Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
freemium
—that is, free to play but with encouragements to spend
more inside the game to level up or to clear obstacles faster. You can
think of these as extremely stripped-down MMOs, with thousands or
millions of players online at a given time.
devices like the PSP can certainly
play movies and music just as
easily). So we won't be focusing
on these dedicated devices in any
depth, except to say that limitations
are also a fact of life for them. Even
though each has its own set of
unique restrictions and headaches,
a lot of what's discussed in this Level
can be directly applied to working
on these platforms, should you have
the opportunity to do so.
Many of these games are based around social media sites like
Facebook and Google+, as these provide an already established
network of 'friends' you can play with, as well as a robust tracking
infrastructure. Probably the best-known Social/Casual game is
Zynga's
Farmville
, a game that is also an example of a freemium
game. Gameplay is real-time and consists of constantly tending to
your farm, while receiving or sometimes exchanging gifts to help
with growing it.
Sound design for these types of games is similar to a casual game
with the added stipulation that a social game is often a work in
progress, with assets being updated and added to on the l y. In the
case of Facebook games the development is in Flash or HTML5, or
even in Unity. Each of these come with their own audio issues, and
your platform choices can limit you as well. Be prepared to create a
variety of sound approaches depending on these various factors.
Operating Systems for Mobile
Devices: iOS and Android
Realistically, we cannot cover every existing mobile platform because
there are quite a few—including BlackBerry, Microsoft Windows Mobile,
Motorola, PalmOS, and Symbian, just to name a few. Instead let's focus
on two mobile operating systems that together account for well over
