Novus
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An Unexpected Poll!
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 09:46:31 +0000 UTCNote: There is a TLDR version of this if you don't care for the wall-of-text explanation. Just skip down to the -----TLDR Version------ line far below and read from there!
Sorry this isn't the release post, folks! Don't worry that it isn't. Everything is pretty much on track for an on time release late tonight. Unless something goes badly sideways, the new build should be out either this evening or, at a worst extreme, early in the AM on the 1st.
However! When going through the process of prepping this Build for release I hit a bit of a snag. Specifically...the Android build has gotten too big to actually function again. Some of you that have been around long enough might remember this problem having cropped up before. Renpy (or Android, not actually sure whose fault this one is) has a hard cap on APK sizes that will actually, you know, work. APKs can't be over 2gb, or they'll just outright fail to launch.
Now, this happened already once before. My solution was to step down the image resolution of all still renders and animations in the game. The PC/Linux/Mac version is rendered and animated at 2560x1440. The standard '2K' resolution, in other words. The Android version is stepped down to 1080p, instead (1920x1080). Up until now, doing that was enough to shrink the APK size to under 2gb....but it was close last month. As in, only like 30gb short of the 2gb threshold/limit. Unfortunately, the new stills and animations are going to push us back over that line.
That's where the poll comes in. You see, I've only actually ever provided the Android build as a sort of half-assed extra because I could. I've done only a very minimal amount to support it, and it's got some limitions and issues that make it less playable than the desktop version(s). Trying to wrangle the game back down under 2gb is going to mean a massive effort to cut the resolution again. Something that took multiple days the first time, and would take even longer now that the game is so much larger than it was back when the problem first appeared.
The question then becomes if it's worth eating a 2-4 full days to do that. The thing is, I don't know the answer. So, I wanted to gather some info first. One way or another, this build isn't going to have an immediate Android offering. But depending on the results, I may take a few days in the first week of the month to sort out the issue and release an Android build at reduce resolution (likely 720p).
-----------------------------------------TLDR Version---------------------------
Android version has gotten too chunky. Need to see how many people actually play on Android. Vote to let me know.
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Long story short? Please tell me what platform you play this game on! If basically no one plays this on Android, it's sort of pointless to make a huge effort to support it!
Comments
Novus
I actually sort of expected that, but only because almost none of the single-use high-speed download links for Mac I've distributed to Royalty Tier members have ever been used. Android, I was a lot fuzzier on, since I've had quite a few non-patrons in particular ask for help with it. Over on reddit, mostly. I wasn't sure if that meant a lot of people used it, or only that a lot higher percentage of those that did have trouble with it. The second option would have been entirely possible, as I don't actually test the Android version at all. Though I HAVE made a few specific fixes for it over the years.
Merlin
Speaking of this poll, I actually took a screen shot. This was very interesting. I expected quite a few people to play on android but I did not expect so few to play on Mac 🤔. I don't use one either but....
