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2dguy
Visitor

Roku Game Development?

I couldn't find this info anywhere, but what languages can I use to develop games for the roku devices? I already have an android ready app, does Roku support android apk's? Thanks for any help.
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18 REPLIES 18
renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Game Development?

At this point I believe BrightScript is your only option (APKs are most definitely not supported). They used to have an NDK that allowed you to use C/C++ (other languages?), but I believe that's no longer an option and was pretty much reserved for special partners anyway. There was also some other game platform partnership, but I can't remember what it was and I don't know if it's still available.

-JT
Roku Community Streaming Expert

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2dguy
Visitor

Re: Roku Game Development?

Thank you for the quick reply, much appreciated. And with that... my dreams of roku game development are gone. lol..  😛
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Komag
Roku Guru

Re: Roku Game Development?

"2dguy" wrote:
Thank you for the quick reply, much appreciated. And with that... my dreams of roku game development are gone. lol..  😛

Really? Are you a programmer? Not willing to learn Brightscript?
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marcelo_cabral
Roku Guru

Re: Roku Game Development?

Before you give up you should check my open source games:
https://github.com/lvcabral/Prince-of-Persia-Roku
https://github.com/lvcabral/Lode-Runner-Roku

And also the amazing engine created by Romans I XVI:
https://github.com/Romans-I-XVI/Roku-gameEngine
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Komag
Roku Guru

Re: Roku Game Development?

I didn't know about the game engine, interesting!
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2dguy
Visitor

Re: Roku Game Development?

re: Roku/Brightscript...

Q) What are the best examples of 2D games on Roku developed in BS? Videos or channel links appreciated, thx.

Q) I'm mainly interested in developing arcade games that typically have 100s of 2D sprites zipping around. Is this possible and if so, what kind of frame rate can I expect?

Thank you.
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Komag
Roku Guru

Re: Roku Game Development?

Anything by Romans I XVI:
Retaliate
SNAKE
Rainbow Dash
Tiles
Midnight Divide

or marcelo.cabral:
Prince of Persia
Lode Runner
Moon Patrol
Quartet

Or just browse the games and try some for yourself

So far, ALL games are basic/simple. Nothing I know of has hundreds or even dozens of sprites, except maybe Retaliate, which is still pretty basic.
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37mediagroup
Roku Guru

Re: Roku Game Development?

Yeah Retaliate's a great game. Midnight Divide (same developer) seems to have stepped up a bit of the overall graphics & feel of the look & graphics, but personally I find Retaliate has more of an 'arcade' style..
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2dguy
Visitor

Re: Roku Game Development?

Thx for the replies. I've played several Roku games, but I remember reading where some apps were allowed to use low level tools other than Brightscript to code their games so I didn't know which games were designed using BrightScript. Looks like BS is very capable. Is there a better forum for Roku game development using Brightscript? Thx.
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