[IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Flash Mobile? (was user ping request)

Fri Mar 17 02:16:53 EST 2006

Good points, especially the Alien Hominid, Matt :)
Flooding is inevitable, and in the end the biggest developers/publishers
probably will be the main source of this.

It is crucial that possibilities like Flash Lite emerge, where smaller and
bigger developers are able to try out new things with lesser risks when
the market is in it´s forming stage.

In my experience, on the Flash side, it has been a tradition that
artist/programmers exist and are pretty succesful in doing what they do:
but most of the people who say/state in their CV they are good with Flash,
are animators/graphic artist, with very limited knowledge about effective
(ie. object-oriented) programming needed in more complex game development.
Everybody is not suited to be a programmer, and shouldn´t be.

Now it seems that things are leading to the same-o Flash programmer or
Flash artist categorization, which isn´t a bad thing as this allows the
specialists to become the best in what they do, as they are able to
concentrate their learning & efforts in their strongest abilities.
The clash is back ;)

Cheers,
Miikka

 __________________
 Miikka Lyytikäinen
 CEO
 Aniway
 Karjalankatu 2 A
 FI-00520 HELSINKI
 FINLAND
 http://www.aniway.com

> Imagine-we'd have games of the quality of Alien Hominid hitting the
> market.
> Wouldn't that be just terrible ;)
>
> I think the 'flooding' will depend on how these titles are distributed. To
> be honest, while the 'flooding' is seen by many as a bad thing, I think
> it's
> great, it gives small developers (who can afford to try new things) a
> chance, while the current publishing model for PC and Console games cuts
> that possibility out entirely (even on XBLA). I know the question of
> quality
> always pops up in the mobile flooding conversation, but I don't see how
> bigger development houses and publishers have been much good in increasing
> quality anyway. In the end distributors happily plug incompatible games to
> players, and this happens just as much with high-profile, bigger budget
> titles as it does with the little titles.
>
> Also, flash developers are.. different. We are used to separating the
> artist/programmer role, but in my experience that line is far more blurred
> when it comes to flash. In a way this is great, as you end up with less of
> the age-old artist vs programmer clashes ;)
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> 5DT
> Fifth Dimension Technologies
> Matt Benic
> Tel. +27 (0)12 349 2690
> Fax. +27 (0)12 349 1404
> matt.benic at 5dt.com
> www.5DT.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mobile_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:mobile_games-bounces at igda.org]
> On Behalf Of miikka.lyytikainen at aniway.fi
> Sent: 16 March 2006 05:30 PM
> To: Mobile Game Development SIG Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [IGDA Mobile-SIG List] Flash Mobile? (was user ping request)
>
> Hi Matt,
>
>> I come from a console development background, so I'm by no means saying
>> the
>> amount of code work needs to be minimal-but I just find that mobile dev
>> in
>> Java involves a MUCH higher proportion of development time to art time
>> than
>> in those environments. I also find that real code reusability is a lot
>> more
>> difficult to achieve on mobiles than on console/PC game development. Now
>> coming in at a higher level with a tool like flash, I think that _could_
>> be
>> less of a problem.
>
> Agree.
> Actually, the Flash Actionscript 2 is very similar to the syntax of the
> Java/J2ME, and it is object oriented (using classes). One is able to use
> some of the same codebase for the J2ME and Flash Lite development.
>
>
>
>> Agreed on the profitability, I think that's something we all look to :)
>> I
>> just think that a rapid dev solution like flash could (if implemented
>> properly) do away with some of the expensive, time consuming issues
>> associated with mobile Java in it's current form-one of which is that
>> high
>> proportion of coding to asset generation.
>>
>> I also agree with you 100% that _for now_ java is the way to go; however
>> I
>> want to look forward as well. Flash has proved exceptionally well suited
>> to
>> the casual PC market, and I still see a far bigger future for casual
>> games
>> on mobiles than ports of console franchises (2D or 3D).
>
> Also agree, J2ME is the tool to make games for masses in the western
> countries - for now. Flash Lite can´t do all the things J2ME can, and vice
> versa. Both casual and hardcore games are needed, casual has obviously a
> bigger potential. One of the risks with rapid development tool like Flash
> Lite is flooding the market, as we have already seen in the J2ME market.
> Imagine when the 1-2 million existing Flash developers get a hold of the
> mobile Flash... ;)
>
> Cheers,
> Miikka
>
>
> __________________
> Miikka Lyytikäinen
> CEO
> Aniway
> Karjalankatu 2 A
> FI-00520 HELSINKI
> FINLAND
> http://www.aniway.com
>
>
>
>
>
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