Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
already excellent game engines today, such as Unity 3D, Corona, or the Un-
real Engine, the mobile programmer very rarely needs to create a game en-
gine from scratch.
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Physics
: Physics simulation is a very common feature of today's 3D video-
games. Game engines include a plugin to manage physics and so-called ri-
gid bodies (game objects subjected to physics). A coder is hardly requested
to develop a brand new physic engine, except when he's requested to devel-
op the game engine itself.
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Artificial Intelligence
: As a general statement, mobile games generally aim
to be not too challenging , so as not to frustrate the player, thus they rarely
rely on sophisticated AI algorithms. The smaller scope of mobile games im-
plies that AI programming for such games may be considered less problem-
atic than that of popular AAA titles, in many ways.
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User Interface
: The User Interface of your game will strongly affect its ap-
peal to players. Touch controls must work as expected, they must be re-
sponsive, and the information displayed on screen must be clear and well
displayed. By ensuring this is so, you improve the chances of selling your
game.
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Network
: With the outbreak of social networks and the demand for sharing,
no mobile game should lack a feature that allows people to upload their
scores on public online leaderboards or share their results with friends.
Moreover, the free-to-play business model that is so popular among today's
developers requires a reliable data exchange dynamic between the game
and the servers accounted for the service. Most of all, the game-server com-
munication must be hack-proof and trustworthy. Network programming is so
important that it is considered one of the hardest and most challenging as-
pects of game programming in general.
Learning to be a programmer
Exceptionally talented people apart, programmers will typically have a degree in
Computer Science or Engineering. They need a very robust knowledge in linear al-
gebra and mathematics, both in 2D and 3D space. Vectors, rotations, distances,
curves, and matrices must be their daily bread.
They need to know several coding and scripting languages, such as C\C++, Java,
and LUA, because the more experience they have with game engines and their
scripting languages, the easier it will be to get hired by a team. Programmers also
