[Hajdukovic] Developing J2ME games for mobile phones

Razum d.o.o.

Gozdna pot 71000 Ljubljana

Slovenia

[email protected]

Developing J2ME games for mobile phonesŽiga Hajduković, Razum d.o.o.

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

DEVELOPING J2ME GAMES FOR MOBILE PHONES

Intro

Mobile devices Mobile games HOWTO: Pong! The Future

Questions / Contact The Little Red Riding Hood

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

INTRO

Razum, research and development studio → www.razum.eu Developing advanced solutions to interesting problems and researching new technologies

Platform for building enterprise information systems Server + web + mobile Blackberry client Client-server Application Architecture Design Oystar Small Business Loyalty – RFID, Nokia 6131 NFC - 1st European NFC Competition Award!→ Mobile games

6-week “Mobile Game Development” courseFaculty for computer and information science, University of Ljubljana6 lessons, 2 groups, 60 students, game dev. competition w/ awards!

Cocoasoft, Mobile Game Design & Development, AICar Racer 2 (racing FRP), Pahtum (board game, AI), Michel Vaillant Rally ..

Tetris1D.org → www.tetris1d.orgTetris1D, Tetris1D Mobile Edition, Twinoo, Trioomph ..

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Mobile phones

X1 / Windows Mobile / iPhone / Blackberry Storm ..

MOBILE DEVICES - SHOUJI (手机 )

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Walkman - MP3 / Radio Photo / Video camera Television GPS Internet / blogging device

MOBILE DEVICES - ADVANCED MULTIMEDIA FUNCTIONS

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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3.3 billion (November, 2007) mobile phones – half of the world population (80% by 2013) Keys, wallet, phone

Wallet phone (!)→ Keys phone (!)→

Connecting people, social interaction Relatively cheap but high tech. The transition: Family phone personal object!→ Clock, alarms (wake up, events, todo..), calendar, camera

Navigation, GPS, Bluetooth, ..

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone

Mobile Gaming!revenue (billion $) (~10% annual growth): 2007 => $3.9, 2008 ~>$4.5, 2011 ~> $6.3

MOBILE DEVICES

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Good + Connectivity – “always” connected Handy – always nearby Personalized – personal device

Evil - Unpredictable costs – of connecting (but improving..) Unpractical – small screen, small keypad

MOBILE DEVICES - PROPERTIES

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Quality function formula: Design for a tiny screen with bad contrast and color quality MIN( user input ) - input is generally annoying for the user MIN( data transfer ) - GPRS $/Kb→ MIN( processor usage ) - battery! (3D?..)

Keep in mind, desktop computer vs. mobile device paradigms big screen broadband VS small screen GPRS browse the web VS require specific piece of info

MOBILE GAMES – MOBILE INTERFACE DESIGN GUIDELINES

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Java 2 MEMIDP (1.0, 2.0, 2.1, ..3.0), CLDC (1.0, 1.1)Extensions/JSRs: Bluetooth, WMA, MMAPI, PIM, Location, 3D..

Symbian / C++ Python (Nokia S60 platform) BREW (US) / C++ / Qualcomm i-Appli (Japan) ~ J2ME / DoCoMo Android (Google, Linux) iPhone! .NET Compact Framework (PocketPC, Windows Mobile)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_development

MOBILE GAMES – DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Why Java? Widely supported on mobile phones and devices Development tools readily available and free (Netbeanse, Eclipse, ..) Strong developer community

MIDlet – the mobile applet MIDlet installation package – JAR+JAD files MIDP 1.0 .. LCD UI, RMS .. MIDP 2.0 .. Game API, MultiMedia API, setFullScreenMode CLDC 1.0 .. J2SE subset .. java.util, java.lang CLDC 1.1 .. +floating point..

MOBILE GAMES – J2ME

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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MOBILE GAMES – J2ME API, OPTIONAL PACKAGES, MSA 2.0

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Brain stormingThe all important phase, more so as a game project begins, reappearing during various stages of development.

Game Design Overview Document Usually a quick brain dump of an individual to present a new game idea, couple of pages, core gameplay description, main characters and game objects, and approximate development time line.

Game Design DocumentNice to have to keep all the developers on the same page, descriptions of all the game elements: obstacles, opponents, NPCs, AI, level design, story flow.. depending on the game type

MOBILE GAMES – TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – INIT

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Development (coding, graphics, sound) Tight developer coordination with graphics and audio designers

Iterative “gameplay testing development” cycle←→The QA “department” should test the game as often as possible!

Iterative “Porting Testing Bugfixing” cycle← →adjustments and optimizations for actual specified devices

Releasewoohoo!

MOBILE GAMES – TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – ITERATION

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Game Engine HOWTO: Pong! Live Test!

ToolsNetbeans 6.1 + Mobility PackSun Java Wireless Toolkit (2.5.2 for CLDC)

HOWTO: PONG!

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

Graphics Contrast! Outlining sprites and game objects Transparency for non-rectangular sprites Automatically (PNG optimizers: pngout..) and manually lower number of colors and edges

Optimization Speed (WTK Profiler helps) Memory (Heap) – prevent fragmentation! Package size (JAR Size) ... pngout, no folders, short class names, lower number of files Obfuscation

Speed “sense“ Aliveness – is it working? Use indicators, progress bars.. Responsiveness – How much lag is there between user action and game screen response? Masking delays – Use splash images while loading.. mini games when searching for open games..

Porting Detecting and adjusting to screen size Netbeans mobile “configurations“ Vector graphics (simple lines and rectangles or even more complex like SVG API (not yet widely supported!))

MOBILE GAMES – TIPS AND TRICKS

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

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3G 4G (Kb/s Mb/s)→ →streaming video, music downloads, (file sharing?)

folding e-paper, built-in projectors barcode URL (barcode = RFID! =..= snapshot? (tamagochi feeding..))→ NFC API – Nokia 6131 NFC, (Oystar..) localized search .. GPS .. (restaurants, hotels..) GPRS WiFi, UMTS HSDPA 4G ..→ → → battery fuel cell→ mobile payment (NFC, Felica, m-Pay (Moneta..)) implants!? (tooth!, ear, fingers?..)

THE FUTURE (IS NOW!)

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

Mobile game development course, spring 2005 (in Slovenian only)www.tetris1d.org/game/dev/tecaj/Lesson_01.php

Gamasutra → www.gamasutra.com Game Developers Conference (Mobile) → www.gdconf.com Games on Deck → www.gamesondeck.com Forum Nokia → forum.nokia.com Sony Ericsson Developer → developer.sonyericsson.com About Mobility Weblog – C. Enrique Ortiz → weblog.cenriqueortiz.com Sun Mobility → developers.sun.com/mobility/allarticles/ Gameloft → www.gameloft.com glu → www.glu.com EA Mobile, Pop Cap, THQ Wireless .. Google → www.google.com

LINKS

http://www.tetris1d.org/game/dev/tecaj/Lesson_01.php

http://www.glu.com/

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

Mobile download: m.razum.si web demo: www.razum.si/game/

Player decision controlled story flow engine “Choose Your Own Adventure“ style interactive gameplay

Vector graphics engine All graphics scalable to different screen sizes!

(one size fits all)

THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD – TECHNOLOGY PREVIEW

Razum d.o.o.


Slovenia

[email protected]

Contact

Žiga Hajduković[email protected]

Looking for a fresh new job?

Razum, research and development [email protected]

QUESTIONS?

http://www.razum.eu/

Entertainment & Humor

[Hajdukovic] Developing J2ME games for mobile phones