Fair warning: Long post.... (Rant) After seeing how my futile attempts on fixing an ongoing issue with game optimization on android, I wanted to vent out a few frustrations while working with this software for over nine months. Since I'm “new” to this forums, this probably won't be posted. I hope it does because I think people who are new to Buildbox and game development need to know about issues with optimization on android devices. Start with the positive. I do appreciate this software. It's helped me learn more about game development. I've been creating abstract art for almost a decade and with this game, I am adding my love for color and my artwork into the mix. I think it will be a nice fusion if I'm able to execute the vision. Before I purchased the pro version, I tested making several mini games on Buildbox and liked it a lot. I watched all the tutorials on the website. Watched every live stream on YouTube. I've lurked this forum and discord for hours. The game I'm making is a passion project. I've been working on it since August 2020. I would like to build this game to 100 levels but I plan on publishing after I reach 54 levels. After testing for the first time on mobile late March 2021, I was shocked how slow it was, I mean... it just unplayable. I only tested three of the six levels I created because I didn't want to make more before knowing how the game looked on mobile. I've deleted all unused objects and images, optimized and rebuild the atlas (many times by the way), removed shadows, adjusted speeds, taken away things I wanted to add to the game just for it to work properly on android. I knew in the beginning that games were running slow on android from a few threads on the forum but I thought since my game is relatively very simple, I wouldn't run into these problems. I guess that was just me being naive. Game looks perfect on preview in Buildbox. I am using a LG Stylo 4. It's not a flagship phone but I have no problems playing games on my phone. One game I play daily has over 500 mb and is a lot more complex than my game and there's no issue. So I know, it's not my phone. I also tested the game on Bluestacks and it's still unplayable. During this time, I ran into many issues with the software itself. Lots of crashes, textures disappearing, one time I had a problem with the atlas and I had to start making the game all over again because I didn't save before the issue occurred. I still don't know what happened but I couldn't preview the game at all and it looked like everything I created disappeared. I ran into more issues but this post is already too long to mention everything. I don't hate Buildbox. I love the live streams and I am grateful for them because I learned so much! I also love the simplicity of the software. It was easy to jump in and create something small in the beginning. It's one of the main reasons why I'm reluctant to give up on Buildbox. When I created my level template, I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. There's no shop so I purchased the shop system that Smart Penguins made and after a couple of days of tweaking it works perfectly. I think there should be a way to make a shop system in Buildbox but I'm happy with the shop system I have so if that doesn't happen then it's all good. From late March til last night, I've been optimizing this game on my phone. I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S9+ and when I tested the game on the S9+ last night, the game looks like crap to say the least. I was finally at a point with my other phone that I can start making levels and continue my progress. Now I'm back at square one. The Galaxy S9+ is an older flagship phone but came out before my LG Stylo 4. So... all the progress I made from that phone means nothing now. I honestly thought this wouldn't happen or I wouldn't have to make too many changes. (It's like the complete opposite effect happened) Now I have to make a compromise. Optimize for my Samsung and have crap reviews because it will lag on non flagship phones or continue optimizing on my LG phone and have crap reviews for anyone playing on a flagship. This is literally a no win situation for me and I am beyond infuriated. I don't want the game to suffer a low rating based on optimization issues if I'm doing everything I can to make this game work properly on any android phone. Not just flagship phones. Not everyone has the latest high end phone. There should be a disclaimer about android devices with this software. I am feeling pure frustration with Buildbox. I honestly wish I started with Bolt. I purchased the pro package right before I knew about Bolt being free. I heard about it and was overwhelmed because I don't have much experience in coding. All I know is HTML and haven't used that in a long time. At the beginning, I was committed to making this game work on Buildbox. I can easily switch but I invested so much time into it already, I can't give up now. I wish I took heed to the warning signals on this forum. I'm spending so much time trying to get this game to work on mobile. Time I could be spending building levels. I knew going into making the game and buying the pro version that this could be an issue. I'm not blaming Buildbox because I was blindly optimistic. I am hoping to finish this game before my yearly subscription is up. With the new pricing plans, I have to downgrade when my subscription ends and I'm not a fan of the revenue share. As much as I don't want to start all over again with Bolt, that may be the best option. I don't know... I'm not happy with Buildbox at the moment. So many issues...
