An interesting find.. one of the original programmers has posted scans of the original GTA docs from way back in '95, with a working title of 'Race 'n Chase'.
www.flickr.com/photos/mikedailly/5548280212/
Friday, 8 April 2011
First steps with Android development...
I've been wanting to experiment with mobile phone development for some time, so i began by researching what tools were available for Android development.
I came across the Airplay SDK by Ideaworks Labs, http://www.airplaysdk.com/
This looked ideal as it a cross-platform SDK which can target multiple platforms such as iPhone/Android/Handheld consoles etc., and it is also based on C++ which i am familiar with.
So, the first thing was to download and install the SDK, integrating with the Visual Studio IDE. This went surprisingly smoothly with no hassles! Now time to get something built!
I started by loading one of the example projects included with the SDK. The example was just a test of basic initialisation and display of an image to screen. I always try to get a sample project up and running as a kind of confidence test. Once I know that the whole build cycle from compilation, build and run are ok then I can get started for proper.
The example code was fine, no probs running in the Android emulator. Now time to get it on a real phone! Luckily there were no signing issues for deployment on Android, so the process was pretty much pain free! Just change build options from x86 (win emulation) to ARM code. That produced an apk file which I could then transfer and install on my phone. Couldn't have gone more smoother!
Now that the test is all complete, I can start tinkering around with the SDK with some sort of aim now...
I came across the Airplay SDK by Ideaworks Labs, http://www.airplaysdk.com/
This looked ideal as it a cross-platform SDK which can target multiple platforms such as iPhone/Android/Handheld consoles etc., and it is also based on C++ which i am familiar with.
So, the first thing was to download and install the SDK, integrating with the Visual Studio IDE. This went surprisingly smoothly with no hassles! Now time to get something built!
I started by loading one of the example projects included with the SDK. The example was just a test of basic initialisation and display of an image to screen. I always try to get a sample project up and running as a kind of confidence test. Once I know that the whole build cycle from compilation, build and run are ok then I can get started for proper.
The example code was fine, no probs running in the Android emulator. Now time to get it on a real phone! Luckily there were no signing issues for deployment on Android, so the process was pretty much pain free! Just change build options from x86 (win emulation) to ARM code. That produced an apk file which I could then transfer and install on my phone. Couldn't have gone more smoother!
Now that the test is all complete, I can start tinkering around with the SDK with some sort of aim now...
NRS, research, plus a little Star Wars
The National Readership Survey is a non-profit making organisation that provides statistical and analytical research data based on the readerhip of the UK's major print-based media.
It aims to provide details about which groups of people read certain papers and magazines with the aim of breaking those statistics down into a social grading structure.
The way in which NRS captures this data is by interview with a large sample of 36,000 adults aged 15+.
These are conducted year on year to ensure that the data is kept current and upto date.
This also has benefits in that the data can be compared year to year to determine any trend changes in readership audiences.
This data is used by advertisers in order to target their products to a particular audience.
The way the NRS breaks down this audience is by a social grading scale.
The classifications are as follows:
A Higher managerial, administrative and professional
B Intermediate managerial, administrative and professional
C1 Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional
C2 Skilled manual workers
D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
E State pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only
Advertisers make great use of this grading structure in order to target their campaigns to the right demographic. As a an example, an advertising print run for a renowned and expensive brand of watches will likely be better placed in a fashionable life-style magazine than a 'lads mag'. The evidence for this would be that the higher social class are likely to have more money to spend on what might be seemed as luxuries and as such are more likely to buy magazines about such 'life-style' things than a 'lads mag' that is more commonly associated with the lower social classes.
Similarly in television advertising, adverts may be placed during certain programmes according to the social class of the viewership that they are most likely to attract.
Companies also use what's called Quantitative, and Qualitative research in order to try and market their products successfully. This is in terms of by creating both the right product for the right audience. There is little point in spending a large budget on a product launch which no-ones buys or is interested in. This stresses the importance of market research.
Quantitative research can be described as collecting and anaylysing numerical, statistical based data. For example a poll or survey could be conducted as to whether the public (taken from a random sample of a 1000 respondents) would prefer to see a romantic comedy film or a science-fiction film. From these results you may get a swing to a certain preference which could help in deciding what may be the more successful film to proceed with. However, this only provides a limited picture, but with Qualitative research we could gain some more insight into these results. For example, as well as just asking what film they would prefer, we could ask them what things they would like to see in a film, or organise focus groups in which ideas for a new film are suggested, with feedback encouraged and recorded from those taking part.
One of the reasons that Star Wars has been so successful is that it's underlining story has universal appeal, in that it deals with a blend of mythology, science-fiction, the morality of good vs evil, and the classic 'hero's journey'. These are ideals that tend to have mass appeal, regardless of cultural, geographical, even religious boundaries.
It aims to provide details about which groups of people read certain papers and magazines with the aim of breaking those statistics down into a social grading structure.
The way in which NRS captures this data is by interview with a large sample of 36,000 adults aged 15+.
These are conducted year on year to ensure that the data is kept current and upto date.
This also has benefits in that the data can be compared year to year to determine any trend changes in readership audiences.
This data is used by advertisers in order to target their products to a particular audience.
The way the NRS breaks down this audience is by a social grading scale.
The classifications are as follows:
A Higher managerial, administrative and professional
B Intermediate managerial, administrative and professional
C1 Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional
C2 Skilled manual workers
D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
E State pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only
Advertisers make great use of this grading structure in order to target their campaigns to the right demographic. As a an example, an advertising print run for a renowned and expensive brand of watches will likely be better placed in a fashionable life-style magazine than a 'lads mag'. The evidence for this would be that the higher social class are likely to have more money to spend on what might be seemed as luxuries and as such are more likely to buy magazines about such 'life-style' things than a 'lads mag' that is more commonly associated with the lower social classes.
Similarly in television advertising, adverts may be placed during certain programmes according to the social class of the viewership that they are most likely to attract.
Companies also use what's called Quantitative, and Qualitative research in order to try and market their products successfully. This is in terms of by creating both the right product for the right audience. There is little point in spending a large budget on a product launch which no-ones buys or is interested in. This stresses the importance of market research.
Quantitative research can be described as collecting and anaylysing numerical, statistical based data. For example a poll or survey could be conducted as to whether the public (taken from a random sample of a 1000 respondents) would prefer to see a romantic comedy film or a science-fiction film. From these results you may get a swing to a certain preference which could help in deciding what may be the more successful film to proceed with. However, this only provides a limited picture, but with Qualitative research we could gain some more insight into these results. For example, as well as just asking what film they would prefer, we could ask them what things they would like to see in a film, or organise focus groups in which ideas for a new film are suggested, with feedback encouraged and recorded from those taking part.
One of the reasons that Star Wars has been so successful is that it's underlining story has universal appeal, in that it deals with a blend of mythology, science-fiction, the morality of good vs evil, and the classic 'hero's journey'. These are ideals that tend to have mass appeal, regardless of cultural, geographical, even religious boundaries.
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