Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad

Re-designing your casual game for iPhone and iPad

Gabby DizonBoomzap Entertainment

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Who is Boomzap Entertainment?

• Casual games for PC/Mac, Wii, iPhone/iPad

• Virtual office in 6 countries• Recent focus: Hidden object /

puzzle / adventure games (HOPA)

What this talk is all about

• Redesign your PC casual game for iDevices• Maximize your existing IP

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Awakening: The Dreamless Castle

• Published by Big Fish Games

• PC version released February 2010

• Mac version released March 2010

• 9 international versions released on PC

• iPhone/iPad release: December 2010

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#1 on

The four letter word: “Port”

• Evokes images of mindless work• There’s a lot more to porting your games to

iThingies than just getting them to run• Hence, we talk about “redesign”

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First things first: Your game engine

• iOS compatible?• OpenGL ES ready?• Build or buy?• Commercial options:

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How we did it

• Boomzap’s engine – in-house, C++ based, OpenGL supported

• Mac OSX port – excellent starting point• Porting our engine to iOS – included in project

schedule• Engine porting + optimization took 2 months (50%)

of supposed project schedule

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Let’s avoid monkey-touching steps wherever possible!

How we did it

Lesson: Port your engine outside of the project schedule!

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The finer points of touch controls

• Tap response has to be immediate• Swipe and bounce have to feel

smooth, not jerky• Customers REALLY CARE about

these features – do not ignore them• We spent a LOT of time just fine-

tuning these movements

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Tap / Double-tap Swipe / Bounce Pinch to zoom Tap-and-drag Two-finger swipe

Build management

• Start of project - iPhone build first, then iPad after• 60% into project – iPad build is more important

(Xmas sales)• We ended up doing iPhone and iPad build at the

same time• Plus 2x Lite builds• Updating 2 separate SVN repositories every day

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Use a script to automate the update of the 2nd repository!

Build management

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Lesson: Do the HD SKU first, then work your way down

Asset Management

• Image assets should all be power of 2• Compressed or uncompressed? (memory vs. file

space)• How many resolutions? (480x320, 960x640,

1024x768)• What we did = A Dropbox directory (synced to team

members) per build (iPhone Full/Lite, iPad Full/Lite)• One asset change = manually update 4 versions

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The assets of the SD directory can contain only the delta; all other files are copied over from the HD directory.

Great for sharing and syncing assets!

Asset management

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Lesson: Automate asset changes wherever possible!

Navigation issues

• Tap vs. click• No context-sensitive cursor

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PC iPad

Room navigation

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PC iPad

• Explicit compass mode on iPad to navigate rooms

iPad to iPhone issues

• UI redesign may be needed, cannot just scale down• Pinch zoom more important• Hit areas should be larger• Fonts need to be larger, clearer• Portrait mode for HOG scenes

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Antique Road Trip USA: iPad vs. iPhone

iPad

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iPhone

iPad to iPhone Redesign

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Lesson: Scaling won’t work – take the time to redesign the UI

Tutorial

• Very important to hook the player in• Usability videos are very helpful

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Tutorial

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Lesson: Plan the iOS-specific tutorial as early as possible!

Social Integration

• Use a social game network• Leaderboards, achievements, friends list

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Social Integration

• Newsletter sign-up• Email a friend• Feedback• Cross-promotion• User ratings

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We’re Smarter Now

• New iOS projects underway• Reusable modules for future games

– Touch controls– Achievement system– Newsletter/email a friend libraries

• Build most important SKU first• In the future: Android/WebOS/etc.

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Recap

• Prep your engine• Automate your assets• Have a pipeline scalable for multiple builds• Address UI issues early• Tutorial NOW, not later• Reusable social modules• Have a great publisher (as we did with BFG)

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Thank you!

gabby@boomzap.com

@boomzap on Twitter

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http://www.boomzap.com