Lecture Games: Designing a Game Development Framework for Teaching Software Architecture on the Android Platform

Abstract

The mobile phone industry has recently undergone a small revolution with the introduction of powerful mobile platforms like Android and iPhone. Skills related to mobile application development will continue to increase in importance over the years, and employers will favor applicants with this experience. Mobile platforms are exciting subjects for software architecture projects; the sheer complexity can be staggering, but the rewards are also high. In this project, Android is evaluated for potential use as a platform for game projects in the software architecture course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). A framework is also proposed which attempts to integrate relevant design patterns and useful abstractions---ideally assisting the students both academically, and time-wise. In stark contrast to established mobile operating system technologies, Android, led by Google, strongly emphasizes openness and developer community spirit. The evaluation in this report shows that the Android platform in theory is highly suitable for academic purposes, but actual devices running Android are needed for game development purposes.