As Jess Dominguez of Monkeystone notes, in many ways, mobile game development is at the other end of the spectrum from console game development. Budgets are smaller, shelf lives are shorter, development cycles are reduced, team sizes are smaller, memory, processor and power are substantially lower, screen sizes and resolution are different, and the number of target mobile device platforms is ever expanding.

Perhaps more than any other area of game industry, whether programmer, artist, or designer, these intrinsic characteristics of mobile game development require jack-of-all-trades abilities among the team members. Mobile game developers will undoubtedly be called upon to touch the various subsystems of the game, and may find themselves working on the menu system, game AI, game physics, sound, and more.

Finally, the most important skills to add to your skill set if you want to make mobile games? Flexibility and a willingness to work on all aspects of the game.

With the proliferation of mobile devices it is not uncommon for mobile game developers to be forced to create a different version of their game, customized for each target phone model, to accommodate differences in memory, processor, screen, and controller specifications, not to mention varying carrier guidelines. Porting from device to device is a fact of mobile game development life, and keeping up with the rapidly evolving device landscape is essential. Below are resources to help you keep abreast of current and upcoming mobile game trends and requirements. The upcoming installments in this series will cover key skills and resources for MMOG development and consoles, as well as those skills game companies will be looking for from its marketing, PR, and finance specialists. What you need to know and how you go about acquiring it, what the big guns are looking for, and how employers will train current employees to assume new responsibilities will also be covered, so stay tuned.

Forum Nokia - Mobile Games
The Nokia website offers an extensive amount of mobile game development resources including a "Step-by-Step Guide", "Introduction to Mobile Game Development", and "Introduction to Mobile Games Business". If you’re new to mobile games or looking for a nice overview of the business, this would be an excellent first stop.

Javaworld.com
Definitely check out the nicely done "Develop State-of-the-Art Mobile Games: Trends in Mobile Games and a Survey of Related J2ME APIs", a detailed article by Michael Juntao Yuan for JavaWorld.com.

Qualcomm Developer Resources
Qualcomm has a notable amount of resources readily available online on how to become a BREW developer.

Practical Java Game Programming
Upcoming book from Charles River Media by Dustin Clingman, Shawn Kendall, and Syrus Mesdaghi. Should be available April 2004.

Wireless Game Development in C/C++ with BREW
By Ralph Barbagallo

J2ME: The Complete Reference
By James Keough

Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones
By Richard Harrison

Mobile Device Game Development
Upcoming book from Charles River Media by Clayton E. Crooks II. Should be available April 2004.

General Mobile News

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A specialist in game industry careers, Marc Mencher has helped thousands of job seekers land jobs with the hottest gaming companies. Before joining GameRecruiter.com he worked for game companies such as Spectrum Holobyte, Microprose and 3DO. Marc served as President of the International Game Developers Network, then as an advising board member for the following year. He has spoken and held roundtables at several Game Developers Conferences, is a regular speaker at International Game Developers Association (IGDA) events around the country, and was a featured panelist at E3 2002. In addition to representing the game industry’s hottest talent, Marc also volunteers his time as a career coach for graduates from Full Sail Real World Education, helping them land their first game industry jobs. His articles have been featured in GIGnews, Gamasutra, and GameWEEK. Currently, he is working with the IGDA on chapter development and Games-Florida, a non-profit organization formed with the intent of nurturing and expanding the interactive multi-media industry in the state of Florida. He has also served as a Technical Advisor and Executive Producer for several recently released PC games.