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Post by chrisl on Oct 20, 2008 19:28:02 GMT -5
Surprise, surprise...  Well, that was for the lazy solution, I'll default on the hard one then! |
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Post by chrisl on Nov 3, 2008 18:48:44 GMT -5
I think I'm finally approaching beta status on my first J2ME game (well at least I hope so! ), so I would like to finalize its jar file size. I'm now down to 52 KB after objuscating (for a MIDP1 game). You mentioned 50 KB as a safe jar size earlier in this thread: is it the exact strict target I should aim for? I now it probably sounds dumb to ask you to repeat that, but I also know that shaving these last 2 KB will damage the game (already quite heavily compressed): if 51 KB would still be OK, then that would be a much easier target! At the same time, I don't want all my optimization efforts so far to be void: if 52KB is no better than 140 (compatibility-wise), then I should accept to further optimize. What would you advise? Does this indicated limit (50+25) correspond to a specific class of phones, from a specific manufacturer? |
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Nov 4, 2008 7:53:10 GMT -5
The Greystripe AdWarp system adds 25KB+ to the size of the game. Many of the lower end phones may only let you download 75KB or less for a .jar file. Even older devices were limited to 64KB, but it's pretty rare these days. There's no hard limit, as there's always going to be exceptions to the rules when it comes to J2ME.
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Post by chrisl on Nov 4, 2008 14:07:40 GMT -5
OK, optimization ahead then. Could someone lend me an axe please?...
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Nov 5, 2008 16:23:11 GMT -5
I know how you feel. When I was trying to get '3D Attack Chopper' to fit into 64KB with the ads, I pretty much had the rewrite the game. I had originally targetted 64KB, and then discovered Greystripe, which at the time added a mere 15KB to the game. 15KB though was 25% of my game that needed to be squeezed/removed.
I don't care as much about the size anymore, but at the time is was important to have it be compatible with low end Midp1 phones.
I'm sure I've mentioned the changes on this board somewhere, but I lost a lot of good features from AC1 when I chopped it down.
-> Tutorial
-> fancy Screen transitions
-> sounds
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Post by chrisl on Nov 22, 2008 15:38:54 GMT -5
I have a couple of very noob questions today ! (Disclaimer: not only this is my first J2ME game, but this is also my first Java project...) Here we go: could you explain exactly the main purpose of the .JAD file, and why or when it is used? I mean, at first I didn't have any problem with this jad file: it was required to launch the game with the emulator. But then I started testing my game on various phones (from different brands) and not only the jad file was never necessary (my phones are happy with just having the .JAR file), but some will even reject the .JAD file as something they can't use. So... What am I missing here? Maybe the .JAD file is necessary for OTA download? (I only used Bluetooth, infrared or USB so far) Aother question, which may be linked to the previous one: one of the phones warns me that my application "is not signed" and request confirmation to install it nevertheless. I guess this could frighten a few potential users, so how do you "sign" your application? Is this done by the adwrapper anyway? |
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Nov 22, 2008 22:54:08 GMT -5
The .jad file is necessary. Some devices will allow you to install over bluetooth or USB, or even OTA without it, but it often carries important information in it that means it still should be used. Just open a few up in a text editor, and you'll be able to see what's in it. Sometimes it's the only way to specify certain information when sending the game to a device. Like most aspects of J2ME, sometimes it works without using it, but it's still needed.
Signing is a major problem on J2ME devices. Do some googling, and you'll find a ton of info. Basically, a 'signed' application is allowed to use sensitive API's like SMS, sockets, bluetooth, sound etc. The problem is that every device has a different opinion about what is 'sensitive', and thus should require signing. On top of that, MOST devices allow the user to grant permission regardless of the game being signed, simply by responding to the system dialog that gets popped up. The problem comes with stupid devices that ask for permission EVERY time you play a new note in a midi file(I kid you not), or every time a network connection is made. Devices are supposed to allow you to say yes once and remember your answer, but there are exceptions.
So basically signing an app automatically suppresses those pesky 'allow XXX, yes / no?' popups. Depending on the device and the features you need, you can usually get away without signing. Unfortunately if you need to sign an app, the process will depend on not only the device, but the carrier network as well. If you were dealing with a publisher / distributor they'd handle this part for you anyway. For our purposes, we can't sign our apps even if we want to. When I send a game to Greystripe(or hovr etc), they add their own code, thus changing the binary, and it would invalidate any sort of digital signature anyhoo.
So to make a long story short: Don't worry about it unless somebody forces you to.
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Post by chrisl on Nov 23, 2008 7:28:43 GMT -5
Thanks, I'll keep all that in the back of my mind, but I'm happy to hear that these issues don't require action for now...
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Post by chrisl on Nov 23, 2008 10:48:55 GMT -5
Just a quick check about PNG files with J2ME: is it ok to have images with very small dimensions? (like 1 or 2 pixels width or height: for example one of my images is 2x48) I didn't read anything against this, but J2ME makes you learn to be cautious, even paranoid... |
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Post by chrisl on Feb 9, 2009 19:43:47 GMT -5
About Midlet icons: is there anything tricky to be aware of? Which size are you generally using? 15x15 8-bit png? Is it even possible to be sure that one (small) size will be correctly displayed on all phones?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Feb 9, 2009 20:17:03 GMT -5
Ha, another not really standard thing to think about. I use 12x12, because that's what my smallest screen phone used. Some devices scale the icons all to the same size, some don't. Some devices support transparency in the icon, some always set the first color in the palette to transparent, some ignore transparency...
More fun!
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Post by chrisl on Feb 16, 2009 13:57:35 GMT -5
JAVA FX
Sun announced the release of Java FX today. Did you investigate this evolution of their OS, and what is your opinion on its potential impact on mobile game development?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Feb 18, 2009 11:12:03 GMT -5
Interesting stuff. If they have a strict requirement for mobile devices I'll be happy. I probably won't bother touching it until it's in a large number of real devices though.
It really depends on getting all the manufacturers on board. What ever happened to Midp 3.0...
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Post by chrisl on Feb 18, 2009 16:54:59 GMT -5
Yeah, I guess until the net is abuzz with it, we should probably not bother... On the same kind of prospective thinking, do you think Flash Lite could start to be interesting to develop for? It's certainly appealing as a cross-platform environment, but I've not researched potential business models on mobile, and it's probably limited to very recent and/or powerful phones for now. Not sure of the performances and dev environment either. |
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Feb 18, 2009 20:11:11 GMT -5
I haven't looked to deeply into Flash Lite. Last time I checked around it wasn't very wide spread, and kinda sluggish.
We're probably looking at Midp2.0 / iPod for the near future. Android is a good idea as well because of the "marketplace" that is much like the apple app store. Once there are more devices that can access the marketplace, I'll be testing it out. Maybe sooner.
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Post by chrisl on Apr 1, 2009 15:35:01 GMT -5
Hi all, how are things?
Another possibly tricky technical point today: how do touch-screen phones deal with applications expecting standard J2ME inputs, like UP, LEFT or FIRE keycodes, or numeric keys?
I don't have one to try my game on: can you use part of the touch-screen to simulate those keys? or are there some buttons which can be configurated for that usage?
Or, rather more likely, are these phones not compatible by default and it is up to the developer to implement some special library to support touch input?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 1, 2009 15:51:32 GMT -5
Honestly, I've never even thought about it. Until recently, all the java touch-screen devices had buttons. Now that we are getting iPhone imitators, it definitely presents a problem. Unfortunately, because of the current market, I'm concentrating on iPhone development(boo!). When things recover for the mobile ad market in general I'll have to look into touch-only java stuff. I have a Google Dev phone to play with, but that has TONS of buttons, and of course is not MIDP compatible at all. My latest effort is in using 'offers' in my iPhone flower game. I've integrated Super Rewards ( srpoints.com) system and am waiting for the update to be released on the app store. |
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 1, 2009 15:52:52 GMT -5
Thanks for posting by the way. I'm feeling lonely around here.
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Post by chrisl on Apr 1, 2009 17:35:54 GMT -5
Interesting, that's the first time I hear about this in-game offer system: do you expect this scheme to become more profitable than traditional in-game advertising? Or is it more like another option to explore, while keeping the others monetization systems?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 1, 2009 17:51:45 GMT -5
Everything I read about this type of system tells me that it should completely blow away traditional advertising. Of course the hype interests me, but I'm not 100% convinced either. That's why I'm testing with Daisy to start. All the revenue making FaceBook apps use this type of thing. I've been reading crazy numbers like $80 per 1000 daily active users that hit the 'offers' page. To put that into perspective, I have about 5000 active users of my iPhone games. This number depends on getting people to click into the 'offers' screen at least once. That shouldn't be a problem for me Offers estimate: $80 * 5 = $400/day. Good money. Current ads: 30K impressions = $25.00/day. Makes me scarred. Ads potential: 30K * 0.01 = $300/day (assuming a $10.00 CPM with 100% fill rate). Good money. It'll be interesting to see the end result, but I at least expect the 'offers' to outpace the ads significantly for now. |
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Post by chrisl on Apr 1, 2009 18:27:49 GMT -5
Attractive numbers... Nobody doing this with Java games?... And did you try something yet with your Android phone? |
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 1, 2009 21:35:11 GMT -5
I dunno about people doing it with Java. The first I had ever heard about the offer stuff was last week, so I can't really say.
I still haven't done anything with my Android phone. I was planning on it back in the fall, but ad revenue has yet to pick up, so I'm still working on iPhone stuff. I imagine that I could get this offer stuff to work on Android since it has a nice browser.
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Post by chrisl on Apr 2, 2009 1:28:53 GMT -5
Did you investigate a bit what kind of development environment is needed for Android?
I'm wondering how low the starting costs would be, and how easy the transition from J2ME dev.
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Post by chrisl on Apr 2, 2009 6:24:13 GMT -5
And while we're on the prospective platform subject, what do you think of RIM's phones and new app store? Do you know what the development is like for this platform?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 2, 2009 7:30:18 GMT -5
Development for Android should be easy. There's a plugin for Eclipse, and it basically uses the standard J2SE(almost).
Thankfully BlackBErry's run Midp apps, and I haven't really looked into them much. I suppose the new touch features should be investigated though, and I've never really had to worry about sales. If all the major players get app stores that WE can get into, that's a great thing.
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Post by chrisl on Apr 5, 2009 16:01:54 GMT -5
Re Android:
- Do you think it would be manageable to develop only with the emulator? (which I think is provided with the sdk, right?)
- If you need/want a real device, is the Android dev model compulsory, or is it possible to use one of the consumer models?
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Post by Adam Schmelzle on Apr 5, 2009 20:31:23 GMT -5
Re emulator: After all my experience with J2ME, I don't think I'd ever trust an emulator 100% for any device.
Re dev model: I don't know. Where I live, there are no Android devices for sale, so I never checked up on the normal ones.
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