KIRANA MOBILE GAME
SHARIFAH AQUILLA ALHABSHI BINTI SYED SAGAFF
A project report submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Science (Information Technology – Entrepreneurship)
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2008
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
To my parents who made my life possible, for their love, for their sacrifices.
To fisha who make my life worth living, thanks for your support. To faeiz and aliya,
my beloved siblings, thanks for your love. To all my friends, especially ima, ira, fae,
suzie, tina and eina, who always standing beside me, thanks for your support. If I
have been able to see a few new things in useful and different ways, it is only because
of the kindness and patience of those who have taken the time to lead me up the hill
and point my head in the right direction. Thank you all.
Wassalam
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS MOST MERCIFUL
With the opportunity given here, I would like to express my profound
appreciation to my mentor and his partner, who gave me the major support during the
development of this project, En.. Hishamudin bin Mohd Amin and En..
Kamaruzzaman bin Jahidin.
Also
special
appreciation
to
my
supervisor
for
their
supportive
encouragement, PM. Dr. Dzulkifli Mohamed from FSKSM, PM Dr Mohd Hassan
bin Mohd Osman from FPPSM and En. Abdullah bin Bade from FSKSM. Also to
my program coordinator, En. Nor Hashim bin Abu Samah and En. Iskandar bin
Illyas.
My sincere appreciation also extends to BIP and all my colleagues. I am also
indebted to Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) for funding my Msc. Last but not least,
to those who have been involved either directly or indirectly in development of this
project, thanks a lot of your support and kindness.
Wassalam.
ABSTRACT
Mobile game development is growing rapidly in all aspects. As many mobile
game developers emerge everyday, the mobile gaming and innovations in this field
improves rapidly. Since Mobile phone users’ growth is rapid every year, the
entertainment industries have shown a good interest towards mobile games. Kirana is
a mobile game based on the ancient epics of Malaysia and Indonesia literature,
Hikayat Panji Semirang. The game will be developed by Flash and using J2ME
platform. The player will sent SMS to the game server and download the game
through GPRS. Player can download accessories or weapons to increase power in a
certain level. Revenue can be generating from this process. Firstly, the player should
register and then download the game. Player can choose whether they want to submit
their score to the game server or not. We will give prizes to the player that gets the
highest score. Scores will be published on the web site. User will get all information
about game on the website. Advertising new products through mobile games become
familiar in mobile game industries today. For example, advertising the painkiller.
This painkiller can be used to heal gamers.
ABSTRAK
Pembangunan permainan mobile sedang berkembang dengan pantas di dalam
semua aspek. Seiring dengan pertambahan bilangan pembangun permainan setiap
hari, bidang permainan mobile dan inovasinya semakin meningkat dengan pantas.
Sejak berlakunya pertambahan pengguna telefon bimbit pada setiap tahun, industri
hiburan telah menunjukkan minat yang baik terhadap permainan mobile. Kirana
adalah sebuah permainan mobile yang diadaptasikan dari kisah epik, hikayat
kesusasteraan Melayu dan Indonesia, Panji Semirang. Ia dihasilkan menggunakan
Flash dan platform J2ME. Permainan ini perlu dimuatturun oleh pemain
menggunakan GPRS dengan menghantar SMS ke pelayan permainan. Pemain boleh
memuatturun aksesori atau senjata bagi menambah kuasa di dalam sesebuah tahap
permainan. Keuntungan boleh diperolehi dari memuatturun aksesori tersebut. Pemain
perlu mendaftar terlebih dahulu dan kemudian memuatturun permainan. Pemain
mempunyai pilihan sama ada ingin menghantar markah ke pelayan permainan
ataupun tidak. Kami menyediakan hadiah kepada pemain yang mendapat markah
tertinggi. Markah akan dipaparkan di laman web. Pengguna boleh mendapatkan
semua informasi mengenai permainan di laman web. Pengiklanan produk baru di
dalam permainan mobile telah menjadi sesuatu yang biasa di dalam industri
permainan mobile pada hari ini. Contohnya, pengiklanan ubat tahan sakit. Ubat
tersebut boleh digunakan di dalam permainan untuk merawat pemain.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER
I
TITLE
PAGE
DECLARATION
ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
iv
ABSTRACT
v
ABSTRAK
vi
TABLE OF CONTENT
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiii
LIST OF TABLES
xviii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
xix
LIST OF APPENDICES
xxi
PROJECT OVERVIEW
1
1.1
Project Overview
1
1.2
Background of Problem
2
1.3
Project Objective
2
1.4
Scope
3
1.5
Importance of Project
4
1.6
II
1.5.1 Enabling Technology
5
Structure of the Thesis
5
LITERATURE REVIEW
8
2.1
Introduction
8
2.2
History of Mobile Games
8
2.2.1
10
Mobile Game Characteristics
2.2.2 Requirements
11
2.2.3
Types of Mobile Games
12
2.2.4 The Mobile Value Chain
13
2.3
Short Message Service
14
2.4
History of Flash
15
2.5
Overview of the Java Environment
19
2.5.1
20
Elements of a Typical J2ME MIDP Business
Application
2.5.2 Wireless Networking on the MIDP
23
2.6
The Client-Server Architecture
24
2.7
The World Wide Web
24
2.8
Apache
27
2.9
MySQL
28
2.10
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
29
2.11
PHP
29
2.12
Similar Product Analysis
30
2.13
Example of Malaysian J2ME Games
31
2.14
Compatible Phones
35
2.15
III
VI
Summary
36
METHODOLOGY
37
3.1
Introduction
37
3.2
Methodology
38
3.3
Project Development Technology
38
3.3.1 Methodology Project
39
3.3.2
Agile Game Development
39
3.3.3
Scrum Background
41
3.3.4
Characteristic of Scrum
43
3.3.5 Scrum Process
46
3.3.6
46
Kirana Mobile Game Development Process
3.4
Object-Oriented Programming
50
3.5
The Unified Modeling Language (UML)
50
3.6
Describing an Architecture Using UML
51
3.7
Methodology Justification
51
3.8
Game Architecture
53
3.9
Project Schedule
54
3.10
Summary
55
FINDING / ANALYSIS
56
4.1
Introduction
56
4.2
Markup, Native OS or Messaging for Games
56
4.3
Designing J2ME Applications: MIDP and UI Design
58
4.3.1
58
Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME)
Architecture
4.4
V
4.3.2 The Application Environment
59
Component Design
60
4.4.1 Use Case Description
66
4.4.2
Sequence Diagram
68
4.4.3
Class Diagram
69
4.4.4
State-Chart Diagram
70
4.4.5 Activity Diagram
70
4.5
Web Interface
71
4.6
Mobile Game Interface
72
4.7
Game Documentation
75
4.8
Mobile Game Testing
75
4.9
Summary
76
BUSINESS PLAN
77
5.1
Executive Summary
77
5.2
Industry Background: Current Status
78
5.3
Industry Background: Future Trends
80
5.4
General Description of the Product
82
5.4.1 Product Description
83
Business Goals and Growth Potential of the Venture
83
5.5.1 Growth Potential
84
5.5.2
Situation Analysis
85
5.5.3 The Mobile Game Markets
86
5.5.4
88
5.5
5.6
Business Model and Workflow
Uniqueness of the Product
90
5.7
5.8
5.6.1
Competitive Edge
91
5.6.2
Competitor Analysis
91
5.6.3
SWOT Analysis Competitors
92
Marketing Strategy
94
5.7.1
Method to Identify and Contacting
Potential Customers
94
5.7.2
Sales Strategy
95
5.7.3
Distribution Strategy
96
5.7.4
Estimated Market Share
96
5.7.5
Pricing Strategy
97
5.7.6
Advertising Plan and Promotions Strategy
97
5.7.7 Sales Programs
98
5.7.8
98
Marketing Analysis
Management
103
5.8.1
Management Team Gaps
104
5.8.2
Organizational Structure
104
5.8.3
Technopreneur Capabilities
105
5.8.4
Support Team
105
5.9
Identify Location
106
5.10
Research Analysis
106
5.10.1 Mobile Phone User
107
5.10.2 Teenagers
109
5.10.3 Young Adults
110
5.10.4 Understanding the Industry
112
5.10.5 Understanding the User
112
5.10.6 Demographic Segmentation
113
Operations Plan
113
5.11.1 Business Partnership
114
5.11.2 Quality Control
114
5.11.3 Customer Support
115
5.12
Critical Analysis
116
5.13
Long-term Development and Exit Plan
117
5.14
Financial Planning
118
5.14.1 Resources Needed for Development
119
Summary
121
5.11
5.15
VI
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
122
6.1
Achievement
122
6.2
Constraints and Challenges
123
6.3
Discussions and Recommendations
124
REFERENCES
125
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO.
TITLE
PAGE
2.1
Overview of the Java environment
20
2.2
Application features
131
2.3
J2ME, MIDP, CLDC and related
Java packages
21
Typical operation of a MIDP application
using HTTP
22
CDLC generic connection framework
HTTPConnection
132
2.4
2.5
2.6
A server communicating with 2 client
programs
26
2.7
Game snapshot: Badang
31
2.8
Game snapshot: Puteri Gunung Ledang
32
2.9
Game snapshot: Rage of Mages
32
2.10
Game snapshot: Rogue Lords
33
2.11
Game snapshot: Hammer & Sickle
34
3.1
Project noise level
40
3.2
Agile process
40
3.3
A defined process
41
3.4
A simple visualization of scrum
42
3.5
Productivity scrum team
43
3.6
Scrum team chart
44
3.7
Detailed scrum team chart
44
3.8
Scrum structure
45
3.9
Scrum process
46
3.10
Phase flow chart
47
3.11
Practices and inputs of sprint
48
3.12
Sustainable pace
49
3.13
Test-Driven development
49
3.14
Game architecture
53
4.1
Java 2 Platform Edition architecture
59
4.2
Use case diagram for mobile user
61
4.3
Use case diagram for web user
61
4.4
Use case diagram for web admin
62
4.5
Use case diagram for game Writers
62
4.6
Use case diagram for game producer
63
4.7
Use case diagram for game artist
63
4.8
Use case diagram for game designer
64
4.9
Use case diagram for game developer
64
4.10
Use case diagram for Level designer
65
4.11
Use case diagram for game programmers
65
4.12
Web interface
72
4.13
Kirana mobile game interfaces
73
4.14
Sequence diagram for mobile registration
133
4.15
Sequence diagram for download game
134
4.16
Sequence diagram for play game
135
4.17
Sequence diagram for submit score
136
4.18
Sequence diagram for web registration
137
4.19
Sequence diagram for login process
138
4.20
Sequence diagram for logout
139
4.21
Sequence diagram for login admin
140
4.22
Sequence diagram for logout admin
141
4.23
Sequence diagram for update score
142
4.24
Sequence diagram for update user record
143
4.25
Sequence diagram for update info
144
4.26
Sequence diagram for write game
145
4.27
Sequence diagram for write dialog for NPC
146
4.28
Sequence diagram for developing schedules
147
4.29
Sequence diagram for maintaining schedules
148
4.30
Sequence diagram for developing budgets
149
4.31
Sequence diagram for maintaining budgets
150
4.32
Sequence diagram for negotiating contracts
151
4.33
Sequence diagram for arranging beta testing
152
4.34
Sequence diagram for creates art
153
4.35
Sequence diagram for develop Game Asset
154
4.36
Sequence diagram for develop volume of sketches 155
4.37
Sequence diagram for implements game design
156
4.38
Sequence diagram for modify game design
157
4.39
Sequence diagram for develop Gameplay
158
4.40
Sequence diagram for develop concept
159
4.41
Sequence diagram for develop layout
160
4.42
Sequence diagram for design game
161
4.43
Sequence diagram for develop game
162
4.44
Sequence diagram for approve game idea
163
4.45
Sequence diagram for altering game rules
164
4.46
Sequence diagram for producing scenarios
165
4.47
Sequence diagram for create advanced levels
166
4.48
Sequence diagram for create levels
167
4.49
Sequence diagram for challenges or missions
168
4.50
Sequence diagram for develop prototypes
169
4.51
Sequence diagram for develop technical
framework
170
4.52
Sequence diagram for write source codes
171
4.53
Class diagram for admin
172
4.54
Class diagram for user
173
4.55
State chart diagram for mobile
174
4.56
State chart diagram for web
175
4.57
Activity diagram for mobile
176
4.58
Activity diagram for web
177
5.1
Expected revenues to be generated from
some major regions
83
Growth of mobile users against population
in Malaysia
85
5.3
Mobile game business area
87
5.4
Traditional and mobile game value
87
5.5
The Mobile value chain
88
5.6
Subscription vs per-download business model
90
5.2
5.7
Percentage distribution of hand phone subscribers
by ethnic origin
96
5.8
Gender of the respondents
98
5.9
User that play mobile game
99
5.10
User that download mobile game
99
5.11
Mobile game absorption in Malaysia
100
5.12
User interest to download mobile game
100
5.13
Affordable price of mobile game
101
5.14
Mobile phone that supported by the GPRS services 101
5.15
User acceptance for strategy games
102
5.16
User that has interest to download accessories
103
5.17
Type of games
103
5.18
Organizational chart
104
5.19
Penetration rate per 100 inhabitants
109
5.20
Sales projection for Kirana mobile game
119
5.21
Sales projection for ten games
120
5.22
Break even point
120
5.23
Profit and loss
121
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO.
5.1
TITLE
PAGE
Content That Mobile Phone Users expect to be
Accessing in 12 Months Time
79
5.2
Pricing Analysis
92
5.3
National & International Mobile Phone Users
108
5.4
Penetration Rate for Cellular Phones in Malaysia
108
5.5
Teenagers Population in Malaysia
110
5.6
Young Adults Population in Malaysia
111
5.7
Cellular Phone Demographic Groupings
113
5.8
Project Milestones
118
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SMS
-
Short Message Service
J2ME
-
Java 2 Micro Edition
MIDP
-
Mobile Information Device Profile
GPS
-
Global Positioning System
MMS
-
Multimedia Messaging Service
OOSE
-
Object Oriented Software Engineer
PHP
-
Hypertext Preprocessor
JVM
-
Java Virtual Machine
JRE
-
Java Runtime Environment
JIT
-
Just In Time Computer
J2SE
-
Java 2 Standard Edition
GFC
-
Generic Connection Framework
CDLC
-
Constrained devices with limited network connecting
WWW
-
World Wide Web
HTTP
-
Hypertext Transport Protocol
URL
-
Uniform Resources Locaters
OOP
-
Object Oriented Programming
UML
-
Unified Modeling Language
OS
-
Operating System
API
-
Application Programmer Interfaces
SDK
-
Software Development Kit
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX
TITLE
PAGE
A
Gantt Chart Project I & II
127
B
Gantt Chart Project III
130
C
Application Features
131
D
CLDC Generic Connection Framework
with HttpConnection
132
E
Sequence Diagram
133
F
Class Diagram
172
G
State Chart Diagram
174
H
Activity Diagram
176
I
Game Documentation
178
J
User Testing
194
K
Financial Planning
197
CHAPTER 1
PROJECT OVERVIEW
1.1
Project Overview
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA
or handheld computer. Mobile games may be played using the communications
technologies present in the device itself, such as by text message (SMS), multimedia
message (MMS) or GPRS location identification. With the number of mobile
gamers around the world expected to reach 220 million by 2009, the mobile gaming
business is projected to expand to higher levels and constitute a bigger portion of the
profit pie for the cellular carriers and handset makers. Basically, this project will
apply this method: Users will sent SMS and get SMS from the server. Then, they
will get a link that will connect them to the game. The process of downloading the
game will start immediately after the users connect the link through GPRS. It just
takes a minute to download the game. Then, the user can start play the game.
Initially, our target market will be the teenagers and young adults. Our core
focus is the development of mobile games for J2ME platform.
1.2
Background of Problem
We can see that there’s a vast growth in number of mobile game developers
in countries from the West as well as players from Hong Kong and Japan. Although
there are many mobile game developers globally, but it has yet to be taken seriously
in our local market.
i. Satisfying the need that motivates a user to interact with a mobile game is
not enough to guarantee a positive user experience. Game performance
must match or exceed the user’s expectations.
ii. Less interested in learning about customs and cultures of Malaysia.
iii. Lack of interest as the primary reasons mobile phone users did not purchase
another game (after an initial play or purchase).
1.3
Project Objective
Kirana mobile game’s objective is:
i.
To design a prototype model of mobile games based on the ancient epics
of Malaysia and Indonesia literature, Hikayat Panji Semirang.
ii.
To develop the model (level 1) of the games.
iii.
To publish mobile game using Sun’s J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition,
recently rebranded simply “Java me”) platforms.
1.4
Scope
The project scope has been identified to develop the prototype of the game as
listed below:
1. The game will be based on the ancient epics of Malaysia and Indonesia
literature, Hikayat Panji Semirang.
2. The development of mobile games for J2ME platform.
3. The typical customer profile for this project falls in two separate
categories, which are teenagers and adults. Based on several reasons,
younger users or the youth market are more likely to be comfortable with
the intrusive nature of mobile communications.Most teenagers own
mobile phones and are very aware of the latest technology trends in the
market.
4. The backgrounds of the game for each level are static. The background /
environment will change for each stage.
Game Features:
i. We will provide the interactive user interface to make sure it is easy for
gamers to use the interactive features of the game.
a. Interactive User Interface – Every stage will
be different in term of environment and
background.
ii. User friendly regardless of age and mobile friendly.
a. Gamers can download easily through SMS
and GPRS.
b. We provide simple user manual before the
game start.
iii. Easy-to- navigate play experience.
a. We provide simple user instruction for the
key manual.
1.5
Importance of Project
The importances of this project are:
i. The mobile gaming market is growing very fast and it will capture the
market of pc games soon. Day by day, game developers are increasing in
this field because of the increasing mobile phone users all around the
world.
ii. Mobile gaming makes a lot of noise but little real impact locally at
present. Most of the impressive mobile game developers are Westerners
or joint ventures with them. In Asia it is considered a new trend and still
at an infant stage. It will need some more time before the move to mobile
gaming really takes off – but when it does, it will be a huge new market
contributing to big success. We take this as a positive sign. This is the
right time to venture into mobile game business before it really takes off
and by the time it happens, we will established a brand name in the
mobile game market. (Longoria, 2004)
iii. To instills Malay cultural and positive values because nowadays, people
are less interested in learning about customs and cultures of Malaysia.
1.5.1
Enabling Technology
The enabling technology that we applied to develop the total system are:
1. The total system that will be developed is for Microsoft Windows
environment.
2. The scheduling system will be using Flash as a programming language.
3. Mobile games are developed using Sun's J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition,
recently rebranded simply "Java ME") platforms and technologies.
1.6
Structure of the Thesis
1. Chapter 1
Chapter 1 covers background of the project. The complete description of the
project will be explained more details in subsequent chapters. We will grab the
opportunity from the problem that we see in mobile game markets. The scope and
objectives of the project have been identified to guide us in the process of
development. The contribution and important of the project also been discussed in
this chapter. The enabling technology that will be applied to develop this project has
been identified.
2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2 describes about the literature review. The history of mobile games
is reviewed. The technology in mobile game and programming language that will
apply in the development of this project are pointed out. The mobile game
characteristics, types of mobile games, the mobile value chain, short message
service, history of flash, overview of the JAVA Environment, the client-server
architecture, the world wide web, apache, MySQL, Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and
PHP are then decsribed on detail. We also did a similar product analysis and gave
the example of Malaysian J2ME games.
3. Chapter 3
Chapter3 introduces the methodology that will be applied to this project. A
project methodology covers all things that need to do until the project complete.
Agile Game methodology was the methodology that we choose to apply in this
project. The traditional method is compared with this method. Scrum is a more
specific implementation of the agile method. The characteristics of scrum, the
process and each phase have been defined. The UML has been applied at the design
stage to ensure that each process is clearly defined. We used the Gantt chart for
planning and scheduling operations.
4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4 presents about the design aspects of the development of mobile
games. We will use Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME) as the platform. In this
chapter, the J2ME Architecture has been discussed. The component design of this
project which includes the class and sequence diagrams is pointed out. The use-case
has been decribes detailed in this chapter. The state-chart diagram and activity
diagram also been documented. The main difference between activity diagrams and
state charts is activity diagrams are activity centric, while state charts are state
centric. The example of the web interface for this project is also been shown.
5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5 presents the business plan for this project. Each aspects of
marketing, market research, operation, risk analysis, competitor analysis, business
and revenue model, customer support and financial planning has been clearly
identified. The product description and value propositions also been discussed.
6. Chapter 6
Chapter 6 summarizes the achievement, constraints and challenges and
recommendations for this project.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
This chapter will be described about the technology in mobile game and
programming language that will apply in the development of this project. Research
has been done on similar product analysis and competitors that provide Java games
in Malaysia. Beside that, the example of Malaysian Java games also been discussed.
2.2
History of Mobile Games
Mobile computer games have their history in Nintendo’s portable LCD game
series “Games & Watch3”. These games became very popular in the 1980s. These
simple miniature consoles introduced a concept of keeping small Sources of digitized
entertainment in the pocket – constantly available. There were nearly 70 different
kind of LCD games4. In this series, Nintendo also introduced its most know game
character, Mario, as well as brought licensing into active use with using Disney’s
characters in their games. In 1990s, Nintendo’s markets became more and more
competitive with multiple competing LCD game manufactures and thus it introduced
a new kind of game consoles – the Gameboy-console with changeable came
cartridges. The device became the dominant one in the markets and marks currently
nearly a synonym for portable game consoles. Nintendo with its partners has
launched hundreds of game titles for the device and its more advanced successors.
Wireless gaming (games on mobile phones) emerged with Nokia’s launch of the
Snake game in 1997. The simple Snake-game became surprisingly popular and
Nokia brought additional titles to their devices. Simple mobile phone games, similar
to the original Snake, are played on small breaks to provide relaxation and a small
escape from routines. These games were originally installed permanently on the
phones, but nowadays more and more they can be purchased through the mobile
networks.
In the end of the 1990s, Japanese success of I-Mode network based games
created a boom for WAP-games – games that mobile phone users would use through
their WAP-browsers in the phones. In Europe, Nokia’s 7100-series of phones were
the first ones capable for this activity. The slow connection speeds made these
games a very disappointing experience and thus they never reached the mainstream
markets. Yet, some SMS-based games have gained popularity, especially when
supported with television broadcasting.
In 2001, the introduction of downloadable games and colour screens on
mobile devices has brought wireless games into mass markets. Suddenly, consumers
were willing to start purchasing small chunks of entertainment to broaden their game
selections on the mobile devices. In addition, mobile phones are constantly
developing towards small microcomputers – smartphones and thus game play is
nowadays much richer than the simple Snake-like-gaming used to be. 3D-graphics
and natural sounds are entering also wireless games.
Nokia has continued to pioneer in the field of wireless gaming. In 2003, it
introduced its N-Gage game deck and wireless online gaming with N-gage Arena.
This device is a full-scale game console with changeable cartridges and smartphone
fuaddition, the N-Gage started a new era in online gaming – the device and some of
its game titles are linked into a game server via GPRS networks and thus enable
group games in an online community. Furthermore, N-Gage has Bluetooth gaming
functionalities for short-range (~10 m) group games. The N-Gage launch was
carried out with large scale. Yet, there are still no guarantees of business success of
the device7.Nevertheless, the N-Gage has created increasing interest towards mobile
games and Nokia’s competitors (e.g. Sony) are also planning on similar activities in
the handheld game device markets.
2.2.1
Mobile Game Characteristics
Mobile games' financial appeal comes from their wide reach. Mobile phones
have become tightly integrated into the modern lifestyle. They are second only to
keys and wallets as the most commonly carried personal items. Unlike traditional
console games that target geeks and teenagers, mobile games are accessible to
anyone, anywhere and anytime. Although each mobile game is inexpensive, the
projected large volume (e.g., a new game per week per person) will make this market
immense and profitable. However, for developers, mobile games present a big
paradigm shift from console games due to the vastly different target audience,
lifestyle, and distribution models.
2.2.2
Requirements
A successful mobile game will likely have one of the following
characteristics:
1. Easy to learn: Since mobile games target general consumers not computersavvy techies, they cannot have steep learning curves. Consumers will not
spend hours studying an operation manual of a game. The game must be
playable the moment it is downloaded. It is essential to keep the game
simple.
2. Interruptible: Multitasking is a basic characteristic of the mobile lifestyle. A
mobile user often has small chunks of free time available between tasks (e.g.,
while waiting for an email or a taxi to arrive). The same device is used for
games, calendar management, messaging, and work data access. A good
mobile game should provide entertainment value for short time periods and
allow users to switch smoothly between game and work modes.
3.
Subscription based: Mobile games' financial success depends on their large
volume. It is expensive to design and develop each game from scratch. For a
mobile game developer to make money, it is important to offer multiple titles
from the same game engine along similar basic storylines. Subscriptionbased games are the best way to generate sustained revenue.
4.
Rich social interactions: No matter how good a game design is, it quickly
becomes boring when the player figures out the underlying pattern or has
exhausted all the play routes. For subscription-based games, it is important to
incorporate other human players to increase the intelligence and randomness
of the game play. Games with rich social interactions have proven successful
in many of today's massively multiplayer games.
5. Take advantage of mobile innovations: A huge amount of mobile technology
research dollars have been spent on improving the usability and reliability of
devices and networks. As a result, the mobile device hardware and network
protocols are very different from the desktop/console world (e.g., Global
Positioning System (GPS) extensions, barcode scanner, and Short Message
Service (SMS)/Multimedia Message Service (MMS) messaging). Good
mobile games should take advantage of those innovative device features and
network infrastructures.
6. Nonexplicit content: Since all age/gender groups play mobile games and
often in public/work settings, you should avoid explicit violent or sexual
content.
2.2.3
Types of Mobile Games
Based on the above criteria, the most successful future mobile games are
casual games that provide entertainment value to a broad range of players in all
social settings. In particular, the following types of games are emerging as
tomorrow's killer games:
1. Multiplayer games: Those games could provide mobile access to established
online game communities. Or, they could create completely different social
structures taking advantage of mobile-specific features such as the
multimedia messaging and location-based services. Good game design and
management are crucial to this type of game's success.
2. Content-based games: Those games deliver copyrighted multimedia
entertainment content, such as celebrity photos, video clips, voice ringtones,
and personalized sports games to music/movie/sports fans. The key to
success is to provide a flow of high-quality content that justifies the
subscription cost.
3. High-impact visual games: PC and console games have evolved from 2D to
3D. Mobile games will follow this trend too. There are already several
mobile 3D toolkits and handsets available. However, 3D games are very
resource intensive. They require expertise from both developers and graphic
designers. Professional shops will most likely develop these games.
During mobile games' early days, most developers were enthusiasts who
wanted to play with their devices, learn new skills, and make a quick buck.
However, as more developers enter this space, mobile games have evolved into
major productions that involve professional designers, architects, developers,
business dealers, lawyers, and artists. This is an inevitable trend as the industry
matures. For developers, this change poses both challenges and opportunities.
While it is harder to develop and sell simple games in one's spare time, more pro
shops will offer better employment opportunities for many people.
2.2.4 The Mobile Value Chain
To fully understand the mobile game landscape, you must understand how
the money flows. This business's value chain is considerably different from
traditional games or enterprise applications:
1. Developers: Software developers drive the value chain by creating great
applications. However, most developers do not have the capacity to handle
mass marketing. They also lack the distribution channels to reach consumers.
2. Publishers: Game publishers aggregate titles from developers. They build a
brand name, certify the game for technical correctness, promote the game,
and build business relationships with wireless carriers. Publishers also handle
billing on the developer's behalf and typically share revenue with the
developer.
3. Wireless carriers: Wireless carriers are at the center of mobile game
distribution channels. Carriers not only control the network but also own the
customer information. It is up to them to decide what devices and services to
support. Carriers take a big chunk of money out of the overall profit.
Carriers can also bill the customers through existing service agreements.
4. Wireless device manufacturers: Device manufacturers drive the technical
innovation. They make new hardware and support development platforms.
In fact, J2ME's success is largely due to major device manufacturer adoption.
Device manufacturers represent an independent force between carriers and
consumers.
5. Consumers: Consumers eventually pay for the costs and margins incurred for
the providers along the chain. A consumer can purchase games from the
publisher's Website or through content provisioning systems provided by the
carrier.
2.3
Short Message Service
SMS is the abbreviation for Short Message Service. SMS is a way of sending
short messages to mobile telephones and receiving short messages from mobile
telephones. Short means a maximum of 160 bytes. According to the GSM
Association, each short message is up to 160 characters in length when Latin
alphabets are used and 70 characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as
Arabic and Chinese are used. The message can consist of text characters, in which
case the messages can be read and written by human beings. SMS text messages can
be read and written by human beings. SMS text messages have become a staple of
wireless communications in Europe and Asia/Pacific and are gradually gaining
popularity in North America. The messages also can consist of sequences of
arbitrary 8-bit bytes, in which case the message probably is created by a computer
one end and intended to be handled by a computer on the other.
There are six kinds of messages that flow in the SMS network. One of the six
message types, two go from the mobile device (whether it is serving as an air modem
or out walking around somewhere) into the network:
i. SMS-SUBMIT “submit” a message to the SMSC, generally for forward
transmission to another mobile device.
ii. SMS-COMMAND goes to the SMSC and tells it to do something.
iii. SMS-DELIVER delivers a message from another mobile.
iv. SMS-SUBMIT-REPORT reports on the results of an SMS-SUBMIT or an
SMS-COMMAND.
v. SMS-DELIVER-REPORT reports on the success or failure of the delivery
of an SMS-DELIVER or SMS-STATUS-REPORT message.
vi. SMS-STATUS REPORT reports on the results of an SMS-COMMAND
message. (Guthery and Cronin, 2002)
2.4
History of Flash
Flash grew out of a chain of thought that started in the 1980s with some ideas
Jonathan Gay had at school, then at college and later while working for Silicon
Beach Software and its successors. In January 1993, Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay,
and Michelle Welsh started a small software company called FutureWave Software
and created their first product, SmartSketch. A drawing application, SmartSketch
was designed to make creating computer graphics as simple as drawing on paper.
Although SmartSketch was an innovative drawing application, it didn't gain enough
of a foothold in its market.
As the Internet began to thrive, FutureWave began to realize the potential for
a vector-based web animation tool that might easily challenge Macromedia's often
slow-to-download Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified
SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as
FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. By that time, the company had added
a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph
Mittman. The product was offered to Adobe and used by Microsoft in its early
(MSN) work with the Internet. In December 1996, Macromedia acquired the vectorbased animation software and later released it as Flash 1.0.
a. Macromedia Flash 2 (1997) Features: Support of stereo sound, enhanced
bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the capability to tween color
changes.
b. Macromedia Flash 3 (1998) Features: Brought improvements to
animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple
script commands for interactivity. Macromedia ships its 100,000th Flash
product this year, as well.
c. Macromedia Flash 4 (1999) Features: Achieved 100 million installations
of the Flash Player, thanks in part to its inclusion with Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5. Flash 4 saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the
Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with
popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to
download it, but as of year 2000, the Flash Player was already being
distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two
years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base
of the Flash Player reached 92% of all Internet users.
d. Macromedia Flash 5 (2000) Features: Flash 5 was a major leap forward in
capability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting capabilities as released
as ActionScript. Flash 5 also saw the ability to customize the authoring
environment's interface.
e. Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to
separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in
April 2000 and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content
in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002 in favor of
new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless
transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion
Server. In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic
article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash 99% Bad".
(Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability).
In September 2001, a survey made for Macromedia by Media Metrix
showed that out of the 10 biggest websites in the United States, 7 were
making use of Flash content.
f. On March 15, 2002, Macromedia announced the availability of acromedia
Flash MX and Macromedia Flash Player 6, with support for video,
application components, shared libraries, and accessibility.
g. Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to
be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded
into the Flash movie).
h. Flash MX 2004 was released in September 2003, with features such as
faster runtime performance up to 8 times with the enhanced compiler and
the new Macromedia Flash Player 7, ability to create charts, graphs and
additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold
separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files,
mobile and device development and a forms-based development
environment.
i. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal ObjectOriented approach to ActionScript. V2 Components replaced Flash MX's
components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of
ActionScript 2.0 and Object-Oriented principles. Flash MX 2004 was the
first release of Flash to be segmented into "Basic" and "Professional"
versions. The Basic version was targeted at traditional Flash animators
while the Professional version brought more advanced capabilities that
developers would use, for example the data components.
j. In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to
more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were
released, both of which utilized the Flash Player as a delivery method but
relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash
applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling
mobile phones to play Flash content.
k.
Macromedia Flash 8 (2005) is touted by Macromedia as the most
significant upgrade to Flash since Flash 5. New features included filter
effects and blending modes, bitmap caching, a new video codec called
On2 VP6, an enhanced type rendering engine called FlashType, an
emulator for mobile devices, and several enhancements to the
ActionScript 2.0 spec, such as the BitmapData class, several geometric
classes, and the ConvolutionFilter and DisplacmentMapFilter classes.
l.
Flash Lite 2 was also released in 2005, which brought its capabilities in
line with Flash Player 7.
m. On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its
product portfolio (including Flash).
n. Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2006,
which marked the first time a Flash Player major release occurred without
a simultaneous Flash authoring program major release.
o. Flex 2.0 was released in conjunction with Flash Player 9, and the player
will be continued when Flash Authoring 9 is released in 2007. For the
first time in the history of Flash, the Flash Player will have had an
opportunity to become widely installed before the release of the
equivalent Flash program.
p. Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Linux in January 2007. Adobe
Flash 9 Public Alpha was released in 2006, and was a preview of
ActionScript 3.0.
q. Adobe Flash CS3 in 2007, originated from Flash 9 Public Alpha with
several updates for integrating into other Adobe products, is released as
bundled software of the Adobe Creative Suite 3. This currently-newest
version also brings ActionScript 3.0 and a new xml engine to the Flash
authoring tool. Also has an improved and optimized GUI like the rest of
the CS3 suite.
2.5
Overview of the Java Environment
Figure 2.1 presents an overview of the Java execution environment. At the
bottom we have the host computers that support the execution of an implementation
of the JVM. At the top we have the applications that are the programs that need to be
executed using the JVM. In between we have the Java execution system which
comprises the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and below that the JVM itself. The
Just in Time compiler (JIT) is an optional part of the JVM that can considerably
speed up execution of Java code. The JRE comprises various internal tools for
loading and verifying applications as well as the class library. The JVM not only has
the byte code interpreter, it also has the peer interface which is used to connect Java
graphics to the graphics system of the operating system of the host computer.
The Java execution environment provides not just a Java execution engine; it
provides a safe execution environment. Every time Java code is loaded it is verified
to check that it has not been tampered with, that the compiled code is internally selfconsistent and consistent with the Java standard. Also each Java program is
associated with a security manager which verifies that, when executing, the program
has permission to access the resources such as files and network connections that it
attempts to use. This ability to control resources available to executing programs is
crucially important as it allows untrusted programs to be downloaded and executed
with confidence that they cannot do any damage to the computer on which they are
executing. (Wu, 2006)
Figure 2.1: Overview of the Java environment
(Sources: “An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming With Java. 4th ed”.
USA : Mc Graw Hill.)
2.5.1
Elements of a Typical J2ME MIDP Business Application
a. Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)
Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) is part of Sun's Java 2 family of platforms. Its
siblings are the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and the Java 2 Standard Edition
(J2SE). The J2ME platform is a set of core Java APIs and execution environment
particularly tailored for resource-constrained devices such as cell phones, interactive
pagers, PDAs and electronics devices such as set-top boxes. J2ME is the result of the
joint efforts between Sun Microsystems and the Java Community Process well as
from the lessons learned from previous editions of Java for small devices.
Prominent wireless analysts have predicted by the year 2004 J2ME will
become a dominant development platform for mobile devices such as cellphones,
two-way pagers and PDAs. Today a number of major devices manufacture including
Motorola, RIM, Nokia and Panasonic as well as major wireless network carriers such
as Nextel, SprintPCS and BT Cellnet have all committed to the technology
b. Mobile Applications for the Enterprise
J2ME MIDP has its place in the enterprise. The application features that are
typically found on enterprise-class/mission-critical mobile applications, Figure 2.2
can refer to APPENDIX C.
c. Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)
The MIDP and CLDC are the industry's first J2ME profile and configuration.
When we combine these two we have set of packages/APIs that allow developers to
create small network aware applications with local data persistence and user
interfaces specifically for cell phones and interactive 2-way-pagers and low-end
PDAs.
Figure 2.3: J2ME MIDP, CLDC, and related Java packages
(Sources: “http://www.microjava.com”)
Within the CLDC we have the core Java packages to support constrained
devices with some network capabilities. CLDC defines packages such as java.lang,
java.io, java.util and javax.microedition.io. Core java.lang, java.util and java.io are
subsets of their J2SE counterpart. The javax.microedition.io is a new package
defined by the CLDC that defines the new generic connection framework (GCF), a
new I/O abstraction that we will cover later on. Let’s cover some of the things CLDC
does not support:
i. No floating point
ii. No finalization
iii. No JNI
iv. No Reflection
v. No thread groups
vi. No weak references
vii. No User defined class loaders
viii. No serialization
The introduction of a new I/O package is because of the memory footprint.
Let's look at some numbers:
i. The J2SE java.io and java.net (JDK1.3) packages total 16 Interfaces, 71
Classes and 24 Exception Classes for a total of ~316KB.
ii. The CLDC/MIDP javax.microedition.io (GCF) and java.io packages total
11 Interfaces, 12 Classes and 6 Exceptions Classes for a total of ~28KB.
Within the Mobile Information Device Profile we have the Java packages
targeted at constrained devices with limited network connectivity (CDLC) as well
devices with limited local data persistence and user interface capabilities. For this
we have the javax.microedition.lcdui for the User Interface, javax.microedition.rms
for local data persistence and javax.microedition.midlet, which defines the attributes
and behavior of MIDP applications also known as MIDlet. In addition, the MIDP
also adds a new HttpConnection interface to the GFC.
2.5.2
Wireless Networking on the MIDP
Wireless networking on the MIDP 1.0 is primarily based on (a subset of) the
HTTP/1.1 protocol. Even though support for Datagrams is specified by the MIDP
1.0 specification and is implemented on some devices such as the Motorola i85, its
implementation/availability is not required by the specification, meaning this that
you must ensure the device you are targeting do provide support for Datagrams. The
best bet for wireless networking on the MIDP is HTTP, not only for its guaranteed
availability but also for the ease of integration and interoperability with existing
systems.
A typical operation of an enterprise MIDP application (MIDlet) is one where
a mobile worker accesses the corporate network wirelessly over HTTP. On the
enterprise premises a web or application server or a wireless application gateway
interfaces with the device (typically through some kind of gateway that resides at the
network operator premises), providing access to the corporate servers and services,
typically found behind a firewall:
Figure 2.4: Typical operation of a MIDP application using HTTP
(Sources: “http://www.microjava.com”)
Typical operation of a MIDP business application would leverage XML and
HTTP. In this scenario, a MIDlet client makes request over HTTP and gets responses
in XML. Leveraging XML over HTTP allows for easier integration and
interoperability than any other approach. An attractive alternative approach to HTTP
is the use of messaging, for example JMS. Messaging in general provides excellent
features including loosely coupled sender and receivers and guaranteed message
delivery. However, JMS is not native to J2ME/MIDP.
Networking on the MIDP is based on a new I/O framework defined in
javax.microedition.io known as the CLDC Generic Connection Framework (GCF).
This framework is composed of 2 classes and a hierarchy of interfaces. You can refer
to APPENDIX D.
2.6
The Client-Server Architecture
A distributed system is a system in which computations are performed by
separate programs, normally running on separate pieces of hardware that cooperate
to perform the task of the system as a whole. A server is a program that provides
some service for other programs that connect to it using a communication channel.
A client is a program that accesses a server; a client may access many servers to
perform different functions, and a server may be accessed by many clients
simultaneously. A client-server system is a distributed system involving at least one
server and one client.
Figure 2.6 illustrates a server program communicating with two client
programs. The vertical lines represent the three programs involved. After
connecting, Client1 sends a message, receives a reply and disconnects. Client2
connects while Client1 is still connected; it simply sends a message and then
disconnects.
In general, the components of a client-server system interact as follows:
i. The server starts running.
ii. The server waits for clients to connect. This waiting
process is called listening.
iii. Clients start running and perform various operations, some
of which require connecting to the server to request a
service.
iv. When a client attempts to connect, the server accepts the
connection if it is willing.
v. The server waits for message to arrive from connected
clients.
vi. When a message from a client arrives, the server takes
some action in response, and then resumes waiting.
vii. Clients and servers continue functioning in this manner
until one of them decides to shut down.
Normally, the action taken by the server includes sending a message back to
the client. Most servers have to be able to handle connections from many clients and
respond to messages from all the connected clients. (Lethbridge and Laganiere,
2005)
Figure 2.6: A server communicating with two client programs
(Sources: “Object-Oriented Software Engineering Practical Software
Development Using UML, Java. 2nd ed”. UK : Mc Graw Hill.)
2.7
The World Wide Web
The three main components of a World Wide Web (WWW) information
system are clients, documents, and information servers. The user interacts with the
system using a Web client, which lets the user name and load documents from
servers for viewing. Web clients typically support a number of a different document
types, such as files available via ftp, netnews, and Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML), and support connections with a variety of information servers, such as ftp,
daemons, news servers, and Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) daemons.
Documents are files on a server referenced by Uniform Resources Locators (URLs),
and they can contain a variety of data types, including ASCII text formatted
according to HTML directives, embedded pictures, and audio and video clips, as well
as embedded URLs that are used as hypertext links to other documents. URL can
also name programs on HTTP daemons that, when executed, produce an HTML
document as output. (Imielinski and Korth, 1996)
2.8
Apache
The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache, is a web
server no table for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web.
Apache was the first viable alternative to the Netscape Communications Corporation
web server (currently known as Sun Java System Web Server), and has since evolved
to rival other Unix-based web servers in terms of functionality and performance.
Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP server on the World Wide
Web; since March 2006 however it has experienced a steady decline of its market
share. As of August 2007 Apache served 50% of all websites.
The project's name was chosen for two reasons: out of respect for the Native
American Indian tribe of Apache (Indé), well-known for their endurance and their
skills in warfare, and due to the project's roots as a set of patches to the codebase of
NCSA HTTPd 1.3 - making it "a patchy" server.
Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers
under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation. The application is available
for a wide variety of operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Novell
NetWare and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X. Released
under the Apache License, Apache is free and open Sources software.
2.9
MySQL
MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user SQL database management system
(DBMS) which has, according to MySQL AB, more than 10 million installations.
The basic program runs as a server providing multiuser access to a number of
databases. MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish
company MySQL AB, which holds the copyright to most of the codebase. This is
similar to the JBoss model.
It is dissimilar to the Apache project, where the software is developed by a
public community and the copyright to the codebase is owned by its individual
authors. The company develops and maintains the system, selling support and
service contracts, as well as proprietary-licensed copies of MySQL, and employing
people all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. MySQL AB was founded
by David Axmark, Allan Larsson, and Michael "Monty" Widenius. The CEO is
Mårten Mickos. The MySQL company also sells another DBMS, MaxDB, which is
from an unrelated codebase.
2.10
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Professional Web designers and developers need look no further to find the
perfect Web authoring tool. Dreamweaver 8 offers support for modern browsers and
standards and makes it easy for you to get your site up to speed with those
technologies. In fact, the biggest drawback to Dreamweaver 8 is that it is so complex
that amateur Web designers will find it overwhelming. There is a lot to learn and use
in Dreamweaver 8 and unless you're willing to take the time, it can be a steep
learning curve.
Dreamweaver continues to produce good clean XHTML code without a lot of
extraneous tags and special codes. In code-view, Dreamweaver offers color-coding
and code formatting similar to the Code Sweeper in Homesite. In design-view,
Dreamweaver provides more visual cues for layout and design elements so that CSS
is easier to review and update quickly.
If you are an amateur Web designer who has never used Dreamweaver
before, you might want to get another software package such as FrontPage or Namo
Web Editor. But if you're looking to move into a professional space or have used
Dreamweaver in the past, you'll be thrilled with the improvements and won't be upset
with the new additions.
2.11
PHP
PHP is a server-side, cross-platform; HTML embedded scripting language
that lets us create dynamic web pages. PHP-enabled web pages are treated just like
regular HTML pages and we can create and edit them the same way we normally
create regular HTML pages. Hypertext Preprocessor is an open Sources server side
programming language extensively used for web scripts and to process data passed
via the Common Gateway Interface from HTML forms etc. PHP can be written as
scripts that reside on the server and may produce HTML output that downloads to
the web browser. Alternatively, PHP can be embedded within HTML pages that are
then saved with a .php file extension. The PHP sections of the page are then parsed
by the PHP engine on the server and the PHP code stripped out before the page is
downloaded to the web browser. The name is a bit of a programming joke (if there is
such a thing) since it's a recursive acronym i.e. the P in PHP stands for PHP. (Ref 5)
2.12
Similar Product Analysis
Ozura is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nextnation Communication. The
company distributes games for mobile phones using Java, BREW or Symbian
technology. Ozura game engine provides entertainment applications and
technologies that support multiple wireless handsets, servicing wireless carriers,
aggregators, mobile phone manufacturers, media companies and content developers
worldwide.
Wizardome is a mobile application developer. Wizardome currently focuses
on the mobile entertainment industry by designing and developing mobile games
according to the needs and attitudes of our audience as well as network operator by
incorporating the J2ME-MIDP technology. Besides the standard game play,
Wizardome also plans to venture into other customized mobile games based on the
needs & request from corporate clients.
2.13
Example of Malaysian J2ME Games
Figure 2.7: Game Snapshot
(Sources: “http://my.fonwar.com”)
i. Badang
The legend tell a story about Badang, a child of a slave, the stongest person
and wise after swallowing jewel from stomach of a genie. The news about his
strength and intelligence already be known by Raja Wira. Wira appoint Badang
become advisory royal and chief military in Temasik. Diraja's palace has been
attacked by supernatural forces. Now, the country depends on Badang to uphold
Royal Palace from this attack.
Figure 2.8: Game Snapshot
(Sources: “http://my.fonwar.com”)
ii. Puteri Gunung Ledang
Whisper of the wind tells a daughter legend from Gunung Ledang. The news
about the beauty of the princess has been intriguing king Mansur Shah. Then, the
majesty sends Tun Mamat to Puteri Gunung Ledang. At the mount of legend, Tun
Mamat traverses various obstacles before he can convey the sultan’s wish to the
mystery princess.
Figure 2.9: Game Snapshot
(Sources: “http://my.fonwar.com”)
iii. Rage of Mages
The mobile Allods is a stunning turn-based RPG in a magnificent fantasy
environment revealing the prehistory of the world of Allods. The hero's team
consists of 4 characters, each possessing defined skills. The knight himself possesses
the power of a mighty blow and durable defense which make him the perfect melee
fighter; the knight's lady-friend, an agile and well-aimed archer covers the hero's
back; the healer, equipped with magical healing powers helps treat wounds received
in battles; the battle mage aims his magic energy at the enemies, helping your
characters in battles. Turn-based gameplay gives the player the chance to thoroughly
analyze decisions and build up strategy for mission completion.
Figure 2.10: Game Snapshot
(Sources: “http://my.fonwar.com”)
iv. Range Lords: The Tears of Sitanel
The days of the Empire are numbered. The Council realizes that the
imminent death of the last Overlord of Essgert will bring war and chaos to the realm.
However, the dying Overlord will not let his life extinguish without one last throw of
the dice. Legend has it that beneath the mountains depths, deeper than hell itself, the
fallen angel Sitanel bemoans his fate. According to the legend his tears will grant
immortality. However, it is only a legend and everyone knows legends rarely tell all
the aspects of truth. A 3D action game from the Rogue Lords trilogy. Immerse
yourself in the dark world of a medieval executioner arming yourself with swords,
axes and even crossbows. Collect various special items such as keys, elixirs and
armour. Uncover all the secrets of the dark dungeons and conquer 10 expansive
levels full to the brim with gruesome monsters to obtain the tears of the Fallen
Angel.
Figure 2.11: Game Snapshot
(Sources: “http://my.fonwar.com”)
v. Hammer and Sickle
Hammer and Sickle for mobile phones is the mobile version of an existing PC
game. One of the key features of the project is the support of multiplayer mode,
realised via the GPRS function of the mobile phone. Turn-based system of
movement and battle, non-linear game plot, additional missions and a welldeveloped role play system will make the time of playing unforgettable.
2.14
Compatible Phones
1.
Nokia
Nokia SERIES 40 3rd edition: Nokia 6125, Nokia 6126, Nokia 5300, Nokia 5200,
Nokia 6086, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6300, Nokia 6133, Nokia 6288, Nokia 8800,
Nokia 7390, Nokia 7373, Nokia 6151
Nokia SERIES 60 2nd edition: Nokia 6670
Nokia SERIES 60 3rd edition: Nokia 3250, Nokia E50, Nokia E60, Nokia E61,
Nokia E62, Nokia E70, Nokia N71, Nokia N73, Nokia N75, Nokia N76,
Nokia N80, Nokia N91, Nokia N92, Nokia N95, Nokia N93, Nokia N93i,
Nokia 6290, Nokia 5500 (Sport)
2.
Sony Ericson
Sony Ericsson k600, Sony Ericsson k600i, Sony Ericsson k600c, Sony Ericsson
k606i, Sony Ericsson k606c, Sony Ericsson k608i, Sony Ericsson k608c, Sony
Ericsson k610i, Sony Ericsson k618i, Sony Ericsson V800, Sony Ericsson w300i,
Sony Ericsson w550, Sony Ericsson w550i, Sony Ericsson W200i, Sony Ericsson
W600, Sony Ericsson W900, Sony Ericsson W900i, Sony Ericsson W710i, Sony
Ericsson W850i, SonyEricssonW810i, Sony Ericsson Z530i, Sony Ericsson Z800
2.15
Summary
The platform, programming language and technologies that supports mobile
gaming has been discussed in this chapter. Competitors, pricing and similar product
analysis also been discussed. The example of interface and summary about a few of
Malaysian Java Games also been discussed.
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1
Introduction
This chapter will be discussed about the research methodology that has been
applied to this project. A software engineering project involves people working with
a collection of tools to produce documents and code guided by common goals and
strategies. The tools include compilers, debuggers, environments, change
management, sources control, project management, document processors, and
domain modeling tools.
3.2
Methodology
The documents produced include the requirements which define the problem,
the user manuals, the test plans, the scenarios, the design which define the
architecture, and the implementation plans. The code may deal with objects, data
structures, algorithms, methods, modules, protocols, and interface definitions. The
strategies are materialized through the collection of the architecture, methods,
paradigms, risk analysis, conventions, and a mission statement. These steps together
define the cradle-to-grave life cycle of the software product. Managing software
engineering projects is tough. The body of methods, rules, postulates, procedures,
and processes that are used to manage a software engineering project are collectively
referred to as a methodology.
3.3
Project Development Methodology
Any methodology is not the way all projects will operate. It is a best fit.
There will be variations for very good reasons. That is not to say it is variable at the
whim of each team. There needs to be some guidance provided as to what is the
sensible pragmatic approach for each project. It is important to differentiate between
a project methodology and a system development methodology or software
development methodology.
A project methodology covers all the things that need to do until the project
complete. It is a methodology that the projects should be broken down into phases
and there should be a plan in place before each phase begins. Thus, Iterative
Development Methodology will apply in this project. It focuses on incremental
analysis and design to avoid the high complexity that is introduced by a large upfront
analysis and design phase and to allow the adoption to changing requirements.
3.3.1
Methodology Project
The methodology selection was based on the research that have done before.
Software engineering driven by three main factors: cost, schedule and quality. Agile
Game methodology was the methodology that we choose to apply in this project.
The UML has been applied at the design stage to ensure that each of the process is
clearly defined.
3.3.2
Agile Game Development
Agile Methodology focuses on an iterative and incremental approach to the
creation of games. Most games are developed in phases; a design phase is followed
by a prototype phase, followed by production and then an Alpha/Beta phase at the
end. This approach assumes that if we create a big document and plan and develop
to that plan, we can create a game that not only meets its budget, schedule and scope,
but also be fun.
New methodology for game development called Agile. Scrum is a more
specific implementation of the agile method:
Traditional game development uses a production methodology that spends a
lot of front-end time, defining intended functionality, often with implementation of
important elements such as mechanics and levels waiting around until the mad
scramble at the end. The traditional methodology, often called Waterfall, isn’t
dissimilar to an assembly line, with the beginning of the line starting the process of
piecing together the product while the end of the line waits to add polish.
Agile puts the emphasis on producing demonstrable iterations of a game
almost immediately into production, creating prioritized vertical slices that iterate on
the most critical elements and features. The method also puts great emphasis on the
organization of teams and the relationships therein, as well as the cycles in which
teams must plan and carry out their project objectives.
Figure 3.1: Project Noise Level
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Figure 3.2: Agile Process
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Scrum breaks down production into short work cycles called Sprints. At the
beginning of each Sprint, the entire project team meets to create objectives and selforganize into small Scrum teams. The Scrum teams are interdisciplinary, with artists
working alongside designers working alongside programmers.
Figure 3.3 below illustrated about game task. When given a well-defined set
of inputs, the same outputs are generated every time. Every task must be completely
understood.
Figure 3.3: A Defined Process
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
3.3.3
Scrum Background
The approach was first described by Takeuchi and Nonaka. They noted that
projects using small, cross-functional teams historically produce the best results, and
likened these high-performing teams to the scrum formation in Rugby. Ken
Schwaber used an approach that led to Scrum at his company, Advanced
Development Methods, in the early 1990's. At the same time, Jeff Sutherland, John
Scumniotales, and Jeff McKenna developed a similar approach at Easel Corporation
and were the first to call it Scrum. Sutherland and Schwaber jointly presented a
paper describing Scrum at OOPSLA '96 in Austin, its first public appearance.
Schwaber and Sutherland collaborated during the following years to merge the above
writings, their experiences, and industry best practices into what is now known as
Scrum.
Although Scrum was intended to be for management of software
development projects, it can be used in running maintenance teams, or as a program
management approach: Scrum of Scrums.
Figure 3.4: A Simple Visualization of Scrum
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Figure 3.4 above is illustrated about the visualization of scrum. Game
features are broken down into individual tasks by programmers, artists and designers,
they then work on these for an iteration of two weeks to a month, accounting for their
tasks and to each other in a daily meeting. At the end of the iteration a product
review occurs of all work done for that iteration where project directors and
publishers can determine how to prioritize the next iteration based on the work done
in the latest.
3.3.4
Characteristics of Scrum
The characteristics of scrum are:
i. A product backlog of prioritized work to be done.
ii. Completion of a fixed set of backlog items in a series of short iterations or
sprints.
iii. A brief daily meeting or scrum, at which progress is explained, upcoming
work is described and impediments are raised.
iv. A brief sprint planning session in which the backlog items for the sprint will
be defined.
v. A brief sprint retrospective, at which all team members reflect about the past
sprint.
Scrum is facilitated by a ScrumMaster, whose primary job is to remove
impediments to the ability of the team to deliver the sprint goal. The ScrumMaster is
not the leader of the team (as they are self-organising) but acts as a buffer between
the team and any distracting influences.
Figure 3.5: Productivity Scrum Team
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Figure 3.6: Scrum Team Chart
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Figure 3.7: Detailed Scrum Team Chart
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Scrum enables the creation of self-organizing teams by encouraging colocation of all team members, and verbal communication across all team members
and disciplines that are involved in the project. A key principle of Scrum is its
recognition that fundamentally empirical challenges cannot be addressed
successfully in a traditional predictive or planned manner. As such, Scrum adopts an
empirical approach – accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or
defined, focusing instead on maximizing the team's ability to deliver quickly and
respond to emerging requirements.
Figure 3.8: Scrum Structure
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
3.3.5
Scrum Process
Figure 3.9: Scrum Process
(Sources: “Agile Software Development Methods. Review and Analysis”. Finland :
VTT Publication.)
3.3.6
Kirana Mobile Game Development Process
Kirana mobile game is developed in phases; pre-game phase (planning and
architecture / high level design), development phase and post-game phase. A design
phase is followed by a prototype phase, followed by production and then an
Alpha/Beta phase at the end.
Pre-Game
Planning
Architecture /
High Level
Design
Development
Post-Game
Figure 3.10: Phase Flow Chart
Pre – Game Phase
a. Planning Phase
Planning includes the definition of the definition of the system being developed.
A Product Backlog is created containing all the requirements that are currently
known. At every iteration, the updated Product Backlog is reviewed by the team so
as to gain their commitment for the next iteration.
b. Architecture / High Level Design Phase
In the architecture phase, the high level design of the system including the
architecture is planned based on the current items in the Product Backlog. A design
review meeting is held to go over the proposals for the implementation and decisions
are made on the basis of this review.
Development Phase
The development phase (also called the game phase) is the agile part of the
Scrum approach the different environmental and technical variables (such as time
frame, quality, requirements, resources, implementation technologies and tools, and
even development methods) identified in Scrum, which may change during the
process, are observed and controlled through various scrum practices during the
sprints of the development phase. In the development phase, the system is developed
in sprints. Sprints are iterative cycles where the functionality is developed or
enhanced to produce new increments. Each sprints includes the traditional phase of
software development requirements, analysis, designs, evolution and delivery phases.
Post-Game Phase
The Post-Game phase contains the closure of the release. This phase is
entered when an agreement has been made that the environmental variables such as
the requirements are completed. In this case, no more items and issues can be found
nor can any new ones be invented. The system is now ready for the release and the
preparation for this is done during the post-game phase, including the task such as
the integration, system testing and documentation.
Figure 3.11: Practices and Inputs of Sprint
(Sources: “Agile Software Development Methods. Review and Analysis”. Finland :
VTT Publication.)
Figure 3.12: Sustainable Pace
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
Figure 3.13: Test-Driven Development
(Sources: “www.gdconf.com”)
3.4
Object-Oriented Programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that uses
"objects" and their interactions to design applications and computer programs. It is
based on several techniques, including inheritance, modularity, polymorphism, and
encapsulation. It was not commonly used in mainstream software application
development until the early 1990s. Many modern programming languages now
support OOP.
3.5
The Unified Modeling Language (UML)
The Unified modeling language (UML) provides graphical notation that can
be used to model computer systems developed using object-oriented software
engineering (OOSE). The focus of OOSE is identifying the problem elements that
produce or consume information and describing the relationship among these
elements. In OOSE, objects are defined to represent these elements during the
system analysis and design process. UML diagrams allow software engineers to
indicate the relationship among the objects used to define the system. Most of these
objects will need to be implemented using software in the final system. UML is
particularly useful when the plan is to implement the system in an object-oriented
language like Java. (Lethbridge and Laganiere, 2005)
3.6
Describing an Architecture Using UML
All UML diagrams can be useful to describe aspects of the architectural
model. The goal of architecture is to describe the system at a very high level, with
emphasis on software components and their interfaces. Use case diagrams can
provide a good summary of the system from the user’s perspective. Class diagrams
can be used to indicate the services offered by components and the main data to be
stored. Interaction diagrams can be used to define the protocol used when two
components communicate with each other. (Lethbridge and Laganiere, 2005)
3.7
Methodology Justification
Two good reasons to use PHP objects:
i. It’s a good way to distribute third-party code for reuse.
ii. Many programmers, who are used to OO syntax from other languages, won’t
feel comfortable unless they can use the same idioms in PHP. (Converse and
Park, 2002)
How OOP is PHP?
i. Single inheritance – PHP allows a class definition to inherit from another
class, using the extends clause. Both, member variables and member
functions are inherited.
ii. Multiple inheritance – PHP offers no support for multiple inheritance and
no notion of interface inheritance as in Java. Each class inherits from, at
most, one parent class.
iii. Constructors – Every class can have one constructor function, which in
current (Zend Engine 1) versions of PHP has the same name as the class. In
future versions of PHP, which include the Zend Engine 2 parser, the
constructor function in each class will be called _construct(). Constructors
of parent classes are not automatically called but must be invoked
explicility.
iv. Destructors – Current versions of PHP (with Zend Engine 1) offer no
destructors, largely because deallocation of memory in PHP is not under the
programmer’s control. Future versions with Zend Engine 2 will include
destructors.
v. Encapsulation/access control – There is no support for encapsulation in
PHP with Zend Engine 1. All member variables and member functions are
public. Zend Engine 2 will offer private member variables.
vi. Polymorphism/overloading – PHP supports polymorphism in the sense of
allowing instance of subclasses to be used in place of parent instances. The
correct member function will be dispatched to at runtime. There is no
support for method overloading, where dispatch happens based on the
method’s signature – each class only has one member function of a given
name. However, PHP’s weak typing and support for variable numbers of
arguments makes workarounds possible.
a. Early vs. late binding – In PHP values are typed but variables
are not, so there is no question about what method to call when
the variable is of a different type than the value. The question
doesn’t arise, due to PHP being loosely typed, and
b. All binding is late.
vii. Static (or class) functions – There is no explicit support for class
functions, but it is possible to call member functions via the Classname : :
function () syntax, without reference to an instance. Such a function can be
treated as a class function as long as it does not refer to member variables.
viii. Introspection – PHP offers a wide variety of functions here, including the
capability to recover class names, member function names, and member
variable names from an instance. (Converse and Park, 2002)
3.8
Game Architecture
Figure 3.14 is the game architecture for Kirana mobile game. It describes
from the aspects of game administration, game state and to the presentation of the
game.
Figure 3.14: Game Architecture
3.9
Project Schedule
The Gantt chart is an effective tool for planning and scheduling operations
involving a minimum of dependencies and interrelationships among the activities.
The technique is best applied to activities for which time durations are not difficult to
estimate, since there is no provision for treatment of uncertainty. On the other hand,
the charts are easy to construct and understand, even though they may contain a great
amount of information. In general, the charts are easily maintained provided the task
requirements are somewhat static.
An initial step in development of a Gantt chart may be to specify the tasks or
activities making up a project, as shown in the illustration. The amount of time
required for each activity is represented as a horizontal bar on the chart, with open
triangles designating original start and finish dates in this example. The open start
triangle is changed to a filled triangle upon inauguration of the activity, and the bar is
filled in with vertical lines to indicate progress and completion. The open finish
triangle is also filled upon completion. Slippage times are documented on the chart
by broken lines, and the diamond symbols are employed to indicate rescheduled
work. The vertical line on the chart is the current-date indicator and indicates present
and future status of the project as of that date.
The Project Timeline is described in the Project Plan, which is shown with the
Gantt chart showing the interdependencies of the various activities in the project.
The project plan shows major sections of the project which includes:
i. Dependencies.
ii. Milestones/Key Dates.
iii. Project Deliverables.
iv. High-Level Key project activities such as design,
development, installation, test and training.
v. Start and End Dates of the activities.
The implementation timeline defines the tasks within each activity, estimated
elapsed time frame and resources assigned to perform each of the tasks. In the
execution of the project, some of the tasks are performed concurrent as they are not
dependent on other tasks.
However, some of the tasks need to be performed
sequentially as they depend on the completion of other tasks before they can begin.
As with each of our engagements, these project activities will be completed in a
professional manner giving due consideration to strict confidentiality. The project
schedule can be referred to APPENDIX A and APPENDIX B.
3.10
Summary
In this chapter, we have discussed about project methodology. We will apply
Agile Game Methodology based on several reasons. We also attached the project
schedule in APPENDIX A and APPENDIX B.
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS / RESULT
4.1
Introduction
This chapter will focus on the design aspects of the development of mobile
game that includes the Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME) architecture,
component, database, functional designs and UML diagrams. The designed is
derived by the usage of UML and the evolutionary prototype model.
4.2
Markup, Native OS, or Messaging for Games
The gaming experience on mobile devices is clearly still evolving. High end
phones with speedy processors, large available memory, and large displays have the
potential to provide a platform equal to that of dedicated gaming devices. Phones
will likely continue to be limited to the physical constraints of their primary function.
As new phone platforms emerge, the majority of them are not likely to have joy
sticks or action buttons specifically tailored to game playing. Lower end, massmarket devices will continue to benefit from features that sediment down to the
commodity level over time, and present even richer environments for gaming.
There are several classes of games, from action game that require rapid
responses from the user and from the device, to strategic games like chess or Othello,
to casino or card games, to board games such as Monopoly, to role-playing games
such as the classic adventure or dungeons and dragons. Any of these games could be
played as a single player vs. device or in a head-to-head or even multiplayer mode.
Action based games such as Asteroids provide a much more sophisticated and
meaningful user experience if architected to run in a local application environment.
The local nature of the application allows for “fast twitch” type responses that
are simply not possible to accomplish over a network. Graphics performance can be
optimized by redrawing only the portions of the screen that require updating, and
every key press event can be captured and bound to an action. Furthermore, when
the user exits the application, the game can stay in a paused state, and be resumed
exactly at the point of suspension.
The application may also interact with the browser and/or messaging
applications in the handset. Even if the game does not require network access to
operate, network resources could be used to provide new levels of play, upload high
scores, provide “help” files, chat, and track usage and adoption. If the application is
to be targeted at a variety of different devices, and the resources are available, the
only way to ensure near universal availability is to develop discrete executable
versions of the game for every targeted device. On the other hand, an application
that does not require constant or rapid interaction from the end user may be more
elegantly architected to run within the context of a browser.
Consider a strategy game such as chess, or even bridge. The results of each
round of action in the game are not dependent upon how quickly decisions are made,
but more on the long-term impact of these decisions. In these cases, network latency
is perfectly acceptable, and a game played wholly within the context of the browser
on a device may not only be feasible, but desirable, from the standpoint of both the
user and the application developer. (Longoria, 2004)
4.3
Designing J2ME Applications: MIDP and UI Design
The Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) is the Java platform for consumer
and embedded devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, television set-top boxes, and
other embedded devices. Like its counterparts – Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition
(J2EE platform), Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE platform), and Java Card –
the J2ME platform is a set of standard Java APIs defined through the Java
Community Process platform. The Java Community Process program uses expert
groups that include leading manufacturers, software vendors, and service providers
to create the standard APIs. (Longoria, 2004)
4.3.1
Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME) Architecture
The J2ME platform includes a flexible user interface, a robust security model,
a broad range of built-in network protocols, and support for both networked and
disconnected applications. With the J2ME platform, applications are written once
for a wide range of devices, are downloaded dynamically, and leverage each device’s
native capabilities.
The J2ME platform architecture defines configurations, profile, and optional
packages as elements for building complete Java runtime environments that meet the
requirements for a broad range of devices and target markets. Figure 4.1 shows the
relationships between these elements. Each combination is optimized for the
memory, processing power, and I/O capabilities of a related category of devices.
The result is a common Java platform that fully leverages each type of device to
deliver a rich user experience. (Longoria, 2004)
Figure 4.1: Java 2 Platform Edition Architecture
(Sources: “Designing Software for the Mobile Context A Practitioner’s Guide”. USA
: Springer)
4.3.2
The Application Environment
There are a number of significant technology questions that must be answered
when developing applications for 3G, above and beyond simple device constrains.
The most immediate question is the environment in which an application will
execute. The environment can be defined on a number of different dimensions, some
of which are in the control of the developer, while some constraints are placed either
by the device or the network on which it runs. Developers can build applications that
run as a local executable on the device, with or without access to network resources.
A simple single player game would be a local application not likely to require
access to network resources. Alternatively, applications can be structured a s markup
or browser-based where processing and logic are all controlled on a server, and
presentation and interaction are accomplished in a pre-installed browser. Perhaps the
most feature-rich applications built for 3G will be those built to run locally on the
device. The 3G environment represents a step forward for developers as operating
systems become more robust and powerful and over-the-air download mechanisms
for applications are widely available. In addition, devices will also continue to ship
with some set of pre-loaded applications such as messaging clients, browsers, phone
books, and games which may (or may not) be possible to supplement or replace.
This class of application will run on the native operating system (OS), and when
building programs to run natively, developers have little choice over the
programming language that must be used. Tools, sample code, compilers, and the
device properties for native applications usually must come directly from the device
manufacturer and the application must be tested and ported to the specific device.
(Longoria, 2004)
4.4
Component Design
Component Design is divided into two sections that include the class and
sequence diagrams. The following use case diagrams illustrate user / player and
system administrators use case diagrams.
Figure 4.2: Use Case for Mobile User
Figure 4.3: Use Case for Web User
Figure 4.4: Use Case for Web Admin
Figure 4.5: Use Case Diagram for Game Writers
Figure 4.6: Use Case Diagram for Game Producer
Figure 4.7: Use Case Diagram for Game Artist
Figure 4.8: Use Case Diagram for Game Designer
Figure 4.9: Use Case Diagram for Game Developer
Figure 4.10: Use Case Diagram for Level Designer
Figure 4.11: Use Case Diagram for Game Programmers
4.4.1
Use Case Description
Use-case diagrams graphically depict system behavior (use cases). These
diagrams present a high level view of how the system is used as viewed from an
outsider’s (actor’s) perspective. A use-case diagram may depict all or some of the
use cases of a system.
A use-case diagram can contain:
a. actors (“things” outside the system)
b. use cases (system boundaries identifying what the system
should do)
c. interactions or relationships between actors and use cases in
the system including the associations and generalizations
Use-case diagrams can be used during analysis to capture the system
requirements and to understand how the system should work. During the design
phase, we can use use-case diagrams to specify the behavior of the system as
implemented.
Figure 4.2 illustrated the Use Case for Mobile User. This use case consists of
one actor, user or player. This use case describes about the interaction between users
with all process through mobile phone. Firstly, user should register using short
message service (SMS). Then, they can download game through their mobile phone.
After the downloading process finish, user can play the game. Then, after user
complete a level, they will get instruction whether they want to submit their score to
server or not. If they wish to submit their score, their credit, RM0.50 will be
deducted and they have a chance to compete with other player and stand a chance to
win a lot of prizes. All top scores will be announced through our web site.
Figure 4.3 illustrated the Use Case for Web User. This use case consists of
one actor, user or player. This use case describes the interaction between users with
all process that involving them with our web site. User will fill in the registration
form to sign up. Then, they will get confirmation through email and get their id and
password. They will have to verify the id and password and can log in to the web
site. After that, finish surfing through the web site, they have to log out from the
web site.
Figure 4.4 illustrated the Use Case for Web Admin. This use case consists of
one actor, admin. This use case describes about the interaction between admin with
the system. Admin have to login to enter the system. They have right to update
score, update user record and information. All top scores will be announced through
the web site. Admin will update the top scores ranking everyday. Admin will
manage user records. The latest news about our game or other information will be
announced through the web site. Admin will in charge to make the announcement.
Figure 4.5 illustrated the Use Case for Game Writers. This use case consists
of one actor, writer. This use case describes about the writer’s responsibility on
game development. Writers will write game and dialog for Non Player Character
(NPC).
Figure 4.6 illustrated the Use Case for Game Producer. This use case consists
of one actor, producer. This use case describes about the producer’s responsibility
on game development. Producer is the one who negotiating contracts with team
work, developing and maintaining schedules, developing and maintaining budgets.
Producer will arrange beta testing for the game.
Figure 4.7 illustrated the Use Case for Game Artist. This use case consists of
one actor, artist. This use case describes about the artist’s responsibility on game
development. Firstly, the game artist will develop volumes of sketches. Then, they
will develop game asset and creates visual art.
Figure 4.8 illustrated the Use Case for Game Designers. This use case
consists of one actor, designer. This use case describes about the designer’s
responsibility on game development. Game designer will design game, develops
layout, concept and gameplay. They also will implement and modify game design.
Figure 4.9 illustrated the Use Case for Game Developer. This use case
consists of one actor, developer. This use case describes about the developer’s
responsibility on game development. Game Developer is the one who develop game
and have rights to give approval for game idea.
Figure 4.10 illustrated the Use Case for Level Designers. This use case
consists of one actor, level designer. This use case describes about the level
designer’s responsibility on game development. Level Designer is a person who
creates levels and advanced levels, challengers or missions. They also produce
scenarios and altering game rules.
Figure 4.11 illustrated the Use Case for Game Programmers. This use case
consists of one actor, programmer. This use case describes about the programmer’s
responsibility on game development. Game Programmers is an important position
on game development. They will develop prototypes and technical framework. The
game source code will be written by the programmers.
4.4.2
Sequence Diagram
Sequence Diagram is the diagram that shows the sequence of functions in a
system, derived from use case. The sequence diagrams describe the system activity
in completing a relevant task to meet user requirement. The processes include
interconnection between components or modules that ensure that the queries are
responded to promptly.
Sequence diagram depicts the sequence of actions that occur in a system.
The invocation of methods in each object, and the order in which the invocation
occurs is captured in a Sequence diagram. This makes the Sequence diagram a very
useful tool to easily represent the dynamic behavior of a system. A Sequence
diagram is two-dimensional in nature. On the horizontal axis, it shows the life of the
object that it represents, while on the vertical axis, it shows the sequence of the
creation or invocation of these objects. Because it uses class name and object name
references, the Sequence diagram is very useful in elaborating and detailing the
dynamic design and the sequence and origin of invocation of objects. Hence, the
Sequence diagram is one of the most widely used dynamic diagrams in UML. The
sequence diagrams figure for all process is documented and can be referred to
APPENDIX E.
4.4.3
Class Diagram
A class diagram is a picture for describing generic descriptions of possible
systems. Class diagrams and collaboration diagrams are alternate representations of
object models. Class diagrams contain classes and object diagrams contain objects,
but it is possible to mix classes and objects when dealing with various kinds of
metadata, so the separation is not rigid.
Class diagrams are more prevalent than object diagrams. Normally we will
build class diagrams plus occasional object diagrams illustrating complicated data
structures or message-passing structures. Class diagrams contain icons representing
classes, interfaces, and their relationships. We can create one or more class diagrams
to depict the classes at the top level of the current model; such class diagrams are
themselves contained by the top level of the current model. We can also create one
or more class diagrams to depict classes contained by each package in your model;
such class diagrams are themselves contained by the package enclosing the classes
they depict; the icons representing logical packages and classes in class diagrams.
The class diagrams figure is documented and can be referred to APPENDIX F.
4.4.4
State-Chart Diagram
State chart diagrams model the dynamic behavior of individual classes or any
other kind of object. They show the sequences of states that an object goes through,
the events that cause a transition from one state or activity to another and the actions
that result from a state or activity change.
State chart diagrams are closely related to activity diagrams. The main
difference between the two diagrams is state chart diagrams are state centric, while
activity diagrams are activity centric. A state chart diagram is typically used to
model the discrete stages of an object’s lifetime, whereas an activity diagram is
better suited to model the sequence of activities in a process.
Each state represents a named condition during the life of an object during
which it satisfies some condition or waits for some event. A state chart diagram
typically contains one start state and multiple end states. Transitions connect the
various states on the diagram. As with activity diagrams, decisions,
synchronizations, and activities may also appear on state chart diagrams. The state
chart diagrams figure is documented and can be referred to APPENDIX G.
4.4.5
Activity Diagram
Activity diagrams provide a way to model the workflow of a business process
or a way to model a class operation. These diagrams are very similar to a flowchart
because you can model a workflow from activity to activity or from activity to state.
Activity diagrams can model many different types of workflows. For example, a
company could use activity diagrams to model the flow for an approval of orders or
model the paper trail of invoices. An accounting firm could use activity diagrams to
model any number of financial transactions. A software company could use activity
diagrams to model part of a software development process.
An activity diagram is considered a special case of a state machine in which
most of the states are activities and most of the transitions are implicitly triggered by
completion of the actions in the source activities. The main difference between
activity diagrams and state charts is activity diagrams are activity centric, while state
charts are state centric. An activity diagram is typically used for modeling the
sequence of activities in a process, whereas a state chart is better suited to model the
discrete stages of an object’s lifetime. The activity diagrams figure is documented
and can be referred to APPENDIX H.
4.5
Web Interface
Figure 4.12 is a screen shot for the web interface. Our company provides a
website. The website will be a platform to all players.
Figure 4.12: Web Interface
4.6
Mobile Game Interface
Figure 4.13 (a) and 4.13 (b) is a screen shot for the Kirana Mobile Game
interface.
Figure 4.13 (a): Kirana Mobile Game Interface
Figure 4.13 (b): Kirana Mobile Game Interface
4.7
Game Documentation
Documentation and information organization are an integral part of mobile
game construction. Currently, game programmers and designers usually generate all
the documentation associated with a game. Documenting a mobile game idea is the
backbone on which the rest of the mobile game production rests. Game
documentation is also used as a reference tool for others on a mobile game design
team, so the importance of usable and understandable documents becomes apparent.
The game documentation is documented and can be referred to APPENDIX I.
4.8
Mobile Game Testing
Each mobile handset released which supports J2ME has a reference emulator
for the developer to test his application or a game. Emulators can only be trusted for
10% of assurance. Most leading publishers and developers go for real device testing
for their mobile games. We have done a real device testing.
i. Testing: Functionality Testing
ii. Environmental Testing
iii. Performance Testing
Testing a mobile application or game is mandatory to ensure, there is no
crash or inconvenience for players. To test a game, it is not enough to do it on
emulators and not all devices have emulators. So, we have arranged game testing
with users. There are 10 users that involved in this process. The user testing has
been done and the result or feedback from the user is documented and can be referred
to APPENDIX J.
4.9
Summary
This chapter has been discussed about J2ME architecture, component design,
use case description, sequence diagram, activity diagram and state chart diagram.
The game documentation and mobile game testing and results also has been
discusses in this chapter and can be referred to appendix to view the full of the
results and the game documentation.
CHAPTER 5
BUSINESS PLAN
5.1
Executive Summary
Kirana is a creative and interactive mobile game. Our core focus is the
development of mobile games for java platform. Kirana is the adventures of Puteri
Galuh Cendera Kirana and his companions in this role-playing rendition of the
ancient epics of Malaysia and Indonesia literature, Hikayat Panji Semirang. The
journeys will take player through a lot of challenges to complete every mission in
every level. Kirana was different than other games in Malaysia because it gives an
opportunity to player to download accessories and weapons to increase power in a
certain level. We also offer the cheapest price among the competitors.
Initially, our target market will be the teenagers. Our game engine provides
entertainment applications and technologies that support multiple wireless handsets,
servicing wireless carriers, aggregators, mobile phone manufacturers, media
companies and content developers worldwide. Our core focus is the development of
mobile games for J2ME platform.
We will offer the cheapest price in Malaysia. Player can change the game’s
character depending on the situation at every level. Player’s score will upload
automatically by the system and will be awarded for at every level.
As the world is evolve, the advancement in wireless technology is going
through rapid improvement. One of the areas that will attract millions dollar revenue
is entertainment in the mobile industry. Kirana sees this as an open opportunity to
explore an already savvy market in mobile phone sector in Malaysia. Moreover, as
advanced handsets are becoming more accessible to ordinary consumer coupled with
the introduction of MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services) and implementation of
3G, the mobile game market will increase rapidly especially in Asia such as in Hong
Kong, Taiwan, China and Singapore not to mention Malaysia as well as in the
European countries.
In future, when data transfer rate is enhanced with new generation networks,
Kirana has plans to develop the massively multiplayer game (MMG) for mobile
devices. This will offer our user with more interactive environment where there’s
versatility and excitement compare to solo games. Unlike solo games, MMG offers
player a wider gaming scope when they can communicate and interact with other
player at a distance through the air.
5.2
Industry Background: Current Status
1.
Industry Trends
According to IDC Malaysia research manager Huei Min Lee, the mobile
games market in Malaysia is largely confined to single-player games. She also noted
that Java games gained traction last year. IDC recorded that in 2005, the amount
consumers spent on mobile games content grew 36.2% have reach RM18.62mil.
2.
Industry Size
In Malaysia, the number of mobile user increased gradually from 8.9 million
in 2002 to 13.4 million in 2006. Although the number of mobile users may not
reflect the number of mobile games player, but there is ample room to convince and
convert the non-player to be players looking at the fact that the trend of growth
reflect more on the younger generations. We ensure our games are not complicated,
easy to adapt and fun to play.
3.
Industry Attractiveness
About 15 years ago, the market was dominated by hardcore player who
played hardcore games on their PCs or consoles. And today, we think what
happened is that the public has caught on to the fact that games are interesting. Add
in the social connections that can be made and you can see why we're attracting a
much larger mass audience. For example, you'll find a huge number of women
playing casual web games.
4.
Industry Forecast
At the other ends of the spectrum, a lot of adults who were hardcore player
when they were younger and haven't got much time to play anymore. So, they prefer
games that they can enjoy in shorter sessions. And clearly, the youth market is
growing up and adopting these new platforms and they're also playing a lot of casual
games on their mobile phones. (Ref 11)
Table 5.1: Content that mobile phone users expect to be accessing in 12 month's time
(Sources: “http://isuppli.com”)
Asia Pacific Europe
Games
North
South
America
America
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
49
15
11
30
5.3
Industry Background: Future Trends
1.
Massive Multiplayer Mobile Game Development
The 3rd generation games with AI computer players are getting outdated
today and the global multiplayer is getting its value. For this reason Online Massive
Multiplayer Mobile Game Development is introduced, where players play against
many other people around the world with their mobile phones. Definitely in a few
years massive multiplayer mobile games will hit the market like the PC game
scenario. Today, there is very little number of global multiplayer mobile games
available in the market like Find4 by Smackall.com.
2.
Interactive Server
This Massive Multiplayer Mobile Game is using the GPRS connection for the
networking with a central server acting as router. It is almost the same as Nokia's
SNAP technology. This trend will soon get popular around the mobile game players.
Smackall.com has developed the Massive Multiplayer Mobile Game SDK for FIND4
game. A customize SDK and the server is now available for sale.
3.
Advertising/Promoting Through Mobile Games
Advertising and promoting a product is totally getting changed to new
concept. Consumer product based companies are advertising their products through
the PC games and with other entertainment products. As the mobile gaming have a
very market and the advertisements reach very closer to the customers. It is very
helpful for mobile game developer to make their games cost effectiveness and earn
big revenue from them.
4.
Promoting Cinemas/Movies through Mobile Games
Nowadays, film promoters look for publishing their cinemas/movies through
other entertainment Medias. For this reason many producers and film makers come
up for developing a game based on the movie. This type of publishing or promoting
will reach the right customer and the right age group which the film is aiming at. So
that today's film directors are promoting their films through the mobile games with
the help of custom mobile game developers. Games are developed based on the
characters from the movie. These types of games will reach the customer soon and
bring a good result as the character is familiar and the game story resembles the one
they are impressed on.
5.
Advertising New Products through Mobile Games
Mobile Game Development is moving towards advertising market to make it
cost effective and earn more revenue from each game. Some consumer product
based companies have started investing on games. For example a famous painkiller
in India has advertised on a mobile game in which they player uses their product for
injuries. This type of advertising has become familiar in mobile game industries
today. Soon there will be running displays in the bottom of the screen to hold
advertisements and flash news.
6.
3d Real World Scenario Mobile Games
Today in mobile game development there is lot of restrictions and minimal
resources available for game development, like CPU and memory in the device. The
mobile gaming industry has just reached 3D gaming and soon there will be real
world scenario games on mobile phones. (Ref 12)
5.4
General Description of the Product
Kirana is a strategy conceptualized mobile game adapted from IndoMalaysian literature folk story, Hikayat Panji Semirang. It’s an action adventure
game that lead player to historical era of Java sovereignty. The game will be
developed by Flash and using J2ME platform. The game comprises of action skill on
fighting, item collection and cross word puzzle solution. The adventure goes on
multiple roles from main character, Tuan Puteri Galuh Cendera Kirana or Raden Inu
Kertapi which at different stage requires player to change role as main character
friends. In this epic adventure, the main character, Tuan Puteri Galuh Cendera
Kirana will cloak as a hero character called Panji Semirang Asmaratanka while
second character Raden Inu Kertapi will cloak as Panji Jayeng Kesuma based from
the original storyline.
In order to create a unique and interesting, the game design had used original
approach concept that is similar with movie based game like Harry Potter or
Godfather from console game. The game offer player options to change character at
every level in order to defeat the opponent. The story line itself is fully adapted from
the original story, Hikayat Panji Semirang to the detail that the location of each level
is similar to original story. Therefore, the character is changeable at each level to
make it real as the original characters going through in the original story
With the number of mobile gamers around the world expected to reach 220
million by 2009, the mobile gaming business is projected to expand to higher levels
and constitute a bigger portion of the profit pie for the cellular carriers and handset
makers. Mobile games can be classified into three broad categories: embedded
games, sms games and browser games.
5.4.1
Product Description
1. Among these three categories, browser games are today's most popular
type of mobile games for their innovative and multimedia-rich content,
appealing presentation, and lower cost of gaming compared to SMS
games.
2. So, we will combine two categories: SMS games and browser games.
Users will sent SMS and get SMS from the server. Then, they will get a
link that will connect them to the game.
3.
The process of downloading the game will start immediately after the
users connect the link through GPRS. It just takes a minute to download
the game. Then, the user can start play the game.
5.5
Business Goals and Growth Potential of the Venture
According to Juniper Research, by 2011, worldwide mobile games market is
expected to generate cumulative revenues of US$56.9billion with 2.6 billion wireless
subscribers playing games, annually. As below, breakdown of expected revenues to
be generated from some major regions
Figure 5.1: Expected revenues to be generated from some major regions
(Sources: “http://www.isppli.com”)
Besides, i-Suppli forecasts subscriber growth will drop to 9.6 per cent in
2008, to 7 per cent in 2009 and to 5.7 per cent in 2010. However, it also stated that
subscriber growth is slowing while demand for mobile content is still growing. The
firm also expects the revenues to grow from $7.7bn in 2005 to $36bn in 2010.
(Ref 11)
5.5.1
Growth Potential
1. No doubt we start with various types of application for the mobile industry;
Mobile Gaming is the preeminent approach for us to set a foothold in this
arena.
2. We find that the consistent growth of mobile users against population in
Malaysia is another positive factor that will influence the growth of mobile
game players. (Please refer Figure 5.2)
3.
In Malaysia, the number of mobile user increased gradually from 8.9 million
in 2002 to 13.4 million in 2006. Although the number of mobile users may
not reflect the number of mobile games players, but there is ample room to
convince and convert the non-players to be players looking at the fact that the
trend of growth reflect more on the younger generations. We ensure our
games are not complicated, easy to adapt and fun to play.
4. As the globe is evolving everyday, the technology and advancement in
wireless arena is going through rapid improvement. One of the areas that will
attract millions dollar revenue is entertainment in the mobile industry.
5. We can see that there’s a vast growth in number of mobile game developers
in countries from the West as well as players from Hong Kong and Japan.
Although there are many mobile game developers globally, but it has yet to
be taken seriously in our local market.
Figure 5.2: Growth of Mobile Users against Population in Malaysia
(Sources: “http://www.isppli.com”)
5.5.2
Situation Analysis
A recent survey by Nokia has thrown up some information about the
changing habits of mobile game players: The mobile phone player surveyed
frequently play mobile games with the vast majority (80%) playing at least once a
week and 34% playing every day. The average length of a session is 28 minutes with
India (39 minutes), United States (31 minutes) and Thailand (29 minutes) playing
longer than average. Mobile phone games are played on the move (61%) almost as
much as they are played at home (62%). Also, mobile phone player are making the
most of their idle time with 56% preferring to play while waiting.
The survey also reveals that players preferred the richer experience of Nokia's
next generation mobile games, particularly following game trials. The survey was
conducted by Nielsen Entertainment, and saw 1,800 people surveyed in 6 countries.
These research results further validate that consumers are looking to the next
generation of mobile gaming to meet their gaming needs.
Research firm Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that the market for
mobile content will be worth $42.8 billion (U.S.) by the year 2010, when mobile
gaming is forecast to be worth $11.2 billion (U.S.), with an estimated 15 percent of
handset users expected to download and play a game on their handset by 2010.
(Ref 13)
5.5.3
The Mobile Game Markets
Two business areas:
Emerging mobile game markets are closely related to two existing business areas:
1. Mobile telecommunications content business and
2. Computer game publishing business.
In both of these content creation areas a similar value creation pattern exists.
As any content business, it has four main operational phases: content creation,
content aggregation, content marketing and content distribution.
Figure 5.3: Mobile Game Business Area
(Sources: “http://www.acten.net”)
The key actors in the markets are game developer companies and game
publishers. In the traditional game publishing business, game distributors carry out
marketing activities and sales take place mainly in retail outlets. In mobile game
business, telecom operators and online/mobile portals generate most of the sales and
implement to a great extent the marketing activities. In some cases (e.g. N-Gage
cartridges), mobile games are also sold in retail stores. Consumers (the player) act as
the key revenue source for the whole industry – and the money they generate with
their game title purchases is distributed to rest of the industry value chain/web.
Figure 5.4 below presents the game industry value chain and the main actor groups in
the markets.
Figure 5.4: Traditional and mobile game value
(Sources: “http://www.acten.net”)
To fully understand the mobile game landscape, you must understand how
the money flows. Figure 5.5 shows the mobile value chain.
Figure 5.5: The Mobile Value Chain
(Sources: “http://www.javaworld.com”)
5.5.4
Business Model and Workflow
As in any other business, the key objective for a game business-focused
company is to make profits of its operations. Profits are simply created when
companies’ revenues exceed to costs carried out to obtain these. Within the value
chain (see Figure 5.4) for mobile gaming business the key revenue source for the
industry as whole are the consumers and their willingness to purchase mobile game
products. Consumers either pay a flat fee for their product or they subscribe to a
monthly scheme of payments. Additional revenue sources are various kinds of
advertising and sponsorship deals.
Advertising can take place either at the place of distribution (online, mobile,
retail) or at the mobile game itself. This kind of sponsoring has similar features as
television shows and movie product placements. The game might take place in the
preferred location of the brand or the brand may be brought to the attention to the
game player as is already very commonly done in motion picture. Movies and game
design do actually have very much in common as to their production methodology.
It is more and more common that movies, PC/console games, web sites and mobile
games consist of similar elements and promote the same sponsors/advertisers
throughout the digital medium.
Key issues from the revenue perspective are what kind of share each actor
group takes of the consumer payments. Currently, publishers take 50-60 %, mobile
operators 20-25 %, licensors 15-20 % and the game developers take 10-15 % of the
total revenues. Advertising and sponsorship deals may naturally change the
distribution ratios.
We will generate our revenue from the user monthly subscription. User can
download accessories and weapons to increase their power. So, we will get more
revenue from this process. Mobile game development is moving towards advertising
market to make it cost effective and earn more revenue from each game. We will try
to advertise consumer product in our game. For example, a painkiller product.
Kirana will apply the subscription business model. The subscription model creates a
better long-term business.
Figure 5.6: Subscription Vs Per-Download Business Model
5.6
Uniqueness of the Product / Value to Customers
i. Simple user interface - We will provide the simple and interactive user
interface to make sure it is easy for player to use the interactive features of
the game.
ii. Pricing – Pricing is available to suit just about everyone’s needs. For the
beginning, we will offer only RM 1.00 for monthly registration and RM
3.00 for download a game.
iii. Upload Score Function - Tournament game are mobile games which have
the upload score function. With the ability to upload scores and battle it out
with fellow gamer sans wires, people are starting to perceive mobile phones
to be more than just for calling and messaging another person.
iv. Prizes – Player can win prizes. To win prizes, first, they have to register as
a member. Download and play our tournament game to earn points by
uploading your score. Once they have gathered enough points, they can
redeem points.
5.6.1 Competitive Edge
Kirana’s competitive edge is that we already have a significant number of
high quality relationships with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and Radio
Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). So, it will help us to promote and advertise this game
through comics and animation on mass media. Beside that, our competitive edge is
our positioning as strategic ally with our clients, who are clients more than
customers. By building a business based on long-standing relationships with
satisfied clients, we simultaneously build defenses against competition. The longer
the relationship stands, the more we help our clients understand what we offer them.
5.6.2
Competitor Analysis
Our research and experience has indicated that our target market segments
think about price, but would buy based on quality service if the offering were
properly presented and very competitive.
Table 5.2: Pricing Analysis
5.6.3
Name of Company
Download
Fees (monthly)
Ozura Sdn Bhd
RM 5.00
RM 2.50
UnrealMind Interactive Berhad
RM 5.00
RM10.00
Our Company (Kirana)
RM 3.00
RM 1.00
SWOT Analysis for Competitors
1. Ozura Sdn Bhd
Strength
Their games are currently distributed through thousands of partners in over
130 countries and this distribution network is still expanding rapidly. Ozura has
offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Weaknesses
Most of their games are pay per download. Pay per download just a shortterm business.
Opportunities
Ozura and Maxis Communication Berhad have jointly launched the world’s
first mobile trading card game, “Master of Maya” in MaxGames, a tournament based
mobile gaming and community portal. So, it gives an opportunity to Ozura to get
more customers and the maxis user to subscribe to their games.
Threat
More new comers come to enter the barrier.
2.
UnrealMind Interactive Berhad
Strength
Besides Malaysia, the Company has also established market presence in
Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam and Singapore. This enables the Company to distribute
and publish its mobile content and services to mobile users in all those countries.
Weaknesses
Their monthly subscription fee is RM10.00. It was the highest monthly
subscription fees among other competitors.
Opportunities
This Company had launched the Shabox JUMBO Plan. It is the first
economic plan in Malaysia designed to give customer great discounts. Customer will
be given 10 Shapoints when they subscribe to the JUMBO Plan and during the
monthly subscription renewal.
Threat
More new comers come to enter the barrier.
5.7
Marketing Strategy
Target customer group
The typical customer profile for the company falls into two separate categories:
i.
Teenagers
ii.
Adult
5.7.1 Method to Identify and Contacting Potential Customers
Based on several reasons, younger users or the youth market are more likely to
be comfortable with the intrusive nature of mobile communications. Youngsters
have more time for playing games and sending frivolous or flirtatious messages.
Take for example, the Japanese market; it is teenagers who are driving the market.
In Korea, although teenagers have lower disposable incomes than older age groups,
they are spending around three times more per user on mobile data services. We did
not target the older generation because lack of interest and they focus more on other
things. We didn’t target the children. They are our potential future subscribers. Not
now, but until they are financially dependent.
So, we will focus on the specific market segments whose needs and seeking
for an alternative way of advertising with a minimal budget but effective. Focusing
on targeted segments is the key to our future. So, our approach towards target
market segment will be based on G E L:
•
Great Customer
•
Easy Customer
•
Long lasting Customer
So, we will aims for easy and long lasting customers. Therefore, our focus
and marketing message will be the primary and secondary school students. We will
develop our message, communicate it, and fulfill our commitment to excellence.
5.7.2
Sales strategy
Sales strategy for Kirana is simple and straight forward: customer
satisfaction. Happy customers will be repeat customers and they will provide
referrals to new customers.
iv. Upload Game – Upload game to the server. So, users will sent SMS and
get SMS from the server. Then, they will get a link that will connect them
to the game.
v. Upload Score Function - Tournament game are mobile games which have
the upload score function.
vi. Advertising - Advertising and promoting a product is totally getting
changed to new concept. As the mobile gaming have a very market and the
advertisements reach very closer to the customers.
vii. Advertising New Products through Mobile Games – Deal with some
consumer product based companies to start investing on games. For
example a famous painkiller in India has advertised on a mobile game in
which they player uses their product for injuries. This type of advertising
has become familiar in mobile game industries today.
5.7.3
Distribution Strategy
Our distribution strategies are:
1. Advertising through internet, newspaper, radio, TV and magazines.
2. Through promotion booth during any related exhibition.
3. Put up a survey thru internet and by mailing – to understand customer
needs.
4. On-line technical support (24 hours) – create customer support. Beside
that, customers can call our technical support hotline day or night and
speak live with one of our experts.
5. Make a road tours to understand customer needs.
5.7.4
Estimated Market Share
We believe we can achieve a market share of 10% to 15% in Malaysian
market. We target more Malay will download this game because it is based on the
Indonesian and Malaysian epics.
Figure 5.7: Percentage Distribution of Hand phone Subscriber by Ethnic Origin
(Sources: “Malaysia Commission and Multimedia Communication”)
5.7.5
Pricing Strategy
We offer the cheapest price among the competitors. We only charge RM
3.00 per download and RM1.00 for registration fees. All competitors in Malaysia
charged RM5.00 per download. We will reduce the price more than 30% from
normal price.
5.7.6 Advertising Plan and Promotions Strategy
At the beginning, we will have to select a good “media mix” to enhance the
business as the reputation of the web has not yet been established. The medium that
we will select in which to place its commercial will be TV and radio. Our potential
customers must see a newspaper advertisement, hear a radio spot, and see a TV
commercial to reinforce the company’s message at the outset of business. The
impact on these potential consumers will be far greater if our company uses the
“media-mix” rather than just one of these media.
Then, we will advertise the game through digital advertising. People that
enter the mall will automatically stop to see the big screen. It will grab customer
attention more easily than advertising through traditional way. In order to create a
mobile games environment in Malaysia among the teenagers and adult, we will
promote our game through our web site, email and advertise it on mass media. We
will offer the cheapest price among the competitors. Beside that, we will give a lot
of prizes if the players have completed a level of the game.
We also will go through direct mail. We must radically improve our direct
mail efforts, reaching our established customers with updates and prizes.
5.7.7
Sales Programs
Our sales programs are:
i. Direct mail: Use great detail to describe our game’s news and updates here.
ii. SMS: Send SMS to customers to give any information about game.
5.7.8
Marketing Analysis
A quick survey was done by Sharifah Aquila Alhabshi bt Syed Sagaff in
March 2008. The result as stated: Survey was done on 150 teenagers and 150 young
adults located in Johor Bahru.
Figure 5.8: Gender of the Respondents
Figure 5.8 shows the percentage of gender respondents. From the pie chart, it
shows that the highest percentage is male which about 56 percent, while female only
contributed about 44 percent.
Play Mobile Game
20%
Yes
No
80%
Figure 5.9: User that Play Mobile Game
Figure 5.9 shows the percentage of the user that plays mobile game. 80% of
the respondents have played mobile games.
Download Mobile Game
30%
Yes
No
70%
Figure 5.10: User that Download Mobile Game
Figure 5.10 shows the percentage of user that downloads mobile game. 70%
of the respondents had experiences download a mobile game. While 20% of them
have no experiences download a mobile game.
Mobile Game Absorption in Malaysia
16%
Yes
No
84%
Figure 5.11: Mobile Game Absorption in Malaysia
Figure 5.11 shows the percentage of mobile game absorption in Malaysia.
From the survey, 84% of the respondents agreed that Malaysian people well accept
for mobile games.
User Interest to Download Game
40%
Yes
No
60%
Figure 5.12: User Interest to Download Mobile Game
Figure 5.12 shows the percentage of user interest to download mobile game.
60% of the respondents have interest to download a mobile game, while 40% of the
respondents have no interest to download.
Affordable Price for Mobile Games
8%
12%
RM 3.00
RM 3.50
RM 4.00
12%
RM 5.00
68%
Figure 5.13: Affordable Price of Mobile Games
Figure 5.13 shows the percentage of price that been chosen by the
respondents. 68% of the respondents agreed the affordable price for mobile games is
RM3.00, while 12% of the respondents agreed the affordable price for mobile games
is RM3.50, another 12% of the respondents agreed the affordable price for mobile
games is RM4.00 and 8% 12% of the respondents agreed the affordable price for
mobile games is RM5.00.
Mobile Phone that Support ed by the GPRS Services
16%
Yes
No
84%
Figure 5.14: Mobile phone that Supported by the GPRS Services
Figure 5.14 shows the percentage of user’s mobile phone that supported by
the GPRS Services. 84% of the respondent’s hand phone supported by the GPRS
Services.
User Acceptance for Strategy Games
12%
Yes
No
88%
Figure 5.15: User Acceptance for Strategy Games
Figure 5.15 shows the percentage of user acceptance for strategy games. 88%
of the respondents agreed the strategy game is well accepted than other games. Only
12% of them were disagreed.
Download Acessories
24%
Yes
No
76%
Figure 5.16: User that has Interest to Download Accessories
Figure 5.16 shows the percentage of user that has interest to download
accessories. 76% have interest to download accessories to increase power.
Type of Games
20
15
No of Interest 10
5
0
Action
Puzzle Casino Racing
RPG
Sports Strategy
Type
Figure 5.17: Type of Games
Figure 5.17 shows no of user interest in various types of games. 5 of the
respondents like to play action game. 4 of the respondents like to play puzzle, 2 of
the respondents like to play casino, 8 of the respondents like to play racing, 2 of the
respondents like to play RPG, 10 of the respondents like to play sports and 20 of the
respondents like to play strategy.
5.8
Management
Our management team consists of individuals whose background in
Computer Science and Information Technology. Management team is very
important. Potential investment sources place a tremendous of importance on the
team of managers that will be making crucial day-to-day decisions.
5.8.1 Management Team Gaps
We agree that the most obvious weakness at this point is the lack of seasoned
professional management with experience. This is what the investors call the gray
haired factor. We will be looking to add more experience to the team as we build our
administrative and financial capabilities.
5.8.2
Organizational Structure
We need an agile organizational structure that recognizes the need for a
smooth flow of ideas and implementation between designer, programmer, sales,
marketing, website and game development.
MANAGING
DIRECTOR
MARKETING
FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT
TECHNICAL
Figure 5.18: Organizational Chart
1.
Manager – Managing recruitment exercise, training and business
needs of the company.
2.
Management (Trainee / Staff) – Human Resource.
3.
Marketing – Make advertising to gain more customers.
4.
Financial – Look after all expenditure goes in and out, and
company’s account.
5.
Technical – Maintain server, hardware and system. Graphic
designer and programmer.
5.8.3
Technopreneur Capabilities
Our technical expertise and capabilities are:
1. Technical Expertise
i.
With a strong interactive multimedia background. Deliver an
interactive game’s content.
ii.
Build a strong relation with strong mobile knowledge.
iii.
Good in hardware and maintenance the hardware.
2. Experience and Ability
5.8.4
a.
Closed relation with TELCO.
b.
Aware and quick response towards business world.
Support Team
i. Advisors, Consultants, Professional Support Resources
Currently, we are getting a technical and non-technical support from UTM
and established businessman. There are:
Technical:
En Hishamuddin Bin Mohd Amin
En Abdullah Bin Bade
PM Dr. Dzulkifli Bin Mohammad
Non- Technical:
PM Dr. Mohd Hassan Bin Mohd Osman
ii. How these resources will be used
The resources stated above are very useful and helpful to the projects. On
technical aspect, En Hishamuddin Bin Mohd Amin, En Abdullah Bin Bade and Prof
Dr. Dzulkifli Bin Mohamad will be a consultant in scheduling solution. En
Hishamuddin Bin Mohd Amin also an expert in Flash. Besides that, he will be the
consultant on the hardware and installation of the systems. Dr. Mohd Hassan Bin
Mohd Osman who’s an expert in business management will be consulting on
marketing strategy and financial control of total projects.
5.9
Identify Location
Kirana will be located at best location which closes to Johor Bharu city. It
also, will take only 10 minute from Taman University to PLUS highway, which
enable customer access to city central more easily. Beside that, our company located
conveniently close to downtown area.
5.10
Research Analysis
The information in this research analysis was gathered from a wide range of
sources, starting with the national statistical agencies. This information was cross-
checked for consistency, probability and mathematical accuracy. Secondly, the
researchers sought to fill in the gaps in the official national statistics by using
private-sector surveys and official pan-regional and global sources. Furthermore,
Euromonitor International has carried out an extensive amount of modelling in order
to come up with interesting data sets to complement the national standards available.
Without customers, a business cannot survive. Our target customer was
teenagers and young adult. Each customer is unique to some degree. Since it is time
consuming and not very profitable to develop a separate strategy for each customer,
some grouping of customers into segments is often useful.
5.10.1 Mobile Phone Users
Telecommunications in Malaysia is divided into fixed line and mobile
services. A few main players dominate the telecommunications market. Telekom
Malaysia is the incumbent player in landline services, while Maxis is the leading
mobile service provider. Growth in mobile phone usage far exceeds that of fixed
land lines in Malaysia.
Mobile phones are widely used by all age groups, with nearly 15 million
mobile users in 2005, according to an article in News Straits Times. According to
AC Nielsen, the Asia-Pacific markets presenting the greatest opportunities are China,
Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. In these countries mobile
penetration sits at or below the 50% mark. Maxis and Celcom launched 3G
technology in 2005. There are a wide variety of 3G phones available in the market,
but currently 3G technologies is appealing only to the higher income group due to its
relatively high cost.
Table 5.3: National and International Mobile Phone Users
(Sources: “National Statistical Office/International Telecommunications
Union/World Bank/Trade sources/Euromonitor International”)
National and International Mobile Phone Users: 1990/1995/2000/2003-2005
Mobile telephone users
1990
1995
2000
2003
2004
2005
87
1,005
5,122
11,266
13,110
14,689
('000)
Table 5.4: Penetration Rate for Cellular Phones in Malaysia
(Sources: “Malaysia Commission and Multimedia Communication”)
Figure 5.19: Penetration Rate per 100 Inhabitants
(Sources: “Malaysia Commission and Multimedia Communication”)
5.10.2 Teenagers
Teenagers develop attitudes towards life and the products and services they
will associate themselves with. During this stage they consider themselves to be
more mature than tweenagers. Experimentation and the desire to be cool in their
circle of friends will build opinions and desire for certain products and services. This
is the point where parents will often attempt to control their teenagers’ ever-changing
appetites for trying out new styles and fashions.
This age group is more susceptible to vices, such as smoking and drinking.
They have a more developed taste in fashion, toys, entertainment, such as music and
movies. Recently, more teenagers are spending a lot of time on the computer
chatting and surfing online. Their main activities include spending time at the mall,
watching movies, playing video games or spending time on the computer. Most
teenagers own mobile phones and are very aware of the latest technology trends in
the market. Music is also a major part of their lifestyle. Lucrative consumer products
targeted at teenagers include IT products and gadgets, video games, DVDs, Music
CDs, fashion and fast food.
Table 5.5: Teenagers Population in Malaysia
(Sources:”Euromonitor International from National Statistical Office, UN”)
Teenagers: 1990-2015
'000
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Male
1,308
1,494
1,689
1,843
1,903
1,896
Female
1,275
1,440
1,638
1,756
1,788
1,797
TOTAL
2,583
2,934
3,327
3,599
3,691
3,694
as % of total population
14.27
14.18
14.16
13.79
12.95
12.03
Note:
Teenagers (13-19 years old)
5.10.3 Young Adults
The young adult population grew over the review period and this trend is set
to continue over the next decade. This growing number of young adults offers a very
lucrative market for financial services, home appliances, entertainment, fashion and
food. Young adults have relatively good purchasing power despite lower incomes as
they have less obligations and responsibilities, as most young adults are single.
Purchasing tendencies depend on the level of income in this first phase of
working life, as they manage their own income and expenses for the first time.
Young adults working in multinational companies tend to earn more than those in
local companies. Those on the west coast are considered more sophisticated than
those on the east of the peninsular. However, a large number of people working in
major city centres on the west coast are not local. There has been some public
concern about quality time spent with family and living a meaningful life rather than
spending too much time at the office. People are increasingly moving towards
setting up their own small business at home due to instable work opportunities. Most
young professionals aim to gain financial freedom by the age of 40 years.
Main activities include shopping and entertainment on weekends and work on
weekdays. They seldom cook at home and prefer dining out. This group is likely to
purchase electronic products such as entertainment systems, video games, cars etc, as
they have more financial freedom to indulge and spend for themselves.
Table 5.6: Young Adults Population in Malaysia
(Sources:”Euromonitor International from National Statistical Office, UN”)
Young Adults: 1990-2015
'000
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Male
2,564
2,943
3,208
3,567
3,934
4,107
Female
2,520
2,804
3,136
3,450
3,705
3,810
TOTAL
5,084
5,747
6,344
7,016
7,639
7,917
as % of total population
28.08
27.78
27.00
26.88
26.80
25.79
Note:
Young adults (15-29 years old)
5.10.4 Understanding the Industry
There are many factors to consider when designing for mobile phones.
Region, technology, and customer diversity must be taken into account, along with
trends and adoption patterns.
5.10.5 Understanding the User
Ease of learning and ease of use are essential to the success of consumer
products. Users bring a plethora of expectations and mental models to bear when
they encounter new products, especially if they have acquired an item based on
advertising hype about advanced features. Consumers want a device to work
intuitively out of the box. They will probably not read the manual beyond the basic
instructions, if at all, and will not remember how to use advanced features. So, it’s
not surprising that they are intolerant of hard-to-use products and will return or stop
using these products if they are frustrated with the experience.
Consumers don’t hesitate to give the product bad word-of-mouth to friends
and relatives, reducing the likelihood that others in their circles will buy the same
thing. For example, it’s unusual for teen groups to have a de facto technical leader,
often a dominant personality in the group, who informally screens devices for
coolness, style, ease of use, and compatibility, and often influences device and
service plan selection for peers. The group shares information about upgrades, cool
(especially free) stuff such as ring tones, screen savers, and images, and ways to get
better mileage from devices. Business users can expect to receive on-the-job training
or take tutorials to use job-related products, and can always ask colleagues for advice
when they have difficulty. But business users are also consumers when buying for
themselves. (Longoria, 2004)
5.10.6 Demographic Segmentation
While income level and other factors are significant for many markets, the
dominant demographic segmentation for mobile phones users is age, as shown in
figure. (Longoria, 2004)
Table 5.7: Cellular Phone Demographic Groupings.
(Source: Designing Software for the Mobile Context A Practitioner’s Guide. USA :
Springer)
Group
Ages
Pre-teens
10 to 12
Young teens
13 to 15
Older teens
16 to 19
Young adults
20 to 25
Adults
26 to 35
36 to 49
50 +
5.11
Operations Plan
The Operations Plan is the processes that must be performed to serve
customers every day (short-term processes).
5.11.1 Business Partnership
Kirana will be working very closely with selected business partner in terms of
technical support and marketing. Initially, we will be working very closely with
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP). Radio
Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) had plan out an animation TV series about Panji
Semirang. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) had plan out an online gaming and
comic about Panji Semirang.
5.11.2 Quality Control
Quality Control is necessary as to keep customer satisfaction. Quality is an
important facet of our products and needs to be taken seriously throughout the whole
design, development and production lifecycle. Quality assurance (QA) can offer lots
of skills and understanding in games areas, as testers tend to be player with a wide
repertoire of experiences, as well as having bug finding skills. Having people
focused on quality (both qualitative and quantitative) from the start allows the
creative people to concentrate on being creative, knowing that someone is watching
their back’s from a quality perspective.
Besides that, our designer team will be assisting the user on the creativity of
the game design, to attract customer to buy the product.
5.11.3 Customer Support
The operation of Kirana will be running at 12 hours a day with 365 days a
year. Most customers have a simple download problem; we will help them to
overcome that problem. Here are the quick steps that can be taken to resolve almost
all support requests:
1. Every customer is automatically created a customer account with their
first purchase. This is designed to allow them to keep a record of
transactions & download links, a quicker method to browse games for
their phone and full access to our customer support team. They should
have been sent their username and password along with their first
purchase.
2. If customer do not know their username and password use the forget
username feature. If the system cannot find the customer, it will give you
the opportunity to create a free account which you should do and then
proceed to the support area and post a support request. (If it says it has
sent customer details but they do not receive them, first check any
spam/filters on their email account and if they still do not get them, they
can create an account in our website).
Once the customers have username and password, they should:
Login via the web site and their WAP link will be shown in their transaction
history. They should type this link into the WAP browser on their phone only. It can
only be downloaded via the WAP browser on your phone. Customer should be
careful as all WAP links are case sensitive, so they should ensure they have enter it
exactly as shown and do not confuse O's and Zero's.
5.12
Critical Risks
i. Potential problems
Mobile gaming makes a lot of noise but little real impact locally at present.
Most of the impressive mobile game developers are Westerners or joint ventures
with them. In Asia it is considered a new trend and still at an infant stage. It will
need some more time before the move to mobile gaming really takes off – but when
it does, it will be a huge new market contributing to big success.
ii. Obstacles and risk
The risk of the business at the moment is risks associated with moving Real’s
PC games to mobile handsets; and competition from other mobile games operators.
iii. Alternative course of action
We take the problem that we mentioned earlier as a positive sign. This is the
right time to venture into mobile game business before it really takes off and by the
time it happens, we has all the ‘know’ ‘how’ and established a brand name in the
mobile game market. Supported by the extra bandwidth of 3G, it will be added
advantage for us, as it allows us to further venture into massively multi-player games
(MMG) using mobile devices in years to come.
5.13
Long -term Development and Exit Plan
a. Goals
To develop a mobile game based on the ancient epics of Malay and
Indonesian literature, Hikayat Panji Semirang.
b. Strategies
The keys to success in this business are:
i. Pricing: Cheapest price among the competitors.
ii. Services: 24x7 technical supports are available when you need it at no
extra charge.
iii. Networking: Build a close relationship with TELCO.
iv. Knowledge: A strong technical knowledge staff.
v. Marketing: At the beginning, we will have to select a good media mix to
enhance the business as the reputation of the web has not yet been
established. The medium that we will select in which to place its
commercial will be TV and radio. Our potential customers must see a
newspaper advertisement, hear a radio spot, and see a TV commercial to
reinforce the company’s message at the outset of business. The impact on
these potential consumers will be far greater if our company uses the
media-mix rather than just one of these media.
vi. Customer Care: Our expert Customer Care agents are always available to
assist you. They can contact us anytime for questions or support, via
phone, SMS or email.
c.
Milestones
We will use the following activities as critical milestones to plan and
time the operations of the venture:
Table 5.8: Project Milestones
Start
End
Responsible
Business Plan Completion
25/03/07
02/04/07
Owner
Setup Project Team
05/05/07
15/08/07
Directors
Financing
05/05/07
23/07/07
Directors
Product completion
03/06/07
06/01/08
Technical
Marketing Plan
22/12/07
Product Launch
10/04/08
13/04/08
All
c. Exit Plan
For us, aside from generating revenues and making profits, we want to satisfy
player or users with our interactive game. We want our users to keep coming back to
us for more games or other future applications through our value-added service.
In conjunction with the edutainment trend, Kirana will plan out an animation
TV series and product gifts as part of continuous marketing and support for valuable
customer.
5.14
Financial Planning
We had prepared our financial planning for five years. Gross Development
Value, Gross Development Cost, Initial Investment, Labour Cost Estimation, Loan
Repayment, Depreciation Table, Cash Flow, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and
Sales Projection. All are well documented in APPENDIX K. The financial planning
is for one company and we estimated for sales of ten games, including Kirana as a
debut game.
5.14.1 Resources Needed for Development
A detail financial planning is needed for this project. But thru rough
estimation, to kick off the project, fund needed is about RM100, 000.00. At the
moment, best funding resources is loan from bank or any angels that has a positive
thinking towards this project.
Sales Projection
3,000,000.00
2,500,000.00
2,000,000.00
Profit 1,500,000.00
Sales
1,000,000.00
500,000.00
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year
Figure 5.20: Sales Projection for Kirana Mobile Game
Figure 5.20 shows sales projection for five years. This sales projection is only
for Kirana mobile game. Please refer to APPENDIX K for detail estimation.
Sales Projection
450000
400000
350000
300000
250000
Profit
Year
200000
Sales
150000
100000
50000
0
1
2
3
4
5
Year
Figure 5.21: Sales Projection for Ten Games
Figure 5.21 shows sales projection for five years. This sales projection is for
ten mobile games. Please refer to APPENDIX K for detail estimation.
Sales VS Cost (1st Year)
70,000.00
60,000.00
RM
50,000.00
40,000.00
Sales
30,000.00
Cost
20,000.00
10,000.00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Month
Figure 5.22: Break Even
Figure 5.22 shows break even point for the first years. The first six month is
a game development period. This calculation is for ten mobile games. Please refer to
APPENDIX K for detail estimation.
Profit&Loss
1,400,000.00
1,200,000.00
1,000,000.00
800,000.00
Amount
Profit&Loss
600,000.00
400,000.00
200,000.00
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year
Figure 5.23: Profit and Loss
Figure 5.23 shows profit and loss for the five years. This calculation is for ten
mobile games. Please refer APPENDIX K for detail estimation.
5.15
Summary
In this chapter, we have clearly discussed about the whole business
operations in a complete business plan to start up a company and business. Each
aspects of marketing, research analysis, market research, operation, risk analysis,
competitor analysis, business and revenue model, customer support and financial
planning has been clearly identified.
REFERENCES
REFERENCES
1. Converse, T and Park, J. (2002). PHP Bible. 2nd ed. Canada : Wiley
Publishing.
2. Guthery B.S and Cronin J.M. (2002) Mobile Application Development
with SMS and the SIM Toolkit. USA: Mc Graw Hill.
3. Imielinski.T and Korth F.H. (1996) Mobile Computing. USA: Kluwer
Academic Publisher.
4. Lethbridge C.T and Laganiere,T. (2005) Object-Oriented Software
Engineering Practical Software Development Using UML, Java. 2nd ed.
UK : Mc Graw Hill.
5. Longoria R.(2004) Designing Software for the Mobile Context A
Practitioner’s Guide. USA : Springer.
6. Tymann, P.T and Schneider M.G. (2005). Modern Software Development
Using Java. USA : Thomson Learning.
7. Vincent, H.J. (2002). Java : A graphical approach. UK :Mc Graw Hill.
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Wiley&Sons, Ltd.
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Java. 4th ed. USA : Mc Graw Hill.
11. J2ME Applications
http://www.javaworld.com(10 February 2008)
12. Java Mobile Toolkit
http://www.microjava.com ( 8 January 2008)
13. Definitions of mobile game
http://en.wikipedia.org (14 September 2007)
14. Web Design
http://webdesign.about.com(19 February 2007)
15. Mobile Games Applications
http://www.faqs.org (14 January 2007)
16. Game, Ring tone, Wallpaper Download
http://myfonwar.com (14 September 2007)
17. Mobile Games Development
http://www.faqs.org (10 September 2007)
18. Game Market Survey
http://isupli.com (14 September 2007)
APPENDIX
APPENDIX A
Gantt Chart Project I & II
APPENDIX B
Gantt Chart Project III
APPENDIX C
APPENDIX C
Figure 2.2: Application Features
Application Features
Characteristics
* Small footprint versions of application logic and local processing: thick,
Standalone applications
intelligent, client/server or smart client applications.
* Applications can run on devices with intermittent network coverage.
* Intelligent use of wireless bandwidth.
Rich user interface
High and low level UI APIs allow for simple but richer user interfaces (when
compared to WML) for mobile business applications and games
* Support for HTTP/XML and other web standards
Network aware
* Direct device-to-device network communications
* Client/Server and distributed applications
* Occasionally connected
Reliable messaging
Guaranteed message delivery ensures transactions are not lost due to lost of
network coverage.
Local data store allows for persistence at the device. Key to offline
Local persistence
functionality and caching and guaranteed message delivery and better
utilization of wireless bandwidth.
End-to-End security
Small footprint TLS implementation allows for end-to-end security without
translations at the network provider
Data synchronization
Synchronize data when/as needed
Notifications
Real-time asynchronous notifications
Multi language support
Target application to different languages
Cross platform and low
cost of development and
Develop 'once' deploy to any J2ME device w/ appropriate profile
ownership
Access to corporate
servers
Integrate and interoperate with existing corporate servers
APPENDIX D
APPENDIX D
Figure 2.5: CLDC Generic Connection Framework with HttpConnection
APPENDIX E
APPENDIX E
APPENDIX E1
Figure 4.14: Sequence Diagram for Mobile Registration
APPENDIX E2
Figure 4.15: Sequence Diagram for Download Game
APPENDIX E3
Figure 4.16: Sequence Diagram for Play Game
APPENDIX E4
Figure 4.17: Sequence Diagram for Submit Score
APPENDIX E5
Figure 4.18: Sequence Diagram for Web Registration
APPENDIX E6
Figure 4.19: Sequence Diagram for Login Process
APPENDIX E7
Figure 4.20: Sequence Diagram for Logout Process
APPENDIX E8
Figure 4.21: Sequence Diagram for Login Admin
APPENDIX E9
Figure 4.22: Sequence Diagram for Logout Admin
APPENDIX E10
Figure 4.23: Sequence Diagram for Update Score
APPENDIX E11
Figure 4.24: Sequence Diagram for Update User Record
APPENDIX E12
Figure 4.25: Sequence Diagram for Update Info
APPENDIX E13
Figure 4.26: Sequence Diagram for Write Game
APPENDIX E14
Figure 4.27: Sequence Diagram for Write Dialog for NPC
APPENDIX E15
Figure 4.28: Sequence Diagram for Developing Schedules
APPENDIX E16
Figure 4.29: Sequence Diagram for Maintaining Schedules
APPENDIX E17
Figure 4.30: Sequence Diagram for Developing Budgets
APPENDIX E18
Figure 4.31: Sequence Diagram for Maintaining Budgets
APPENDIX E19
Figure 4.32: Sequence Diagram for Negotiating Contracts
APPENDIX E20
Figure 4.33: Sequence Diagram for Arranging Beta Testing
APPENDIX E21
Figure 4.34: Sequence Diagram for Creates Art
APPENDIX E22
Figure 4.35: Sequence Diagram for Develop Game Asset
APPENDIX E23
Figure 4.36: Sequence Diagram for Develop Volume of Sketches
APPENDIX E24
Figure 4.37: Sequence Diagram for Implements Game Design
APPENDIX E25
Figure 4.38: Sequence Diagram for Modify Game Design
APPENDIX E26
Figure 4.39: Sequence Diagram for Develop Gameplay
APPENDIX E27
Figure 4.40: Sequence Diagram for Develop Concept
APPENDIX E28
Figure 4.41: Sequence Diagram for Develop Layout
APPENDIX E29
Figure 4.42: Sequence Diagram for Design Game
APPENDIX E30
Figure 4.43: Sequence Diagram for Develop Game
APPENDIX E31
Figure 4.44: Sequence Diagram for Approve Game Idea
APPENDIX E32
Figure 4.45: Sequence Diagram for Altering Game Rules
APPENDIX E33
Figure 4.46: Sequence Diagram for Producing Scenarios
APPENDIX E34
Figure 4.47: Sequence Diagram for Create Advanced Levels
APPENDIX E35
Figure 4.48: Sequence Diagram for Create Levels
APPENDIX E36
Figure 4.49: Sequence Diagram for Challenges or Missions
APPENDIX E37
Figure 4.50: Sequence Diagram for Develop Prototypes
APPENDIX E38
Figure 4.51: Sequence Diagram for Develop Technical Framework
APPENDIX E39
Figure 4.52: Sequence Diagram for Write Source Codes
APPENDIX F
APPENDIX F
APPENDIX F1
Figure 4.53: Class Diagram for Admin
APPENDIX F2
Figure 4.54: Class Diagram for User
APPENDIX G
APPENDIX G
APPENDIX G1
Figure 4.55: State Chart Diagram for Mobile
APPENDIX G2
Figure 4.56: State Chart Diagram for Web
APPENDIX H
APPENDIX H
APPENDIX H1
Figure 4.57: Activity Diagram for Mobile
APPENDIX H2
Figure 4.58: Activity Diagram for Web
APPENDIX I
Game Documentation
APPENDIX I
Game Documentation
Story Line
Kirana is a strategy conceptualized mobile game adapted from IndoMalaysian literature folk story,Hikayat Panji Semirang. Its an action adventure game
that lead player to historical era of Java sovereignty. The game comprises of action
skill on fighting, item collection and cross word puzzle solution. The adventure goes
on multiple role from main character, Tuan Puteri Galuh Cendera Kirana or Raden
Inu Kertapi which at different stage requires player to change role as main character
friends. In this epic adventure, the main character, Tuan Puteri Galuh Cendera
Kirana will cloak as a hero character called Panji Semirang Asmaratanka while
second character Raden Inu Kertapi will cloak as Panji Jayeng Kesuma based from
the original storyline.
What make the Storyline Become Unique and Interesting?
In order to create a unique and interesting, the game design had used original
approach concept that is similar with movie based game like Harry Potter or
Godfather from console game. The game offer player options to change character at
every level in order to defeat the opponent. The story line itself is fully adapted from
the original story, Hikayat Panji Semirang to the detail that the location of each level
is similar to original story. Therefore, the character is changeable at each level to
make it real as the original characters going through in the original story
Characters’ List
Non Player Character (NPC)
Character : Women and kids.
This character will appear in second stage of the game. Player can not defeat them
and will encounter them again along the adventure. The game rule requires player to
avoid them or game point will be deducted if they got defeated.
Game Prototype: Level 1.
Character: Panji Semirang Asmarantaka
Galuh Cendera Kirana had changed her name to Panji
Simerang Asmaratanka to cloak as man with strong
character and a good warrior.
Fighting Technique : Great skilled in war. Able to fight with ‚’keris’, jumping and
running.
Grand Opponent: Paduka Liku
Paduka Liku is the stepmother to Puteri Galuh
Cendera Kirana or Panji Semirang Asmarantaka. Her
character is cruel and jealousy towards Panji Semirang
and her mother. She is willing to do anything to
achieve her goal though she has to poison Panji
Semirang’s mother.
Fighting Technique: Able to flash lightning with her sorcerer power..
Other opponents: Castle warrior/soldier
These warriors are on effort to stop Panji Semirang
adventure. They will be in many stages and guarding
outside Ratu Daha Castle.
Fighting Technique: .Sword fighting
Player amount
Since Kirana is a mobile game it has a constraint on limited display screen
size. Therefore, in brief it only allows single player game.
Story Plot
This game is set the player in adventure starting from Ratu Daha Castle and
will end at the same castle also. There are ten different locations in this game
indicating difficulties level and based on original story plot. Each plot is designed to
challenge play skill and creativity in order to accomplish the mission. Each
completed mission will lead player to new level of the adventure.
Conflict
Player has to choose different character at different level. Other than that, the
game also allows player to change the current character during battle. Different
ability of each character will create option for player to use his creativity and skill to
defeat the opponent. If player do not familiar with the characters, the game will be
halted from completing the mission.
Mission and Challenge
LEVEL 1
Location: Ratu Daha Castle, castle courtyard and old market surrounding.
Opponent: Paduka Liku
Mission: To earn game point by collecting golden pot. Each of golden pot will earn
player 10 points. There are a total of 30 golden pots available in this level.
Prime Mission: At the end of this level, player will face Paduka Liku. Player has to
defeat her in order to move to Level 2. She has a special weapon, flash lightning
from her sorcerer power.
Weapon: Player will be equipped with ’keris’ to defeat the soldiers a long the way to
Ratu Daha castle and to defeat Paduka Liku’s flash lightning power.
Market Area Obstacles: In early part of the journey, player will pass market area
where there are two types of traps. The first trap is in a form of oil stain which if the
character step on it, the player will fall and game point will be deducted. Second trap
is in a form of broken plate. Player has to avoid from step on it. It is location near to
booth in market area. Both of these traps will deduct 5 game point. .
Castle Courtyard Obstacles: Player has to be careful while crossing the courtyard
for at any time the guardian soldier will appear to attack. Which such obstacles,
player can collect red potion from market area to defeat them. It allows the character
to hit the guardian soldier with no game effect. At normal hit where the soldier still
alive, the character will die lead to game over.
Castle Indoor Obstacles: Player will face the prime opponent, Paduka Liku and has
to defeat her to move to Level 2.
Game Concept
There are two modes for the game play in this game. :
Story Mode
Player will have an adventure in a city/country following the command from
game to complete the mission. This mode will give player the experience of
living in the era of Java sovereignty. Player will go through lots of challenge
based from the story plot. Each of these plots provides continuity to fit the
story mode.
Scenario Mode
This mode will provide easy way to be in the game play scenario for multiple
players. More action skill is required to challenge other player skills due to
gain more game point. Most of the game level will require player to battle
with opponent’s soldiers. At the end of game, player will be battle with the
prime opponent.
Game Structure
Game structure at each level of story mode and scenario mode, is based on the
mission given to the player. Player has to use the action skill and creativity to solve
the mission. Certain mission will need player to plan and structuring the strategy to
defeat the opponent, for example: many opponent attack at a time and at certain
mission also, player have to manage the skill of character – defense, attack, special
weapon usage – to defeat a difficult opponent.
Gameplay
The goal and mission of this game are comprises of battle, defense and player
creativity to reach the end of the game.
Story Mode
Level 1
Location: Market Area, Castle Courtyard and Inside Ratu Daha Castle
Kirana its an action adventure game that lead player to historical era of Java
sovereignty. Tuan Puteri Galuh Cendera Kirana will cloak as a hero character called
Panji Semirang Asmaratanka. Paduka Liku, Panji Semirang’s stepmother is cruel
and jealousy towards Panji Semirang and her mother. She is willing to do anything
to achieve her goal though she has to poison Panji Semirang’s mother.
Planning Phase: Group Tasks Distribution
Game Design
1. System
i. The applied technology will enable handphone to display game using
J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) platform.
2. Scenario
i. Each of the scenario in this game was authored by game writer assissted
by game designer and new ideas from other artists.
3. Game level
i. Kirana consist of ten level of difficulties to be solve by player. Each
level has a maximum time of 15 minute with different challenge and
mission at each level.
Game Graphics
1. Character and Animation
i. Producing the character, animation and background.
2. Surrounding/Object
i. Related object both moveable and non-moveable in the game
background, for example hut and tree.
3. Effect
i. Game effect is the detailed part of the graphic providing sound and
visual effect to create realism, for example step sound, running horse
sound, clinging weapon, fog and smoke.
4. Interface
i. Game interface produced from the main menu to each level of the
game.
Game Designer
Tasks:
1. Design game
2. Develop layout
3. Develop concept
4. Implementation game design
5. Modify game design
6. Develop gameplay
Game Artist
Tasks:
1. Create visual art
2. Develop volumes of sketches
3. Develop game assest
Game Writer
Tasks:
1. Write game
2. Write dialog for NPC
Game Producer
Tasks:
1. Negotiating contracts
2. Developing schedule
3. Developing budget
4. Maintaining schedule
5. Developing schedule
6. Arranging beta testing
Game Developer
Tasks:
1. Develop game
2. Approve game idea
Level Designer
Tasks:
1. Producing Scenarios
2. Create advanced levels
3. Create levels
4. Create challenges or mission
5. Altering game rules
Game Programmer
Tasks:
1. Develop Prototypes
2. Develop technical framework
3. Write source codes
Keypad Control
Enter = Play “keris”
Left = Move Left
Right = Move Right
Up = Jump
Particle Effects (for ten levels)
1. Burning
2. Weapon slashing sound
3. Fogging effect at Level 7. Wilis Mountain
4. Debris effect during horse galloping.
Sound Effects (for ten levels)
1. Weapon blade slashing
2. Arrow firing.
3. Main menu background music
4. Golden pot collected indicator.
5. Horse steps.
6. Collected item indicator.
7. Grand entrance opening.
8. Fighting
Storyboard
Level 1
At this level, player will be at market area, castle courtyard and also in Ratu
Daha castle. Player will be assigned to collect items and the main mission is to
defeat Paduka Liku to enable Level 2 in this game. Panji Semirang Asmaratanka
character will be used to complete te mission.
Sprite
Sprites create an effective illusion when:
•
The image inside the sprite already depicts a three dimensional object
•
The animation is constantly changing or depicts rotation
•
The sprite exists only for a short period of time
•
The depicted object has a similar appearance from many common viewing
angles.
•
The viewer accepts that the depicted object only has one perspective.
1. Objects (Buildings)
2. Background
i.
Market Area
ii.
Castle Courtyard
iii.
Inside Ratu Daha Castle
3. Characters
Game Scoring
Level 1
Fore each of golden pot collected, the player will gain 10 game point. When
player defeat the Paduka Liku, player will gain 100game point. At this level, player
is required to gain 150 point to go to Level 2. The rules set player to avoid traps like
broken plate and oil statistic. 5 game point will be deducted if rules in order to reach
points.
Table : Workers Salary Estimation (estimated for 5 games)
Year
Basic
1
Salary
Monthly
KWSP
SOCSO
Salary
Total Per Annum
12%
1) Project Director
2,000.00
240.00
30.65
2,270.65
27,247.80
2) Game Designer
1,500.00
180.00
30.65
1,710.65
20,527.80
3) Programmer
1,500.00
180.00
30.65
1,710.65
20,527.80
700.00
84.00
30.65
814.65
9,775.80
5,700.00
684.00
122.60
6,506.60
78,079.20
4) Office Assistant
TOTAL
Diagram : Clas Diagram for game
APPENDIX J
User Testing
APPENDIX J
User Testing
A quick testing was done by Sharifah Aquila Alhabshi bt Syed Sagaff in
April 2008. The result as stated: The testing process was done to 10 users.
User Opinion Towards Game
20%
Bad
Good
Very Good
80%
Figure above shows the percentage of user opinion towards Kirana mobile
game. 80% of the user likes to play Kirana and think the game was good, while only
20% agreed that Kirana is a very good game.
Game Graphic and Interface
0%
40%
Bad
Average
Good
60%
Figure above shows the percentage of user’s opinion towards the game
graphic and interface. 60% of the user agreed that Kirana have a good graphic and
user friendly interface. While, others think that the level of graphic and interfaces are
average.
Malaysian Acceptance
20%
Yes
No
80%
Figure above shows the percentage of user’s opinion about the Malaysian
people acceptance to this game. 80% of the user thinks that Malaysian people can
accept well to this game. While, 20% of them think that Malaysian people cannot
accept this game.
Game Attractions to Other Ethnic Groups
10%
Yes
No
90%
Figure above shows the percentage of user’s opinion about this game. 90% of
the user agreed that other ethnic groups, other than Malays can be attracted to Kirana
mobile game, while 10% disagreed.
Background Interface and Music Suitability
20%
Yes
No
80%
Figure above shows the percentage of user’s opinion towards the background
interface and the music of this game. 80% of them think that the background
interface and music are suitable with Malaysian culture and the themes of this game.
While, 20% of the user think that the background interface and music are not suitable
with Malaysian culture and the themes of this game.
APPENDIX K
Financial Planning