hietala materiaali

J2ME Game Development Platform: 3 months and so much to do…19.12.2005Chief Operating OfficerJuhana Hietala: 

J2ME Game Development Platform: 3 months and so much to do… 19.12.2005 Chief Operating Officer Juhana Hietala

Agenda: 

Agenda Introduction Developing a platform for mobile Platform in actual use in game development projects Summary

Rovio in Brief: 

Rovio in Brief Founded in late 2004 by industry veterans Profound understanding of mobile as platform Developer and self-publisher of high quality J2ME games All stages of game development in-house Today 34 employees Internal QA department Games sold via carriers and portals Games sold in 5 continents Customers include Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, O2, Hutchison 3G etc.

Darkest Fear: 

Darkest Fear Darkest Fear™ defines an entirely new category of mobile games, inviting the player deep into a haunting story of hidden mystery and bitter despair. The game features 15 challenging levels, each with its own puzzles to solve and hazards to overcome. Furniture and walls leave realistic shadows, creating an atmosphere of intense horror that test the nerves of even the most jaded player. One wrong move taken in haste is all takes for you too to get torn to pieces! Light reacts naturally on walls, furniture, and to movement Light, shadows, and the presence of lurking creatures result in a truly haunting atmosphere Solve tricky puzzles using different light sources, such as flashlights, lanterns, lamps, fireplaces, mirrors, and moonlit windows Three different endings to the game depending on your choices 'This may very well be the most enthralling, original mobile game we've played in 2005.' -Gamespot 'An ingenious horror game with fresh puzzle ideas and great animated sequences.' -Airgamer Controls 2,4,6,8: movement 5: drop light/pick up light In a nutshell A fresh and innovative gaming experience with real-life lighting effects. The first truly scary game in mobile! Available now!

Introduction to mobile development: 

Introduction to mobile development J2ME game development is a challenging task: Over 300 different handsets Localization needs Phones have different features: Display size Jar –size limitations Heap memory Processing power (PPP) Different sound standards (OTT, MIDI etc.) Keyboard layout Different APIs Channel requirements Network features Technological platforms’ purpose is to make producing different conversions to different handsets more efficient And you’ve heard it all from Valtteri already, so let’s move on…

Case Rovio:: 

Case Rovio: Market opportunity window to the publishing business was open in the beginning of 2005 –for a limited amount of time Challenge of providing support for over 300 handsets APPROACH: Getting the right people… Developing platform that can deliver but realizing the limitation of Java in the mobile environment… Setting up the processes… ….in order to be able to develop great games (which is a whole new story..)

Requirements for the platform: 

Requirements for the platform Has to enable rapid, cost-efficient J2ME game development and porting Modular and extendable User friendliness IDENTIFYING and FOCUSING on ESSENTIALS

Rovio’s platform strategy: 

Rovio’s platform strategy LONG-TERM (has to be aligned with the business strategy) 2 major annual releases Planned 4 releases ahead SHORT-TERM Minimizing repetitive, manual labor that can be automated 1st release was very critical in time-perspective Feature prioritization Time-paced development Focus on working software Given all the resources available

Our platform concept: 

Our platform concept MOBILE API DEVICE DATABASE DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT PUBLISHING TOOLS Consists of four modules: Mobile API Device Database Developing Environment Publishing Tools

How we did it: 

How we did it Dedicated team: Project manager 1 architect 1-5 other developers Identifying modules that could be developed separately Piloted platform with an internal game project (that was never released) Played a vital role in finding all the bugs Iterative development Planning the next milestone in detail, the following roughly Daily plannning meetings: what are we doing? Weekly planning meetings: what should we be doing? Project manager played a vital role

Glance of the actual project plan: 

Glance of the actual project plan

Life in the fast lane...: 

Life in the fast lane... PROS Release ahead of schedule Excellent functionality that enables fast time-to-market Proof of concept internally and externally. Convinced Tekes to grand financing for the further development CONS Pilot game project found several bugs that had to be fixed Several features postponed for 2.0 release (Dec 05)

Slide13: 

Pre-production Production Post-Production Game development platform QA requirement definition project plan tech specs 5-6 reference handsets 4-5 sets of graphics parameterized features Porting to different handsets (300+ handsets) localizations (7 languages) channel customization Using platform in game projects

How has the platform worked?: 

How has the platform worked? Resources used for porting in different projects

Summary: 

Summary Mobile devevelopment is no rocket science, but... VC funding enabled having the resources needed Iterative development crucial when everything can’t be fully planned in advance Intensive customer involvement (or putting them to work...) Black box approach doesn’t work: EFFICIENCY = PEOPLE + TECHNOLOGY + PROCESSES

Contact Information: 

Contact Information Juhana Hietala Chief Operating Officer mobile: +358 50 385 3495 email: juhana.hietala@rovio.com address: Annankatu 31-33 C FIN-00100 Helsinki Finland internet: www.rovio.com