Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming [With CD-ROM]

✍ Scribed by Morrison, Michael

• Publisher: Sams
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 573
• Series: Sams Teach Yourself
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Build several fully functional games as well as a game engine to use for programming cell phone and mobile games with "Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming" The included CD provides the tool, code and graphics necessary to complete all exercises covered in the chapters. "Beginning Cell Phone Game Programming "demystifies wireless game programming by providing clear, practical lessons using the J2ME Game API. You will learn how to use the most popular mobile programming language, Java, to build compact games that can run on any Java-enabled device, including mobile phones, pagers and handheld computers. You will also learn to add a splash screen, create a demo mode, keep track of high scores, and test, debug, and deploy your games.Topics covered include:How to construct a game engine to drive mobile games.How to use Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) and the Java Game API to get the most performance out of your mobile games.How to implement sprite animation and control interactions among moving sprites.How to play sound effects and music in mobile games.How to take advantage of wireless networks to build mobile multiplayer games.How to design and develop a variety of different games spanning several video games genres.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 22
Part I: Getting Started with Mobile Game Programming......Page 28
CHAPTER 1: Games on the Go......Page 30
Essentials of Mobile Gaming......Page 31
Getting to Know Mobile Platforms......Page 36
Java As a Mobile Game Platform......Page 40
A Quick J2ME Primer......Page 43
Summary......Page 47
Field Trip......Page 48
CHAPTER 2: Mobile Java Game Development Basics......Page 50
Game Design Basics......Page 51
A J2ME Game Development Primer......Page 53
Getting to Know the J2ME Wireless Toolkit......Page 56
The J2ME Emulator and Physical Devices......Page 63
Field Trip......Page 64
CHAPTER 3: Constructing a Mobile Game Skeleton......Page 66
Exploring the J2ME APIs......Page 67
Understanding MIDlets......Page 71
Building the Skeleton Example Program......Page 74
Summary......Page 83
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 84
Part II: Mobile Game Programming Essentials......Page 86
CHAPTER 4: Mobile Game Graphics 101......Page 88
Mobile Graphics Basics......Page 89
Working with Graphics in J2ME......Page 93
Building the Olympics Example Program......Page 102
Building the Slideshow Example Program......Page 105
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 111
CHAPTER 5: Using Sprite Animation......Page 112
Understanding Animation......Page 113
Analyzing 2D Sprite Animation......Page 116
Applying Sprite Animation to Mobile Games......Page 123
Working with the Layer and Sprite Classes......Page 124
Achieving Smooth Animation with the GameCanvas Class......Page 127
Building the UFO Example Program......Page 129
Summary......Page 137
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 138
CHAPTER 6: Handling Mobile User Input......Page 140
Assessing Mobile Game Input......Page 141
Handling Key Input with the GameCanvas Class......Page 142
Revisiting the Sprite Class......Page 144
Building the UFO 2 Example......Page 148
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 155
CHAPTER 7: Henway: Paying Tribute to Frogger......Page 156
The Scoop on Henway......Page 157
Designing the Game......Page 159
Developing the Game......Page 160
Testing the Game......Page 172
Summary......Page 174
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 175
CHAPTER 8: Making Noise with Tones......Page 176
Sound and Mobile Games......Page 177
A Tonal Sound and Music Primer......Page 178
Querying a Phone for Its Audio Capabilities......Page 180
Playing Tones in Mobile Games......Page 183
Building the UFO 3 Example Program......Page 189
Field Trip......Page 195
CHAPTER 9: Playing Digitized Sound and Music......Page 196
A Digitized Sound Primer......Page 197
Getting to Know Wave Sounds......Page 198
Creating and Editing Wave Sounds......Page 200
Revisiting the Player Interface......Page 201
Playing Wave Sounds in Mobile Games......Page 203
Feeling the Music with MIDI......Page 205
Playing MIDI Music in Mobile Games......Page 207
Building the Henway 2 Example Game......Page 209
Summary......Page 214
Field Trip......Page 215
Part III: Virtual Worlds and Mobile Game Intelligence......Page 216
CHAPTER 10: Creating Tiled Game Layers......Page 218
What Is a Tiled Layer?......Page 219
Creating Maps for Tiled Layers......Page 221
Working with the TiledLayer Class......Page 229
Building the Wanderer Example Program......Page 232
Summary......Page 240
Field Trip......Page 241
CHAPTER 11: Managing Multiple Game Layers......Page 242
Dealing with Multiple Game Layers......Page 243
Working with the LayerManager Class......Page 244
Animating Tiled Layers......Page 246
Building the Wanderer 2 Example Program......Page 248
Summary......Page 260
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 261
CHAPTER 12: High Seas: A Game for the Pirate in You......Page 262
The Scoop on High Seas......Page 263
Designing the Game......Page 264
Developing the Game......Page 271
Testing the Game......Page 286
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 288
CHAPTER 13: Teaching Games to Think......Page 290
The Least You Need to Know About AI......Page 291
Exploring Types of Game AI......Page 293
Developing an AI Strategy......Page 300
Teaching Sprites to Think…Sort Of......Page 301
Building the High Seas 2 Example Game......Page 308
Summary......Page 313
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 314
Part IV: Taking Advantage of the Wireless Network......Page 316
CHAPTER 14: Mobile Game Networking Essentials......Page 318
Multiplayer Game Basics......Page 319
Network Game Problems and Solutions......Page 321
Communicating over a Network with Sockets......Page 323
Network Programming and J2ME......Page 325
Building the Lighthouse Example......Page 329
Field Trip......Page 345
CHAPTER 15: Connect 4: A Classic Game Goes Wireless......Page 346
The Scoop on Connect 4......Page 347
Designing the Game......Page 349
Developing the Game......Page 351
Testing the Game......Page 371
Summary......Page 373
Field Trip......Page 374
CHAPTER 16: Debugging and Deploying Mobile Games......Page 376
Game Debugging Basics......Page 377
Game Debugging Strategies......Page 379
Choosing a Debugger......Page 383
Deploying Mobile Games......Page 384
Testing OTA Provisioning with KToolbar......Page 389
Summary......Page 392
Field Trip......Page 393
Part V: Sprucing Up Your Games......Page 394
CHAPTER 17: Optimizing Mobile Java Games......Page 396
Understanding Mobile Game Optimization......Page 397
General Mobile Game Optimization Tips......Page 401
Java Code Optimization Tricks......Page 405
Profiling Your Mobile Game Code......Page 409
Monitoring Mobile Game Memory Usage......Page 413
Putting Mobile Game Optimization into Perspective......Page 415
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 416
CHAPTER 18: Space Out: Paying Tribute to Space Invaders......Page 418
Designing the Game......Page 419
Developing the Game......Page 423
Testing the Game......Page 443
Summary......Page 444
Extreme Game Makeover......Page 445
CHAPTER 19: Keeping Track of High Scores......Page 446
The Importance of Logging Your Achievements......Page 447
Getting to Know the Java RMS......Page 448
Preparing High Score Data for Storage......Page 452
Building the Space Out 2 Example Game......Page 454
Field Trip......Page 462
Part VI: Appendixes......Page 464
APPENDIX A: Java Game API Reference......Page 466
The GameCanvas Class......Page 467
The Layer Class......Page 469
The Sprite Class......Page 470
The TiledLayer Class......Page 473
The LayerManager Class......Page 474
J2ME Gamer......Page 476
GameDev.net......Page 477
JavaWorld......Page 478
The Official Java Website......Page 479
Assessing Game Graphics......Page 480
Exploring Graphics Tools......Page 483
Creating and Editing Graphics......Page 485
Finding Graphics......Page 488
Java Programming Primer......Page 490
A......Page 536
B......Page 538
C......Page 539
D......Page 542
F......Page 544
G......Page 545
H......Page 550
I......Page 551
J......Page 552
K......Page 553
L......Page 554
M......Page 555
O......Page 562
P......Page 563
Q - R......Page 564
S......Page 565
T......Page 568
U - V......Page 570
W - Z......Page 571