Category Archives: Android

Game development for iPhone, iPad and Android devices

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Are you interested in game development for iPhone, iPad and Android devices?

This week I held a seminar at the Scandinavian Developer Conference 2011 with the topic “Game Development with Unity for iOS and Android devices”. The topics of the seminar included:

  1. Introduction to the Unity game development platform
  2. Comparison between Unity and the Unreal Development Kit (UDK)
  3. Hands-on: Creating a complete game from start to finish with Unity, Modo and Photoshop

I filmed the entire seminar, and you can now watch it online:

You can also download the entire presentation as a PDF document. Happy coding!

Game Time

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2011 has kicked off with one of the most exciting projects I have been involved with so far. While I can’t say much about it, my seminar at Scandinavian Developer Conference 2011 in April might give you a hint or two:

Cross-platform game development with Unity for Android & iOS
Unity has quickly become the game development platform of choice for mobile devices running Android and iOS. Johan Sanneblad from HiQ introduces the platform using hands-on demonstrations and presents some tips and tricks learnt from using the platform in mobile game development projects.
Scandinavian Developer Conference 2011, April 5

If you are coming to Scandinavian Developer Conference 2011, don’t miss my seminar if you are interested in advanced game development for mobile devices!

Android 2.3 – Best Upgrade Yet?

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Earlier this week Android 2.3 was announced by Google. Personally I believe this upgrade might be the most significant upgrade to Android since release 1.0, and I will explain why.

The Game Changer

Android 2.3 means that it is finally possible to create true cross-platform native games between Android and iOS. The major improvements include:

  1. Better garbage collector that won’t lock up the system.
  2. Better input handling, more suitable for games (won’t lock up the rendering loop as previously). This one is actually a significant improvement for games.
  3. Native access to sensors like Gyro and accelerometer for improved performance.
  4. Finally a native sound API – and it’s the full OpenSL ES implementation. Audio was previously a major showstopper in terms of CPU usage for gaming, especially games relying on multiple audio channels.
  5. Native access to assets for faster asset loading, very suitable for games.

Summary: Android 2.3 will be a real premium game platform in 2011. There will no longer be any difference in quality between Android and iPhone games.

The Smooth Scroller

Android 2.3 will finally use Open GL for UI layer compositioning, which means that you will have smooth-as-iPhone scrolls and swipes. The combination of Open GL accelerated UI with the new and improved garbage collector should mean that Android finally will catch up with the iPhone in terms of UI smoothness and responsiveness.

Summary: Android 2.3 will be fast and smooth. Finally.

Digital Payments

Android 2.3 includes support for Near Field Communication devices, and I believe this WILL change the way we do payments. But it will take a few years. The first step is to get the technology out there, and Android 2.3 is leading the way forward.

Summary: Android 2.3 has the potential to change the way we purchase things.

Skype and Other VoIP Solutions

Android 2.3 includes full support for SIP applications, which finally means that services such as Skype can be fully integrated in the phone. You will receive a phone call and it can be Skype or a regular phone call – it’s presented in the same way. The SIP implementation opens lots of interesting new possibilities for phone gateway applications on the device.

Summary: Android 2.3 might be the operating system that finally makes it possible for VoIP applications to be used anytime, anywhere, fully integrated into the mobile phone experience.

Mobile App Developers: It’s All About the Marketing

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Google just posted an interesting interview with Peter Vesterbacka, CEO of Rovio (the company behind the famous Angry Birds game). The game has been downloaded over 30 million times, and Rovio have sold over 10 million copies on the iOS platform.

Some interesting tidbits from the video:

“When we do an update [to Angry Birds] about 80% of the people who ever downloaded the game since December last year do the update, so it’s a pretty high number.”

I found this figure interesting. I thought the number of people upgrading their apps were closer to 100%.

“One thing that we’ve really been starting to look at now is engagement. Take the iPhone version alone, there’s 65 million minutes of play time every single day. So there’s a lot of time spent with our game, with the brand. And that compares very favorable with front-time TV for example. So, what that probably means is that a lot of the ad spending will shift towards this, and we are of course very excited about that.”

That’s some very impressive numbers. It basically means an average play time of 6.5 minutes per sold copy on the iPhone, every day. Finally, Peter’s advice to other mobile app developers:

“Think really, really hard about the marketing and branding. That’s really the key. The App Stores are the most competitive market places out there, so you really need to think hard about how do you stand out, how do you differentiate, and what can you do differently.”

You can watch the full interview below:

VMware Fusion 3.1.2 Fixes Galaxy S Issue

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If you run a Mac and have tried to synk the Samsung Galaxy S Android phone to the Samsung Kies software running in a VMware virtual machine, you probably know at this point that it doesn’t work. Samsung Kies is required to upgrade your phone to Android 2.2, which fixes some significant crashing issues in the first release of the Samsung phone.

Today VMware released Fusion 3.1.2 which among other things fixes the following issue:

  • Samsung Galaxy S phone with Android 2.1 does not work with Fusion. The phone does not appear in the virtual machine. This issue has been resolved.

So if you have a Samsung Galaxy S, a Mac, and VMware Fusion, head right over to the VMware web site and download Fusion 3.1.2.