I started writing this Flash Lite solitaire game, Aces High (right click and save target) on the plane on the way back from Flash Forward NYC being very energized by a good conference. I finished the programming pretty quickly, but I’ve been sitting on this file for a while because of design. I wanted to see how much control I have on colors and optimization, so I did some playing.

I was interested in doing a comparison of Vector v. Bitmap graphics. In then end I decided to go completely towards bitmaps. With such a small screen, every pixel counts. The numbers and suits on the cards really required snapping perfectly to the pixels. Even when using the pixel fonts I was getting some blurriness every once in a while. With all card details as bitmaps now, I never get blurriness on the phone. (For those wondering, As you can see, the file looks pretty nasty on the web. I probably need to make a loader shell and nudge it around a bit. It looks great on the phone though)

For the backgrounds, I am using a modified version of a pixel pattern found on K10K. If you haven’t already, definitely take a look at the patterns. They are excellent for using in Flash Lite applications. Most are fine for use in non-commercial applications, and can really inspire some fun ideas for the design of the rest of the application. On top of that, since they are times, you can have a complex background that fills the whole screen but is really a collection of manually placed tiles.

I then placed the game title as a transparent gif on top of the tiles to break the monotony. For the instructions screen, it is built much like an HTML table with corner and side gifs. This ended up being just three bitmaps which are rotated and reflected as needed to make the balloon.

The only downside to going with bitmaps is the fact that it looks pretty bad when not on the target device. On a Sony Erickson UIQ phone it would look pretty bad. Then again, with the jog wheel, I would need to alter the navigation to make it work better with an up/down navigation rather than a 5-way button, so I would have work to do anyways.

This is another application where I decided to add a desktop-like cursor. I think it simplifies the interaction and gives the user a clear focus for where their attention should be..