Sections:: Introduction / Getting the tools
:: Introduction
The purpose of these tutorials is to give the reader an understanding of the processes
involved in developing games for the Windows Mobile Smartphone and Pocket PC platforms.
These tutorials are written under the assumption that the reader has working knowledge of
C/C++ and some understanding of general programming techniques and practices.In an effort to make these tutorials accessable to as many programmers and Windows Mobile
platforms as possible, the tutorials offered here will focus on using tools and resources
that are free and will generate programs that will run on most Windows Mobile devices. I
will try to ensure that all code presented here will run for everyone. If we wanted to use
the .NET languages we would need to purchase Visual Studio .NET 2003 or 2005. The .NET
avenue is too costly for our educational purposes. Lets stick to C/C++.We'll begin our quest into the wonderful world of Windows Mobile game programming by
downloading the necessary tools. Our journey will take us from learning to compile an
industry standard "Hello World" application to completing a full blown, action packed,
game that will run on a number of different Smartphones and Pocket PCs! Theres a lot meat
between these two buns. Along the way we'll need to discover the solutions to quite a few
problems, a few being:
- How can we support multiple versions of Windows Mobile Smartphone (or Pocket PC) --
2002, 2003, 2003SE and 2005 (WM5) -- in one build?
- What does it take to support multiple screen resolutions?
- Are Smartphones powerful enough to handle complex games?
- What are the limitations of these devices?
- How should we structure our programs to benefit from the advantages of a mobile device
and work around its disadvantages?
- How can we design the user interface so that it works effectively on the small screen?
Through this series of tutorials we'll learn the answers to these kinds of questions and
we'll also learn some general game programming practices while we're at it. Keep in mind
that these tutorials probably wont be exhaustive and will not turn you into an expert.
Programming, like all other skills, requires practice. The reader (Yes, you!) will find it
in his (or her) best interest to study from other sources, practice and experiment, on his
(or her) own. The tutorials here will teach by example and will put all tips and techniques
presented into practice by developing small games and applications that highlight the
concepts learned.
:: Getting the tools
To satisfy the conditions set forth in the previous section, mainly that of supporting
multiple versions of Windows Mobile and programming with free tools, we will be using an
IDE provided freely by Microsoft: eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 - 2002 Edition. The compiler
in this package generates programs that will run on Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, 2003SE and
2005. We will compile our code for Windows Mobile Smartphone 2002 but later versions of
Windows Mobile will also be able to run these programs. We will also strive to produce code
that will compile with newer compilers as well.We'll also need ActiveSync to connect our device to the computer to copy the .exe of whatever
we compile onto our device. You can also copy the .exe to a memory card and use that to
transfer to the device. If you own a Smartphone or Pocket PC then you probably already have
it installed. If not, download and install it.Download the tools and install them:
eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 - 2002 Edition (this contains the compiler, IDE and SDK)
Next: Part 1
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