Conclusion

Getting sick of APIs? I know I am. The exercise, however, is a good one. As you've seen, some of the functionality (such as device control, imaging tools, and sounds) can dramatically enhance your game over the default MIDP 1.0 functionality. Nowadays I wouldn't consider developing a game that did not include at least some of these extensions.

Of course, the problem is how to do this without ending up with code that resembles a game addict's bedroom. Typical methods for abstracting and organizing this type of code might have worked in the big world, but they can carry too high of a price in terms of class resources to be useful for J2ME. In Chapter 14, "The Device Ports," you'll explore techniques that keep the bedroom sparkling without requiring a complex web of interfaces and classes.

But before you move on to the main event, there's one more warm-up act. You've looked into the history, talked about tons of APIs and tools, and seen more sample code than a hamster on acid (no, I don't know why they see sample code when they're on acid), but it's hard to see how this all comes together as an actual game. In the next chapter you'll do just thatit's game time!