j2me game development platform: 3 months and so much to do… 19.12.2005 chief operating officer...

J2ME Game Development Platform:3 months and so much to do…

19.12.2005Chief Operating OfficerJuhana Hietala

12/19/2005 Copyright © 2005 Rovio Mobile

Agenda

• Introduction

• Developing a platform for mobile

• Platform in actual use in game development projects

• Summary


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 FearDarkest 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!Available now!


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:

• 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

• 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

• 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

04/05 12/05 06/06 12/06

• xx•xx• xx• xxPublishing tools

•xx• xx• xx•xxDevice Database

•xx• xx• xx•xxMobile API

• xx

•

• xx•xx• xxDeveloping environment

4.03.02.01.0Release /

Module

• xx•xx• xx• xxPublishing tools

•xx• xx• xx•xxDevice Database

•xx• xx• xx•xxMobile API

• xx

•

• xx•xx• xxDeveloping environment

4.03.02.01.0Release /

Module

2005 2006


Our platform concept

MOBILE API DEVICEDATABASE

DEVELOPINGENVIRONMENT

PUBLISHINGTOOLS

• Consists of four modules:– Mobile API

– Device Database

– Developing Environment

– Publishing Tools


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

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

Month

# o

f d

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rs


Glance of the actual project planID Task Name Start Finish

1 Resources from proto Mon 7.2.05 Tue 8.2.05

2 Proto Code Review Wed 9.2.05 Wed 9.2.05

5 Development Mon 7.2.05 Thu 12.5.05

6 Alpha Mon 7.2.05 Wed 6.4.05

7 Update design/technical specifications Mon 7.2.05 Mon 7.2.05

8 Develop menu specifications part 1 Tue 8.2.05 Wed 16.2.05

12 Complete customizing of device and core layers Wed 9.2.05 Wed 9.2.05

13 Develop menu specification part 2 Thu 10.2.05 Tue 15.2.05

18 Project Plan Update Mon 7.2.05 Wed 9.2.05

24 Device database Thu 10.2.05 Mon 28.2.05

36 Mobile API Tue 8.2.05 Thu 3.3.05

69 DEV Tools (menu implementation) Wed 16.2.05 Mon 21.2.05

78 Integration (test and fix) Thu 10.2.05 Mon 28.3.05

79 Code review Mon 28.3.05 Tue 29.3.05

80 Refactor code Tue 29.3.05 Wed 30.3.05

81 Create Alpha Application template generator Mon 4.4.05 Tue 5.4.05

82 Develop documentation Wed 30.3.05 Wed 6.4.05

87 Alpha completed Wed 6.4.05 Wed 6.4.05

88 Beta Wed 6.4.05 Thu 5.5.05

89 Design / specification / tasks Wed 6.4.05 Thu 5.5.05

105 Development Thu 7.4.05 Thu 5.5.05

116 QA Wed 13.4.05 Mon 25.4.05

122 Documentation Thu 7.4.05 Mon 2.5.05

125 Beta completed Mon 2.5.05 Mon 2.5.05

126 Release Thu 5.5.05 Thu 12.5.05

127 Final fixing / polishing Thu 5.5.05 Thu 12.5.05

128 Release completed Thu 5.5.05 Thu 5.5.05

7.2 8.2

7.2 7.2

9.2 9.2

10.2 28.3

28.3 29.3

29.3 30.3

4.4 5.4

6.4

2.5

5.5 12.5

5.5

17 24 31 7 14 21 28 7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27Jan '05 Feb '05 Mar '05 Apr '05 May '05 Jun '05


Life in the fast lane...

ID Task Name Duration Finish Start

1 Technology development 50 days? Fri 15.4.05 Mon 7.2.05

2 Pilot game project 80 days? Fri 10.6.05 Mon 21.2.05

3 1st game project 93 days? Fri 29.7.05 Wed 23.3.05

4 2nd game project 78 days? Tue 26.7.05 Fri 8.4.05

31 7 14 21 28 7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 4 11 18 25 1 8 15Jan '05 Feb '05 Mar '05 Apr '05 May '05 Jun '05 Jul '05 Aug '05

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)


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?

August NovemberOctoberSeptember DecemberAugust NovemberOctoberSeptember December

War Diary™:Burma

Darkest Fear™ Paid To Kill™War Diary™:Crusader

Velvet Backstage™

Resources used for porting in different projects

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6

Project #

Res

ou

rces

use

d o

n p

ort

ing


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

Juhana HietalaChief Operating Officer

mobile: +358 50 385 3495email: [email protected]

address: Annankatu 31-33 C FIN-00100 HelsinkiFinland

internet: www.rovio.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.rovio.com/

j2me game development platform: 3 months and so much to do… 19.12.2005 chief operating officer...

Documents

mobile platform

rovio mobile page

mobile environment

j2me game development

game features

original mobile game

stages of game development

different features