[gameprogrammer] Re: Carmack on Java phone games

  • From: "Stephan-Frank Henry" <Frank.Henry@xxxxxxx>
  • To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 11:08:14 +0200 (MEST)

> >>Yes, it's true, and why not? A better phone has almost the same CPU, and
> >>newer phones even have graphic accelaration.
> > 
> > Problem is we are still stuck with abstraction layers and horribly
> > restricted memory space.
> I agree totally ... a simple gaming api would be better (like mophun, I 
> really liked that, too bad somebody cannot make a living out of it)

Again it is a matter of costs.
Such 3rd party apis cost money the mobile phone comps would have to pay even
if their customers never start the game.
No comp will do that.

> >>Well, maybe it does his job, sometimes, but not very well.
> >>Java implementation on phone sucks!! They are some very insane bugs:
> > 
> > 
> > Exactly it is the implementation on the devices, not java.
> Yes, but we were tlaking about java on mobile phones, so it's a really 
> important issue.
Sure but you imho you cannot blame java for the failures of the device
implementations.

> >>2) Some phones (Nokia 7650, 3650) leak memory (it's quite a nice 
> >>feeling, when you can do nothing about it... )
>
> If you know a better solution, let me know.

check your mail please!

> 
> > Even wierder is the fact that a gc() in the main loop makes the app run
> > faster..
> 
> Hmm, interesting, never saw that yet.

Beware of the 7650.
They redefined 'reverse engineering' to mean 'newer version worse then older
version'.

Another tip: DON'T use setGain()
not only will it not work (would be nice if it only did not work) it causes
the device to crash.

> >>And thus different implementation, and we just got back that we have to 
> >>port the java games for each device...
> > 
> > May I recommend using a precompiler?
> 
> You mean a preprocessor? I already use it :-) GCC rulez :-) (since I'm 
> working on linux)

hehe bingo!
What editor are you using?

> > I know the java geeks out there will probably wanna stone me for the
> > heirsay. ;)
> 
> IMHO every java geek who is doing mobile game development for at least a 
> year would agree with that :-)

oh don't count on it.
I've seen stuff done by other studios that would make your head spin.

> > Think you read me wrong then (or I wrote it poorly).
> > Working on mobiles is a total pain in the bum and never is easy.
> > Actually it is very frustrating!
> 
> Yeah, I agree, but it has good sides also.
> A single coder (and lets say a grafician) cannot make a living writing 
> PC games, but they can writing mobile games. It's getting harder an d 
> harder, but it's still possible...
A single coder? Yeah that is possible but only as a more or less hobby.

The mobile games have short production times and even shorter lifespans.

> > Developing is not that problematic (as long as you can finance it).
> > The problems start arising when you want to sell them as there are no
> 'real'
> > publishers out there.
> 
> Agree
> 
> Hmm, I think in the end we start to agree :-) (and I'm starting to 
> forget what started it at all :-)

Probably just the inherent problem with the written word.
Usually comes out worse then intended and it takes 3x as long to correct the
errors.

cya

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