App What You Need to Know About Developing Games for BlackBerry

What You Need to Know About Developing Games for BlackBerry

Originally appeared as sponsored content from RIM on Gamasutra.

The opportunity is now for BlackBerry game developers. Why don’t you play?

If the BlackBerry platform hasn’t been on your radar for game development, it’s time to take a second look. With the new BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 and BlackBerry 10 OS the opportunity for game developers to fill a user need is stronger than ever. BlackBerry PlayBook users want high quality, entertaining games and apps and BlackBerry AppWorld is ready for the influx:

BlackBerry AppWorld has already seen over 2 billion apps downloaded, with an average of over 140 million per monthBlackBerry AppWorld is available in 130 countries and growingBlackBerry AppWorld supports 26 currencies and 7 languages making it easy for people around the world to purchase appsCarrier billing is in place and expanding rapidly, with multiple major carriers such as AT&T, Vodafone, Rogers and more across 10 countries

What you need to know about developing games for BlackBerry

The BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS gives you the ability to create rich C/C++ games. Native SDK (NDK) is a development toolset that allows you to harness the power of the BlackBerry PlayBook. Combining the speed and stability of the QNX Neutrino Real-Time Operating System with the Eclipse-based QNX Momentics development environment, the Native SDK is designed for developers who need full access to all that the BlackBerry PlayBook has to offer. And the Native SDK gives you a set of C and C++ APIs that expose all the tools needed to create powerful and dynamic applications. The capabilities include the following:

Native system APIs for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s screen, navigator, audio mixer, accelerometer, network, and even moreA build environment that allows you to customize project settings, compiler, and deployment optionsA way to deploy your applications to real BlackBerry PlayBook devices or the included Blackberry PlayBook simulatorAn integrated debugger that lets you examine every line of code as it’s being runDocumentation, tutorials, and code samples

Who is the Native SDK for?

The Native SDK isn’t the only option for developing applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook â€" depending on your needs, the WebWorks or Adobe Air platforms could be the better choice.

WebWorks allows you to develop applications that support standards such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.Adobe Air lets you leverage the power of Adobe Flash to create rich internet applications.

The Native SDK is for developers who know they need the highest level of performance from their applications. Like 3D game developers. Or developers who need to do something that they can’t do in the other frameworks and might be able to do using the NDK. Or those of you who already have an existing C++ application that you want to port to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Of course, if you just want to play around with the NDK to learn what’s possible (and there’s a lot), that’s encouraged too.

Four simple steps to getting started

1. Download â€" The BlackBerry Native SDK to Tablet OS is available for download here:https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/native/download/

2. Get started - https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/native/documentation/getting_started.html

The BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS includes all of the tools that you’ll need to start developing applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, including a compiler, a linker, libraries, the QNX Momentics IDE with its full suite of debugging and profiling tools, as well as command line tools.

When it comes to testing your application, you can test it using a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or the BlackBerry Tablet Simulator. Some set up steps are required only if you’re using one testing environment or the other. You can find a summary of the steps you need to perform to get up and running with the Native SDK here:https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/native/documentation/getting_started.html

3. Learn â€" Be sure to check out the Developer’s Guide, Tutorials and Libraries available in the BlackBerry Native SDK:

STL and POSIX library supportOpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 for 2D and 3D graphicsOpenAL for cross-platform 3D audiolibpng and libjpeg for encoded imagesFreeType for fontsScoreloop SDK for integrating social gaming capabilities

4. Publish â€" You can distribute your finished game through the BlackBerry App World storefront with $0 registration and submission fees.

Additional resources give you an advantage

You may also want to take advantage of blackberry.github.com, where you’ll find many Open Source game engines and libraries ported and available:

GamePlay: a cross-platform 3D gaming frameworkCocos2D-X: a cross-platform mobile 2D game frameworkBox2D: a 2D physics engineBullet Physics: a 3D physics engineALUT: a companion toolkit to OpenALLua: a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting languageSDL: a cross-platform multimedia library

3rd party game development kits have also added support for BlackBerry Tablet OS:

Unity Technologies supports BlackBerry PlayBook tablet through its Union serviceMarmalade SDK provides ‘Beta’ support for BlackBerry Tablet OSShiVa3D Game Engine with Development Tools

What are you waiting for?

The time is right, the platform is ready and the market is eager. Browse the current BlackBerry App World game catalog to see some fantastic examples of current games available on the BlackBerry platform. Then use the resources above to start developing your own game and help the BlackBerry PlayBook live up to its name. Start playing.

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