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Lesson 11 · Install and play on a phone

We have checked on a phone every lesson. But we were never in a state where you could play a run to the end. There was no way to pause.

This lesson fills that in. And it bumps the version to 0.1.0. This is as far as "a game that runs" goes.

1. Finished screen​

Pixel 10 v0.1.0 — pause any time with the top-right button and resume

2. A phone game is interrupted at any moment​

A desktop game only stops when the player decides to quit. A phone is different.

  • A call comes in
  • A notification appears
  • You have to get off the subway
  • Your wrist hurts

Without a way to pause, you lose the run every time. Even a 90-second game is annoying to lose that way.

3. Check the official docs​

We look at Godot's official Step by step / Finishing up and Exporting for Android.

Official docsWhat we take
Finishing uppause · restart
Pausing gamesget_tree().paused and process_mode
Exporting for Androidputting a debug build on a phone

4. What stops when you pause, and what does not​

get_tree().paused = true stops every node. The pause panel stops too. Then you cannot press Resume.

	process_mode = Node.PROCESS_MODE_ALWAYS

This panel is the exception.

process_modeWhen it runs
INHERIT (default)follows the parent
PAUSABLEonly while not paused
WHEN_PAUSEDonly while paused
ALWAYSalways
DISABLEDnever

The pause panel is ALWAYS. You have to press the button before the pause too.

Write it in the scene file as well

If you change process_mode in _ready(), the default is still in effect through that frame. If the scene pauses the moment it is created (when the app goes to the background), you are too late.

Put process_mode = 3 in the .tscn and set it once more in code.

5. Implement it yourself​

5-1. Button anchors — a button that stretched to the screen width​

At first we wrote this.

anchors_preset = 14
anchor_right = 1.0
offset_left = -66.0
offset_right = 66.0

On a phone the button stretched across the full screen width.

preset 14 is HCENTER_WIDE — full width, vertically centered. anchor_left = 0, anchor_right = 1, so offset_left = -66 means "66 past the left edge."

To center it, use preset 8 (CENTER).

anchors_preset = 8
anchor_left = 0.5
anchor_top = 0.5
anchor_right = 0.5
anchor_bottom = 0.5
offset_left = -66.0
offset_right = 66.0

All four anchors must be 0.5 so you get 66 left and 66 right of center.

This is the cost of choosing expand in Lesson 1 Screen width differs by device, so you have to say "center" with anchors. Pixel coordinates fall off the screen on a narrow phone.

5-2. Pause automatically when the app goes to the background​

func _notification(what: int) -> void:
	if what == NOTIFICATION_APPLICATION_PAUSED and $Button.visible:
		_pause()

A phone call sends the app to the background. Coming back to a spirit right in front of you is unfair. Pause on the way out.

APPLICATION_PAUSED, not FOCUS_OUT

NOTIFICATION_APPLICATION_FOCUS_OUT fires much more often. A notification banner or a screenshot will trigger it.

While making this lesson we used FOCUS_OUT first, then every adb exec-out screencap paused the game and we spent a long time thinking "the button does not press."

5-3. Hide the button after the run ends​

func set_available(value: bool) -> void:
	$Button.visible = value

A pause button stacked on the result panel looks ugly, and there is no reason to pause a finished run.

5-4. Version 0.1.0​

Bump config/version in project.godot to 0.1.0. The label at the bottom-right of the title screen follows automatically — Lesson 1 already reads it from ProjectSettings.

	var version: String = str(ProjectSettings.get_setting("application/config/version", "0.0.0"))
	_version.text = "v" + version

You only change one place. Same when Lesson 16 bumps it to 1.0.0.

5-5. Put it on a phone​

pnpm android:build
pnpm android:run

The first command cleans the build template and Gradle output. The second installs and launches with a safe launcher intent.

Do not bypass the wrapper for Android export

pnpm android:build handles relative paths, Gradle cleanup, and isolating Play Billing from the direct-distribution APK in one step. Calling godot --export-debug yourself skips those safeguards.

6. Check that this much is working​

Put it on a phone and play a run to the end.

  • The top-right button pauses
  • Time does not count down while paused
  • Resume takes you back
  • Restart starts over
  • Pressing Home and coming back leaves it paused
  • The pause button disappears when the result panel appears
  • v0.1.0 at the bottom-right of the title

7. Break it on purpose​

① Remove process_mode = ALWAYS → The panel pauses with the game and you can never unpause. You have to kill the app.

② Revert the button anchors to preset 14 → The button stretches across the full screen width.

③ Remove set_available(false) → The pause button stacks on the result panel.

④ Change APPLICATION_PAUSED to FOCUS_OUT → A notification banner alone pauses the game.

8. Completion checklist​

  • You can play a run to the end on a phone
  • You can pause any time and resume
  • Time does not count down while paused
  • Coming back from the background leaves it paused
  • Title shows v0.1.0
  • pnpm game:check exits with code 0

9. Homework​

  1. Touch the stick while paused. Nothing happens. The stick is paused too, because PROCESS_MODE_PAUSABLE is the default.

  2. Give only Overlay process_mode = ALWAYS and leave the root at the default. The button presses, but it does not press before the pause. Think about why.

  3. Rotate the phone to portrait. It does not rotate. That is Lesson 1's orientation = 4 (Sensor Landscape).