Android Port

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

There have been several projects to make Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup available on Android. These ports are compatible with a wide range of Android devices, including most phones and tablets. Because the game was designed to be played with a keyboard, they use the system's virtual keyboard or provide a custom one. On smaller phones, the game can be difficult to play because of the limited screen space.

The Android ports are configurable using the same configuration files you would see in the desktop version of Dungeon Crawl. These files will be located in the application-specific directory, which is Android/data/<APP_ID>/files. Note that this path is not easily accessible using the stock file manager since Android 11.

org.develz.crawl (current)

The development of the Android port was resumed by Félix Medrano, starting with version 0.26. It uses most of the same base code as the legacy port, but is closer to the other builds of the game for easier maintenance. It has not been integrated in the Dungeon Crawl main repository, but there is a request on progress.

This port borrows some ideas from the previous ports and features an updated tiles interface for small screens (available on any device via configuration) and a custom virtual keyboard. The controls are complemented with some touch gestures and support for hardware keyboards and Android buttons.

The port is still on development and can be installed from Google Play, F-Droid and other stores. It is also available for the Bloatcrawl 2 variant.

org.develz.crawl (legacy)

The first official Android port of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup was developed by Chris West (aka Frog Botherer) and was integrated into Dungeon Crawl version 0.12. It is a port of the tiles version of the game and the controls are very similar to the desktop version, but using the device's touch screen instead of a mouse. A keyboard button in the upper left corner pulls in the device's native touch screen keyboard for keyboard commands and typing.

The port uses the Android SDL multimedia library. When the application launches, you can choose 'Device configuration' on the SDL splash screen to turn on extra control features, like an on-screen d-pad touch control, as well as configuration options such as keyboard size and transparency and mouse-click emulation.

The app has been unmaintained since Dungeon Crawl 0.16 and will be troublesome to run on modern devices. It is not available on Android stores, but you can download the APK from crawl.develz.org.

com.crawlmb

The developer Michael Barlow followed a different strategy. This port runs the console version of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup in the same fashion as other Android roguelike ports like Angband and Nethack.

His project uses a custom Android app with the main Dungeon Crawl repository as a submodule. It features splash screens from the tiles version, resizable interface via touch gestures, a highly configurable interface, custom keyboard and touch directional controls.

There were many versions released over the years, from Dungeon Crawl 0.10 to 0.29, but it is currently unmaintained.

The code is available on GitHub and the app can be installed from Google Play, F-Droid and other stores.

com.newtzgames.dcssonline

This unofficial app created by Brian Newtz is not a port of the game but a WebView to play the webtiles version of the game. It doesn't include any code from the main Dungeon Crawl project.

It provides a list of servers to the users and uses the system keyboard for input. Because of the way input is managed in the webtiles version, this was the only way to play on Android devices. Some changes were included in Dungeon Crawl 0.28 to make webtiles playable on any mobile browser, but this app still provides the best user experience.

Unfortunately, it is no longer maintained and input is broken for newer devices. The app was retired from Google Play but it can still be installed from other stores.