My new plan of attack for mobile games

[Jackolantern]

I have been doing some looking around, and now have an idea of a new plan for making mobile games. I am now thinking about finally using Impact JS (which I bought about 4 or 5 months ago and still have not used), and then using the AppMobi tools and PhoneGapto convert it to mobile platforms. My reasoning behind this is that I still have a lot of love for web development, and this method would be the best of all worlds: one game, deployable to the web, Android, iOS, WP7, Blackberry, the Chrome Store, and others. I thought of this today when I decided to check out the Google Chrome Store for the first time since a couple of weeks after it was released. It was quite slow and small when I last looked, but it has exploded now, with many games having tens and even hundreds of thousands of downloads! An added benefit of the Chrome Store is that it simplifies the usage of WebSockets due to the developer having a guarantee of the browser the app will run on, so you know it will have native WebSockets available.

So this is the way I think I am going for now. For any kind of back-end development, I will probably still be using Java (for game servers, and such). I will be joining Halls very soon on working with Impact JS!

[vitinho444]

i highly recommend the development of android games.
The android system is very common now, everybody uses it, and everybody loves to play games so.. if you see the Android market has a lot of games and a lot of downloads.

I recommend it

I never created a mobile game.. but maybe in a few months i try it

[Jackolantern]

I definitely have interest in making mobile games (particularly Android), but going this route just seems to be a great option to make the game portable. The only downside to using PhoneGap and other similar methods is that the frame rates were low, but AppMobi claims its DirectCanvas tool (which I believe is open source) can get the same frame rates as native apps, and they have videos to prove it!

[vitinho444]

Well.. i got a android 2.2 but its a little slow.. i would like to buy a Samsung Ace or a GIO. Believe me when i say that you should make the game with the best fps you can.. because lag is something that is not cool anymore

[Ark]

That's great jack! I think that'll be the first android game made with impact!

best of lucks!

[Jackolantern]

That's great jack! I think that'll be the first android game made with impact!

best of lucks!

Actually, there are already several games in both the Android Market and the Apple App Store made with Impact JS. While a good new direction for me, I am not blazing any new ground here

And I hear you on the FPS, Vitinho. AppMobi showed frame rates jumping from ~16 FPS to ~50 FPS when DirectCanvas was used, and it was even using less battery. I definitely think it will be worth checking out, particularly considering how much easier Impact JS game development is compared to Android Canvas or OpenGL ES development.

[Xaleph]

Best of luck Jack, I ran into a PhoneGap article on this site. Maybe it can help you out in some way.

[Jackolantern]

Cool! Thanks I am pretty sure I am going to be buying AppMobi's GamePro Pack soon. Since I already have Impact JS, it seems you can get a discount off of it, which is nice. The more I read up on it, the better and better it sounds.

[hallsofvallhalla]

I am really buzzed watching football but I love impact!!! it has forwarded my game development by 200%. I think I might do really well on this contest i am entered in. It takes a bit to get use to but since you are already OOP ready it will be like gravy for you. I am going to do some tuts for it.

[Jackolantern]

Very cool Can't wait to see them!