Game TV: uma Proposta para Framework de Jogos Digitais 2D para TV Digital.

Abstract

The Digital TV is in its consolidation phase and has begun its popularization in Brazil. Therefore the experiences acquired in the development of interactive applications for the Brazilian model of Digital TV are few, and constitute a challenge for researchers, technicians and entrepreneurs, especially in regard to Digital Games, since the game industry has grown 31% last year in various types of existing platforms. The proposal of this study is to investigate the environment of Digital TV, conducting a survey of the requirements for games to be run in this platform, then propose an architecture for a framework aiming at assisting the process of games development. For this, it follows the concept of a framework for games that has as its objective to assist in the creation of design patterns typical of games, thus facilitating the construction of graphical user interfaces, event handling and navigation control. To meet the purpose of the paper, the concepts of electronic games in the context of digital convergence are presented, along with software engineering methodologies for building game frameworks and the specifications of the Brazilian television standard, whichcould impose to the project the limitation of a typical application for Digital TV. This proposal also encompasses the identification and detailing of the stages necessary for the elaboration of a framework, as well as the presentation of a case study as proof of concept, namely a game for Digital TV developed using this framework on a PC. With this goal, it is intended to demonstrate that the platform contributes positively to the software development for digital TV, protecting the developers from specific characteristics of the platform and the implementation of routines needed in almost all digital games.