New Features of Starling 1.5. How to develop for devices with limited RAM. Performance Tips. Alternative Frameworks & Platforms

1. Consistent Game Development
across all Platforms
Mobile Game Development
with
Starling
Daniel Sperl

2. Daniel
Sperl
Austria, 1981 Media Design, 1999
Flox, 2012 Gamua, 2009
Starling, 2011 Sparrow, 2010
Photo Play, 2004
iOS Games & Apps, 2009

3. Topics
• Starling 1.5
• Development for Mobile Devices:
• Performance
• Screen Resolutions
• Memory
• Outlook

4. What is Starling?
• A pure AS3 library for Adobe Flash
• Recreates the display list architecture ...
• ... on the GPU (through Stage3D)
• Deploy to:
Browser / Desktop / iOS / Android
A very
talented bird,
if I may say so.

5. Who uses Starling?
Angry Birds (Rovio) Ruby Blast (Zynga) Incredipede
Nyrthos Infectonator:
Survivors
Snailboy

6. Starling 1.5

7. Starling 1.5
• Currently Available as Release Candidate
• Includes many internal improvements
• Update highly recommended!

8. Starling 1.5
• Automatic Profile Selection
• More reliable Context Loss handling
• Significantly reduced Start-up Time
• Atlas Textures support Rotation
• SystemUtil class
• …
Features

9. Developing for Mobile
• Limited Performance (GPU + CPU)
• Multiple Resolutions
• Limited Memory

10. Performance
tinyurl.com/starling-performance

11. Screen Resolutions
tinyurl.com/starling-resolutions

12. Memory
• Mobile Devices have limited RAM
• Mobile Devices have huge Resolutions
• 2D Games need lots of Textures
Watch your Memory Footprint!

13. Memory
Do not Embed Textures
// Avoid:
!
[Embed(source=“assets/textures/hero.png")]
private static var Hero:Class;
!
var texture:Texture = Texture.fromBitmap(new Hero());
• Embedded Textures are in Memory twice:
Class Memory + Texture Memory
• Better: use Starling's AssetManager

14. Memory
Use the AssetManager
var appDir:File = File.applicationDirectory;
var assets:AssetManager = new AssetManager();
assets.enqueue(appDir.resolvePath("assets/textures"));
assets.loadQueue(...);
!
var texture:Texture = assets.getTexture("hero");
• Takes care of Context Loss
• Optimized for minimal Memory Footprint

15. Memory
Use RectangleTextures
// init Starling like this:
!
... = new Starling(Game, stage, null, null, "auto", "auto");
• Standard Textures always allocate MipMaps
• RectangleTextures do not!
• Starling defaults to RectangleTextures
with profiles "baseline" + "baselineExtended"

16. Memory
Use ATF Textures
# Usage example:
png2atf -c -r -i texture.png -o texture.atf
• Stored compressed
in GPU Memory
• Reduced Image Quality
• Easy to create via
Adobe ATF Tools

17. Memory
Use Bitmap Fonts
assets.enqueue(appDir.resolvePath("assets/fonts"));
assets.loadQueue(...);
!
var tf:TextField = new TextField(200, 80,
"Hello World", "My-Font",
BitmapFont.NATIVE_SIZE);
• Requires only Memory for
Font Texture
• Faster to change text + render

18. Memory
Optimize your Texture Atlas
• Trim transparent Borders
• Activate Rotation
• Use a Tool like TexturePacker

19. Memory
Use Adobe Scout
• Analyzes Texture
Memory Usage
• Shows every single
Object Allocation

20. Memory
Summary
• Use the AssetManager
• Use RectangleTextures (profile: auto)
• Use ATF Textures
• Use Bitmap Fonts
• Optimize your Texture Atlases
• Use Adobe Scout

21. Outlook
• Ongoing Support by Adobe
• Collaborating with Adobe
regarding AIR Priorities
• Collaborating with the Starling Community
regarding Starling Priorities
• Flash is not dead™ =)

22. That's it, folks!
Questions?