Until I get my hands on an android (and it isn’t a priority), Blorb will be on hold. I have two other projects which are taking the lead in my life (along with school). It’s just not possible to develop a game for a system without being able to test on it. So, if you’re interested in my other games check out http://devblog.projectmoldering.com
I couldn’t find anywhere on the web a simple way to tell when the user was not touching the screen, so I figured I’d share my research. If you’re looking for a way to poll user touch screen input, or tell when the user releases or moves a touch, look no further:
Put this code in your View class where gameEngine is where you want the input sent:
@Override
public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event)
{
gameEngine.OnTouch(event);
return true;
}
Then in your game engine code do something like this:
public static void HandleTouch(MotionEvent e)
{
int eventaction = e.getAction();
switch (eventaction ) {
case MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN:{ // touch on the screen event
int x = (int)e.getX();
int y = (int)e.getY();
if(buttonUp.checkWithin(x, y)){
touchPressedUP=true;
break;
}else if
...
}
}
case MotionEvent.ACTION_MOVE:{ // move event
int x = (int)e.getX();
int y = (int)e.getY();
if(buttonUp.checkWithin(x, y)){
touchPressedUP=true;
}
if(buttonDown.checkWithin(x, y)){
...
}
break;
}
case MotionEvent.ACTION_UP:{ // finger up event
touchPressedUP=touchPressedDOWN=touchPressedLEFT=touchPressedRIGHT=touchPressedACTION=false;
break;
}
}
}
Now you can tell when the user is no longer pressing on the screen! There is no “onRelease” method or “noTouch” function which seems to make sense seeing as there is an “onTouch” method. Let me know if this works out for you!
James
I wrote some code to capture footage of Blorb as it’s being played. Below I’ve provided some animations as well as descriptions to show some of how the game works.
Boxes are your most important tool. They can be used to press switches and fill in holes so you can pass over them.
(here you can see the player fill in a hole so it can be traversed, as well as how fans push around boxes.)
(flame-shooting statues can also be used in this way, but are heavier.)
Properly using switches will be necessary to beat the game. 
(note the pits: they open up once the player steps off of them. The only way to close them up again is to depress all the gray switches simultaneously.)
(depressing all colored switches turns off all lasers of that same color.)
(you’ll need to depress all switches of the same color. Boxes can be used to depress switches)
Be careful or Blorb will die. 
(falling in a pit means game over…)
(flames will turn blorb in a pile of ashes..)
(…and, lasers will zap Blorb.)
It will be necessary to harness the power of Blorb’s hologram to get to the very end. 
(the hologram can float over holes and is invisible to flame statues, but the wind from fans will destroy it)
(boxes can block the wind, but you’ll need to be quick.)
(moving into a laser will send the electrical current back to Blorb, zapping him.)
The hatch isn’t complete yet, but you will be able to hop inside and release a robot in the direction of your choosing. Strategy will be needed though because the robot has a mind of its own. When it colliges it turns right. On its third collision it will stop, depressing any switches it stops on. 
James
Wow, there were some glitches I didn’t realize were in here from a month or so ago when I stopped working on the game that have been a major pain. But, I solved all the known glitches. So, everything is turning out great. That’s the thing about being a programmer that I don’t think a lot of people realize. When you start a project there’s zero lines of code, then you need to write all of the code to make the project complete. This can be hundreds or even thousands of lines of code. It is inevitable that there’s going to be code that does things you didn’t expect. That is the essence of what a glitch is. It’s not that ones a poor programmer, it’s that things often have side effects that weren’t foreseen or intended. I think this is true for anything.
Anyway, enough of the rambling. I’ve been talking to a few possible artists for the game, so progress has been smooth. I’m going to finish up the rest of the placeholder graphics today and maybe I’ll make a post showing all of the graphics and what they do.
James
Just programmed for a couple of hours. I took out a few of the glitches that had to do with blowing around boxes with fans and really ironed out how that whole subsystem works in general. It seems to be really solid, but you can still tell the game is on a grid. I’ll have to have some alpha testers mess around with it and tell me if they think it’s fluid enough.
It’s good to be working on the project again. I’m really hoping the game takes off and I make at least a couple of hundred dollars for my work. I’ve made up my mind that I can’t be working for free anymore, so I’ll throw this up on the Android marketplace and do a bit of primary advertising/marketing.
James
Not to be morbid or a downer, but I figured whoever you are that is watching the progress of Blorb should know that there was a death in my family. Because of this, work on the game was put on hold as I sorted our personal matters. On top of that, I had a job designing and programming a website that I had to attend to. But, life will always find a way to resume, and for me it has.
Today, I started work again on the project, but am still looking for an artist. I’m going to contact the one I have been in contact with, and also put ads up on craigslist. The game needs to be really aesthetically pleasing since atmosphere will be a major point of appeal in marketing and sales. Colors and tones are really important, as well as the fact that the screen size will be small so there needs to be a lot contrast and clarity.
Anyway, I’m really revved up to program, and not to write, so I’ll be getting on top of that now.
Later!
After a short hiatus because of some personal affairs, I’m resuming work on the engine. I didn’t get to work on it for the last week so I’m a little behind. However, here’s a couple of screen shots of some of the new things (using the dummy graphics) that I didn’t get a chance to post yet.
[Here you can see the flame statues which can be pushed around as well as place-holder graphics for the fans which will push blocks around.]
[And in this one you can see a flame being shot at Blorb. Standing in front of a flame statue will shoot a flame ball at you.]
-James
So, it seems I found a prospective artist. He does some great work and I’ll be sending him over the dummy graphics in the next couple of days to rework.
James
Here’s a great tutorial for designing pixel art. I don’t have much experience but I get by, and from what I know everything in this article rings pretty true. If you know any other great resources be sure to let us know!
Did some more work on Blorb. There’s four colored lasers in the game, which act as doors, and get turned off only while all the same-colored switches are pressed.
Additionally, you can see floor pits. They open once the player steps off of them. They can all be closed again when all the gray switches are pressed. They should add some fun when designing intelligent, strategy-filled levels. Also, note the exit I drew and coded in.
I also updated some of the graphics to make them brighter and have more contrast since the game will be relatively small on cell phone screens. Again, however, these are just dummy graphics until I can find an artist.