War With Friends (Risk) Beta Group Created

[LeffelMania]

Putting together a beta group to test the online aspect of my turn-based Risk clone "War With Friends." Here's a link to the .apk, if you install it feel free to add "LeffelMania" to your friends right away, and please post your registered name here so we can get a good game going!

Edit: APK removed. Beta is basically over. Database is being wiped soon to accommodate new features and schema changes.

IF YOU INSTALLED THE BETA [first, thank you] YOU NEED TO UNINSTALL IT BEFORE THE NEXT RELEASE FOR IT TO WORK. I'M WIPING THE DATABASE AND THE USERNAME ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR APP WILL NOT EXIST.

 

[LeffelMania]

Update: Beta apk released. Please post if you can help test the networking code.

 

[Deleted User]

Interested in this game. Username: Dillon

 

[LeffelMania]

Interested in this game. Username: Dillon

I invited you to a game

 

[cmh0114]

Username: cmh0114

One thing I noticed in my game against you, LeffelMania, is that the game never really ends. When there is only one player left, the main game loop should end, but it doesn't. I continued to take another turn after the game "ended" - I added troops, traded in cards, and went through the Attack and Move Troops phases, and I could probably continue that indefinitely.
Also, some countries were hard to choose, but that was solved by the Zoom In option (which is awesome, btw).

Other than that, gameplay was smooth and I didn't notice any weird bugs. You've built a really cool app.

 

[LeffelMania]

Thanks cmh,

I didn't think about that happening but it's easy to imagine how that's possible since you mentioned it. When you finish a game, a message is sent to the server that the game is over and it returns you to your list of active games. It doesn't refresh the data for that game though, so it still appears active unless you manually refresh the screen. I've fixed that by updating the cached game info upon winning (the app keeps the information on all your active games handy to minimize server calls), so when you return to your active game list, it should show that you've won the game and clicking it should remove it from the list.

The other thing that's been fixed - though you didn't mention it - is the notification system that alerts you when it's your turn. The way I had it, if you closed the app it would lose its ability to contact the server, so you wouldn't receive any game updates until you started the app again. Now the service should remain functional until you manually go into your Running Services and elect to turn it off. This should help games go a bit faster.

Otherwise the results are positive so far. Games are being set up and updated correctly, friend connections are being set up correctly, and now the notifications are much more reliable.

Latest .apk with the changes is in the same link in the OP.

 

[robotobos]

im stoked to check this out, somebody add me as a friend so i can see what happens...leffel i sent u a request...my handle is robotobos.

also started a game as newboobs if anyone wants to try and join

im on gchat as 'robotobos', might speed up some interactions or tests...

 

[bluenova]

Oh this sounds fun, I love Risk.

Registered with: bluenova

:EDIT: hmm, force closes when trying to add friends.

 

[LeffelMania]

Oh this sounds fun, I love Risk.

Registered with: bluenova

:EDIT: hmm, force closes when trying to add friends.

Is that reproducible every time you try? What device/version are you using? Any specifics about reproducing the crash will be helpful, I don't want to publish an app that force closes during normal use.

Edit: Saw you're using an HTC Hero. But still any specifics are appreciated.

I added you to my friends list successfully, so if the app is loading and connecting to the server correctly when it starts, the bottom button should read "Add a Friend (1)" because I should be in your friends list now.

 

[bluenova]

hmm, just tried to open it again and it FCd streight away. Tried a second time and I am now in and can see 'Add A Friend (1)'. I tried adding another and it was succesful.

I'll update if there (and where) are any more FCs.

HTC Hero - Android 2.2 (FroydVillain with apks + dalvik-cache to SD (EXT2))

 

[LeffelMania]

The only thing I can think of just from what you said is that you installed it to the SD card. That isn't what's assumed/intended, but I also don't know if it should matter. Crashing right away makes me believe it's hitting an error when trying to read your username from a file. Maybe try installing to phone storage and seeing if it still crashes (sorry it's a bit bloated right now, there's a lot of unused assets in the apk).

 

[Weazol]

I signed up as weazol

 

[Weazol]

The only thing I can think of just from what you said is that you installed it to the SD card. That isn't what's assumed/intended, but I also don't know if it should matter. Crashing right away makes me believe it's hitting an error when trying to read your username from a file. Maybe try installing to phone storage and seeing if it still crashes (sorry it's a bit bloated right now, there's a lot of unused assets in the apk).

I am getting the same problem as bluenova. I am not installed on sd card

and another problem. I reopened the game and it asked for my username again and I tried to type in "weazol" it says username already in database (duh because I created it earlier, but why is it not saving)

 

[LeffelMania]

Well that's discouraging...

I see you in the database, but I also see that you were able to add a friend (or a friend added you). I just really wish you guys could send me a stack trace from the crash, because without seeing what exception is being thrown I can't find a fix without being able to reproduce the crash myself.

If you want I can delete you from the database so you can try registering again, but since you have a game invite pending I'll hold off until I hear from you again that you still can't get registered.

Again, anything specific you can tell me about your hardware/software setup or how I can maybe reproduce the crash will help. At this point I have no specific problem to go after, unfortunately.

 

[Weazol]

yes please delete me from the database so i can retry. Also how would I send a stack trace?

I am on a HTC Incredible running adrenalyne's More PB&J Rom (Froyo without sense).

 

[LeffelMania]

You've been removed from the database, so registering with "weazol" should work fine now, assuming we can get past the force-close issue you're facing.

Unless you have the Android SDK installed and you can access the logcat, I don't think there's any way for you to send me the stack trace. I thought I heard at Google IO that with Froyo, after a crash you'd have the option to send the developer the stack trace, but that may only be valid through apps distributed through the market.

 

[Weazol]

I registered again thanks. (also I backed it up with Titanium then played around trying to figure out what happend and found out if you press clear data (the button next to move to sd) The same thing that happened to me earlier will happen. But I restored the 4kb file and it worked again

do have the SDK. But I am off to bed now. I will try and figure out how to send it to you tomorrow.

 

[bluenova]

You've been removed from the database, so registering with "weazol" should work fine now, assuming we can get past the force-close issue you're facing.

Unless you have the Android SDK installed and you can access the logcat, I don't think there's any way for you to send me the stack trace. I thought I heard at Google IO that with Froyo, after a crash you'd have the option to send the developer the stack trace, but that may only be valid through apps distributed through the market.

Yes, I 've only ever seen that with one app. I guess there must be something you need to implement in the app.

The only thing I can think of just from what you said is that you installed it to the SD card. That isn't what's assumed/intended, but I also don't know if it should matter. Crashing right away makes me believe it's hitting an error when trying to read your username from a file. Maybe try installing to phone storage and seeing if it still crashes (sorry it's a bit bloated right now, there's a lot of unused assets in the apk).

APPS2SD shouldn't be an issue as it's just a symlink to an EXT2 partition so your app should only see /data/app and /data/dalvik-cache

 

[LeffelMania]

Yes. If you register, and then delete the app data you will have problems. When you register, you associate your phone with that user name. If you delete the file that the phone reads for your user name, it's going to prompt you to create a user name again. The app tries to read from a file it creates when you create a username to determine what information to retrieve from the server. If you delete that file, the app's not going to know how to retrieve data for you.

If you have different crashes I'd love a stack trace from the logcat if you can access it from the SDK.

 

[Guntherm]

I downloaded with my DInc and installed via AstroFile manager. Install went fine. However upon entering game first time, did a FC. Quit Astro and went back in and was able to add friends and set up a game.

Username: Galstar

 

[pacman187]

Anyone feel free to add me user name pacman187 just be prepared to lose lol

 

[Weazol]

just an fyi. I changed roms last night and I now am able to add friends no problem. So maybe it was something to do with the rom I was on

 

[Guntherm]

Looks like we lost last two days of messges.

Leff after installing the newest update. It did send notification when my turn, but not when the new game i started today was ready to play.

Shoot and i did a whole big message this morning...

 

[LeffelMania]

That really sucks that we lost those messages...

Anyways, you shouldn't have received a message about the game you started. I tested that out with Weazol [I think, the IMs are gone] and it kept notifying him to start even after he had, and I couldn't track down the bug so I removed that feature. I think what I'll do instead is give an option for players who joined to ping the creator to start it.

In case anybody interested missed it with the loss of those messages: There's been an updated APK linked in the OP, please update.

 

[Weazol]

That really sucks that we lost those messages...

Anyways, you shouldn't have received a message about the game you started. I tested that out with Weazol [I think, the IMs are gone] and it kept notifying him to start even after he had, and I couldn't track down the bug so I removed that feature. I think what I'll do instead is give an option for players who joined to ping the creator to start it.

it still is notifying me by the way. I just leave it in my notification bar. if i clear it then it comes right back