Making Mobile Games

Two years ago, I started a full-time job as a Mobile UI Designer with Pocket App Ltd. With a games design degree under my belt and no one at the company with games industry experience, I seized at the opportunity to upgrade my position and within a few months I became Games Producer. Since then I have worked on many exciting and challenging mobile projects, both game apps and standard apps with gamification design.

All of our projects are produced specifically for a range of clients, including some big names such as Panasonic and Square Enix, so I'm restricted on the graphics I can share on the web. However, there are some sneak peaks on my new portfolio website, www.alxbanner.com.

As much as I love the challenge of creating exciting solutions based on a clients brief, I am eager to work on an original indie game before I hang up my gamepads. Whether I'm lead designer, UI/UX designer or a character designer, I really don't mind what role I have. The most important thing is that I have a talented team to bounce ideas off and collaborate with. I've already been in talks with some cool developers so watch this space!

Coding for Dummies: Enter Playmaker

Playmaker is a visual scripting tool for use with Unity. Highly recommended by UK developers, Ninja Theory (when I attended Appsworld '13).


A great article over on Gamasutra provides inspiration for any of those games designers out there who don't have strong coding skills: Suck At Coding But Make Games That includes me!

My Visit to PlayJam

Headed over to PlayJam London offices on the top floor of Centre Point tower. My mission was to pick up a couple of their new android gamepads, GameStick, so the we (Pocket App Ltd) could test (read 'play') it and give feedback and ideas. 

Easy to forget how awesome current generation mobile games can look and play on a big screen.

Monetisation Funnel and Pyramid

Funnel and Pyramid concepts that show how to successfully monetise your game and game business.

Zero to Hero

A teaser of some character designs for a potential mobile game. A bit of a Tiny Thief influence here.

Android for Games Developers Talk

Yesterday I attended the Android for Games Developers with Google at Skills Matter in London.

The Google tech guys talked about Android 4.3 and it's new features and Google Play Games. Most of it was presented from a back end point of view so there was a lot of Java that went over my head, but I did pick up some key points.

Android 4.3 now allows you to connect to low energy devices via Bluetooth LE. They even gave out bluetooth controllers during the event (No, I didn't get any. Prizes went to the geekiest members of the audience). However, there is no bluetooth android to android connectivity as yet.

Another key feature of 4.3 is Restricted Profile which is music to the ears of parents that want to prevent their children from making unauthorized in-app purchases. This is currently only available on android tablets though. Developers can add restriction options in the back-end of their game and there are new class of restriction entries: Boolean type, Choice, and multi choice.

Google TV now supports latest version of Android so we are advised to make sure our apps are TV ready. I think this is an important development, especially as the latest market research shows that a majority of users are playing mobile games in their living rooms.

Next hot topic was there recent release of the Google Play Games service. There are no two ways about it, you need a Google+ account to utilise this service but once you have that, all the features GPG offers are quite exciting.

The obvious benefits are sharing Leaderboards and Achievements with specific Google+ circles. There is also Cloud Save, which allows the player to save level progress and for that to be synchronized across all their android devices. PGP is cross-platform so you can view achievements on iOS as well. However, my favourite feature must be Real-Time Multiplayer where you can have 4 player P2P action. With that there is automatic or invitation based matching. Other features were Custom Libraries, Anti-Privacy and Badging (based on usage). One tip for developers was NOT TO USE API CONSOLE when setting up your game for GPG.

At the end of the conference, I asked if they had any tips for promoting the game. Creating YOUTUBE video seems to be the best way of making a wider audience aware that you have a great game in the play store. They also said that using Blogs to promote the game and Ad spending would be beneficial.

If you have any questions or would like to share your game with the google guys here are there google plus accounts :) :

+DanGalpin
+BrunoOliveira

Also for sample code, go here: 

https://github.com/playgameservices

FPS Gesture Controls: The Drowning

The Drowning's clever control system creates a more intuitive and smooth FPS experience on the iPad.

I'm not sure these controls would translate so well on the smaller phone screens though. Sniping accurately with a two-finger gesture would be more difficult to pull off and probably frustrating.

The Evolution of Game Tutorials

A collegue at work linked me to this interesting article about how in-game tutorials have changed over the past 15 years:


They Don't Make Tutorial Levels Like No One Live Forever Anymore


From my experience, most gamers are too impatient to follow games tutorials unless they're forced into one. Like intro cutscenes, they are more likely to skip them, get straight into the action and use trial and error.

I like how many games nowadays integrate tutorials into the gameplay more seamlessly without it feeling boring or disjointed. Gestures or button graphics will flash up on screen to aid the player through the beginning of the first level and not bombard them with too many instructions. That's how it should always be. But it can be difficult to balance, especially in this new world of casual app gamers where attention is short and gaming trends change like the seasons.

In recent memory, Portal 2's tutorial was so seamless and playful that you hardly noticed it. All the best teachers have a sense of humour!

Canabalt HD: Desperado

The Godfather of endless runners, Canabalt HD, has a new update which includes new levels, two player competition and a female character.

I've just had a play and 2-player mode is ace but the female character, apart from longer hair, is void of femininity and looks like Antonio Banderas in Desperado.

Unity partnership with Microsoft

Unity has recently announced a partnership with Microsoft and support for Windows 8, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. Windows Store Pro publishing add-on will also be free once it is released.

The future is looking ever brighter for Unity developers.


http://blogs.unity3d.com/2013/06/27/build-conference/