News

After two previous and successful discussions at the University (the first on setting up an indie studio and the second on things all indies must know), Mark was invited back a third time, tasked with broaching the subject: What we look for in a Graduate.

Providing some general advice on CV writing, cover letters and portfolios, Mark then delved into the specifics of how to get noticed – and often the pitfalls many an applicant make!

There was a lively discussion in the Q&A section of the talk, with many of the students already looking at the state of the industry, getting hired into larger companies and focusing more on targeting jobs in their specialisation – with some considering forming an indie studio themselves.

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While developing on Android, we came across a rather simple problem:  How do I tell if my APK is installed on a Phone or a Tablet?

It seems like an easy one.  Surely there’s a “Tablet” flag, somewhere?  But then, what constitutes as a Tablet?
Is it the screen resolution?  We can’t really use this as, for example, in the Samsung Galaxy line of products, the Note 1 is a 1280×800 screen but so too is the Tab 8.9 – to name just two.

But here’s another interesting oddity: The normal rotation on a Phone is “Portrait”, whereas on a Tablet it’s “Landscape”.
That is, if you use getRotation() from the default display, then the “normal” rotation is when this returns a value of 0 (Zero).

The solution is actually very simple.
First, we get the rotation of the device.
If we have 0 or 180, then the device is in one of the “starting” positions.  That is, for a Phone it’s either the normal Portrait orientation, or it’s upside down, yet still portrait.  And similarly, for a Tablet, it’s in normal landscape or upside down landscape.
Now we know the device is in the “normal” or “start” position, we can check the display size.  This value changes depending on what orientation the device is in.  So, if we have a tablet that has a rotation of 0 (or 180), then it’s width will be greater than it’s height.  And of course, the opposite is true for a phone.

A quick check for if the devices rotation is 90 or 270, then we know it’s in the other orientation – Portrait for a Tablet, or Landscape for a Phone.
Now the height > width for a Tablet, so we know we have a tablet in this orientation.

A quick example.
First, get yourself a Display instance:

WindowManager windowManager = (WindowManager)context.getSystemService( Context.WINDOW_SERVICE );
Display display = windowManager.getDefaultDisplay();

Now we can check for the rotation and also get the screen size:

int rotation = display.getRotation();
Point size = new Point();
display.getSize( size );

And finally, perform a check on the rotation, followed by a check on the screen size, to determine what kind of hardware we are running, be it a Tablet or a Phone

if( Surface.ROTATION_0 == rotation || Surface.ROTATION_180 == rotation )
{
  if( size.x > size.y )
  {
    // This is a Tablet and it is in Landscape orientation
  }
  else
  {
    // This is a Phone and it is in Portrait orientation
  }
}

The size instance we get from Display will change on every orientation change, so you’ll need to call getSize() on every orientation change.  Also, the size.x/y values related to the width and height of the screen.

Hope this helps someone!

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Mark has been invited to speak at the University of Bradford on several occasions, discussing how to set up a small studio, several things indies should know and what Gaslight Games look for in a graduate. Through this, the University reached out regarding some mentoring for their Digital Media Working Academy scheme, which sees students work on real projects for outside clients. Naturally, this is something Mark jumped on!

As a firm believer in fostering and encouraging student development Mark, who appeared on Develop Magazine’s 30 Under 30, joined the team originally from mentoring perspective, helping to scope the project and work with the students to design and develop the game.

With the deadline looming, circumstances had changed and the University requested Gaslight Games take on the entire development! Still working with the remaining students, the academy staff and the BBC (as it’s their screen!) we were able to develop a fully motion controlled game that utilised the existing camera setup.

You can see the game here.

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What another great GDC!
Through another scheme provided by the UKTI and our good friends at Game Republic, we were able to repeat last years attendance and hit the best video games conference for a second year.

The main conference happens from the Wednesday onwards, of the GDC week, with the first two days focusing on longer duration tutorials. And it was on the first Monday that the UKTI held a showcase of UK based companies, inviting other companies and the like to this closed event. We were lucky enough to be selected as one of those attending!

Much of the week-long conference was a blur, as we bound from meeting to session to tutorial. We yet again were able to meet a huge array of the industries greats, discussing what opportunities they had available. Catching as many of the sessions as we could, it’s often difficult to pick from just one time-slot, wishing we could be in multiple places at once.
The fantastic session regarding running a small studio echoed many of the trials and tribulations that we too, as a small team, encounter on a daily basis. The wonderful (and hilarious) session on The Writing of Borderlands 2 not only demonstrated how much writing can influence game design but, as huge fans of the franchise, helped to explain how many facets of the game actually came to exist (the Bane gun being one of them!).

Speaking of sessions, a visit to GDC would never be the same if one did not attend the Experimental Gameplay Workshop. This is, by far and away, one of the best sessions at the entire conference. This sentiment is true for many a GDC-goer, as this session was moved to a larger hall, allowed extra time and also to “run-on” just in case. And, as is also always the case, we left this session with so many ideas about our own games swimming around our heads!

Outside of the conference there are so many events and parties (such hard work!) that evenings are just as fully filled as the conference days! We were lucky enough to be able to attend the OUYA launch party and see the final, release consoles – and of course, enjoy the 12ft tall OUYA in the corner! The ever-fantastic One Life Left/Wild Rumpus party upped its array of wacky games by bringing the custom-controller-requiring Tenya Wanya Teens, a gaming experience that is unlike anything else – pure lunacy (which of course, we adored)!

San Francisco natives, Double Fine, also held their own shindig celebrating the release of The Art of Brutal Legend book.
Yes, we’re mega-fans of Double Fine’s. Yes, we geeked out massively. And yes, not only did so many of the artists sign and doodle the books – we also got a unique piece of artwork from Tim Schafer himself.

Now we’re back in Blighty, time to put all of these contacts, the experimental ideas and resources gleamed from the various talks, to good use!

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