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Games on Symbian OS

An interview with the lead author and a review of GDC Mobile 2008

Last week, Symbian Press launched a new book, called Games on Symbian OS: A Handbook for Mobile Development, timed to coincide with the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2008 in San Francisco. Symbian Developer Network caught up with the lead author, Jo Stichbury, who was at GDC, to ask some questions about the book, and to find out what had been creating a stir at the event.

Why a book about games for Symbian OS?
It's something we're regularly asked for. We have a number of books aimed at teaching Symbian C++ programming, but none for any specific type of developer.  Game developers traditionally push the limits of technology, and with the increasing capabilities of Symbian smartphones, there’s never been a better time to start writing mobile games for the platform.  So it seemed like a good time to write a book that describes the key aspects of game development: graphics, audio, multiplayer and phone hardware APIs, for Symbian OS.

Who wrote the book?
I was the lead author, and wrote some of the chapters, but I also had a great team of subject experts contributing the specialist chapters.  We put the authors’ names with the chapters they worked on so it’s clear who did what, and because I wanted to acknowledge their individual expertise. We somehow managed to coordinate working in multiple time zones and countries (Australia, Canada, Finland, the UK and the US), and I’d like to thank Twm, Aleks, Michael, Leon, Paul, Fadi, Sam, Peter, Roland and Nigel for sharing their collective wisdom.

Are the authors game developers?
Yes, the authors have all written games at some point.  For example, Twm Davies has a roids game (developer.symbian.com/roidsgame) for Symbian OS. Aleks was with Capybara Games, and Paul, Fadi and Sam have worked on a number of games projects.  We had some invaluable help from Tim and Leon at Ideaworks3D, and my ex-colleagues from N-Gage also helped me with a chapter on the next generation N-Gage platform.

Who is the book for?
It’s for anyone interested in writing games on Symbian OS.  A lot of the book covers native C++ development, and could be of interest to people who already work on Symbian OS, but haven’t yet gotten around to writing a game.  Alternatively, game developers who haven’t previously worked on Symbian OS will find it useful, either when porting an existing game to an S60 or UIQ smartphone, or when writing a game from scratch – we cover both approaches.  I also tried to cater for those writing games in their spare time, as much as for professional game developers, by starting the book with a chapter that outlines the mobile games industry.  It explains the various ways you can distribute and sell your games, should you want to try to make some money from them.  Professional developers probably know that material already, but I’m aware that not everyone knows how the industry works.

What can readers expect to learn?
As I mentioned, the first part of the book describes the mobile games industry, and how Symbian smartphones fit as a games platform.  The second part of the book is the largest, and covers native C++ development in chapters about the basics (how to write a basic game loop), graphics, audio, multiplayer and use of hardware APIs to create innovative games.  The third part of the book is about porting games from other platforms.  It discusses the various standards support available on Symbian OS, such as POSIX-compliant standard C libraries, OpenKODE and OpenGL ES.

Then there’s a chapter which describes Nokia’s N-Gage platform, which is Nokia’s initiative to bring high quality games to S60 3rd Edition smartphones by providing a platform for professional game developers to port their game code using standard C and C++. The final part of the book is for developers who want to write games for Symbian smartphones without using C or C++ at all. We cover Java ME and DoJa, which is used to create Java games for Symbian smartphones in Japan. The last chapter of the book covers Flash Lite, to give some idea of how to get started.  Flash Lite games are growing in popularity, particularly in Japan and Korea. 

Games on Symbian OS on the Wiley booth at GDC 2008

You're known for your blog about descriptors (descriptors.blogspot.com).  Do you talk about them in this book?
No, not in this one.  The book assumes that you have a working knowledge of either C++ on Symbian OS, or Java ME for the chapters which cover Java games. The basic idioms of Symbian C++ and details, such as how to get a working development environment or how to create ‘Hello World,’ are not covered because you can find them in other books in the Symbian Press series (see developer.symbian.com/books for more details). In the book, we do point out a number of other resources for learning about Symbian OS, such as the Symbian Developer Network (developer.symbian.com) and Forum Nokia (www.forum.nokia.com).

Where can we find out more?
The Games book page that you're at now contains a free chapter download and, when I return from GDC, I’ll upload the sample code here too.  We’ve also created a wiki site where we’ll keep an up-to-date selection of links and resources.  I encourage people to visit it and post their own favourites too – and to let us know of any broken links they find in the book (or any other errors) either by putting them on the wiki site or by mailing us at books@symbian.com.

What's the news from GDC this year?
This year, Mobile GDC is optimistic about the future of mobile games. The market sector is growing fast, and worth about 5 billion US dollars a year. However, up to this point, it’s been hard for independent developers to break into mobile games development – the market has been owned by game publishers, who are themselves answerable to the network operators, or carriers as they call them here. The big game publishers like Gameloft are making a profit (141 million US dollars last year) but few independent game creators are flourishing.  As one speaker put it “Mobile operators have monopolized the distribution to a large degree, and this means the value that it is creating is not being sent to those who developed the game, but to the ones who are sending the bill”.

However, there’s a genuine sense that things are changing for the better.  Anssi Vanjoki, EVP at Nokia, gave a stirring presentation that discussed Nokia’s vision for the future. The presentation started with a video, shown previously at Nokia’s Go Play event in 2007 (you can watch it here www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpeNk3E36YU).  Vanjoki went on to analyse the way people are starting to use their phones (particularly those people with powerful “multimedia computer” smartphones) and to examine how the mobile experience is changing with the increased accessiblity of WiFi.  He described Nokia’s Ovi internet services platform (www.ovi.com) as an important part of the future mobile experience. Ovi will provide game developers with an alternative distribution path to users, allowing them to benefit from their own creativity without having to concede to carriers to get on the decks.

In addition, Vanjoki discussed Nokia’s N-Gage platform, which is the much-anticipated next generation of rich mobile gaming.  N-Gage-enabled S60 devices will have run application that allows users to discover games easily. They can then try them for free, and if they like them, they can buy and share them. Nokia want to make it easier to discover, try, buy, play and share mobile games, as well as to raise the bar of mobile game quality through providing great games on powerful devices.

And this was another reason for optimism at mobile GDC this year – the increasing capabilities of mobile devices available. Some of the high-end handsets reaching the market are revolutionising what it is possible to do in a game. Nokia’s Nseries devices, and new players like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform are all generating quite a buzz.

Nokia’s N-Gage booth at GDC 2008

What key technologies were discussed at GDC Mobile 2008?
The use of the always-connected nature of phones to provide presence and reflect context is definitely shaping the way games are played and designed.  There’s been a lot of emphasis on mobile social networking here this year.  Location-based services are also coming into their own, and there were a number of talks about how best to add them to a game.

One of the most obvious factors, on the high-end handsets, is the quality of graphics that can now be achieved.  With 3D hardware acceleration, developers can see content comparable to the PlayStation 2 or Dreamcast.  Digital Legends did an great demo of the ONE game, which won an award for best 3D graphics at the International Mobile Gaming Awards ceremony in Barcelona last week.  More information is here www.imgawards.com/nominees2007_3D_03.php?gameid=112.

Paul Coulton, author of one of the chapters of Games on Symbian OS, giving a presentation at GDC 2008, and pondering on the nature of widgets in his presentation entitled “Mobile Game 2.0: The Rise of the Widget?”. The picture shows a DraughtflowÒ widget.

What's cool at GDC Mobile this year?
For me, one of the best moments was Robert Tercek’s introduction to the second day’s proceedings.  Tercek is the co-founder of GDC Mobile, and an industry veteran. His short speech was a call to arms, and a no-holds barred attack on the large publishers working “in the service of a lie”.  He said the current economy was based on “fiction”, continuing "It's a lie that says a game can run equally well on any handset, and says that a Top 10 that never changes is providing its consumers with a genuine choice”.

Tercek introduced Anssi Vanjoki from Nokia as a “champion of openness and honest thinking” as he took the stage to deliver his keynote.  He described Nokia as a company that had never stopped innovating for mobile games, and one that provided the possibility of a change. In some of the talks at GDC Mobile this year, you could be forgiven for thinking that Symbian OS didn’t exist (in one notable talk about the iPhone, the speaker seemed completely unaware of it!) but Tercek’s clarity of thinking not only deflated a lot of the hype, it also showed considerable honesty and passion for the future of games on mobile platforms like S60. 

What else is cool in San Francisco this year? I’d have to say the fact that the MacBook Air came out so recently, yet was available in the Apple Store when I stopped by on Sunday.  I’m glad it’s designed to be so lightweight, since I’ll be taking one more computer home with me than I brought out!