Jigsaw Puzzle Interface Improvements

So when I switched my jigsaw puzzle game over from Shockwave to Flash, I added a ton of new features. That didn’t stop people from complaining that they didn’t like change. Whatever. With the falling penetration numbers for Shockwave, I had to move to Flash. Plus, Flash 9 is fast and smooth.

Anyway, one of the problems with the new version was that there were so many features I had to build a drop-down menu system to choose options. I could stuff all sorts of commands and options in there without taking up screen real estate or building a control for each option. But I knew it was only temporary.

So I changed it this week to a full control panel that springs out from the right side. Now users can see all of the options available, and quickly select one without navigating through the menu.

But that doesn’t stop people from claiming it takes them longer to issue a command or change an option. Interesting, considering that every single command and option takes either the same amount of clicks, or fewer clicks, under the new system.

I guess people just don’t like change. I understand that. But I wish they’d understand that software must keep moving forward and evolving.

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iPod QuickTime Baseline Profile Mystery

So I’d thought I’d share the results of my attempt to create perfect podcast video compression. Perhaps some can benefit from it, others might see a flaw and point it out.

The goal was: create a process to compress QuickTime video so that 1) It works on 5G iPods to iPhones, 2) It uploads to YouTube and other sites and converts to Flash video fine, and 3) has a decently small file size.

Now, if you want just 1 and 2, then there is no problem. Just export from iMovie, Final Cut, QuickTime Pro or just about anything using the “iPod - Medium” or “Movie to iPod” setting. In my case, I get 640×360 video that works on all iPod devices and uploads to video sites fine. In addition to setting the video compression to h264, the “Movie to iPod” setting will restrict the video to a “baseline profile”. This is critical for iPod playback. It will also restrict the number of bytes per second to a certain amount to allow for iPod playback.

But the file sizes are huge: usually about 50mb for 5 minutes of video.

You can control the settings of a QuickTime export quite a bit: limiting the number of bytes per second, frame rate, audio rate, etc. By doing that, I can end up with a 20mb file that is about the same quality as the 50mb one.

The problem is that in order to do fine-tune these settings, you need to forget about the “Movie to iPod” setting and create your own custom setting. There is no way to change anything once you select the “Movie to iPod” setting.

OK. So to simulate the “Movie to iPod setting, you choose to export as “Movie to MP4″ as a start. Then select “H.264″ as the video format. Here you can set a custom video rate as well, and a frame rate, and audio settings too. There is an addition button for “Video Options” that you must choose and set “Restrict Profiles” to “Baseline” — this gives you the baseline profile that you need to play on an iPod — or so you would think. You also need to select “Single-pass,” apparently. And, of course, you need to restrict the data rate to something low, like 500 kbits/sec or less.

But what you get when you do this is a movie that will play on an iPhone, but not a 5G iPod. It won’t transfer to it — iTunes claims it won’t work on the iPod.

As far as I can tell, there is no way around this, at least not with iMovie, Final Cut or QuickTime Pro. The “baseline profile” just isn’t set right for 5G iPods. You are stuck exporting as “Movie to iPod” and having a large file.

I did find one solution. I downloaded select freeware/shareware apps until I got to ffmpegX. This handy little video compression tool allows you to first choose “iPod H.264 640w” as a preset. But then you can change some of the settings. I was about to then restrict the data rate from 800 kbps to 400 kbps and set the audio to a lower rate as well. I was also able to lower the frame rate, though I chose not to. I exported, and got what I wanted: a .mp4 file that is small (20mb for 5 minutes) and works on the iPhone and the 5G iPod.

So it is possible to do this. The question I have is why doesn’t QuickTime allow you to customize your settings like this for an iPod video movie? At the very least, the “baseline profile” setting should work for all iPods, not just the iPhone.

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GameScene Video Podcast

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to create a podcast about game design. It occurred to me the other day that I have developed more than 150 games that are at GameScene and my other sites right now. Why not create a video podcast showing off each game and giving my thoughts on how it was developed, what works, what doesn’t, etc. Sort of like DVD commentary for each game. I’ll do one or more per week. Should be mildly interesting for anyone developing Web-based games.

You can find the GameScene video podcast at iTunes or on YouTube. Of course, you can also find the fun games at GameScene.com.

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Social Networks are Like Playgrounds

I love social networks. I don’t mind that they are popping up everywhere nowadays. I look at them like playgrounds when you were a kid. No one ever said: “What, they are building another playground in the neighborhood? We already have too many!” It was another place to explore, hang out with your friends, make new friends.

The latest one is Plurk and it has a game-like thing going on. You get “Karma” points when you do things like post, sign up friends, etc. Its like a new set of monkey bars that isn’t in any of the other playgrounds. Other than that, it is kind of like Twitter. So come over to to the new playground through my Plurk link and say hello.

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