The making of Total Control Android game

This game of Total Control was one of those games I played when I was a kid when there were no Smartphone or iPods. It was a simple, circular toy with small balls which you had to slowly nudge to the innermost circle. I have been wanting to replicate this game on Android for some time.

The game can be  downloaded from Google Play at Total Control
The Total Control project can be cloned from Git Hub at Total Control

I had decided to use AndEngine & Box2D physics for this. I was under the assumption that creating those concentric circles would be a breeze with AndEngine and Box2D physics. However it took me some time to figure out how to create these circles. Eventually I realized that each circle could be created by computing the circumference of the concentric circle and placing tiny circle bodies. Each of these tiny circles are of type BodyType.StaticBody. So they have physical properties of a ring on which other bodies can roll. With this solved the rest of the implementation was quite straight forward.
– Small colored balls were placed in different spots in the concentric circles.
– Small gaps were created like the real game to move to an inner circle

Finally the whole game uses the Accelaration Sensor and uses Gravity for movement of the balls much like the real game.

I also wanted to include AdMob into the game. Here is a good link at WikiHow with all the steps for adding AdMob to your app.

However the above link provides a method of placing the Ad in your desired layout’s XML file. Since my game was based on AndEngine the method to place an Ad in the game uses the FrameLayout. The complete code is given here the AndEngine Forum. To test the working of the Ads make sure you add the code

// REQUEST an ad (Test ad) //
AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest();
adRequest.addTestDevice(“<Your device Id from the Console”); //Comment this line when publishing
adView.loadAd(adRequest);

You should get your device id when your run your application in Eclipse in the Console tab. When you run the app you should see the Ad. You may have to adjust your app to allow for teh Ad. I had to move and shrink my Game to allow for the Ad display at the bottom.

You can download the game from Google Play at Total Control
The Total Control project can be cloned from Git Hub at Total Control

Find me on Google+