Distributing with heaps.io - any new developments?

It’s been some times since I released something using heaps. I have trouble getting the hashlink version to run and prepare for distribution - I have been using redistHelper, but that is a very old tool. Any new solutions worth looking at? Any Android release options beside using the HTML5 version?

Hm… but is redistHelper that old? It seems there are frequently commits being made (e.g. two months ago). Also Deepnight is an active indie developer and releases on Steam.

And regarding Android, I only noticed zyheaps being mentioned in our forums…
But that too seems to be under active development (last commits from past month)

But it is true in the end (imo) (especially without these tools) Heaps is (very) difficult to distribute.

But where do you have troubles with HashLink? On what OS etc.?
What could make your life with HashLink easier?

regards

Sorry, you are right, I was looking at some random fork of redistHelper instead of the original repo.

I’ve managed to get redistHelper to work although my project is crashing on Linux (FATAL ERROR : Failed to load function sdl@warp_mouse_in_window) and I have no sound on Windows, so there will still be a lot of work.

I’ve noticed zyheaps too and will look into it, there is no documentation for it though.

EDIT: Got Linux version running (with the same sound problem as Windows version) by using hashlink nightly builds: Release HashLink Nightly Build · HaxeFoundation/hashlink · GitHub - just copy the files from them over whatever redistHelper generates.

EDIT2: Fixed all my issues by using a nightly build of HAXE. Generates some warnings in heaps library, but finally works. :slight_smile:

I’ve edited too soon back then - while the Windows version works, Linux version crashes, and while I am using WebView for Android I am not very happy with how it works (many issues that are just random crashes with no way to debug in a reasonable way, no documentation how to communicate between Heaps and code outside the webview either).

I wrote my project with an engine on top of Heaps so I can switch easily swap it and will probably do that for future projects. Shame the project has so little documentation online because the desktop version is fast and reasonable and I like the simplicity.

Sorry it turned out into a bit of a rant. I am a bit sad it didn’t work out, I like Heaps, just can’t rely on it since I need both good desktop and mobile support and my expectation about documentation and resources online for an engine are a bit higher it turns out than what Heaps is able to offer.

(And should the main page really advertise “PUBLISH ANYWHERE” and list iOS and Android there? The project doesn’t seem to be up to it.)

No, it should not advertise “publish anywhere”, nor list iOS, nor Android.

(If even Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBOX…)

At least it is not there yet on its own terms… Or it should just say these platforms are supported as a service (pricing model). Then this would be totally fine.

Also the site hasn’t been updated in a while (“© 2021”) and my reaching out to the maintainers seems in vain regarding making changes to the site. Or maybe I’m not the communicator yet I could be. And they are really busy, I get that. Or maybe it is just not in their interest.

I really like Heaps, I wish someone would take care of it more…

I hope you can find a way to fix your Linux version, though. Which OS are you testing it on and did you ask in the discord channel, too? There is much more life than in the forums.