General Discussion - OUYA Developer Forums

Root Instructions

DoubleDracula — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 03:16:01 +0000

The kickstarter said that there would be instructions on how to root your OUYA in the box, I'm wondering if anybody who has gotten their console could post those instructions, I am thinking about getting one to root and I would like to know how difficult it is.

reviewOUYA App for OUYA coming at Launch

Balbi — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:15:26 +0000

What is it?

reviewOUYA is an App for the OUYA console that will provide news & twitter, game spotlights, game reviews, top game charts and finally search functionality to find a game you are interested in by name or tag. The reviews will all be community contributed and will be in video form with also a short description of the game.

The News & Twitter

The app will collect news from various OUYA websites related to OUYA games specifically (giving credit of course). Alongside the news will be a live updating Twitter feed. Currently just PlayOUYA, I expect this to incorporate several different sources.

Spotlights

Showcasing the staff's 6 most recent favorites, spotlights will be a great place to find games that are worth every byte of your storage space.

Latest Reviews

This is where the most recently submitted reviews will be visible. Either 10 most recent or reviews of games from the last 30 days (whichever has more). From here you will be able to see a brief overview of the review, the review score and also watch the review video.

Top Charts

The charts are where you can sort games by different categories and see the best of each category. Highest rated over-all, by genre or by time (ie: last 30 days, 90 days, etc.). The intention is to match any sorting options the OUYA store has.

Search

Search by title or tag for any game that has been reviewed. If a game hasn't been reviewed, it may still be there. An option to request a review will be available through the search. (Here's hoping we can find an API to let us keep an accurate list of games lol)

Technology

The app is written in HTML/CSS/JavaScript using PhoneGap. The performance is a little unstable currently, but it has yet to be given a thorough beating in memory management. On the back end will be a lot PHP, MySQL and if traffic gets high enough Memcache. There will also be an admin panel for reviewers to handle all of their submissions that will be approved by an admin or automatically posted if a certain amount of time goes by without refusal/approval so things stay fluid. If things go right (and they're looking good) then a web version will launch simultaneously.

Who buys the apps?

I don't mind paying for a lot of apps, but anyone wishing to have their game reviewed by provides an APK certainly wont be denied (full disclosure will be there).

Will you review Demos?

Absolutely not. A demo isn't expected to be enough to really make an educated decision. Some game genres suffer when limited to a demo, so our policy will be full copies of games only.

So, who wants to help? :)

Who here, with the capability to record review videos, would like to collaborate with me? The app is already running (partially) on my OUYA dev kit :)

Attention devs: respect your peers please.

stolk — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:01:34 +0000

I would like to call on all developers: 'genres' is a limited resource, so don't be greedy.

When browsing the store, I noticed that most devs list their game in multiple genres.

I can understand the need for extra exposure, but please show some restraint.

I purposely used one category only for my game, it is better for the eco system.

Please realize this: developers that find themselves in the sandbox have a hard time.

If all genre-listed devs would choose one category only, it would open up space for more devs to dig themselves out of the sandbox.

We can either do the right thing ourselves and share responsibly.

If not, I hope that OUYA will step in, and limit categories to one.

Thanks,

Bram

Idea: Make the sandbox a fun place to play!

RobJ — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:02:39 +0000

Right now a lot of developers are disturbed that the games they've worked on for so long might get flung into the abyss of the Sandbox, never to be seen again. Without a huge audience, budget, or marketing prowess, their games may be unlikely to ever escape. And consumers are left navigating the Sandbox without any direction on what they may or may not want to try.

How about twisting the Sandbox into a fun concept rather than a purgatory of potential punishment:

Each developer can create a 60-second "Play in the Sandbox" playable game demo, meant to highlight and simulate the user's experience throughout the game.
The gamer enters this "Play in the Sandbox" area and a 60-second game demo loads at random
Gamer can choose to download the game, which would trigger it to download in the background as they're sent to the next random 60-second game demo
Gamer can also choose to "pass" on the game at any point during the 60 seconds, which will skip to the next random game
OUYA could use the analytics of downloads vs. passes to help determine which apps to promote to the main Discover section
Even if an app is not promoted, developers will receive a fair amount of game play action/attempts due to the random gameplay concept

I'm not suggesting this replace the Sandbox in general, but I think it'd be an interesting and fun concept for both consumers and developers alike, that helps level the playing field. And honestly, as a gamer, I'd love that quick-fire option of demoing discoverability.

I realize that this idea is probably a HUGE project and likely outside the scope of possibilities, but I thought it was interesting enough to share with the group as a brainstorming idea of sorts.

Do we have to do anything to the OUYA for the store to work?

tokkao — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:55:12 +0000

My OUYA is not letting me go into the store yet. Every time I go to Discover, it says "Did not load store: Brace yourselves. OUYA games are coming soon". I have the latest update (As of 3/30/2013) and haven't been able to access the store.

Exclusive OUYA launch videos and reviews

RobJ — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 01:02:23 +0000

Our team attended the OUYA Launch Event in San Francisco and we got a lot of great behind the scenes video, an unboxing video, hands-on videos, first impressions, and continue to create a lot more. Wanted to share our highlights... I hope you all enjoy!

Behind the scenes at the OUYA Launch Event:

http://phandroid.com/2013/03/29/ouya-launch-vip/

OUYA Unboxing and Software Tour:

http://phandroid.com/2013/03/29/hands-on-ouya-unboxing-and-software-review-video/

I actually pulled an all-nighter to download and play as many OUYA games as possible. I'll be doing a lot of hands-on video of OUYA games in action and will update this thread when I have time to publish!

If you'd like to follow more closely, we've been uploading all our OUYA videos to the Game Fans youtube acocunt, posting on OUYA Boards, and then hosting consolidated review/coverage of the highlights on Phandroid.

Stay tuned for more!

Store front needs work

paulscode — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 02:14:20 +0000

There are several things that need to be addressed with the store front:

1) There is no (apparent) way to enter credit card information. An interface for this needs to be in the Account section, and needs to link to it if you go to purchase something and a credit card is not on file (versus just popping up an error message)

2) Most of the apps are not categorized, and are just scattered haphazardly through the "Sandbox" pages. For example, when I view my app from devs.ouya.tv, it is categorized as Arcade/Pinball. However it is not listed in the Arcade/Pinball section of the store. It can only be found by either searching for it or by digging through the sandbox to find it at a seemingly random location.

3) The screen shots are only thumbnails. As such, they are completely useless unless the user happens to have an enormous TV. To be of any help, users need to be able to see screenshots in full screen.

4) There is also an intermittent bug, where some screenshots appear multiple times while others are missing. Rebooting the OUYA seems to fix the problem.

Where did Make > Downloads go too?

VoodooDoubloon — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:18:45 +0000

I had a workflow of testing on multiple TVs in other room by downloading APK to Ouya going from Browser > Downloads > install APK. Now there is no Downloads folder on latest firmware of Ouya. Anyone know whats up?

Here 's some free back ground music resource

csora — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:47:07 +0000

Dear All :

Here 's some free back ground music resource , hope it can help yours .

(Fix the money problem) 囧囧囧

Now BGM cost no money ,

just wait 6/2013 Ouya sales in my country (Hong Kong)

、 learn Unity 3D

、voice my own character

、choose some bgm

ccMixter： http://ccmixter.org/

OWL Music Search： http://www.owlmm.com/index.html

Berklee Shares： http://www.berkleeshares.com/

Jamendo： http://www.jamendo.com/en/

Opsound： http://www.opsound.org/

SectionZ ： http://www.sectionz.com/home.asp

Dogmazic.net： http://www.dogmazic.net/index.php?op=edito&choice_user_language=english

The Mutopia Project： http://www.mutopiaproject.org/

Classic Music , should be funny with cutie games O口O

Musicologist Available

Oblivionous — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:38:47 +0000

Hello, not sure if this is the right place for this post, but I'd like to volunteer my services as a music composer for anybody that needs original music for their games. I've only worked in one development group on a game before, I made some tracks for it and then the project fell through (as usual). I can do anything from 8-bit type sounds to fuller productions, although I prefer to make digital/electronic type tracks for games. I don't have any game tracks up online as of right now, but I'm working on making them available. However, you can hear my actual music album at http://attikuhisley.bandcamp.com/, to give you an idea.

Thanks!

Will our suggested feature update take us off the store

Shiels — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:54:24 +0000

We were successfully accepted into the store today, but the reply email had a suggestion that we enhance the controls by adding analogue support to the menus.

If we build this and submit now, will it turn off the "published" flag in the games section of the dev centre? Or will we remain available for the store launch tonight? I just want to make sure it doesn't overwrite the currently active apk and make us lose sales.

Thanks!

Ouya final hardware unboxing and Swag bag unbagging video

yankijp — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:42:49 +0000

Ouya final hardware unboxing and Swag bag unbagging video!

I went to the Ouya unveil and this is the swag bag I received. It includes final shipping hardware! All the extra goodies I got were a part of the swag bag but all y'all get what is inside the Ouya box that I open up. I am super excited to have the final hardware. I set it up as soon as I got home from GDC partying. It feels really great and the controller is way improved over the dev kit controllers I have.

I can't wait to finish up something to put on the store!

Follow me @YANKIJP for updates.

OUYA jelly bean

zakir1988 — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:54:18 +0000

Will OUYA update the jelly bean to the latest version 4.2.2. Please as everyone wants that.

firmwire update

zakir1988 — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:28:29 +0000

Will Ouya have an option in manage where we can check for firmware updates and have notification when playing a game or when we switch the OUYA on telling us to update it would be good if we had info whats new on the firmware update.

I want the UI we see on kickstarter video.

We all know it going to get improved

Discover store online?

LudemeGames — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:38:16 +0000

Is the discover store up/ready? I'm getting a "Did not load store" error still... current time is a bit after 8:30pm. I didn't see anything that said exactly when it would go online, but a lot of the language in some posts suggests it already is.

Shipping?

shubshub — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:47:43 +0000

My OUYA was Pre-Ordered on Feb 25th
When do you think I can expect it to arrive?

Project Anarchy by Havok

HeadClot — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 06:42:15 +0000

Hey all!

I am just putting this up here to inform you that Havok is making there Vison Game Engine free this spring to Mobile Developers.

Project Anarchy will include Havok's Vision Engine together with access to Havok's industry-leading suite of Physics, Animation and AI tools as used in cutting-edge franchises such as Skyrim™, Halo, Assassin's Creed®, Uncharted and Skylanders. The free download will also include a broad range of game samples and tutorials to help the mobile development community hit the ground running. Havok will be giving open previews of the technology on the main show floor throughout GDC.

As part of this initiative, Havok will launch an online community to proactively promote and support developers through all stages of production via a dedicated website. Project Anarchy will also encourage free sharing and collaborative development of extensions and customizations by the community.

Go to Project Anarchy to sign up for more details.

Adventure game development

MrProsser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 04:31:00 +0000

I am not sure what forum I should ask this question in, but hopefully this is the most appropriate place. I am new to Ouya and Android development but I was thinking of trying my hand at it. I really like classic adventure games like LucasArts games, King's Quest etc. and I wanted to develop something along these lines. I have been looking for libraries specifically for adventure games but have not found much. I was wondering if anyone might have suggestions for libraries that I might want to look into, be they specifically for adventure game development for just 2D game development in general that would be appropriate for Ouya development.

OUYA website buggy changes? EDIT: completely revamped site posted right as I say this - looks fine

zamzarvideo — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:23:03 +0000

Did you guys just make some changes to the OUYA website? There appear to be a few new images on the pages, and the many options on the bottom of the page (like there were two links for devs and developers) appear to be consolidated. The appearance is glitchy on my computer though. I'm using Chrome 25 on OS X 10.7.5. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like for me:

http://f.cl.ly/items/0D0s3N0M3H2o3D1b283h/Screen Shot 2013-03-28 at 8.21.02 PM.png

How long is the review queue?

The_Craig — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:44:05 +0000

My game was submitted before the deadline but was rejected (for legimate reasons). Within a few hours I had resubmitted the fixed version can somebody give me an estimate on how long it's likely to take to get games reviewed? Obviously the store is supposed to launch today and I wanted to be on it.

Anyone else not able to upload APK files for submission?

jtn0514 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:34:18 +0000

Not able to upload any APKs... button doesnt work or bring up a popup window to browse for the file...

Ouya store not working

greeniekin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:15:38 +0000

I have before used the ouya store and downloaded a few games to just check out it's capabilities inlcluding open arena.

Though recently I tried to access it and nothing loads. Is the store cleared and shut down? or is it something specific to my ouya?

How can I post an absolutely free game without filling tax and payment information?

Keeperus — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:43:32 +0000

I'm finishing my game and wan't to know if it is possible to post it to the Market without filling such an information. I'm just a developer, so I've got no practice in filling such an information.
Can I send my .apk file by email to administration to be published?

I know many of us are in a rush, but don't neglect testing your game

Dreamwriter — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:15:15 +0000

About 5 hours ago I decided my game was at a good place to submit, but because end-users would be playing it, I decided to make sure I could play through it from beginning to end (using cheats to speed that up). Found a number of horrible issues, including ones in parts of the game I hadn't touched in forever so shouldn't have had problems, and only just 20 minutes ago got the game in a state I felt was submittable. Had I submitted without trying that final pass through everything, sure my game would have been submitted 5 hours ago, but it would have been a bad experience for many people trying my game. And there were bad bugs in both the demo regions and the "full game" regions.

So learn from my lesson: make sure you take the time to make sure your game functions in a realistic play session. Even being a day or two late to the very first launch would be better than everyone who tries your game deciding it sucks because it's just too buggy.

Shipping for backers?

badcc — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:09:12 +0000

When will the Ouya be shipped for the people who backed the kickstarter for $100? Does it arrive here on the 28th, or does it ship on the 28th. Does anyone know what kind of shipping is on it? Hopefully two-day, but I doubt it.

Does anyone know? Thank you

what is the key.der file for?

MURAinteractive — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 23:21:29 +0000

Just as the title says. It's the file you can download from the Submission process. Thanks for all the help!

Dead line for submit the game

fernandocolombo — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:21:11 +0000

We are running to submit the game before day 28, but the question is, today (27/03) is the last day to submit or I can submit the game tomorow?

And what time zone will be considered?

OUYA SHIPPING

zakir1988 — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:54:01 +0000

OUYA Shipping to Investors 28th March who Backed it on Kickstarter and pre ordered it, should receive it in April depending on shipping international and non international shipping being USA and Canada getting it early then international pre orders.

people who pre ordered OUYA before 4th of Feb are Shipping it in late April it will arrive around April or May depending on shipping international and non international shipping being USA and Canada getting to early then international pre orders.

I'm From UK (London) who pre ordered it before 4th of Feb

we know there will be a new OUYA every year we don't know if our controllers will be compatible with a new OUYA every year in theory it should work so we just buy the console this will cut costs for us who already have controllers they should bring out new controllers every two to three years so they are in line with us gamers.

NOTE: OUYA IS JUST NOT A GAMES CONSOLE ITS A MINI SET TOP BOX ABLE TO STREAM USING YOUTUBE, NETFLIX AND OTHER STREAMING APPS ECT....

HOPE TO USE BBC IPLAYER VIA THE WEBSITE TO STREAM HD CONTENT

I know it will take time for BBC ect.. to see if Ouya gose well if it dose hope they will port the BBC IPLAYER or make one for OUYA.

How many people have pre ordered OUYA are from UK comment below and what you think about OUYA and also its future

Be part of the OUYA press demo happening before March 28th

Piers — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:50:36 +0000

Our team is going to give a few members of the press an early look at OUYA and some of the amazing software being produced by various developers. This is happening before the 28th... so if you want your game to potentially be included and be seen by those members of the press, upload it by Friday of this week!

OUYA :)

Developer Registration Problem

pcardoso73 — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:19:55 +0000

Dear all,

I am sorry to post here a simple question, but I didn't know where to post it.

I tried to register 1 month ago or so. But it requires data of a company I should be attached to. Well, I would like to contibute but I am free-lancer. Other point is that I see no option for european programmers on the registration form. Is this only ope to US developers ?´

Best regards,

Pedro Cardoso