iOS (& Android) updates incoming for Star Nomad 2, Star Nomad Elite & Ninja Girl.
Since learning how to directly port over my PC games to iOS & Android, without reliance on now extinct 3rd party services, I wanted to revisit older games on iOS that have fallen due to new iOS versions and devices causing compatibility problems.
I’ve just submitted an update for Star Nomad 2 to Apple, that fixes issues with iOS 11 and 12 and on new devices.
It resolves crashes, fullscreen bugs and music streaming.
I will be working on getting Star Nomad Elite and Ninja Girl back to modern standards ASAP then releasing updates for them too.
As for Android, Star Nomad Elite has stopped working on many modern devices, as it used an old wrapper (XDK w/ Crosswalk). Star Nomad 2 still works on most devices, but there are now Android 8+ (Oreo) devices where it will crash on start up.
My engine has been updated to resolve these issues, but I am not able to update these games on Android. The reason is a silly one and beyond my control. When I built these Android apps, I used a service provided by Intel (XDK), and it signed the release APK with it’s own generated keystore (encryption).
The service closed down and I did not get access to retrieve the keystore file, they wiped all the accounts so its gone for good. What this means is I cannot update the existing apps on Google Play, because it requires updates to be signed by the same keystore and it rejects new/different keystore.
The only solution for Android is releasing a separate new build, with a new key that I can control. However, this isn’t a good solution, since existing owners can’t get the update, but it’s my only option.
What I will be doing though is use Google’s promo-key system and give out keys to owners of the current build so they can get the new build for free.
I will be doing this soon for Star Nomad 2 and Star Nomad Elite, as I re-release them with the new build. These new builds will be under my full control so if there’s any issues in the future, I can release updates for them directly.