yes) to (no) in X-code Just like the run in back ground Boolean statement for run in background (yes) to (no).
There is an iPad app made with MMF2 listed at:
http://www.clickteam.com/epicenter/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=248315#Post2483 15
It was approved and I would imagine they are using the same exporter everyone else is using. So how did this developer get their game approved? It says at http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1588/_index.html, the following:
"Important: It is strongly recommended that your application support all orientations. This includes portrait, portrait upside-down, landscape left and landscape right. iPad apps that require an orientation must support both variants of that orientation."
See the last part? It is very specific where it says, "iPad apps that require an orientation must support both variants of that orientation."
I am working on an iPad game and this issue about orientation relating to MMF2 kinda surprised me.
@Csar, please let us know how it goes with your app submission. I believe many would be interested in your findings.
Buckeroo, I have six MMF2 Developer apps in the store that all work with iPad and all are forced to one orientation and have even had several updates without a single rejection.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/keith-adler/id456577020
[quote=Keith]Buckeroo, I have six MMF2 Developer apps in the store that all work with iPad and all are forced to one orientation and have even had several updates without a single rejection.
Keith Are they Ipad only apps built just for Ipad? or are they app's built for all formats ie. iphone, itouch, ipad etc.
the rotation requirement is not enforced for such app only recommended but for ipad only apps it is a requirement.
@Keith, thanks for the reply. Good to know that there may be some alternatives/solution to this orientation issue that may be immediate.
@sinister, I had a look at Tic Tac Toe Electric and the screen ratios appear different in the iPhone and iPad screen shots provided. However, it would appear to me that this is a 960x640 dimensioned app as are the rest of the apps as well. So it may not be an app specific to iPad.
@Keith, the games look great btw :)
Thanks guys. All apps were created at 960x640 so the iPad version scales up to fit the 1024x768 display and leaves bars at the top. You may be right about the need for iPad-only apps to be developed at 1024x768. I intend to never create a device-specific app as there will no doubt be many devices with different resolutions over time.
It's a shame that the exporter IOS can not do the rotations for the iPad! I have several apps in development exclusively for the iPad, all in resolution 1024 * 768 (educational all), no applications for the iPhone or iPod touch as this business sector is iPad exclusions or at least is where you more penetration. I hope CT is working on a solution. For me has become the only weak point of the exporter.
They are working on it. :) See Jeff's comment:Quote:
Originally Posted by Koji_Kabuto
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff
@MJK, thanks for that and good to know.
For now, I'm developing using 960x640 as for what I'm doing, having the band at the top is not a showstopper for me at this time.
Overall, the exporter is just awesome!
Thanks MJK. :)