Start of Android App Development

The development environment adopted for the TechnoSphere Creature Create was based around the Android Development Kit (ADK).

We carried out a series of side by side tests to pick a 3D rendering system, including OSG(openGL based), Unity, LibGDX and others. We narrowed the likely contenders down to OSG and Unity.

In the end we continued to use OSG for the 3D rendering and added osgAndroid to kick start our SDK/ NDK development. Also much of the modeling work utilized Blender which further reinforced our philosophy of using OpenSource tools and software wherever feasible.

The initial development was based around a series of prototypes to identify problems and some features that were missing from GLES compared with OpenGL and from those test solutions and workarounds. In particular wireframe and memory management related to loading and unloading models. Once decisions had been made on the way ahead, including UI design, the first prototype app was developed.