Case Study Summary

Company ZenSoft Studios, Inc. Industry Gaming Sun Technology and Services NetBeans IDE Sun Java Micro Edition (Java ME)

Key Challenges Develop ZenSoft Studios’ first mobile game application for several devices under a tight deadline Find a development tool for mobile devices that was inexpensive, easy to learn, and within budget, yet not sacrifice features or benefits Business Results NetBeans and J2ME integration, rapid development environment, and short learning curve cut development time by over 40 percent Support for wide range of mobile devices allows deployment to all target platforms Mobile game developed on time and within budget Solution Mobile Monkey, a mobile entertainment product

 
 
 

Executive Summary

ZenSoft Studios Inc. is a privately owned and operated corporation based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in September 2004, ZenSoft Studios’ mission is to establish a brand in the games industry by developing and marketing premium, next-generation, Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG).

ZenSoft Mobility is planning to roll out premium mobile entertainment products. The company’s first product, Mobile Monkey, was developed using the NetBeans IDE 4.0 and J2ME. Mobile Monkey will be released in the summer of 2005.

ZenSoft Studios is also using J2ME to develop Little Maoki, a stand-alone 3D action-oriented adventure game. This mobile game offers an intriguing storyline for anime fans, and is the first of 14 episodes. Each new episode will offer more challenging game play, increasingly intense graphics, plus multiplayer and online features.

 

Additional Software

• Windows XP platform
• CVS version control system

 

The Sun Solution: NetBeans Mobility Pack

When ZenSoft Studios developers began evaluating mobile games development solutions, they initially considered Eclipse, since they had worked with it before. However, they quickly ruled it out, because Eclipse’s support for mobile devices fell short. For example, Eclipse does not support “write once, run anywhere,” that is, the ability to run code on any device without customization. The team looked at other solutions, but determined they were too expensive to license and use.

The team had a successful history with Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), having used it to write applications at their previous jobs, and were fans of the Java platform. The team knew that the Java platform supported the widest range of mobile phones. ZenSoft Studios’ founder and president Bruno Steppuhn notes, “When we looked at the Web sites of our target mobile device manufacturers – Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia – all of them pointed back to Sun and J2ME. Since NetBeans Mobility Pack is tightly integrated with J2ME, it was exactly the combination we were looking for.”

The team’s experience with the Java platform helped them ramp up on NetBeans and J2ME quickly, boosting their productivity and shortening time to market. Steppuhn notes, “A few of the tools we looked at required learning a new development language. This would have seriously delayed our schedule and release date.”

The ZenSoft Studios team is impressed with the number of NetBeans Mobility Pack features that save developers time. In particular, the team appreciates the ability to switch between emulation environments with the click of a button while developing only one set of code. The Mobility Pack is aligned exactly with United Emulator Interface (UEI) specifications; plugging in UEI-compliant emulators is virtually automatic.

According to Steppuhn, “We switched horses mid-race because we were initially developing for Samsung SPH-A600 and SPH-A700. At that time, Samsung did not support Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0, and we felt that was crucial. The fact that we could accomplish this without having to write additional code really streamlined the process.”

NetBeans Mobility Pack works behind the scenes to complete much of the work necessary for developers to switch back and forth between different emulation environments. When creating applications for mobile phones, developers can open up the IDE and type code into a template. The IDE compiles the sources, does pre-verification, which shrinks the compiled product to a smaller form that fits on the phone, and then it can also package the product or the compiled code.

The Mobility Pack’s integration with MIDP 2.0 proved to be invaluable. During the development of Mobile Monkey, the ZenSoft team needed to figure out a way to keep down the number of art assets, i.e. images, to save space. MIDP 2.0 libraries allowed them to assign properties that divided the image into several pieces, yet also allowed those pieces to be treated as one image in terms of file space. The team accomplished this without having to write any code.

 

The Application

Mobile Monkey is a puzzle challenge game based on an ancient Asian legend called “The Monkey King, Journey to the West.” A fun and challenging twist to the traditional mosaic puzzle, Mobile Monkey offers story progression and rewarding game play. Following the initial release of the game, ZenSoft Studios plans to develop and launch 16 Mobile Monkey episodes that will offer innovative 3D game play and entertaining story lines. ZenSoft Studios will market Mobile Monkey to customers throughout the Asian mobile games market.

The first release of Mobile Monkey will run on the following Sony Ericsson mobile phones: K700i, K500, Z800, P910i, S700 and V800. Mobile Monkey will run on additional Sony Ericsson phones, as well as Nokia and Samsung phones in the near future.

 
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