Today, Android dominates the global market for smartphone operating systems. Additionally, statistics posted on various websites indicate that the Google Play Store currently offers more applications and games than the Apple Play Store. Trends show that many developers prefer to develop applications and games for the Android platform.
Developers have the option of writing Android apps and games in C, C ++, or Java. But Java is the official language for developing games and applications for Google’s mobile operating system. Additionally, Google recommends developers to write new Android apps and games in Java. Also, many developers find it easier to write mobile games in Java than in other programming languages.
Why do many developers prefer to write mobile games in Java?
Java is a popular programming language
Java is currently one of the most widely used general-purpose programming languages. Developers have the option of using Java to develop desktop GUI applications, web applications, and mobile applications. Many beginners prefer to learn a programming language that allows them to create a wide variety of applications. Additionally, Java allows developers to write, compile, and debug code without any extra effort. That is why; companies can easily create mobile applications by implementing trained Java programmers.
Java is a multithreaded programming language
Developers always prefer to write mobile games in a programming language that is fully multithreaded. Multi-threaded support is essential for multitasking within a single program. Therefore, users can easily play mobile games written in Java while doing other tasks such as checking email and surfing the Internet. Multitasking support makes it easy for programmers to create games that allow users to switch from one task to another seamlessly.
Facilitates cross-platform game development
Unlike other programming languages, Java allows developers to port applications from one platform to another seamlessly. Developers can write the mobile game in Java once and run it on multiple devices and platforms without recompiling the code and using additional implementation dependencies. Therefore, it is easier for developers to create the mobile game initially for the Android operating system and reuse the same code to extend the game to other mobile platforms.
Help developers create flawless games
Like mobile apps, mobile games must also work seamlessly and offer a richer user experience to be popular and profitable. Therefore, developers must ensure that the code written by them is flawless. In addition, you should identify and repair any errors or flaws in your code immediately. Unlike other programming languages, Java enables programmers to identify and eliminate coding errors early and quickly. Developers can take further advantage of the Java compiler to detect errors that occur at code execution time.
Features included in Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)
While writing mobile games in Java, developers can take advantage of the robust features provided by Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). In addition to being an open platform, J2ME also includes the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) API. The MIDP API helps developers create applications and games for restricted devices. The latest version of MIDP API comes with several new features to make mobile game development simpler and faster.
Developers can use the Java runtime environment and libraries to make the game run smoothly on various mobile devices. At the same time, J2ME’s rich user interface features make it easy for developers to make games more visually appealing. In addition, the platform can queue network operations and capture efficiently. Therefore, developers can use J2ME to allow users to play games even when there is no internet connectivity.
Lots of game development tools
Developers can take advantage of a number of tools to quickly create 2D and 3D mobile games in Java. For example, programmers can use advanced 3D game engines like jMonkeyEngine to create stunning 3D worlds. These tools further improve the performance of Java games significantly and allow developers to migrate games to different platforms.
Some of these tools even allow programmers to write robust games in Java using widely used integrated development environments (IDEs) such as NetBeans and Eclipse. These game development tools go a long way in making Java mobile game development popular.
Java developers also have the option of using various mobile game development tools to create robust Java games in a shorter period of time. The set of 2D and 3D tools provided by these frameworks makes it easy for programmers to create games that provide a richer user experience on many devices running the Android operating system.
