Is Android development production ready yet?

DamirH · January 9, 2015, 1:29am

I have asked this in the past but there have been quite a few updates since. I saw Unmechanical and well, it looked awesome, so I was wondering how production ready UE4 for Android actually is?

Dredok · January 10, 2015, 4:28pm

I think some features are still missing IMO :

better support for higher range of devices
better rendering capabilities (and performance in general) for older devices
support a movie or splashscreen at the start
reduce the APK size for small games

And there are some services that are not implemented yet which will make you to implement yourself (like more google play services, for example).

anonymous_user_bcdd396d · January 12, 2015, 8:33pm

The short answer is yes, Android development is production ready for UE4, but to respond to the points Dredok raised:

better support for higher range of devices: Here is a link to the Android devices currently supported (with more supported every build):
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Android_Device_Compatibility
better rendering capabilities (and performance in general) for older devices: Development will be focused on newer devices
support a movie or splashscreen at the start: This is currently supported.
reduce the APK size for small games: This is something the developer currently needs to control at the packaging phase, but efforts are being made for this process to be more automated.

So while UE4 is production ready for Android development, improvements are still being made.

Dredok · January 13, 2015, 12:09am

Wow I did not notice when this came! How can I add a splashscreen or movie?

DamirH · January 13, 2015, 12:23am

Thanks for the info . This will be a great help!

Dredok · January 13, 2015, 9:19am

There are some unanswered questions in answershub which would benefit of knowing the splashscreen support:

I cross-post this in order to get more visibility, since people might not been noticed this (I didn’t)

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/134814/android-black-screen-of-death-ie-no-splash-screen.html
https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/133599/mobile-splashscreen-while-engine-starting.html

anonymous_user_6ea9814e · January 13, 2015, 10:18am

Hi

As we are coming quite close to the release of our small Android title, these two answers really caught my eye:

Just as everybody here, I think I did miss when this did come to UE4, could you please shed some more light on it?

Before you make it automated, can you plese guys post some guidelines for controlling the package size manually? People are experimenting with all kinds of strange tricks, and some of them are posting their results, but what we need is a simple checklist from you guys. This piece of documentation would be really vital for anyone trying to launch UE4 made titles on Android.

Denny · January 13, 2015, 10:46am

I too am curious about this. I have gone through AnswerHub and the documentation to find absolutely nothing on this. Is a custom splash screen on Android a C++ thing?

anonymous_user_bcdd396d · January 13, 2015, 2:57pm

My mistake, start up movies were slotted to be released in the 4.7 preview but did not make it. This feature will be released in a near future build of the engine.

Dredok · January 13, 2015, 3:03pm

I have been told several times (and experimented by myself) that I should not try preview branches for production.

Sadly one month ago I had to redo all my working in a game due to unstabilities in promoted branch.

So, I think these are great news (start up movies supported in 4.7 preview for android) but these are not production ready (yet).

anonymous_user_bcdd396d · January 13, 2015, 3:09pm

@ : Start up movies are to be supported in the future build which I take to mean the same as a splash screen. If you mean something different, let me know.

anonymous_user_bcdd396d · January 13, 2015, 3:14pm

Checking the report on this, I mistakingly thought it said it was fixed and ready to go. I apologize for the confusion.

anonymous_user_6ea9814e · January 13, 2015, 6:12pm

And are there any plans for documentation on controlling the APK size?

rob444 · January 14, 2015, 7:46pm

Sony devices have not been tested? Such a popular smartphone, I’m a bit surprised to say the least.

Denny · January 15, 2015, 12:06pm

Not tested is not the same as not supported. We, the team I’m working in, have deployed to multiple android devices that’s not in the tested list without issues.

anonymous_user_bcdd396d · January 15, 2015, 7:30pm

Hi , I’ve put in a request for documentation on controlling APK size specifically for Android. In the meantime you may find the following link useful, although it was written for iOS development as most of the same principles apply: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Platforms/iOS/PackagedGameSize/index.html

anonymous_user_6ea9814e · January 15, 2015, 9:12pm

Thank you

anon53632745 · March 27, 2015, 11:02am

Nice, can’t wait to see the docs about controlling the APK size

anonymous_user_f2dd594d · March 27, 2015, 2:57pm

A Doc would be great, but we could also do with a way of disabling Slate from Content only projects. Being told “you can do this in C++ only” shouldn’t be acceptable for situations like this.

tegleg · March 27, 2015, 3:06pm

shouldn’t it all be automatic instead of users messing around with c++ and ini’s?
the engine sees you are packaging for android so it leaves out everything it doesn’t need, im sure slate isn’t the only thing it could disable.
and why does it package ALL user content whether its used or not?
does it package all the engine content too?
and where does that mysterious extra ~40mb come from?