Affinity Talk2008 Bestpractice

www.affinitystudios.com

Brian Brian RodwayManaging DirectorAffinity Studios Ltd

Best Practice - Delivery Mobile Phone


Adoption of technology

Device fragmentation & solutions

Handset statistics

Best Practice - Delivery Mobile Phone


Each phone capabilities different

No standard deployment platform

e.g. Screen size variation, from 128x126 up to 352x416Memory SizeProcessor Speed

Adoption Of Technology


The games can be played anywhere.

They can be played while waiting for a bus,or while in transit.

This is literally miles away from the traditionalconsole couch potato.

Reason 2


WAP Adoption figures by Simon Rockman, Sony Ericsson






Reason 2


MMS Adoption figures by Simon Rockman, Sony Ericsson






Reason 2


Java (J2ME) & Brew Adoption figures by Simon Rockman, Sony Ericsson






Reason 2


Bluetooth Adoption figures by Simon Rockman, Sony Ericsson






Reason 2


Choose your technology wisely. Your idea might notbe commercially viable for many years.

Location based apps? If it follows the same curve as Bluetooth it will be 2013 before 50% of phoneshave that capability.



Fragmentation

Diversity of handsets.

e.g. Johnny Bravo - Johnny Bee GoodFor Turner, had to hit 80% of operator handsets drop list.Manufacturer Primary SecondaryNokia 14 82Samsung 11 67Motorola 10 41SonyEricsson 6 41LG 6 39Sharp 5 11Panasonic 2 5Sagem 2 8NEC 1 4Siemens 4 31Total= 61 329

Screen Resolutions: 19 different resolutions128x128,128x148,128x160,130x130,132x176,176x180,176x185,176x204, 176x208,176x220,176x240, 208x208, 220x176,240x260, 240x295, 240x300, 240x320, 320x240,352x416.


Fragmentation

Other Considerations

The game was developed in 5 different languages. English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Each different handset has different memory capacityand processor speed.

The maximum memory size available for the game and data (Jar file) varies from 64K to over 500K.

Different manufacturers have different Java Machines in their phones. Each with their own bugs and implementation issues.


Solutions

Never hard code graphics coordinates. Always make them relative. For example, center of screen, top left, 1/3 down etc

Never embed text strings within the code, read them into the game from a file at run-time. Different language, a different file.

Gameplay screen is made from a tilemap. This allows the game to cope with any screen resolution.

Have three sets of tiles. Small, medium and large.


Solutions

Developed 3 versions:

Small 100k jar, Medium 200k jar, Large > 300k. Used SonyEricsson and Nokia phones for the reference builds.

Small tiles 12x12, Medium tiles 16x16, Large tiles 32x32

Small version - 2 plane parallax scrollMedium version - 2 or 3 plane parallax scrollLarge version - 3 plane parallax scroll

What about all the other versions? Outsourced. Game code anddevelopment process was designed for easy porting to required Operator handset list.


Handset Statistics

Are all those versions necessary?


Handset Statistics


Handset Statistics

Screen Resolution? - 240x320


Handset Statistics

176x220


Handset Statistics

128x160

176x208


Handset Statistics

128x160 = 8.76

176x208 = 5.52

176x220 = 17.07

240x320 = 39.88

Total = 71.23 %

Conclusion

If NOT releasing the game/application via an operators potral then you only need to do versions for SonyEricsson, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola. You also only have to do 4 different screen resolutions.

Screen Res % of Market


Summary

Don’t assume everyone has the technology you do. There is no standard device.

There is device fragmentation, but it’s not a major problem if accounted for in development process.

If you are developing a game/application that is not going on an operator portal, you can just develop it for the 4 most popular brands. This simplifies the process and reduces cost.