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Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad

Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad. Gabby Dizon Boomzap Entertainment. Who is Boomzap Entertainment?. Casual games for PC/Mac, Wii , iPhone / iPad Virtual office in 6 countries Recent focus: Hidden object / puzzle / adventure games (HOPA). What this talk is all about.

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Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad

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  1. Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad Gabby Dizon Boomzap Entertainment

  2. Who is Boomzap Entertainment? • Casual games for PC/Mac, Wii, iPhone/iPad • Virtual office in 6 countries • Recent focus: Hidden object / puzzle / adventure games (HOPA)

  3. What this talk is all about • Redesign your PC casual game for iDevices • Maximize your existing IP

  4. Awakening: The Dreamless Castle • Published by Big Fish Games • PC version released February 2010 • Mac version released March 2010 • 9 international versions released on PC • iPhone/iPad release: December 2010 #1 on

  5. The four letter word: “Port” • Evokes images of mindless work • There’s a lot more to porting your games to iThingies than just getting them to run • Hence, we talk about “redesign”

  6. First things first: Your game engine • iOS compatible? • OpenGL ES ready? • Build or buy? • Commercial options:

  7. How we did it • Boomzap’s engine – in-house, C++ based, OpenGL supported • Mac OSX port – excellent starting point • Porting our engine to iOS – included in project schedule • Engine porting + optimization took 2 months (50%) of supposed project schedule Let’s avoid monkey-touching steps wherever possible!

  8. How we did it Lesson: Port your engine outside of the project schedule!

  9. The finer points of touch controls • Tap response has to be immediate • Swipe and bounce have to feel smooth, not jerky • Customers REALLY CARE about these features – do not ignore them • We spent a LOT of time just fine-tuning these movements • Tap / Double-tap • Swipe / Bounce • Pinch to zoom • Tap-and-drag • Two-finger swipe

  10. Build management • Start of project - iPhone build first, then iPad after • 60% into project – iPad build is more important (Xmas sales) • We ended up doing iPhone and iPad build at the same time • Plus 2x Lite builds • Updating 2 separate SVN repositories every day Use a script to automate the update of the 2nd repository!

  11. Build management Lesson: Do the HD SKU first, then work your way down

  12. Asset Management • Image assets should all be power of 2 • Compressed or uncompressed? (memory vs. file space) • How many resolutions? (480x320, 960x640, 1024x768) • What we did = A Dropbox directory (synced to team members) per build (iPhone Full/Lite, iPad Full/Lite) • One asset change = manually update 4 versions Great for sharing and syncing assets! The assets of the SD directory can contain only the delta; all other files are copied over from the HD directory.

  13. Asset management Lesson: Automate asset changes wherever possible!

  14. Navigation issues • Tap vs. click • No context-sensitive cursor PC iPad

  15. Room navigation • Explicit compass mode on iPad to navigate rooms PC iPad

  16. iPad to iPhone issues • UI redesign may be needed, cannot just scale down • Pinch zoom more important • Hit areas should be larger • Fonts need to be larger, clearer • Portrait mode for HOG scenes

  17. Antique Road Trip USA: iPad vs. iPhone iPad iPhone

  18. iPad to iPhone Redesign Lesson: Scaling won’t work – take the time to redesign the UI

  19. Tutorial • Very important to hook the player in • Usability videos are very helpful

  20. Tutorial Lesson: Plan the iOS-specific tutorial as early as possible!

  21. Social Integration • Use a social game network • Leaderboards, achievements, friends list

  22. Social Integration • Newsletter sign-up • Email a friend • Feedback • Cross-promotion • User ratings

  23. We’re Smarter Now • New iOS projects underway • Reusable modules for future games • Touch controls • Achievement system • Newsletter/email a friend libraries • Build most important SKU first • In the future: Android/WebOS/etc.

  24. Recap • Prep your engine • Automate your assets • Have a pipeline scalable for multiple builds • Address UI issues early • Tutorial NOW, not later • Reusable social modules • Have a great publisher (as we did with BFG) 

  25. Thank you! gabby@boomzap.com @boomzap on Twitter http://www.boomzap.com

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