DEV Community

krlz
krlz

Posted on

Flutter on Your Phone: Building Games in Termux While Your Laptop Judges You

#flutter #mobile #termux #gamedev

You know that feeling when your laptop dies, your deadline approaches, and all you have is your phone? Most developers would panic. I opened Termux.

The Audacity of Mobile Development

Let me paint you a picture: I'm on a bus, laptop battery at 0%, with a Flutter game to build. My phone has 80% battery and Termux installed. Challenge accepted.

The Secret Sauce: proot-distro

Here's what nobody tells you about mobile development—your phone is basically a Linux machine cosplaying as a candy dispenser. With proot-distro, we run a full Ubuntu environment:

# Install the magic
pkg install proot-distro
proot-distro install ubuntu
proot-distro login ubuntu
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now you're running Ubuntu. On your phone. On a bus. The person next to you thinks you're hacking the mainframe.

Installing Flutter (The ARM64 Way)

Pre-built Flutter binaries are x64. Your phone is ARM64. The solution? Clone from source like it's 2005:

# Inside Ubuntu proot
apt update && apt install -y curl git unzip xz-utils zip openjdk-17-jdk

# Clone Flutter (ARM64 compatible)
cd /root
git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git -b stable --depth 1
export PATH=/root/flutter/bin:$PATH

# Let Dart figure itself out
flutter precache --linux
flutter doctor
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Building a Flame Game

Now the fun part—creating an actual game:

flutter create --platforms linux my_game
cd my_game
flutter pub add flame
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

And here's a minimal Flame game you can type with your thumbs:

import 'package:flame/game.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(GameWidget(game: MyGame()));
}

class MyGame extends FlameGame {
  @override
  Future<void> onLoad() async {
    // Your game logic here
    // Written on a phone
    // Like a legend
  }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The Reality Check

Pros:

  • You can code anywhere
  • Great for emergencies
  • Incredible party trick
  • ~3GB setup, runs surprisingly well

Cons:

  • Your thumbs will hate you
  • Compilation takes... a while
  • The person next to you definitely thinks you're a hacker now

Pro Tips

  1. Use --shared-tmp for file access between Termux and proot: 
   proot-distro login ubuntu --shared-tmp
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

  1. Bluetooth keyboard - Your thumbs will thank you

  2. Fix dpkg interrupts (they happen):

   yes N | dpkg --configure -a
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Conclusion

Is developing on your phone practical? Debatable.
Is it possible? Absolutely.
Did I submit that game on time from the bus? You bet I did.

Sometimes the best development environment is the one you have with you. Termux turns your phone into a legitimate development machine—not a replacement for your laptop, but a surprisingly capable backup.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to charge my laptop. It's been judging me from across the room.

Have you tried mobile development with Termux? Share your war stories in the comments!

Top comments (0)