Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone (Technology in Action) [Paperback]

Carol Hamer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590598806 | ISBN-13: 978-1590598801 | Publication Date: August 16, 2007 | Edition: 1

Practical Java ME Game Projects with MIDP is or will likely be the first Java games book for the newly updated and now open source Java Micro Edition (ME). And it will be first and possibly only that covers all MIDP versions 1-3.

Experienced game developer and hacker, Carol Hamer, presents in a clear, accessible writing and exposition with complete working examples. Online updates and discussions are available through her well-known blog site.

From a basic game to professional game projects, this book has what you need to be a mobile Java game developer (and player).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carol Hamer is a professional Java developer. She has written several J2ME games using the MIDP 2.0 games API. Carol has a strong knowledge of the workings of the JVM having written (in C) a CLDC-compliant bytecode verifier. Carol has written software (in Java) to communicate with mobile devices using web binary XML and other binary formats. She has also written thread-safe multithreaded applications, including a multiplayer card game application/applet.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (August 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590598806
• ISBN-13: 978-1590598801
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,235,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book focused on writing games with Java ME, October 7, 2007

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone (Technology in Action) (Paperback)

This is a pretty good book on creating mobile games for the Java platform. The author does not assume that you already have a working knowledge of the tools involved, so she starts by introducing you to these tools to give you a general idea of what is involved. Next she covers what you must do to set up your computer for Java Micro Edition game development and how to get your games running on an actual target device. Then, once you have your development environment up and running, you can begin building and modifying the book's examples. The book website at Apress has all of the source code for the examples available for you to download. The author assumes you already know Java programming with Java Standard Edition, and that you already know something about designing a game - this is not a book on the theory of game design. The point of this book is to show you how to do all of this with Java ME. Even multi-player gaming is explored by showing how to write a program for a game of checkers using Java ME. The following is the table of contents:

1. Getting Started 1
2. Using MIDlets 21
3. Using the MIDP 2 Games API 53
4. Using Threads and Media 95
5. Storing and Retrieving Data 131
6. Using Network Communications 193
7. Advanced Messaging and Data Access 263
8. Securing Your Applications 305
9. The Mobile 3D Graphics API 317
10. Adding a Professional Look and Feel 351

You can carry some of the ideas into other types of applications, but this book is very much focused on Java mobile games. For that purpose it is highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for beginners, May 20, 2010

By 

Aleksander Spektor (Hadera, Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone (Technology in Action) (Paperback)

The book is not for the beginners. It contains useful information but I had to browse through some other sources in order to write my first simple game for the cell phone.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a book for people who don't need this book., December 11, 2010

By 

Clifford W. Lazar "Cliff of LA" (LA, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone (Technology in Action) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, it assumes I know everything in advance. I'm a beginner in the platform and the language. Neither the platform nor the language are introduced or explained. Syntax, what syntax? Primitives? Verbs?

I couldn't believe it. The standard "Hello World" starting place took place one third into the book and required maybe 10 to 15 lines of code.

Nothing about sound.

Long paragraphs.