I am an experienced Android developer and with a team of developers we have created a app for Android, a mobile app that is used to mirror the contents of a TV channel. We have had a request to maybe make a PS4 app similar to the one we have on mobile platforms. The question is that is it possible or not? Also would like to know if our physical location is relevant to having a license? We are located in Germany. I am really new to this topic so any advice, hint or whatever if appreciated.
You need to register as a developer in Sony's Developer portal of your area. For Germany, that would be SIEE (Sony Interactive Entertainment - Europe). You can still ship apps world-wide, but that would be your starting portal. Start at https://www.companyregistration.playstation.com/ and make sure you pick Europe when asked.
Good luck!
Depending on how complex the app is, you also have the option of using Java.
Playstation 3 and 4 and Xbox One all runs Java because they feature a Blu-ray player - and all Blu-ray players run Java as part of the Blu-ray specification.
It's called Blu-ray Disc Java - and it will only run from disc.
It will of course run on any Blu-ray player - but for the gaming consoles you benefit from the much faster CPU.
A few YouTube example videos of various BD-J Xlets running on PS3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_E9VaXywG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxMpLB_ZsDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKadWBm9CQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bC5FV-2AY4
A few useful links:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/javame/bluray-142687.html
http://www.tvwithoutborders.com/
http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?topic=38044.0
Related
When I saw the Google Cardboard for Unity, I assumed this meant that you would be able to make a Unity PC game and use your phone as a screen/controller. All I can see is it wanting me to make an android app which is all well and good, but it doesn't allow for input from the keyboard.
Is there a way to stream the Unity PC project to the device and retrieve input (i.e. Headtracking, NFC magnet)?
The problem with such a solution is latency. In VR latency is a big deal. The overall latency from input to photons reaching your eyes should be 20ms or lower. Regular games have 30-60 ms latency by themselves. Add to that the gyro latency, the phone display latency... If you want to add another 25ms or more ping to your VR experience, that's gonna be painful and may even make you sick. If you want to read more on why latency is such a big deal in VR, Michael Abrash wrote an excellend blogpost about it: post on latency
If you want to necessairly use a keyboard for navigation, consider using a bluetooth keyboard that can be used with android devices. Also keep in mind that with the current technology, especially without a dedicated headset, really dynamic vr experiences probably won't work very well and can make some people uncomfortable or sick. For a good read on designign virtual reality experiences, please refer to this guide from the Oculus Rift: http://static.oculus.com/sdk-downloads/documents/Oculus_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf
There's nothing in the Cardboard SDK for talking with a PC-hosted Unity game. You could adapt the code from the Unity Remote 4 project:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18106
We are developing the app what you want except it uses GearVR instead of Cardboard. Please check the link below.
http://challengepost.com/software/airvr
Streaming from your PC to your phone's Cardboard is possible using third-party apps, such as Trinus VR (the client app on your phone) and Vireio (the streaming app on your computer). The two apps will then communicate via your home network (Wi-Fi or other) to stream the images.
I got a Samsung Smart TV UE40D8000 (Apparently from 2011 series ?) and an iOS device.
I'd like to make them both exchange information (most likely small chunks of text), via a dedicated app on both sides;
Now, it turns out the best way would be to use the Convergence API : I've built a basic TV App that looks an awefull lot like the sample code they give, and an iOS App for UPnP discovery and sending POST requests onto the TV. UPnP discovery works great.
But on the actual device, I can't seem to be able to manage to connect : the requests to /ws/app/{appID}/connect fail (with an actual appID of course) as if there would be no server.
Is the Convergence API available for my TV ? (there does not seem to have a compatibility list anywhere) Is there a way to upgrade to a 2012 platform if it is indeed a 2011 one ?
Can we test that API on a simulator ? My simulator runs under Windows 7 in a VM on my Mac (there is not Mac version of their dev tools...)
Is there really anything I can do to have a more precise diagnostic ? like logs from the appilcation running on the TV ?
Thanks
This Convergence page sounds like existence of MultiScreenService UPnP service equals the capability of Convergence API calls. So if you say "UPnP discovery works great" (given that you do an ST-limited M-SEARCH per example, not an unrestricted UPnP discovery), it should mean that your particular TV supports Convergence. Have you tried querying the TV simply with telnet? Are you sure about the port number on which the TV listens? Here the doc claims that it should be 80 for the TV and 8008 for the simulator, but i for one am very interested in the UPnP description.xml served by the TV for MultiScreenService. You could even discover some UPnP functions for diagnostic there...
Disclaimer: i have no experience in Convergence, only UPnP in general and unfortunately Samsung in general too. The fact that Samsung pushes such half-baked proprietary mockup reminds me of my short bloody disgusting career as Bada developer. Only Sony can sustain pushing proprietary mockups with dignity :)
Your year model is 2011 and you can't upgrade to 2012.
2012 models uses API v3.5 and 2011 models uses API v2.5
So this what you try to do won't work at your device as Convergence API is in API v3.5.
Check this one
http://www.samsungdforum.com/Guide/View/Developer_Documentation/Samsung_SmartTV_Developer_Documentation_2.5/API_Reference/JavaScript_APIs/Interactive_API
It gives you possibility to communicate between devices, so maybe it will fit your needs.
Finishing answering my own question:
like #Dobiatowski mentions, I'm screwed for Convergence API and 2012 platform
The Interactive API's documentation is not clear, and virtually non-fonctionnal despite 3 days of my best effort. Half of the sentence in the documentation don't actually make sense.
Still did not manage to make the interactivity simulator to work, Looks like it's not possible on Win7
Basic answer is : not possible
I want to create a playstation home style multiplayer game for iphone. How can I implement multiplayer in my project? Also, how can I give players a chance to chat? How can I let them create their own avatars to interact? I am a one man developer, with no access to servers. Maybe I can use iPhone game centre???
If you're looking for some kind of platform to build on, there is a product called SmartFoxServer:
http://www.smartfoxserver.com/
I have not used it, but it claims to provide a client API for native Obj-C or Unity3D. It allows for chat features.
If you want to roll your own, I recommend getting started with NodeJS:
http://nodejs.org/
GameCenter does not provide any kind of backend for multiplayer networking, at least not in the way you are implying. If you intend to build a networked multiplayer game over the internet, you most likely need some kind of backend.
Slicehost is a good way of getting a server like NodeJS running quickly and cheaply:
http://www.slicehost.com/
Don't forget that GameKit in iOS allows multiple devices to find each other locally (via Bluetooth or local Wifi) and create sessions. This might be a good starting point for your game. Here's some info on GameKit:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/GameKit_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html
I think this would usually be done with webservice interaction against a server. You may be able to develop a webservice and pay a small fee to have it hosted by a web provider, or to use your own machine as (an unreliable) server while proving the concept.
Or you could just use Nextpeer - http://www.nextpeer.com
It makes adding online tournaments to your game real simple.
You can look at Gamooga (http://www.gamooga.com/).
Its a realtime communication platform for multiplayer games so you dont need to worry about building and deploying your own multiplayer servers. You can upload your own server side scripts onto Gamooga's cluster which receive and process your clients' messages. You can use Gamooga's iOS API with in your app to send messages from the client side to your server side scripts. You can download the SDK and look at the demos to start off.
There is a free plan of Gamooga platform too that you can make use of to start with.
Disclosure: I am founder of Gamooga, replying only since its relevant to the question.
I am interested in developing an iPhone application that creates ad-hoc networks between iPhones.
Is such an application feasible?
I am a novice with iPhone development, so I apologise in advance for my naiivety.
Thanks
In iPhone OS 3.0, Bluetooth is used to create an ad-hoc network and has been developed for this purpose.
Here is some documentation.
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/GameKit_Guide/GameKitConcepts/GameKitConcepts.html
On a side note, there are some games that use the current access point and scan the subnet that they are on and find other listening clients. Then they create a game that way.
I know this is an old question, but since I just researched a similar topic, I wanted to share the results in case it's helpful to someone who searches for this in the future.
Newer iOS versions include Game Kit, a set of APIs allowing developers to create peer-to-peer networking systems over WiFi or Bluetooth. This appears to be exactly what the poster is requesting.
I have an iPhone game (Combination), and in the next version I would like to set up a server, where users (via the app) can submit which levels they have completed, and see how other users are doing. At this point I don't intend that users will need usernames and passwords, just a simple submit data, get back data.
I know very little about server-based language and databases, but I've heard lots of horrible things that can happen if you get it wrong. What would be the best system to design a simple, lightweight, secure database in?
How about having a look at Onyx Online or OpenFeint?
Onxy Online is from the makers of Trism, and they say, "the XBox Live Arcade ecosystem brought to the iPhone". I wrote this kind of system into Trism as a case study, and it's been a complete success. Since Trism launched in July, we've been hard at work adapting this online code for use in any iPhone game, and the results are stunning. What we're going to do is allow any developer to insert the Onyx code into their game, which will instantly enable online scoring, achievements, leaderboards, and customized forums."
OpenFeint is from the developers of Aurora Feint. From the press release:
"OpenFeint allows any iPhone game to add player profiles, buddy lists, walls, newsfeeds and real-time chat rooms allowing the game to build a real community around itself with ZERO operations overhead and minimal development time. OpenFeint consists of a server and a client. The OpenFeint Server is fully compatible with Google’s OpenSocial REST API and will be accessible through the OpenFeint client code library and sample UI code from Aurora Feint Inc. Indie developers do not have to operate the servers, which will be hosted Aurora Feint’s data center.
In a first for iPhone games, iPhone game developers will have the ability to reduce over 2 months of development work to 1 day, and completely eliminate back-end server operations, while offering their players an extensive set of customizable social and community building features:
Profiles: Players can upload an avatar photo or take one with their iPhone camera.
Walls: Each player gets a wall where other players can leave comments and view wall-to-wall conversations
Asynchronous Real Time Chat Rooms for meeting other players, sharing tips, strategies and experiences within each game community
Buddy List: Players can friend other players within their community or across the iPhone gaming community
Newsfeeds: Players can keep in touch with all of their friends’ activities (wall comments, actions in games, befriending people)
Global Community Chat Rooms for players to discuss recommendations, tips, and reviews of other games on the iPhone"
Have you used Java/C#/Perl/Python any other "server side language?" Are you going to be hosting the server-side yourself, or are you looking at hosting companies? Your decision might come down to how you intend to host your server-side stuff, and what capabilites your hosting company offers or what you are comfortable with.
Java or C# are really powerful server-side languages, but hosting these can take a little more work (and money?).
Java might be a good starting point, because you can setup Tomcat yourself and try hosting some web-services. MySQL is a good database to start with, but there are even more lightweight database alternatives. There might be a bit of a learning curve with any of these.
Have you heard of ICE touch? ICE is a middleware for network communication and has a basic persistence support. It supports every major platform:
iPhone as a client
Android as a client
Objective-C Mac OS X as client/server
C++ Linux as client/server
Java [any OS] as client/server
C#/C++, Windows .NET (with Silverlight) and native as client/server
I evaluated it some time ago and was surprised about its maturity, good documentation and example code. They name Skype as one of their customers.
As a start I would recommend to have a look at their example chat application. You can run a Java server, connect with your iPhone, your G1 and your Silverlight client and have a chat. Pretty impressive interoperabilty!
Here comes the drawback: GPL (you cannot link against it without being GPL yourself) or commercial (individual pricing).
I would also recommend you to use an online database service such as Viravis , DabbleDB or Zoho Creator. Almost all of these kinds of services have required integration capability to work with such a client as Web, Desktop, Windows Mobile or IPhone.
Java/Javascript is the defacto combo for most developers because of the Java support for every platform. Java Script has more than a few "issues"
The rest of the herd uses .NET (with its attendant 100MB run time bloatware that changes every 9 months)
php,pearl,ruby etc are good for server side, but if you want to use code, the best solution is probably C/C++ (or similar) and CGI/FastCGI.
This allows you to write communication algos once and use them on both ends. Any encryption/compresssion sim same.