Wiley.Games.on.Symbian.OS.A.Handbook.for.Mobile.Development.Apr.2008 (779888), страница 7
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Other, lessobvious, limitations include how games are purchased and acquired.For mobile games, this tends to be different to the distribution of gamesfor portable players, which are traditionally acquired as cartridges oron memory cards. We’ll discuss some of the challenges of creating anddistributing games for mobile phones in this chapter, and return to themthroughout the book, since it’s a general theme affecting mobile gamedesign and implementation.TYPES OF MOBILE GAMES131.5 Types of Mobile GamesMobile games have a broader, more diverse, audience than games fordedicated game consoles.
Owners of consoles such as Sony’s PlayStation 3 or the Microsoft Xbox 360 are keen gamers; they have purchaseda machine specifically to play games, which are often expensive (whencompared to typical mobile games), and they dedicate time regularly toplaying games at home. In contrast, most mobile phone owners boughttheir phones for communication with others. The ability to play games ismostly a secondary benefit.Most people who have a phone have at some point tried a game onit, if for no reason other than because it was already on the phone andthey had time to kill.13 A number will play games regularly – we’ll lookat the statistics shortly – but others will be more occasional users.
Mobilegames are cheaper than console games, and many will make impulsepurchases of games, particularly if recommended by a friend.In general, because the demographic of mobile phone owners is sodiverse, the reasons for purchasing and playing games is variable, whichmeans that the range of games available varies widely too.
Mobile gamesare all somewhat limited by the form factor and resource limitationsof the phones, but the range of games available is limited only by theimagination! Mobile games typically fall into two broad categories: casualgames and hardcore games, with multiplatform games providing a bridgebetween mobile games and play on other platforms.1.5.1 Casual GamesIt’s fair to say that simple games (often known as ‘casual games’) form alarge part of the mainstream mobile game market. In fact, it is probablytrue for all games, not just on mobile platforms.
It’s been said that thebiggest games in the world aren’t Halo or Zelda or Final Fantasy, but theSolitaire game that comes with Microsoft Windows14 and Snake, foundon an estimated 350 million Nokia mobile phones.Casual mobile games are targeted at a wide audience, and thus aredesigned to be accessible and easy to learn.
Besides having simple rules,they only require the use of basic input controls (they are sometimesknown as one-button games) and do not require long play times, so canbe played briefly during a lunch break, on public transport, or covertly ina meeting.
They are low maintenance. This kind of game is perfect for amobile device. Most people always have their phones with them, so canuse them to play when they have a few minutes to spare.13Nokia’s own research suggests that 68 % of Nokia phone owners have played theSnake game at least once, and given the number of Snake-enabled phones that the Finnishcompany have sold, this makes the game the most played in the world!14Edge Magazine, May 200714INTRODUCTIONThe nature of a phone is that it may receive an incoming call ormessage, to which the player will usually want to respond. Casual gamesare well-suited to interruptions, and are usually designed for the playerto be able to return and pick up where they left off, or to be so casualthat the player doesn’t mind starting again (which is not true of morecomplex adventure or action games where a player works hard to moveup to different levels, acquire skills, or gather resources).Casual mobile games are usually free (for example, built into the mobilephone) or offered cheaply, because, by their very nature, casual gamersare unlikely to make frequent expensive game purchases.
For this kindof business model to work, casual games are not as technically complexas hardcore games written for more dedicated gamers, which makeheavy use of 3D graphics, audio, and have a more complex input, AI, andstrategic gameplay. Casual games are also often limited in their installationsize, because they need to be easy to download rapidly to the phone. Thisalso limits the quality of the graphics and audio asset files that can be used.The types of casual games available for Symbian smartphones includepuzzle games (such as Sudoku and Tetris), card games (such as TexasHold’em, Solitaire and Bridge), and board games (such as Backgammon,Chess, and Scrabble).
Casual games are often based on simulations ofgames in the real world, because the rules are then already understood,and the gamer only has to pick up how the game is controlled. Thisis particularly useful on a mobile platform where the screen spaceavailable to explain the rules is limited. ‘‘The most popular game we’vecreated,’’ says John Holloway of ZingMagic, ‘‘is Zingles (Sudoku), acurrent worldwide favorite. People like it because it’s easy to pick upand understand. It’s also perfectly suited to a mobile device with only anumeric keypad.’’1.5.2 Rich Content ‘Hardcore’ GamesThe additional capabilities of Symbian OS, and the sophisticated smartphone hardware that it runs on, offer additional opportunities for gamedevelopers to take advantage of and write more complex games for socalled hardcore gamers.
Smartphones allow for more sophisticated gamesusing 3D graphics libraries such as OpenGL ES, or custom middlewareand graphics solutions such as those offered by Ideaworks3D’s AirplayStudio.The Nokia N-Gage platform is designed specifically for developers ofrich-content mobile games, those which follow in the footsteps of thegames created for the original N-Gage devices (usually known as N-Gagegame decks). The N-Gage game decks were intended for hardcore gamersand, during the lifetime of the handsets, Nokia published over 30 gameswith high-quality graphics, sound effects, and sophisticated gameplay.Chapter 8 discusses the history of the original Nokia N-Gage game decksTYPES OF MOBILE GAMES15and the new N-Gage platform, for professional game developers to createand distribute rich-content games.On mobile phones, hardcore games need to take their lead from casualgames, for example, to allow for shorter play times than the equivalentimmersive console game, and to use clear graphics and simple controls.This is because the mobile phone is not a form factor for prolongedgame playing and some phones cannot be expected to render highlycomplex images clearly, or have the ergonomics for input controls thatrequire fast or complex combinations of key presses.
This leads to theconcept of a hybrid game, which takes the visual style of a consolegame but as a cut-down mobile version that can be taken on themove.Ideaworks3D faced the challenge of creating a mobile version ofFinal Fantasy VII which combined the graphics and performance of thePlayStation 2 game but allowed it to be played on the mobile phoneform factor using one hand.
Says Thor Gunnarsson, Vice-President ofIdeaworks3D: ‘‘It’s in the middle ground where a lot of the true innovationis. Probably we need a new way to describe it, maybe hard-casual orcasual-core.’’15The Ideaworks3D solution is to make a tool chain similar to that usedin console development but employing design techniques used in mobile.This enables artists and engineers from the console space to be able toproduce content quickly and effectively. Besides that, and experience,plenty of play testing is needed to ensure the game is as engaging on amobile device as it would have been on a console or PC.1.5.3 Multiplatform GamesLeaving aside the creation of a mobile version of a popular consoleor PC title, such as Final Fantasy VII above, sometimes it may bemore appropriate to make a mobile version which does not replicatethe gameplay, but offers a different kind of interaction or view on thegame.
This is particularly apt for games that ‘don’t end,’ such as massivemultiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). In these, gamersinteract in a persistent virtual world hosted on remote servers so thegame continues to run, and players drop in and out at will. Mobileversions of such a game may simply offer the player a chance to peekat their character’s progress, or receive updates on some aspect of thegame, perhaps by email or SMS, rather than play the game on the phoneitself.A good example is a game which, at the time of writing, is only knownby its code name, Project White Rock.
The game is currently underdevelopment by RedLynx, and is a multiplatform title expected for both15BBC News: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6445617.stm16INTRODUCTIONthe PC and for N-Gage enabled S60 smartphones.16 It is expected to bean innovative step forward for mobile games, and uses Nokia’s SNAPtechnology, described further in Chapter 5.Although not a classic MMORPG, the PC game Spore may offer asimilar opportunity.
At the time of writing, the game has not been released,but it has been described by the creator, Will Wright, as a ‘‘massivelysingle-player online game.’’ The information available suggests that thecreatures and artifacts a player creates are uploaded automatically to acentral database and then re-distributed to populate other players’ games.The game would then report to the player how other players interactedwith their creations. As of September 2007, it has been announced thatSpore will be available in mobile format as well as for Windows PC, andpotentially for other console and handheld systems. The mobile versionof Spore is likely to be a good example of the future of multiplatformmobile games.1.6 Who Plays Mobile Games?We’ve already examined the statistics, which show that millions of peopleown a mobile phone, and that they are buying increasing numbers ofmobile games.
But where are they? What information is available aboutthem?It’s actually harder to get statistics about mobile gamers than it is toget data about sales of phones and games. This is because mobile gamesare mostly downloaded from the network operators, who restrict accessto this kind of data for competitive reasons.
However, in February 2004,Sorrent and the U30 research company conducted a research study with752 respondents, aged 9–35.17 The data showed an even split betweencasual and hardcore gamers, and confirmed that there is more to mobilegame playing than simply killing time on public transport (although thisdoes continue to be cited by all mobile gamers as a regular use case).The Sorrent research reported that over 60 % of the people questionedplayed mobile games at home for relatively long periods of time (15–20minutes) and frequently (more than 65 % reported playing at least oncea day).A more recent report, with a larger sample size shows similar results.In 2006, Nokia commissioned Nielsen Entertainment to conduct researchabout mobile game playing in six countries worldwide.18 Interviews were16blog.n-gage.com/archive/julyroundup/www.igda.org/online/IGDA Mobile Whitepaper 2005.pdf18www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1090119 summarizes the contents. The reportcan be found here: sw.nokia.com/id/c52ab94e-e29d-498a-a36a-e80296e4184a/EvolutionOf Mobile Gaming 1 0 en.pdf or simply by typing ‘evolution of mobile gaming’ into thesite search tool at www.forum.nokia.com.17WHO’S WHO IN MOBILE GAME CREATION?17conducted with 1800 participants across China, Germany, India, Spain,Thailand, and the United States.
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