Apps Latency and Wifi protocal

[Canvas]

Hey guys, im new just want to first say Hello.

Now I'm planning to create a top down 2D rpg game for android for my final year project, this will allow the user to move around with the touch screen and attack using the touch screen, the user can also perform spells by drawing a letter or a symbol on the screen, and one player can host a game so 3 other players can join via Wifi and all go on a adventure together. Now im looking for some articles about Latency and Wifi with the android,

So here is my question, does the Android OS have any problems with Wifi, is the Wifi is provides good and reliable? what is the common most playable latency that players will put up with on a android app. Also if any of you guys know any articles about game design, network protocols, android, windows anything related to game design and operating systems a link to them that would be very nice.

Canvas

Also what is the protocol that Wifi uses? is it TCP, UDP, HTTP??? I've never designed anything for Android and I have never designed anything with networking either. Also do you have to pay to release app's on IOS?

 

[Kruncha]

Hi Canvas

XDAdevelopers is a good resource for new and old programmers.

This Page is a good place to start: Want to Learn How to Program for Android? Start Here – xda-developers

Not sure about ererything else you asked

But it's a start...

K.

 

[jonbonazza]

Moved to Android Development Forume. =)

Wifi is its own protocol. It will behave on an Android device just as it would on any other wifi-enabled device. 3g on the other hand is very slow and depending on the requirements might not be fast enough to handle things.

 

[Canvas]

Thank you for the posts, Jonbonazza do you have any website that tells me about the specs on Wifi? I would search it but it seems you know more, and can probably tell from a good article then a bad one, if you can't don't worry, 3G doesn't seem the way to go but I will research that in my own time. Also the game will be hosted by one person and then up to 3 others can connect to that phone and play the game, and of course this will most probably be done with Wifi, now I'm probably not going to use a server because
A) not everyone has internet on their phone
B) mobile network drains more power then Wifi
C) Wifi keeps the playing group in a social area so they can actually talk face to face together, this rules out a chat system .

 

[jonbonazza]

I can tell you right now that you won't have any issues with Wifi, especially if you expect players to be withing talking distance (which would mean they are most likely on the same network). With that said, if you really do wish to attempt to keep people in a talking distance when playing against each other, it would probably be better to go with a near field technology such as Bluetooth or NFC (Android 4.0+ has a really neat feature called Android Beam which uses a phone's NFC chip to quickly and reliably transfer data at very fast speeds, although its range is pretty short--much shorter than that of even Bluetooth which I believe has a max range of 300 yards).

 

[Canvas]

Android Beam??? sounds quite interesting, Well the talking distance would be like in a living room all together, but do you know what the distance is for the Android Beam? and also only 4.0 phones have it, so I may have to stick with Wifi so I can support old mobile devices also, but when you say on the same network, for someone to host the game would they have to become a wifi hot-spot i take it?

 

[jonbonazza]

If players are going to be that close, I recommend using BT instead of wifi... It's more meant for closer range communication than Wifi.

 

[Canvas]

ok is Bluetooth quicker then Wifi at that distance? why bluetooth instead of Wifi? Is bluetooth easier to code with and handle packets then Wifi? Also is real time updates using bluetooth with 3 people connected to one phone be good enough for real time updates?

 

[jonbonazza]

Neither is necessarily easier to program, but Bluetooth doesn't require an internet connection, so players would be able to play virtually anywhere. Wifi is a remote protocol and, while it will work for this, it isn't exactly intended for it. Bluetooth was designed exactly for scenarios like this. As far as speed, I am fairly certain that BT will outperform Wifi at close ranges, but reliability is the big thing here. With BT, you don't need to worry about the quality of either user's connection. It is guaranteed to work at the same speed at 1 ft away, as 300 ft... With Wifi, well... It's hard to tell what you will get.

Rather than try to give you my opinions and estimations which may or may not be educated, here is a link to a good comparison between Bluetooth and Wifi. Choose Whichever one suits your needs better. With that said, also be sure to take the reliability I mentioned above into consideration as well--it isn't covered in this comparison for some reason.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Bluetooth_vs_Wifi

 

[Canvas]

I will take a look at that article later when I have time,

Well to be honest the packets that will be sent to the other "3" players will just be the hosts location (X and Y) and the monster info, which will have (hp,monsterID,attack) thats really about it, so the packets that will be sent across BT or Wifi will very small, its just my whole final year project is a basic game with real time network play, Just want to ask, is real time networking between android mobile quite easy? or do it completely depend on how the program is managed and how the packets are passed and used? I want this project o be pushing, well it is as I havent used Android before or Networking, but to honest There is alot of research I can do on mobile platforms, games already out there and also network protocols.