Blobby Volley for Android: Progress Report 4

This week was super productive. I worked for 20h and I managed to read 136 pages of AndEngine for Game Development Cookbook. I feel like my game is getting more and more fun to play. Check out the screenshot below or download the latest apk.

Here's what I spent my time on:

• Instead of relying on my own scaling mechanism, I started using one of those built into AndEngine. This way everything might be a little distorted, but it saves me a lot of work and puts more order into the code.
• I refactored everything once again to be compliant with what they say in the book. You can't see any direct results of this, but believe me, navigating through the code now is much more pleasant.
• I tried playing the existing Android Blobby Volley clone via WiFi and Bluetooth. The former didn't work at all, the latter crashed for the first time and started running when I created the game once again. You can see that there's plenty of room for improvement. Perhaps my app can do it better.
• I fixed a couple of small bugs, one of which allowed blobs to move a couple of pixels inside the net or too far out of the screen.
• I implemented variable height jumping. I followed the instructions from a thread on Stack Exchange, particularly the example code on JSFiddle mentioned there.
• I added blob animations. Now, when they walk or jump, they change their shape a little. I used the AndEngine's EntityModifier functionality. Unfortunately, you can't see it in the screenshot. You have to install the game from the apk file.
• What you can see, is another movement controller. The red button moves the blobs left and the green one right. You can choose which one you want to use and on which side you want it to be (left or right). Too bad, you can only do it from the code right now.
• I parametrized a lot of stuff, so it's easy to change gravity, blob walking speed, blob jumping height, player names and move/jump controller types and sides.

This coming week I want to do the following.

• Add blob and ball shadows, so that they look more natural.
• Show an indicator pointing at the ball, when it's outside of the screen.
• Make the movement controls look nicer.
• If it's not too hard, make it possible to control blobs by tilting the device.
• Start some simple AI.
• Read another 100 pages of AndEngine for Game Development Cookbook.
• Watch some videos/read tutorials about Google Play Services. They might come in handy when it comes to achievements and multiplayer.

Once again, feel free to download and play the game. If you have any remarks or suggestions, leave me a comment below. I will certainly read it and I'll try to put it into practice.

If you like reading my interviews, a brand new one is going to show up in the middle of the week. Don't miss it. As to another progress report, wait for it at the end of the next weekend.