Export to android APK??

[aqaarteaste]

Hi, i have a question. I will buy this version only if i can export to apk my game. Will this option be available on the MZ?
I don't find this information...

Thanks a lot.

Greg from France

[De'Ricco]

i ask this before.. but i think will be can to export to APK again like MV

[Moga CMDR]

yes it does, and mobile supports OGG files now so we don't need both...

[RandomRedMage]

RPG Maker MV/MZ both have an export to mobile option, however it does NOT export directly to an APK file for installation or uploading to google play store. What it does is export everything needed for your game to run, however you will need to package it yourself in an android/iOS webapp container for it to actually be playable on your mobile device of choice. If you have decent understanding of how computers work, and can follow instructions, this project will help you get your RPG Maker MV, MZ, or even Visual Novel Maker games up and running on android. It takes some time to setup the android development environment, but after thats done, you can easily import your game files, compile, and load onto your android phone or tablet.

Hope this helps.

[Jitsu Koan]

Will be the same as in MV, all plugins will no longer work. But now we have a switchable Touch UI that nobody will use because the export sucks.

[MrJane]

A direct to apk export option would be the key to this. I messed around with all sorts of tools to get MV games onto android and it was NOT easy. I don't think I'd bother with MZ unless it had easier export options.

[De'Ricco]

if the developer will hear our suggestion for make it easy to export to APK without third party program

[Duke Dudeston]

Originally posted by MrJane:

A direct to apk export option would be the key to this. I messed around with all sorts of tools to get MV games onto android and it was NOT easy. I don't think I'd bother with MZ unless it had easier export options.

Agreed on this. MV Does have the export option, where it will export all the files to a format that can be used by another means to convert to APK, however the method included in the MV help files is outdated and will only create an APK that doesn't meet the current Google Play regulations

With a lot of faffing and tweaking I have managed to make a Cordova build on my machine, but this is still a pain as it means creating an APK through command line (not the hardest job just a faff)

Then even after all this has been done, there is the final file size, most RPG Maker MV games I have made have been over 100MBytes in size, the maximum file size an APK can be on Google Play is 100MBytes (50MByte being preferred), This means I have to manually add/remove assets, change the compression ratios and what not to try to get it below that figure.

I have tried playing around with expansion files, but the problem with that is the core game doesn't know where to look for these assets and doesn't seem to allow us the ability to select where these can be found. Android APKs are installed in a "secure" area, and all the assets are normally installed on a SD card to save space on the device memory - I believe, so even using the 2x 1GByte expansion files are pointless..

So unless you are planning on getting people to side load APKs (good luck with that) your only option is either sharing the game via an .exe package (like we have done for years) or just upload to a webserver and run the risk that users who play the game browsers work properly by allowing save data to actually be saved (some browsers security settings won't keep these files when the browser is closed) - and thats assuming you are giving it away for free.

So either including better documentation on how we can create APKs, or an actual "BUILD APK" option would be really helpful.

The Game Creators (a small UK business) has managed to do this with AppGameKit, you write the game, you can sign the APK from within the IDE, and then it compiles an APK ready to use.

-- EDIT: I should mention that how it does this is it bundled your game code (as bytecode) and the media assets with a pre-built "Player App". So its similar to Java it creates a "Virtual Machine" that runs your program --

The only difference is, because this software is an actual "language" the user is responsible for writing in the code to check for expansion files and handle the download... but the point is, if there were a simple "Export to APK" option in MZ, I would be more tempted to buy it day one, otherwise its just a polished up MV.

[Duke Dudeston]

So bumping this instead of creating a new topic about the same thing. (So I don't get the "this has been asked before" replies)

Now that MV is out, has anyone who has bought the software experimented with the export options, I am more on about android. Now I want to know how detailed they explain the export options, and what software(s) are required to make a signed apk that can be slapped up onto Google Play (for an example) and also what the final APK file size is.

This is really the make or break deal for me, if all it is, is the same that MV offers then I don't see the point in paying the upgrade price (yet at least) If however the instructions are easy to follow and make a compatible APK by todays standard - basically I don't want the information provided in the MV help file to be the only information as that is outdated and no longer supported.

I have set up my own Cordova export system, however as I previously stated above, I would like to know if they have made it any easier to export.

[SirAston]

I responded to a different thread why MZ doesn't have direct container export this time around, so I'll quote myself:

"That has been known during the pre-release era and they actually explained the reasoning why: The containers for mobile can get outdated extremely fast. In fact, on the day MV got released, the provided container for either Android or iOS (can't remember which one exactly) was already outdated."

In short, mobile tech develops faster than Kadokawa can keep up with, and it would be a huge investment in both time and money for a fringe feature that, frankly, works better if the devs use containers themselves to tailor their needs.

[Duke Dudeston]

Originally posted by Pantoffelninja:

I responded to a different thread why MZ doesn't have direct container export this time around, so I'll quote myself:

"That has been known during the pre-release era and they actually explained the reasoning why: The containers for mobile can get outdated extremely fast. In fact, on the day MV got released, the provided container for either Android or iOS (can't remember which one exactly) was already outdated."

In short, mobile tech develops faster than Kadokawa can keep up with, and it would be a huge investment in both time and money for a fringe feature that, frankly, works better if the devs use containers themselves to tailor their needs.

nah thats fair enough, so its still a case of it exports the files into a www directory that something like cordova can use, but apart from that its just the same as MV. Its a shame, I understand the container, that although would be ideal for us who have little to no knowledge about setting up an Android SDK Enviroment, wouldn't be practical - again TGC with AGK are having troubles getting the apps made through that to get past the google bots.

Oh well, I think that has confirmed that I am not ready to "buy into" MZ yet, I am sure it has its improvements over MV, but for me who only makes vanilla projects who hopes to share amongst friends (and anyone else willing) its not worth the investment, uploading to a website is still a better - yet not ideal - option for me until I make a project worthy of the time to create a cordova export properly. But by that time it will probably be some other hoop you have to jump through lol.

Thanks for responding,