Windows Mobile Game Development: Building Games for the Windows Phone and Other Mobile Devices pdf

Dawes
Windows Mobile Game Development
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Adam Dawes
Discover the world of 2D and 3D game programming
for Windows Mobile devices using C# or VB.NET
Windows Mobile
Game
Development
Building Games for the Windows Phone
and other Mobile Devices
THE EXPERT’S VOICE
®
IN .NET
BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS
®
Windows Mobile Game Development:
Building Games for the Windows Phone
and other Mobile Devices
Dear Reader,
In Windows Mobile Game Development I give you everything you need to allow
yourself to maximize your own creativity and bring both yourself and the world
some fantastic mobile gaming opportunities. Just think about how a gaming
device is always in your pocket, as a phone always is it’s too good an opportu-
nity to miss, so I’ll show you how to create the games you want to make.
I’ll guide you from your first Windows Mobile development steps, right
through to you working with advanced graphics techniques involving the
OpenGL ES graphics library. Along the way we’ll cover everything you’ll need to
get the best from your games, including:

• input and game control mechanisms
• flexible methods for controlling on-screen objects within your game
• consistent timing to ensure that your game runs at the speed you want
• music and sound effects
There are some key differences between the Windows Mobile devices your
gaming audience are using, so in Windows Mobile Game Development I’ll show
you how to overcome compatibility issues so your games can be available to as
many players as possible on their devices.
Along the way I’ll share with you my passion for gaming on mobile devices,
and I’ll show you how huge the possibilities are for you to create games on the
move.
Adam Dawes
US $49.99
Shelve in:
.NET
User level:
Beginning – Advanced
www.apress.com
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Adam Dawes

i

Windows Mobile Game
Development
Building Games for the Windows Phone and
Other Mobile Devices

■ ■ ■
Adam Dawes

ii

Windows Mobile Game Development: Building Games for the Windows Phone and Other Mobile
Devices
Copyright © 2010 by Adam Dawes
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval
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the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
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Technical Reviewer: Don Sorcinelli
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The source code for this book is available to readers at www.apress.com.
iii
For Ritu and Kieran
iv

Contents at a Glance

■Contents at a Glance iv
■Contents v
■About the Author xv
■About the Technical Reviewer xvi
■Acknowledgments xvii
■Introduction xviii
Part 1: Windows Mobile Development 1
■Chapter 1: Windows Mobile and .NET 3
■Chapter 2: Mastering the User Interface 29
Part 2: Creating Games 49
■Chapter 3: GDI Graphics 51
■Chapter 4: Taming the Device with the Game Engine 77
■Chapter 5: Timing to Perfection 111
■Chapter 6: Exploring User Input 129
■Chapter 7: Sounding Out with Game Audio 157
■Chapter 8: Game in Focus: GemDrops 179
■Chapter 9: Common Game Components 225
Part 3: OpenGL ES Graphics 243
■Chapter 10: A New Window on the World with OpenGL ES 245
■Chapter 11: Creating 2D Games with OpenGL 289
■Chapter 12: The Ins and Outs of the Third Dimension 311
■Chapter 13: Further OpenGL Features and Techniques 353
Part 4: Distribution 383
■Chapter 14: Distributing Your Game 385
■Index 411

v

Contents

■Contents at a Glance iv
■Contents v
■About the Author xv
■About the Technical Reviewer xvi
■Acknowledgments xvii
■Introduction xviii

Part 1: Windows Mobile Development 1
■Chapter 1: Windows Mobile and .NET 3
Looking Closely at .NET for Windows Mobile 4
Language Choices 4
The .NET Runtime Libraries 5
IDE Features 5
Preparing for Windows Mobile Development Challenges 6
Numerous Windows Mobile Versions and Editions 6
Hardware Considerations 8
Using Visual Studio for Windows Mobile Development 10
Installing Visual Studio 10
Creating a Windows Mobile Project 11
Designing a Form 14
Running the Application 16
Working with the Emulators 18
Targeting Different Platforms 19
Running on a Real Device 20
Debugging 22
Getting Help 24
■ CONTENTS
vi

Windows Mobile Game Development 25
Suitable Games 25
Graphics APIs 25
Technologies Used in This book 27
Welcome to the World of Windows Mobile Development 27
■Chapter 2: Mastering the User Interface 29
Developing for Touch Screen and Smart Phone Devices 29
The User Interface Controls 31
Forms 31
Labels 35
Buttons 35
Menu Bars 36
Context Menus 39
Timers 40
File Dialog Controls 42
Input Panels 43
Capturing Camera Images 45
The “Busy” Cursor 46
On with the Game 47
Part 2: Creating Games 49
■Chapter 3: GDI Graphics 51
All About GDI 51
Let’s Paint 51
Invalidating a Form 53
The Drawing Coordinate System 53
Colors 53
Pens and Brushes 55
Drawing Lines 56
Drawing Polygons 57
Drawing Rectangles 59

Drawing Ellipses 59
Working with Pixels 60
■ CONTENTS
vii

Displaying Text 60

Clearing the Background 63
Painting in Action 63
Bitmaps 64
Creating Bitmaps Using Graphics Primitives 64
Creating Bitmaps from Predrawn Graphics 65
Painting Bitmaps to the Screen 69
Bitmaps in Action 72
Smooth Animation 72
Getting the Most From GDI 76
■Chapter 4: Taming the Device with the Game Engine 77
Designing the Game Engine 77
Implementing the Engine 79
CGameEngineBase 79
CGameObjectBase 85
CGameObjectGDIBase 87
CGameEngineGDIBase 88
CGameFunctions 90
Using the Game Engine 91
Creating the Bounce Example Game 91
Optimizing Rendering 98
Adding, Updating, and Deleting Objects 102
Forcing a Repaint 102
Performance Impact 103

Other Engine Features 103
Interacting with the Device 103
Checking Device Capabilities 106
Future Enhancements 109
Next Steps 109
■Chapter 5: Timing to Perfection 111
Affirming the Need for Consistent Timing 111
Processor Speed 111
■ CONTENTS
viii

Graphics Performance 112

Multitasking 112
Processing and Graphical Complexity 112
Development Mode vs. Released Code 112
Overcoming Performance Inconsistencies 112
Fixed Interval Updates 113
Dynamic Update Intervals 113
Interpolated Updates 115
Using an External Timer 120
DateTime.Now 120
Environment.TickCount 120
The High-Performance Timer 120
Timing in the Game Engine 121
Initializing and Interrogating the Timer 121
Changes to the Interpolation-Based Functions 124
Changes to the Noninterpolation Functions 128
Using the Game Engine 128
Let’s Bounce Again 128

■Chapter 6: Exploring User Input 129
Touch Screen Input 129
Touch Screen Events 129
Selecting, Dragging, and Swiping 132
Adding Context Menus 144
Using Finger-Friendly Input 146
Using Multitouch Input? 147
Using Button and Keyboard Input 147
Button and Keyboard Events 147
Reading the Keyboard State 149
Input from the SIP 150
Choosing the Keyboard Input Method 150
Reading From an Accelerometer 151
Initializing the Accelerometer 151
■ CONTENTS
ix
Reading Data from the Accelerometer 152

Detecting the Presence of a Supported Accelerometer 154
Supporting Devices With No Accelerometer 156
Considering Input Design 156
■Chapter 7: Sounding Out with Game Audio 157
Understanding Sound File Types 157
Exploring the Available Sound APIs 158
Using the Sound APIs 160
PlaySound 160
System.Media.SoundPlayer 164
AygShell Sound Functions 167
BASS.dll 169
Adding Support for Sounds to the Game Engine 176

Choosing a Sound API 177
Make Some Noise 177
■Chapter 8: Game in Focus: GemDrops 179
Designing the Game 179
Creating the GemDrops Design Brief 179
Conceptualizing the Game Controls 182
Choosing the Sound Effects 183
Outlining the Minimum Requirements 183
Writing the Game 184
Creating the Project 184
Creating the Game Form 185
Preparing the Game 186
Creating the Gem Game Object 188
Resetting the Game 191
Pausing the Game 194
Displaying the Player Gems 194
Updating the Player’s Gems 200
Adding Player Control 208
Removing Gems from the Board 215
■ CONTENTS
x

Creating Score Objects 221

Finishing Up 224
■Chapter 9: Common Game Components 225
Managing Game Settings 225
Using the Settings Class 226
Understanding How the CSettings Class Works 228
Replacing the MessageBox 230

Using the MessageBox Class 230
Understanding How the CMessageBox Class Works 231
Creating a High Score Table 232
Using the High Score Class 232
Understanding How the CHighScores Class Works 235
Creating an About Box 238
Using the About Box Class 239
Understanding How the CAboutBox Class Works 241
Using Common Game Components 241
Part 3: OpenGL ES Graphics 243
■Chapter 10: A New Window on the World with OpenGL ES 245
Preparing to Use OpenGL 245
Hardware Support 245
Language Support 246
Understanding the OpenGL Features 246
Rendering in 3D 247
Using OpenGL in Visual Studio.NET 248
Calling OpenGL from Managed Languages 248
Understanding OpenGL’s Rendering Approach 249
Considering the Hardware Capabilities and Limitations 249
Closing OpenGL Applications 250
Creating an OpenGL Program 250
Configuring the Project 250
Creating the OpenGL Environment 252
Initializing OpenGL 254
■ CONTENTS
xi

Rendering Graphics in OpenGL 256


Adding Form Functions 260
Terminating OpenGL 261
Running the Program 262
Adding Some Sparkle 263
Using Matrix Transformations 264
Setting the Identity Matrix 264
Applying Translation Transformations 265
Applying Rotation Transformations 265
Applying Scaling Transformations 266
Applying Multiple Transformations 267
Specifying Vertex Positions 269
Pushing and Popping the Matrix 269
Practicing Matrix Transformations with Example Projects 269
Drawing Functions 274
Drawing Points 274
Drawing Lines 274
Drawing Triangles 275
Using Texture Mapping 277
Loading Graphics 277
Rendering with Textures 278
Specifying Texture Coordinates 280
Cleaning Up 282
Using Transparency and Alpha Blending 282
Applying Transparency 282
Alpha Blending 283
Alpha Blending with Textures 284
Knowing the Available Blending Factors 285
Understanding Orthographic Coordinate Systems 286
Taking Control of OpenGL 288
■Chapter 11: Creating 2D Games with OpenGL 289

Adding OpenGL to the Game Engine 289
■ CONTENTS
xii

Understanding the CGameEngineOpenGLBase Class 290

Understanding the CGameObjectOpenGLBase Class 292
Performing the Capabilities Check 294
Creating the Game Form 296
Using the OpenGL Game Engine 298
Preparing the Balloons Game 298
Setting up the Projection Matrix 299
Rendering the Balloons 301
Sorting the Balloons 303
Playing the Game 306
2D Possibilities with OpenGL 309
■Chapter 12: The Ins and Outs of the Third Dimension 311
Understanding Perspective Projection 311
Understanding the Viewing Frustum 311
Defining the Viewing Frustum in OpenGL 315
Understanding the Depth Buffer 316
Enabling the Depth Buffer 316
Rendering Transparent Objects with the Depth Buffer 318
Rendering 3D Objects 318
Defining a 3D Object 318
Removing Hidden Surfaces 324
Using Indexed Triangles 326
Lighting Your Projects 329
Introducing the Lights and Materials 329
Exploring the Types of Illumination 329

Using Material Properties 332
Exploring Light and Material Interaction 333
Using Multiple Lights 333
Reusing Lights 334
Exploring the Types of Light Source 334
Calculating Light Reflections in OpenGL 336
Adding Light to the Game Engine 340
■ CONTENTS
xiii
Calculating Normals Programmatically 347

Using Normals with Scaled Objects 351
Mastering the 3D World 352
■Chapter 13: Further OpenGL Features and Techniques 353
Importing Geometry 353
Introducing SketchUp 353
Using the .0bj File Format 357
Importing Geometry into the Game Engine 359
Moving the Camera 364
Positioning the Camera 364
Adding Camera Objects to the Game Engine 365
Lights, Camera, Action! 370
Optimizing the Camera Calculation 371
Cameras and the Projection Matrix 374
Rendering Fog 374
Adding Fog Support to the Game Engine 375
Using Fog 375
Working with Billboards 377
Rendering Billboards 377
Adding Billboard Support to the Game Engine 379

Learning More about OpenGL ES 381
Part 4: Distribution 383
■Chapter 14: Distributing Your Game 385
Preparing a Game for Distribution 385
Settings the Assembly Properties 385
Project Versioning 387
Creating an Icon 388
Building Distribution Packages 391
Switching into Release Mode 391
Creating the Setup Project 392
Adding the Setup Project’s Files 393
Creating a Programs Menu Shortcut 395
■ CONTENTS
xiv

Building the CAB File 397

Selling Games 397
Creating Evaluation Applications 397
Upgrading to Full Versions 398
Using Windows Marketplace for Mobile 400
Minimizing Piracy 401
Implementing Reverse Engineering 402
Obfuscating with Dotfuscator Community Edition 403
Using Advanced Obfuscation 405
Adding Obfuscated Files to CAB Setup Projects 407
Releasing New Versions of Your Game 407
Promoting Your Game 409
Go Create! 410
■Index 411

■ CONTENTS
xv

About the Author

■ Adam Dawes is a software developer and systems architect working at a cutting-
edge online service development company.
He has been a compulsive programmer since the age of four, when he was first
introduced to a monochrome Commodore PET. The love affair has continued
through three subsequent decades, flourishing through the days of the 8-bit
dinosaurs to today’s era of multicore processors and pocket supercomputers.
A constant for all of this time has been Adam’s fondness for computer games.
From the very first time Nightmare Park displayed its devious maze of pathways in
green symbols back in 1980, he has been a game player across a variety of genres
and styles. These days, he spends his spare time playing the latest 3D titles on his
PC or enjoying some of the classics in his stand-up arcade machine or sit-in cockpit driving cabinet.
Creating his own games has always been a hobby, and while he has no intention of becoming part of the
professional games industry, he has a lot of fun developing his own titles nonetheless.
Adam lives with his wife, Ritu, and son, Kieran, in the southeast of England. His web site is at
www.adamdawes.com (and all of his finished projects can be downloaded there), and he can be
e-mailed at He would particularly like to see the results of your own game
development projects.

Photograph copyright ©
Dave Parker, 2009
■ CONTENTS
xvi

About the Technical Reviewer

■ Don Sorcinelli has been involved with planning, developing, and deploying enterprise applications
for more than 15 years. His involvement in these processes expanded to include the PDA platforms
starting in the late 1990s. He is currently a Mobility Consultant for Enterprise Mobile in Watertown, MA,
where he works regularly with large enterprises on all aspects of mobility, including the design and
development of Windows Mobile line of business applications.
Don frequently presents on Windows Mobile topics for users, developers, and IT professionals. As a
result, he was awarded Most Valuable Professional status for Windows Mobile Devices by Microsoft
Corporation in January 2004 for his work with the Windows Mobile community.
Don currently is co-manager of the Boston/New England Windows Mobile User and Developer Group,
and webmaster of BostonPocketPC.com (). He can be contacted at


■ CONTENTS
xvii
Acknowledgments
I must start by thanking my parents for all of the opportunities they gave me when I was growing up and
for encouraging my computer habit from a very young age.
Thank you to everyone at Apress for your assistance in getting this book written and delivered, in
particular to Mark Beckner for allowing me the opportunity in the first place and to Debra Kelly for her
tireless assistance and encouragement.
And finally, of course, huge thanks to my wife, Ritu, and my son, Kieran, for tolerating me shutting
myself in my study and writing every evening and weekend—I'll be spending much more time with you
both now; I promise!
■ CONTENTS
xviii

Introduction
Goal of This Book
Gaming on the move has become very popular over recent years. With the arrival of the Nintendo
Gameboy, people realized that they could take their games with them, and as technology has become more

sophisticated these games have grown too, encompassing complex game mechanics, advanced 2D and 3D
graphics, and engrossing stories and game worlds that the player can literally become lost within.
Alongside these game improvements is the explosion in popularity of mobile communication
devices. Nearly everyone carries a phone with every time they leave the house. These devices have
become much more than just phones however; they provide contact management, e-mail, Web
browsing, satellite navigation, and entertainment.
Writing games for mobile devices allows both of these trends to be brought together into the same
place. It is very easy for people to pick up and play games on mobile devices, as they always have the
devices in their pockets. Whether they are progressing through a sprawling role-playing game on a train
or simply want a few minutes casual diversion waiting for an appointment, mobile gaming can provide.
This book aims to bring you the knowledge and techniques that you will need to create your own
games for Windows Mobile and Windows Phone classic devices. Starting with the basics of the platform
and its development environment and progressing through to advanced topics such as 3D graphics, this
book will guide you step by step toward creating a simple and manageable environment into which you
can write your own mobile games and distribute them to the world for fun or profit. Example projects
are provided to demonstrate all of the techniques discussed, and are ideal as a basis for experimentation.
It can be difficult to cater for the diversity of hardware available running Windows Mobile. This
book will show you how to create games that work on the largest possible array of devices, catering for
different screen resolutions, devices with and without touch screens, and accommodating all sorts of
other hardware capabilities that your games may need to work with.
Who This Book Is For
This book is written for those who are already familiar with programming one of the two main managed
Visual Studio languages, C# or Visual Basic.NET. It is assumed that you already have a grasp of the
fundamentals of programming and are familiar with using the environment for PC-based application
development. This book is not an introduction to programming or to Visual Studio itself.
You will, however, be given a complete guide to setting up the development environment for
Windows Mobile programming, getting your first programs to compile, and interactively debugging your
games as they run either on the Windows Mobile emulators included with Visual Studio or on a real
device.
To develop software for your device, you will need access to either Visual Studio 2005 Standard or

Visual Studio 2008 Professional. While many of the projects in this book can be developed using the
Windows Mobile emulators, I strongly recommended that you do have access to a real device to test
your games.
■ CONTENTS
xix
For developing games using OpenGL, as discussed toward the end of the book, you will need a
device that has OpenGL hardware acceleration available, as no emulators currently offer this. Most
recent devices do have OpenGL support—check the Internet if you are unsure.
The examples in this book are all written using C#, but the vast majority are capable of being
converted to VB.NET without any problems. Tips and advice for VB.NET programmers are offered within
the text, and workarounds are provided for the few cases where a direct VB.NET conversion is not
available.
Chapter Overview
The following is a brief description of each chapter. The chapters tend to build on one another, so I
recommend that you read them in sequence to avoid knowledge gaps in later chapters.
Chapter 1 introduces Windows Mobile and using the Visual Studio development environment to
create Windows Mobile games applications. It covers some of the different hardware configurations that
you may need to work with and explains how to set up simple .NET Compact Framework projects
running against the emulators and hardware devices.
Chapter 2 explores the user interface, explaining how to use forms and controls, menus, and timers
as well as more specialized subjects such as capturing pictures using the camera.
Chapter 3 introduces the first game development concepts, exploring the Graphics Device Interface
(GDI) graphics system. While the GDI is fairly primitive in its abilities, it is still capable of producing
interesting and playable games and works across all Windows Mobile devices, and the mechanisms for
creating these are investigated.
Chapter 4 starts to build a reusable game engine that will provide simplification for lots of the
features that we need to use to make complex and flexible games. It provides a simple mechanism for
creating lots of independent and interdependent objects within a game environment and optimizes the
GDI rendering process to get games running as fast as possible.
Chapter 5 shows how the timing of games can be made consistent across all devices, regardless of

their speed, graphical capabilities, or processor load from other parts of the system. The speed of
animation is made entirely predictable without any loss of flexibility or fluidity.
Chapter 6 covers the subject of user input. All sorts of input devices are available on Windows
Mobile devices, from touch screens and keyboards through to accelerometers, and all of these are
explored in detail to show how they can be used to allow your games to be controlled.
Chapter 7 turns up the volume and reveals the options for game audio, covering simple sound
effects to MP3 and music playback. Everything you need to know about sound for your games can be
found here.
Chapter 8 combines everything that has been covered so far into a full working game called
GemDrops. Featuring colorful graphics, a variety of control mechanisms for different device capabilities,
screen resolution independence, sound effects and music, the whole game is built step by step to show
how an actual game can be developed.
Chapter 9 provides a series of reusable components that may be used in any game. A simple
mechanism for loading and saving user settings, a message presentation window, a flexible high score
table, and an application information page are all provided to allow you to focus on writing your game
rather than having to reinvent these features yourself.
Chapter 10 opens the door to the world of OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES) graphics
programming. Beginning by exploring the concepts and mechanisms behind OpenGL ES and comparing
and contrasting these to GDI, everything you need to initialize an OpenGL ES environment and present
colorful texture-mapped graphics can be found here.
Chapter 11 integrates the OpenGL ES features from Chapter 10 into the game engine, providing a
series of reusable functions to simplify OpenGL ES game development. The focus of this chapter is using
the game engine for 2D graphics, exploring the features that are opened up in this area by OpenGL ES
beyond those provided by GDI.
■ CONTENTS
xx

Chapter 12 lifts up the OpenGL ES feature set into the third dimension, explaining how to create 3D
game worlds. Subjects covered include perspective, the depth buffer, and lighting so that your scenes
really come to life.

Chapter 13 continues the exploration of OpenGL ES in the third dimension and introduces a
number of useful new features to the game engine. These include importing 3D objects and third-party
modeling packages, moving and manipulating the cameras within a game world, and applying fog to a
3D scene.
Chapter 14 wraps up everything with tips and techniques for distributing your game to the world,
covering subjects such as version control, creating installation packages, registration code systems,
reverse engineering, and promotion of your game.

Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com>
P A R T 1
■ ■ ■



Windows Mobile
Development


2
C H A P T E R 1

■ ■ ■

3
Windows Mobile and .NET
It is a genuine pleasure to develop software for Windows Mobile devices using Visual Studio .NET.
For a substantial part of its lifetime, programming for Microsoft’s mobile operating system involved
using the suite of eMbedded Visual Tools. These came supporting two different languages: eMbedded
Visual Basic and eMbedded Visual C++.
eMbedded Visual Basic was based on the same technologies as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

This was similar in a number of ways to Visual Basic 6 (VB6), the desktop version of VB that was current
at the time, but with many shortcomings, such as the lack of strongly typed variables and poor object
orientation features. Programs were written using a stand-alone IDE, which had its own peculiarities
and different ways of working to VB6 itself.
eMbedded Visual C++ presented more of a challenge because of differences not only in the IDE but
in the code too. While established C++ programmers would no doubt have managed to pick up this
language without too many problems, those less-well-versed in the intricacies of C++ would have found
that the amount of new information they needed to learn proved a significant barrier to entry.
All of this changed with the release of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF).
.NET CF provides a set of class libraries that are parallel to the desktop .NET Framework. The
libraries are not identical, as large parts of the full .NET Framework functionality are missing from .NET
CF. However, a substantial set of identical functionality does exist, and any programmer who is
comfortable developing C# or Visual Basic .NET applications for Windows will be instantly at home
developing for Windows Mobile too.
The .NET Framework has met resistance from some quarters in the Windows desktop world. While
various versions of the framework come preinstalled with recent versions of Windows, getting users to
accept .NET as a requirement of an application can still be difficult. Fortunately, there seems to be no
such reluctance to install .NET CF on Windows Mobile devices, perhaps in part due to the huge amount
of software that requires it in order to run.
A major advantage of developing for Windows Mobile using Visual Studio .NET is that the exact
same IDE is used as for Windows desktop development. There no need to learn the details or keyboard
shortcuts of a new IDE: instead, you will be working within the environment you are already used to,
which includes all of your user interface tweaks and preferences changes. Developing an application for
Windows Mobile is simply a question of creating a different project type.
Programming within Visual Studio .NET also means that the Windows Mobile developer is able to
take advantage of the maturity of the Visual Studio.NET development environment. Microsoft has
spent many years improving the user interfaces and functionality of Visual Studio, and countless
versions and releases have cumulated in an extremely powerful and user-friendly studio for
application design, development, and debugging. All of this is at your disposal when developing
Windows Mobile applications.