There are few things worse for a programmer than the delay between altering some lines of code and seeing those changes working in game. In this latest in depth feature for Gamasutra sister mobile game news site GamesOnDeck, Iomo Studio's Steve Longhurst
describes the creation of a simple J2ME simulator which alleviates programmers from having to concern themselves with build processes that would otherwise take time away from other activities.
Longhurst further explains in his introduction:
“Developing J2ME games is especially prone to build process delay, with many steps required between compilation and final jar file output. Add to this the complication of many different device emulators with their slow start up times, poor keyboard response and limited debugging support. Mobile Java programming can be sped up and even made a pleasurable experience with the help of some J2SE code which simulates the J2ME APIs.
This article will lead programmers through the creation of a deceptively simple J2ME simulator which speeds up programming, improves debugging, facilitates rapid prototyping, aids the creation of device independent code and frees you from build processes that may take minutes to complete.”
He later comments on some of the benefits of creating a custom J2ME simulator application:
“You might wonder if programming your own J2ME simulator is worth the effort, in the face of existing emulators from device manufacturers. My own simulator application grew out of a level design tool for a J2ME game. I wanted to use my game engine within the Java based design tool to provide rapid feedback to the designer.
The simplest way to do this was to include the necessary J2ME support classes and methods within my design tool so the game engine class could be dropped in without any source code changes. While coding the design tool, the speed of standard Java development (compile and run) along with instant source code debugging made me wish I could carry on doing it for the rest of the game code.”
You can now
read the full GamesOnDeck feature on the subject, including more detailed explanation of Longhurst's custom J2ME simulator, including code samples as well as discussion on debugging, prototyping, and more (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).
