FTL: Faster Than Light

[ImmaculateChimp]

FTL: Faster Than Light, for those that are not aware is a space-faring rogue-like where you manage a spaceship and its crew.


Here is a decent view of what the game is like:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/P-SnIhpCm5w?feature=oembed

The system requirements on the official website(the top question on the FAQ page) are listed as:


Operating system: Windows XP/2000/Vista/7, Intel Mac OSX 10.5.8+, or Linux (x86 or x86_64)


Processor: 2 GHz


RAM: 1 GB


Hard drive space: 175 MB


Video: OpenGL 2.0, minimum resolution of 1280×720, dedicated card recommended


Important notes: The minimum resolution is a hard set requirement.


Obviously, that is beyond what the Pandora can handle; but after experiencing the game firsthand, I'm uncertain as to why the requirements would be so high...


Now, the whole point of my post is this; to anyone more knowledgeable on such matters, what might you speculate could be making it so computationally expensive? Please raise and/or dash my hopes in the comments below, so I know whether there is any point in trying to sweet-talk the devs into working with the Pandora community to make a port that runs directly on our OS.


Thanks in advance,


from: Paul


p.s. I apologize if this is posted in the wrong section...

 

[EssoAir]

My guess would be all of the high resolution textures and graphics. If they reskinned everything and did a little bit of code optimization it should run (probably at 15 fps) on tne Pandora

 

[lunixbochs]

A game like this could run perfectly fine on the Pandora. My biggest worry would be ship micro at that resolution. We also don't have right click on stylus, though it could be chorded.

 

[ghostpatch]

Open Pandora has a screen resolution of 800x480 but FTL requires 1280x720. Therefore the performance issue is somewhat irrelevant.


But hey thats a good reason for P2 to have at least a HD screen ; )

 

[pmprog]

They did add a scale mode function, which I tried on my netbook; however, it's really flakey (Read: Crap)


I might consider an FTL-esque game for the compo, once I've tested Allegro5, because I like the game too, and would love to be able to play it on my pandora and my netbook

 

[WizardStan]

We also don't have right click on stylus, though it could be chorded.

As of SZ1.52, hold ALT while tapping for right-click.


As for FTL, I'm not sure why it has such high requirements. It's not (directly) a graphics thing I'm sure, my video card barely notices when it's running, but my CPU maxes out one core while it's running and if I then creep up the other three I start to notice some disturbing lag.


This is, of course, entirely moot since we don't have any source code with which to build it.

 

[NearTao]

I haven't checked, but it's probably using a gaming framework like unity or something similar that is making it much more resource intensive than something coded to a specific platform. Just a guess though.

 

[pmprog]

It's definately coded strangely. When I run it on my netbook, all the alpha portions of the menu don't work properly, in addition to the scale down issues. I guess though, they picked a spec and built to it.

 

[fusion_power]

maybe a native Port would do it but I guess it is not possible. However, these games today have quite high System requirements, I just wondering because, 20 Years ago, such "simple 2D" stuff ran onto SNES or PSX or 486 PCs but today, everything needs beefy Hardware.


I personaly wonder, if maybe the new Indie Smashit "Hotline Miami" could run onto the Pandora, at least it does not require that high Res for playing, compared to FTL.

 

[EssoAir]

I haven't checked, but it's probably using a gaming framework like unity or something similar that is making it much more resource intensive than something coded to a specific platform. Just a guess though.

Unity works on Android. Is FTL for Android a possibility?


(btw, props on the avatar - baset platformer since mario)

 

[pmprog]

Neither (FTL or Hotline Miami) are open source, and I'd be very surprised if you could convince them to let you see the source. So no, your best hope you have is somebody to create a similar game

 

[EssoAir]

Neither are open source, and I'd be very surprised if you could convince them to let you see the source. So no, your best hope you have is somebody to create a similar game

Are you sure the origonal developers are not interested in developing a mobile version?

 

[pmprog]

You could ask them, but given the required resolution size of FTL, it's unlikely they'll consider a direct port to mobile (esp' phones).


I obviously can't tell you 100% what they say, as I'm not affiliated with them, but it's just best guess

 

[EssoAir]

What is the best way to contact developers? I bet they get a lot of junk mail requesting free copies and stuff so they probably dont read email

 

[NearTao]

I suggested stalking!


Uhm... if you're really interested in contacting them with serious requests... developers are often open to emails, check if they have a forum dedicated to their product/company that they may read. Usually there will be some form of contact information on their company website as well that will have phone numbers, mailing addresses, etc. I don't think you'll find that a company makes it difficult to contact, but again they'd want to know how serious a request is, how much money they might expect, etc. They funded FTL with kickstarter, perhaps a suggestions for a mobile kickstarter wouldn't fall on deaf ears.


Honestly though... A "port this to android request" is likely to be taken much more seriously than a "port this to pandora" request. Plus if you've got the time, seriously take a look at the files that it is installed with. If it really is a Unity or other game making framework then you're much more likely to get interest from the framework company with a "hey I see this has a linux engine... how about we get this ported to pandora" kind of request... because that at least would give a way forward for the developer to get their product onto the Pandora with a potentially much lower amount of effort than if they had to port their entire product to a new platform.


Just took a quick peak myself and it looks like they are distributing a lot of libraries...


./Frameworks


./Frameworks/libbass.dylib


./Frameworks/libbassmix.dylib


./Frameworks/libfreetype.6.dylib


./Frameworks/libIL.1.dylib


./Frameworks/libILU.1.dylib


./Frameworks/libILUT.1.dylib


./Frameworks/libpng12.0.dylib


./Frameworks/libSDL-1.2.0.dylib


I'm not familiar with all of them, given the licenses for the many of the libraries they are open source... so it is possible that they might be able to compile the game somewhat easily for other SDL based systems including the pandora. (yeah I know those are dylib... Mac OS X library versions... ). I'm not familiar with the IL libraries though, so have no idea what kind of requirements they have to build or if they would work on the Pandora.


Good Luck

 

[WizardStan]

Given the apparent ease with which they released for Linux, Windows, and Mac at the same time, I would suspect it's all generic code and cross platform libraries. They could probably compile it directly on a Linux ARM system and it will work straight away, baring the resolution and speed problems. Asking about a Raspberry Pi version (subtly suggesting that if they used generic C/C++ and cross platform libraries it may simply require a cross compile) may garner a bit more interest than asking about a Pandora version. And then we can appropriate the RaspPi version for our own nefarious ends.

 

[EssoAir]

Any suggestions on how to imporve this before I send it?


http://db.tt/sO03n1pX

 

[WizardStan]

Looks fine to me other than the grammar mistake on the first line

 

[LuSimon]

Any suggestions on how to imporve this before I send it?


http://db.tt/sO03n1pX

Personally I think It is good enaught to be sended

 

[EssoAir]

Looks fine to me other than the grammar mistake on the first line />

Which is?