Considering that Spiral Knights is little more than a "Web application" at its most advanced definition, and really is a JAVA app, is there any chance of experimenting with a version that'll load to an android device? Androids already run JAVA very well (most of the O/S is written in JAVA) so why not? I certainly think a device with a tegra2 could easily handle this game, and something with a snapdragon or something could handle it with lowered graphics.
Thoughts?
I'm amused by the phrase "reports of this running on a mac".
Java programs are basically cross-platform by definition. The only "barrier" is that the game is very graphically demanding, which leads to slow performance on even a fairly powerful mac laptop. Android devices are typically much wimpier (they can barely run flash, a technology that 7-year-old desktop computers have no problem with!!)... so I doubt the painfully slow performance would make for a good smartphone experience.
"Considering that there are reports of this running on a Mac, this could be possible."
Haha reports, I have only played this game on a Mac, works fine, better than fine, I can play it with no reduction to anything on my laptop.
To adress the main point of this topic, I have been wondering if this was going to jump platforms at all, its a beautiful looking game, could play well on iphones/ipads/androids, even xbox arcade etc...
I think it would just be a matter of how often things are updated and changed and if that would put a hinderance on multiplatforms.
Personally, I wouldn't expect or even want to attempt to play this game on my Droid X (and I certainly don't want it to be simplified to the point where that becomes possible.)
However, I would love to be able to hang out in Haven/the arcade to chat with my friends/guild and make some sales via my phone when I'm on the go. Maybe Three Rings could even implement a minigame of some sort as well.
Also, Paska, believe it or not, this game does manage to eat up some system resources. I guess not everything has to be run at 1920x1080 at max settings though, so it probably just comes down to optimization.
This game eats up resources because I don't think it's been fully optimized. There is no reason a game of this low graphics should eat up the resources it does. Even with a pretty decent computer and mid range resolution, the graphics skip quite frequently (although that's probably much more related to server lag). Any who, the game really needs some optimizations.
It eats system memory only if it's available. If you're using a system with 4GB+ RAM then the game will cache everything and load super fast. If limited to 512MB it will use all it can and you'll just see longer loading times as a result.
The Xoom could handle this, the Atrix could handle this too... and the controls could be like Dungeon Hunter style... just touch a point on the screen and your character moves there.... add a little button for attack, and call it a day.
I have an Atrix. It's a great device and a powerful pocket computer, but it couldn't handle Spiral Knights for one key reason: it doesn't have a dedicated video processor and vRAM.
This is a 3D game with relatively high graphics processing demands. My two-year-old desktop handles it very well, but it's amazing how much more processing power an older quad-core machine with a discrete video card has compared to a brand new dual-core phone with no video card. You just can't get the graphics processing on any existing Android devices.
I wonder if an iPad could handle Spiral Knights.
Game play would be much more difficult since SK has a larger scope...the installation wouldn't be easy since, as people have said, androids are wimpier. A general Spiral Knights App would be easier to deal with. It could show you how much cr or ce you have, access forums perhaps. But that maybe it. Game play on mobiles may be impossible (mini games that give you crowns with 2-D grapichs anyone?)
Hey.
Hey guys.
Tevokkia uses her tablet to play SK.
GET HER!!!!
WHA- WHA-- HOOOW!! WITCHCRAFT. We are knights, so BURN HER!! (Knights were in midevil times sooo...we're all cyborg toasters from the 1400s)
I'd say burn the guy that replies to a thread made 2 years ago.
Considering that there are reports of this running on a Mac, this could be possible.
But it wouldn't necessarily be plausable in my opinion.
The hardware keyboard just isn't fit for gaming in general, and having joysticks onscreen the action.
I would think that the Xperia Play is the only android phone that could play this game plausably.