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Any updates on implementing in-app purchase functionality for GLBasic?  I too am keen on this because this is fast becoming the mobile industry standard. That's why I've been looking more and more into Corona lately because of this functionality.

Interesting - thanks for all the input, guys. 

Its very easy to implement this on your own, at least as long as grabsprite or usescreen are working.

But GRABSPRITE only works in iPhone in Portrait mode?  I wonder why. Pity there are no universal solutions!

Thanks, erico.  Makes sense.

Looks like there is no escaping the need to program in customization of the screen display and game format for mobile phones with different sizes.  So long as the resizing of sprites can happen outside the game loop, and not slow the game down, I'm fine.

Thanks, everyone, for showing me some solutions on how you manage the issue of screen size.  Looks like there is no one-size-fits-all standard solution.

aroldo, thanks a lot for your detailed explanation - this helps!

erico, your screenshot looks beautiful!   If you design for a core game size of 320 x 240, and need to scale up for much higher resolution screens (e.g., tablets), won't the game look chunky?  Why not design for 1280 x 720 (20.8% of the Android phones, according to your table), and then scale down if necessary?

Thanks for the elaboration, finnk. I know nothing about z-sorting!  I assume it is available in GLBasic while it is not in Corona, which is why you moved to GLBasic...  I will take a closer look at Corona.

Thanks, finnk.  Perhaps I should indeed take a break from programming in GLBasic, and try out Corona first, to learn how they implement different screen sizes. I'm looking to program for mobile phones/tablets, so am looking for a cross-platform language that allows me to do this with the minimum of fuss.  I assume many new purchasers of GLBasic will be looking to do the same.  I liked the ease of Basic so was attracted to GLBasic, but if Corona is easier for mobile, I might move to using Corona for 2D, and keep GLBasic for 3D programming.  Why didn't you continue using Corona, finnk?

Yes, I would certainly be interested in a set-up that allows me to just write my game without having to deal with optimizing it for different screen sizes as well. 

There are snipets for this all around, but they are currently quite hard for me to understand.

True!  Perhaps someone will explain these concepts clearly to the newbie programmers here like me!

Thanks for the advice fiink. I haven't used Corona enough to know exactly how it is implemented there. Looks like I should huh?  The difference is that Corona was specifically designed for mobile programming I guess.

Thanks for the link, r0ber7 - will check this out too.

I wonder whether GLBasic would consider standardising the process at some stage...

Thanks guys for your helpful advice!

Marcus, your framework looks useful, but there are so many functions that it will take me a while to understand what each does and how to apply them all! 

UO Dingsfont looks good.  Thanks!

Another newbie question: what is your advice for a common/usual GLBasic process to program for different Android screen sizes?

Do you, for example, program for the largest screen size, and then use a command in GLBasic to scale it down?  Is there such a command?

Or do you simply have to do everything manually yourself, based on the GETSCREENSIZE command?  I've seen erico's useful thread on "mobile screen size database" available and that will be really helpful if one has to do everything manually.

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice on the SDKs, Gary.  I've also been following Gideros, but Corona seems to be more on-the-ball/professional with updates whenever a new iPhone model comes out, and I'm impressed with Corona's ease of use.  The submission process with Corona is a definite negative. GLBasic is good from the 3D perspective that is not available on either Corona or Gideros.