Flash Lite: Write once, run anywhere?

Up for discussion at last week's Mobile Monday Vancouver were Mobile Games. Featuring panelists from Nokia, Iugo and Smashing Ideas, one point that consistently came up was the general difficulty all three had experienced porting their mobile applications between the multitude of handsets. The rate at which new devices continue to be brought to market is staggering and porting costs now make up a significant amount of the total cost of creating and bringing a game to market. All agreed that this needed to be reduced, but how?

Enter Adobe's Flash Lite. Flash Lite attempts to deliver on the golden promise of "write once, run anywhere". Sound familiar? It should.

Remember Java? Somewhere along the line something was lost in the translation and porting became an accepted necessary evil. So how will Flash Lite succeed where Java failed? Perhaps it will because Flash Lite is far less ambitious in its scope than Java. You'll have to look elsewhere for support of the latest on-board devices. The requirement that Flash Lite be compatible with the latest versions of Symbian, BREW and Windows Mobile has handcuffed it to the lowest common denominator. Don't expect to use a mobile's camera, internet connectivity or GPS integration with Flash Lite anytime in the near future. But that isn't its purpose anyway.

Flash Lite applications look good. Damn good. Sporting the same crisp vector animation expected from Flash, Flash Lite offers smooth animations not easily duplicated in J2ME. Combined with simple D-pad controls, Flash Lite allows for the development of what Smashing Ideas' Brian Burke called "Clicky Sticky" games. Or simply, truly mobile games. Perhaps the most exciting part of Flash Lite is the development cycles being reported. Burke spoke of Flash Lite games ready for market in weeks rather than months expected for J2ME games.

So what if you could develop games faster? Cheaper? Without porting costs?

Adobe seems to think that Shockwave's Minis as the answer. A monthly subscription service recently introduced by Verizon in the US, Minis offers mobile gamers access to thirty games Flash Lite games for a fee of 3.49USD a month. While the games themselves are individually forgettable, the package as a whole is tempting. Quickly designed and implemented using Flash Lite, these throw-away games should work seamlessly with the Verizon's upcoming mobile offerings. What remains to be seen is whether Minis can tap into markets other than traditional mobile gamers.

John Boxall