Is there a way to hot-deploy delta changes onto an Android device? [Say, like JRebel]

Question

I am an Indie Game Developer, and I am currently building a game for the Android Platform, using NDK.

My problem is that, this game is now more than 20MB in size and is taking a lot of time to deploy and start up on my Android Device, which is becoming a pain and is slowing me down.

So, I wanted to know

Is any way to hot deploy just the delta changes, that I make to my Android Project, instead of building and installing the whole thing to my Android Device again and again?

Is it even possible? I am looking for some thing like JRebel tool, for the Java VM and Java Containers.

[Update: Any other thoughts on bringing down the build time, please?]

Thanks and Cheers!

[Note: Just wanted to mention that I will not be be able to use the emulator for faster builds, because my game uses OpenGL library heavily, which the emulator cannot handle.]

Chaiken

Will keep the question open for a little while, hoping for more suggestions... [@CommonsWare : I appreciate the effort to answer my question. Please don't mind!] – Chaiken

Answer 1

So, I wanted to know if there is any way to hot deploy just the delta changes, that I make to my Android Project, instead of building and installing the whole thing to my Android Device again and again?

Not for stuff you are packaging inside your APK.

Just wanted to mention that I will not be be able to use the emulator for faster builds, because my game uses OpenGL library heavily, which the emulator cannot handle.

I would hope that the latest emulators (with hardware acceleration) and the x86 emulator images for 2.3.3 and 4.0.3 would run your game acceptably fast.

Tallahassee

hum.. unfortunate.. And thanks for the tip about emulators. Do you know of any references as to how to manage to run a game on the emulator? I am experimenting with couple of game engines too! – Chaiken

@dostiharise: " Do you know of any references as to how to manage to run a game on the emulator?" -- um, well, not specifically. Here is more general information about the new emulator options: android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/04/… – Tallahassee

Thanks for the update on the new capabilities of the emulator. I think, I will have to live with the build times! :-/ Cheers! – Chaiken

Answer 2

Actually hotswaping delta changes on Android is possible. You should use some special tools to achieve this behavior. You can try the tool: InstaRelaoder use "inirwetrust" as the password

Jolandajolanta

why downvotes? At the beginning I posted the name, and got downvoted, now I didn't posted concrete info and still downvotes. How to tell people about possibly great tool?! – Jolandajolanta

Answer 3

JRebel is available for Android, and supports NDK projects.

https://zeroturnaround.com/software/jrebel-for-android/

Inviolable

Answer 4

Android Studio 2.0 has now an Instant Run feature.

More info in this link.

Twombly