Games on Symbian OS: A Handbook for Mobile Development (Symbian Press) (Paperback)

by Fadi Chehimi (Author), Leon Clarke (Author), Michael Coffey (Author), Paul Coulton (Author), Twm Davies (Author), Roland Geisler (Author), Nigel Hietala (Author), Sam Mason (Author), Peter Lykke Nielsen (Author), Aleks Garo Pamir (Author), Jo Stichbury (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The first part of this book discusses the mobile games industry, and includes analysis of why the mobile industry differs from other sectors of the games market, a discussion of the sales of mobile games, their types, the gamers who play them, and how the games are sold.

The second part describes key aspects of writing games for Symbian smartphones using Symbian C++ and native APIs. The chapters cover the use of graphics and audio, multiplayer game design, the basics of writing a game loop using Symbian OS active objects, and general good practice. There is also a chapter covering the use of hardware APIs, such as the camera and vibra.

Part Three covers porting games to Symbian OS using C or C++, and discusses the standards support that Symbian OS provides,and some of the middleware solutions available. A chapter about the N-Gage platform discusses how Nokia is pioneering the next generation of mobile games, by providing a platform SDK for professional games developers to port games rapidly and effectively.

The final part of the book discusses how to create mobile games for Symbian smartphones using java ME, Doja (for Japan) or Flash Lite 2. This book will help you if you are:
* a C++ developer familiar with mobile development but new to the games market
* a professional games developer wishing to port your games to run on Symbian OS platforms such as S60 and UIQ
* someone who is interested in creating C++, Java ME or Flash Lite games for Symbian smartphones.

This book shows how to create mobile games for Symbian smartphones such as S60 3rd Edition, UIQ3 or FOMA devices. It includes contributions from a number of experts in the mobile games industry, including Nokia's N-gage team, Ideaworks3D, and ZingMagic, as well as academics leading the field of innovative mobile experiences.

From the Back Cover
The first part of this book discusses the mobile games industry, and includes analysis of why the mobile industry differs from other sectors of the games market, a discussion of the sales of mobile games, their types, the gamers who play them, and how the games are sold.

The second part describes key aspects of writing games for Symbian smartphones using Symbian C++ and native APIs. The chapters cover the use of graphics and audio, multiplayer game design, the basics of writing a game loop using Symbian OS active objects, and general good practice. There is also a chapter covering the use of hardware APIs, such as the camera and vibra.

Part Three covers porting games to Symbian OS using C or C++, and discusses the standards support that Symbian OS provides,and some of the middleware solutions available. A chapter about the N-Gage platform discusses how Nokia is pioneering the next generation of mobile games, by providing a platform SDK for professional games developers to port games rapidly and effectively.

The final part of the book discusses how to create mobile games for Symbian smartphones using java ME, Doja (for Japan) or Flash Lite 2. This book will help you if you are:

• a C++ developer familiar with mobile development but new to the games market
• a professional games developer wishing to port your games to run on Symbian OS platforms such as S60 and UIQ
• someone who is interested in creating C++, Java ME or Flash Lite games for Symbian smartphones.

This book shows how to create mobile games for Symbian smartphones such as S60 3rd Edition, UIQ3 or FOMA devices. It includes contributions from a number of experts in the mobile games industry, including Nokia's N-gage team, Ideaworks3D, and ZingMagic, as well as academics leading the field of innovative mobile experiences.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (April 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470998040
• ISBN-13: 978-0470998045
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,851,522 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Games..." is a Solid Informative Book, October 17, 2008

By	M. Jipping - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Games on Symbian OS" is a solid book, full of informative details and programming examples and written by experts.

"Games" is comprised of four sections. The first two could be characterized as "why" and "how". The first section has a single introductory chapter. The second section is the meat of the book. Most concepts in smartphone gaming are dealt with in good detail, with lots of code. Chapter 6 is quite cool -- about using smartphone gadgets like GPS and accelerometers.

Section 3 is about porting games to Symbian OS. Chapter 7 is a good chapter, all about C++. I found Chapter 8 to be not very useful: it's on N-Gage applications. N-gage apps seem applicable to the very commercial games and not generally useful.

The last section is a "grab bag" of concepts: Java ME, Japanese gaming, and Flash Lite. The Java ME chapter is very nice, giving you enough to chew on without getting too long. The last two chapters -- Doja and Flash Lite -- gave good overviews and introductions, but left me wanting a lot more.

Overall, this is a great book for gaming concepts and for C++ game programming. The Java ME parts were also very good. The other parts of the book were light, but certainly interesting in their own right and definitely worth reading.