Know your platform

The Adobe Flash Player is available on all Sony PSP's that have been updated with firmware version 2.70 or higher. The Flash Player must be enabled by the user from the Settings menu. Once enabled, Flash content can be viewed from the built in Web Browser application. The Flash Player on the PSP is version 6, and content for it can be optimized for Player 6 r65. Note: version 6 of the Flash Player does not support Flash Video (FLV) so it's not possible to view sites such as YouTube that use Flash Video.

Figure 2. PSP Settings menu – Enabling the Flash Player

One common mistake Flash developers make when approaching the PSP is thinking they can take an existing game they've already designed for play on the desktop computer and drop it directly onto the PSP, with maybe a few tweaks here and there. The PSP is a very different platform than the desktop computer, and understanding their differences is the key to developing successful games.

Strengths of the PSP

Consistency

A Sony PSP is a Sony PSP. If the game works on your PSP, it will work on my PSP. Each one has the same processor, the same amount of RAM, the same web browser, the same fonts, the same speakers, and the same screen. When creating games for the PSP, you can spend your time optimizing the performance for one specific platform rather than trying to predict every sort of problem a wide audience of players might have.

Controller

As a developer, you can capture user input from the PSP's directional buttons, analog control stick, and the "X" button. The analog stick acts like a mouse to move the cursor around the screen, and the "X" button is the mouse click.

Unlike most devices, the PSP was made to play games. It feels good in your hands, the buttons are solid and responsive, and the layout allows you to make quick reflexive moves and pull off accurate button combinations.

 

Figure 3. PSP controls available to Flash 1 = Directional buttons, 2 = Analog stick, 3 = The "X" button

Portability

The PSP is made to be taken out and about. Your players will have the game with them throughout the day. They can pull out the PSP when they have a few free minutes, or they can sit down for a much longer gaming session.

Internet Connectivity

The PSP has wireless networking built in. PSP Flash games can take advantage of a player's Internet connection to connect them to a high-score table, a multiplayer game server, or anything else you can dream up.

Limitations of the PSP

The PSP is a very powerful gaming platform, capable of stunning 3D graphics at a very high frame rate.  Unfortunately for Flash game developers, most of this graphical horsepower is generated by specialized low-level hardware the Flash Player doesn't have access to.

The Flash Player runs as a plug-in in the PSP's Internet Browser. The PSP web browser currently has 2MB of RAM available to it, shared across its three browser "tabs". The browser itself is a complex bit of software that uses a lot of processing power to emulate a desktop-like web browsing experience on a very non-desktop device. Because of this, the Flash developer isn't left with a ton of memory or processing power to work with. An average frame rate of 30 frames per second is possible for very simple animations, but if you want to include detailed graphics, complex math, and layered sound effects, you should plan for a frame rate of around 12-15 fps. Also keep in mind that the amount of screen (in pixels) that your SWF file occupies will affect the overall performance of your game. The addressable screen area you have to create your Flash game content is 480 by 272 pixels.

This limited amount of memory and processor speed is an issue that many Flash developers have never had to face before, and it can seem like an insurmountable challenge at first glance. Luckily, a large community of very bright Flash Lite developers have been tackling these very issues for a while now and have come up with some very helpful guidelines, tricks, and tips for getting the most out of limited resources. These developers have written many helpful articles and tutorials on the subject, and they're just a click away in the Flash Lite Dev Center. In the ‘Where to Go from Here' section at the end of this article, there is a list of some that I've found particularly insightful.

Another issue to be aware of is the fact that SharedObjects aren't supported by Flash on the PSP. If you wish to save player data, you won't be able to save to the local device. There is still the possibility of saving data to a remote server, but this is dependent on the player having an Internet connection.

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