Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone

Product Description

Creating Mobile Games: Using Java ME Platform to Put the Fun into Your Mobile Device and Cell Phone is a practical build-it-yourself mobile Java games book with lots of complete working code and advice:

* Shows you how to create a basic game and make it a professional one (by adding a pro look-and-feel by writing your own menus or using the open source J2ME Polish, and enabling marketing/billing from your own web site)
* Demonstrates Wireless Messaging and other optional APIs (using SMS, PIM, File Connection, Bluetooth, and so forth in a multiplayer game)
* Covers the new MIDP3

What youll learn

* Start using the MIDP2 and MIDP3 in the newly open sourced Java ME Games API.
* Add a truly professional look-and-feel to your Java ME games.
* Use threads, tones, and other media.
* Store and retrieve data and enable networking.
* Create advanced interactive messaging with optional APIs for multiplayer gaming.
* Explore a complete business model for independent developers (distributing their own games) as well as for larger companies.

Who is this book for?

Software engineers with some knowledge of Java who would like to switch to MicroEdition programming, particularly games

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #565857 in Books
* Published on: 2007-08-13
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 415 pages

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.
Customer Reviews

Good book focused on writing games with Java ME4
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.