Amazon.com rejecting game - bug that happens on Kindles only? Can't reproduce

I don’t believe the latest report from Amazon.com. This sounds like a pretty major, clear-cut bug that shouldn’t have left my office. However, I’ve never seen the bug in my life :slight_smile:
I test on a decent tablet – Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – and a low-end phone, a Samsung Dart (circa 2011).

Here is the e-mail I received. Do any of you have a Kindle tablet you would be willing to test on? My theory is that they’re running older versions as well as current versions of the game when they auto-test. I usually see about 15 entries in my database appear all at once (each time the game is launched, it “phones home”) and surprisingly I saw various versions reporting in!

Has anyone had a similar experience with Amazon.com? If so, how did you deal with it?

The game is MushRoom Bounce, and the version they’re testing with (virtually the same) can be found on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twosquidgames.mushroombounce&hl=en

Your app has failed a test case.

Bug Description: User Interface Distortion
Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Install the app.
  2. Launch the app.
  3. Tap on “Play Game” option.
  4. Select the Game.
  5. App displays bad graphics.

Device :
Fire HDX 8.9 WiFi (3rd Gen).
Fire HDX 8.9 WAN (3rd Gen).
Fire HDX 7 WiFi (3rd Gen).
Fire HDX 7 WAN (3rd Gen).
Kindle Fire HD 7 (3rd Gen).
Fire HD 8.9 WAN (2nd Gen).
Fire HD 8.9 Wifi (2nd Gen).
Kindle Fire HD 7 (2nd Gen).
Kindle Fire (2nd Gen).
4.1.x / Samsung Galaxy S II

Could you post APK? I would be able to run it on Kindle Fire then. (I don’t have Google Play there)

Thanks!

The exact file they have is here:

http://www.mushroombounce.com/mushroombounce-amazon1.0.9.apk

The “next version” which is virtually identical (but doesn’t have Amazon’s signing as well as my own), is here:

http://www.mushroombounce.com/mushroombounce-android.apk

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zavtfrh160suf6w/20131214_201835.jpg - here is how it looks on my Kindle Fire. A lot of chaos… I’m not sure if it is intended.

Yes, that “chaos” is quite intended. I guess it’s a bit overwhelming for a new user – the idea was to let them mess around without any pressure or time limit. Looking at the user feedback I’ve received so far, I must objectively state that I’ve totally failed. Most users seem overwhelmed by the chaos. I really don’t know how to fix it though.

Well, Amazon reviewers might have though it was a bug. :slight_smile:
Maybe rethink the way you show help? Maybe by putting some (?) signs that show text when you walk over them? I don’t know.

Could you please try the latest version – it’s much better as far as button size, etc. Let me know if it seems any better.

http://www.mushroombounce.com/mushroombounce-android.apk

It looks clearer but the board is very small (whole board is visible on the screen) and it’s hard to understand the controls and what you have to do. I think there is a Kindle Fire emulator on which you can try your game yourself. You can also use standard Android emulator to emulate device with similar screen size.

Believe it or not, I have updated the game quite a bit more. I figured out how to make every device display the same number of game-world tiles.

http://www.mushroombounce.com/mushroombounce-android.apk

I also discovered how to calculate the AdMob banner width in pixels, and position it accordingly. Before, I was always assuming 320 pixels which was a HUGE mistake on my part. Banners on Hi-DPI devices get scaled up automatically by Google.

And as an epilogue – my game is now on Amazon.com.

Thank you for your help testing – I pretty much have to depend on some others for testing, since I am too poor to buy many devices yet. I have an overpriced Samsung Dart (320 x 240 res) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (1280 x 800) and that’s it. Nothing hi-res, and no medium sized “average” smartphones. The phone I’m testing on is a joke – not even worth $50 today.

It’s hard to believe I bought this Dart for $118 used on Amazon.com 1.5 years ago. Apparently that was an OK deal at the time, or I wouldn’t have bought it. I’m not stupid. :slight_smile:
Today I could get a much better phone brand-new for $50.

You can try Android simulator. But it has troubles with OpenGL.

Testing on low-end devices has its advantages. I bought a used slow phone just for that once and it helped me to avoid making the games too resource hungry.