Hi Retro gamers on Android,
Papaya is now available in Google Play! 🥳
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebschaef.papaya
✅ With this Alpha version you can:
- Easily add 19 platforms through 36 emulators to your games collection (There is more to come of course)
- Add additional custom platforms and emulators through a guided configuration
- Easily manage your collection (quickly switch emulators for specific games, scrape more fitting covers for a game etc.)
- Pin game streams from Artemis to your collection
- Display your collection in two different Layouts: Carousel and Grid
- Change the appearance through the Android settings: (Live) wallpapers + Material 3 color schemes
- Start your normal Apps and App Shortcuts
🔄 Some shortcomings at the moment:
- You can’t edit the game details with custom covers yet. But you can source the details from IGDB and TheGamesDB though a search mask.
- No custom scraper settings yet. Currently, IGDB is queried first and TheGamesDB afterwards for the automatic scraping.
Please note that this is an Alpha version, so it’s very possible that you experience crashes or other issues. Please report them either directly through Google Play or in the Discord so I can fix them in time.
📤 Feel free to share the link with others who might be interested in Papaya. The more of us use the Open Alpha, the easier we can resolve issues and identify wanted features, thank you 🧡
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebschaef.papaya
🎫 You can use all features of Papaya for free for 30 days to test if it fits your needs. If you like it, you can then buy the unlimited license for a one time purchase (No subscription!).
One thing this application has over Emulation Station? Touchscreen support, which is nice :)
will check it out more thoroughly later.
Thanks for trying it out! :)
Exactly, I was going for a proper gamepad support but also with touch-friendly elements.
Aside from that, Papaya is aiming more on an easy setup, being configurable on the device itself and being more integrated into the Android (Live wallpapers, Material You, Shortcuts etc.). But ES-DE is a better choice if you often switch between devices and, well, if you love to tinker with config files :D
yeah its a bit more clunkier to configure ES-DE or update as it for whatever reason is not on the Play Store, but thats beside the point which is Papaya.
Its a bit cramped though on my RG Cube (square screen with 720x720) which renders the Setting Button on the tab-bar as a barely tapable micro-button. But hey, atleast one can just hit Start and enter the Setting Menu that way (and its already cool that you supprt Landscape and Portrait Mode)
It would be cool if one could select a Roms Folder and the App will assign the appropriate emulator application (and or retroarch) to the given rom.
I’m not 100% sure here, but I think ES-DE still relies on having access to all files (External storage permission). Because Google Play does only allow this permission for File managers now, I think that might be one of the roadblockers.
Ay, that’s bad, sorry about that. I’ll look into that to have that fixed. Out of curiosity: Is the default orientation setting of the RG Cube Landscape or Portrait?
Good idea, thank you! I see that this could work as an Autosetup where it simply assigns the emulator it detects. For Retroarch it will be a bit difficult though, because I can’t detect what cores are installed. I wrote it down for future features, but first I’m trying to get rid of issues, supporting more emulators and adding must-have features.
I believe it’s reverse Portrait e.g. when you plug in a charging cable the swoosh animation goes from right to left (whereas on a smartphone it goes from bottom to top)