In designing an android game I’ve become unsure as to whether or not I should stick with the holo theme + actionbar or go for a fully custom themed design. The app doesn’t use special opengl full screen activities like an FPS might but instead uses a lot of the basic views and dialogs. At the moment it looks alright in holo, but it doesn’t feel immersing to use – it just feels like an app. So my question to you is, is there a right or a wrong way? How can I make the user feel more immersed?
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I’d say it depends on what type of game it is. If it’s a very animated type of game, then no, Holo’s probably not the right choice. I have a Sudoku game (Holoku) that uses ActionBar/Holo and I think it works quite well, but Sudoku is a very general, board-gameish type of game, which fits well as into an app type theme. Something like an adventure/action game would not necessarily fit as well.
Holo is a good guideline, but it’s not useful for all cases — you can have great design without following the system theme, especially for games. I’d say it’s all up to your implementation.