Mobile Game Design Essentials by Nolte, David -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Mobile Game Design Essentials

Table of Contents Mobile Game Design Essentials Credits About the Authors About the Reviewers www.PacktPub.com

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Preface

What this book covers What you need for this book Who this book is for Conventions Reader feedback Customer support Downloading the color images of this book

Errata Piracy Questions

1. Operating Systems – Mobile and Otherwise

Operating systems Mobile operating systems

Android

Google Play and Amazon Appstore App development Games for Android Eclipse versus Intellij

iOS

The App Store Development on iOS Xcode Using Xcode

Windows Phone

Windows Phone Store Developing apps with Windows Phone Developing a game for Windows Phone with XNA

Java ME

Developing games with Java ME NetBeans

BlackBerry

The BlackBerry App World Developing games for BlackBerry

Summary

2. The Mobile Indie Team

A matter of size Key roles in a successful team What it takes

Commitment Cohesion Software development methodologies Discipline Professional training Passion for games

The roles in an indie mobile team

The game designer

Designer at work Designer tools The practices of game design Academic formation and personality

No game is ever done!

The game artist

Brushes and canvas Forms of art 2D graphic assets 3D graphic assets Art schools and creative types

The programmer

The programmer's kit Coding departments Learning to be a programmer

The game tester

The tools of deconstruction Aspects of game testing

Skills of a professional player University of Gamestop The game producer

Keeping things organized Key questions of a producer Skills for all! Who is the producer?

The sound designer

Creating music and sound fx Audio skills and tasks

Schools of sound production

Audio personality

Summary

3. Graphics for Mobile

Pixels and vectors

Pixels Vectors

The graphic file formats

Raster graphics Vector graphics Videos in videogames

Software to create game graphics Resolution issues with mobile games 2D graphic assets

Sprites Backgrounds Tiles The parallax motion Masking

3D graphic assets

3D models Texturing Materials UV Mapping More on textures Baking Animations

Designing a character for mobile

The character design process Silhouettes

Colors for mobile The user interface and HUD Summary

4. Audio for Mobile

Digital sound technology

Analog versus digital Recording and playback

Recording

The sample rate The word length Compression

Uncompressed Lossless compression Lossy compression

Playback

Types of game sounds

Dynamic audio

Adaptive audio Interactive audio

Non-Dynamic linear sounds and music Diegetic sounds

Adaptive Interactive Non-Dynamic

Non-Diegetic sounds

Adaptive Interactive

Kinetic gestural interaction

The audio editing software

Avid Pro Tools Sound Forge/Sonic Foundry Audacity Ableton Live

Designing audio for mobile games

Planning the audio in advance Hardware limitations for mobile games audio The role of audio in mobile games Listening conditions for mobile games

Best practices for mobile games audio design

Scripting skills for a mobile audio designer File compression Looping background music To learn more Final advice

Summary

5. Coding Games

Main features of programming languages

Libraries Abstraction Implementation Usage

Game programming C++

Memory management Objects Complaints about C++

Java

Memory management Syntax Java for mobile – Java ME Objective-C

Cocoa Cocoa Touch

Xcode

Working with objects Extending classes with categories Protocols define messaging contracts Values and collections Blocks Objective-C conventions Getting started

HTML5

Canvas HTML5 and Flash Issues with HTML5 HTML5 games

Conclusions

Scripting languages Structure of a game program

Initialization The game loop Termination Conclusion

Summary

6. Mobile Game Controls

Input technology Touchscreens Keypads Touchscreen gestures

Single–tap Double–tap Long press Scroll Spread and pinch Pan Flick Multifinger tap Multifinger scroll Rotate

Input interfaces for mobile games Built-in devices

GPS Accelerometer Camera Microphone External controllers

Gamepads Analog sticks Touch-enabled cases Grip Cabinets Headphones

Future technologies

Eye tracking Brainwave readers

Summary

7. Interface Design for Mobile Games

The role of the user interface Approaching user interface design

UI in videogames

Designing the UI

Aesthetics More on vectors and rasters Designing icons

Best practices in UI design

Search for references The screen flow Functionality Wireframes The button size The main screen Test and iterate Evergreen options

Multiple save slots Screen rotation Calibrations and reconfigurations Challenges Experiment

Summary

8. Mobile Game Engines

What engines can do What engines can't do Game engines

2D game engines

Torque 2D Cocos2D Corona SDK

3D game engines

Shiva 3D Unity 3D

Top-quality engines

Unreal/UDK

Educational engines

GameMaker GameSalad

Unity3D Tutorial – part 1

Tutorial part 1A – importing 3D models Tutorial part 1B – setting up the scene

Summary

9. Prototyping

Steps in the prototyping process

Defining the prototype Building the prototype Testing the prototype Fixing the prototype

Prototyping styles

Horizontal prototype Vertical prototype

Types of prototyping

Disposable code

Your imagination Pencil and paper Visual prototypes Interactive prototypes Reusable code

Why prototype? What to avoid Tools

Tools for rapid prototyping

Unity3D tutorial – part 2

The player's ship The aliens Firing

Summary

10. Balancing, Tuning, and Polishing Mobile Games

Balancing

Symmetry Randomization Feedback loops Game director Statistics

Tuning

Tuning strategies

Difficulty settings

Global difficulty

Unity 3D tutorial – part 3

The barriers The player's ship reprise Refining the details Adding a GUI Adding audio effects Particle system effects Unity 3D tutorial summary

Summary

11. Mobile Game Design

The basic game design process The dos and don'ts of game design

Dos Don'ts

Designing mobile games

Hardware limitations

Screen size Game controls Audio output File size Processing power

Mobile design constraints

Play time Game depth Mobile environment Smartphones Single player versus multiplayer

The mobile market Mobile gamers Business models

Premium Freemium Ad supported Hybrid Choosing the right business model

What makes games fun

The four keys to fun – the game mechanics that drive play

Hard fun – emotions from meaningful challenges, strategies, and puzzles Easy fun – grab attention with ambiguity, incompleteness, and detail The people factor – create opportunities for player competition, cooperation, performance, and spectacle

Raph Koster and Roger Caillois

Summary

12. Pitching a Mobile Game

The pitch document

Importance of pitching

Game concept

References Prototypes Stuck? Genre Target audience Key features Target platform and competitors

Game mechanics

Control scheme and interface Scoring system and achievements A gameplay example Screen flow and screens relationship Game flow

Tech

Screenshot Team/Designer resume

Lilypads pitch document

Concept Genre References Target Platform Competitors Key features

Character design Game mechanics

Score Virtual currency IAP (In-App Purchase) Achievements and leaderboards Additional game elements Screen flow Game flow

Tech

Game features Platform

The iPhone 4

Game screen study A list of assets

Graphics Audio Software Schedule and budget

Summary

Index

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