Getting Started with OUYA

Ruben Hoyos
Robinson Moncada









Chapter No. 1
" Why OUYA?"
In this package, you will find:
A Biography of the authors of the book
A preview chapter from the book, Chapter NO.1 "Why OUYA?"
A synopsis of the books content
Information on where to buy this book









About the Authors
Ruben Hoyos is a systems engineer specializing in mobile development, with over
10 years of experience in IT projects, along with skills in project management and
software development. He is also interested in video game development, augmented
reality, and mobile technologies. He has experience in software development using
technologies such as Microsoft .NET, Delphi, SQL Server, MySQL, and PHP. He is
also interested in video game development using Unity3D and Vuforia. He is a certified
Project Management Professional (PMP) from the PMI Institute. He is also certified
in Microsoft Project.
He has participated as a speaker in several events, such as Barcamp 2011, OUYA
CREATE 2013, Barcamp 2013, Creative Transmedia 2013, and ViveLabs Ruta N
(Medellin, CO).
I would like to thank my wife Beatriz, my son J ohn Paul, and all my family
members for supporting me during this process. Also, I would like to thank
the entire team at Packt Publishing; without them, this project would not be
a reality.



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Robinson Moncada is a multimedia development technologist with over five years
of experience in game development for PC and mobile. He has worked on a range
of projects in modeling/3D animation, augmented reality, audio and video editing for
video games and applications, and multimedia in biotechnology and military applications.
He has experience in 3D modeling and animation programs, such as Maya, 3DMax, and
Blender. He is also interested in video game development with Unity3D, Unreal UDK,
and Vuforia (augmented reality).
He has participated as a speaker in several events, such as Global Game J AM 2010,
Expo Shangai 2010, Barcamp 2011, fLiSOL 2011, OUYA CREATE 2013, Barcamp
2013, Creative Transmedia 2013, and ViveLabs Ruta N (Medellin, CO).
I'd like to thank my family for supporting me during this process.




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Getting Started with OUYA
OUYA is the new video game console, announced in J uly 2012, based on the
Android operating system.
Its main challenge is to be an alternative for independent developers and small
businesses that do not have direct access to the major consoles in the market.
Its economy model is based on the freemium scheme, where all the games and
content published on the console should have one free component and another
that you can monetize.
Welcome to Getting Started with OUYA, a book that will guide you through
the wonderful world of this console: its hardware, its configuration, how to build
your first project for the console, and how to make money with it.
In the first three chapters, you will learn the general features of the console: origins,
business model, technical prerequisites, and preparation of the development environment.
In the next four chapters, the book explains the code base used to build video games for
OUYA using the Unity3D engine Version 4.x. The last chapter shows the technologies
that are being developed for the near future and that directly or indirectly impact the
development and advancement of the console: Leap Motion, VR Oculus Rifts, and
Arduino, among others.
The aim of this book is to let the reader know all the requirements and the basic
tools to start your game development projects for the OUYA console.
To facilitate learning and practice during the course of this book, we will use
a Lite version of our (the authors') project, THE LAST MAYA, a video game
based on the mythological Mayan culture and the end of the world.
What This Book Covers
Chapter 1, Why OUYA?, describes the origins of the project, the company, and its
business model and gives an overview of the types of content that can be published
in the console.
Chapter 2, Setup Prerequisites, shows the readers all the technical prerequisites
and basic configurations to prepare the development environment for Android.
Chapter 3, Setup Instructions for the OUYA ODK, explains how to create a
new developer account on OUYA's site, how to download and install the SDK
development environment for OUYA (the ODK), and how to configure
the emulator.



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Chapter 4, Guidelines for Setting Up the OUYA ODK, explains the contents of the
ODK, installation and configuration of the ODK plugin to Unity3D, the starter kit,
and common mistakes that can be made when starting a development project for
the console.
Chapter 5, Configuring the Controllers, explains how to start our first project for
the OUYA console and goes over the basic configuration of the main scene and
the main character, their animations, and how to associate them with controls.
Chapter 6, The OUYA Marketplace, explains how to program the monetization
of our video games using the integration features for OUYA's marketplace.
Chapter 7, Advanced OUYA Functions Graphics and Controls, explains all
the basics that readers need to know to optimize the graphics of their games,
leveraging the capabilities of the TEGRA 3 graphics processor by Nvidia.
Chapter 8, The Future, describes all the emerging technologies that will impact
the development and advancement of the console.




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Why OUYA?
OUYA was ofcially announced on July 10, 2012, on the Kickstarter web portal. The
project began with a funding goal of 950,000 USD to develop the console prototype.
The project was nanced by Kickstarter backers (this is the term that Kickstarter uses
to refer to users who sponsor a project). Within 24 hours, they had already raised
more than 2 million USD. By the end, they had reached 8.5 million USD. This makes
OUYA one of the most popular projects launched on Kickstarter.
In December 2012, the creators began delivering developer versions of the console.
The launch of OUYA through Kickstarter was an innovative way to raise funds
for nancing. The rst units were sent out to backers on March 28, 2013. After
some delays, the console was thrown open for purchase to the general public on
June 25, 2013.
OUYA's Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign



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Why OUYA?
[ 8 ]
The publishing system used by major video game companies was one of the
motivations behind the OUYA project becoming a reality. The big companies
monopolize the market for video games, and independent developers need to pay a
lot of money to publish their creations. OUYA changed this situation, allowing small
developers to publish their work directly to nal buyers without having to pay large
sums of money to the big video game publishing companies.
The ofcial website of the company is http://www.ouya.tv.
Technical specications
The OUYA system has the following technical specications. The developer
versions may vary slightly, but the retail OUYA console has the following
standardized specications.
Hardware
The specications of the OUYA console unit are as follows:
It has a NVIDIA Tegra 3 (T33) processor (four cores). The processor is
optimized for graphics processing and web browsing. It has a CPU clock
speed of 1.6 GHz and a GPU clock speed of 520 MHz. Because it doesn't have
to worry about battery life, OUYA runs this processor at the full clock speed
all the time.
Optimized for video games with high graphical quality, including the
reproduction of video in 1080p HD.
1 GB LPDDR2 RAM.
8 GB internal storage (expandable by means of an external hard disk via
USB). Only approximately 6 GB of memory will be used. The remaining
memory will be used by the Android and the OUYA OS. A 16 GB version
has also been launched recently.
HDMI connection to TV to 1080p HD (one connection).
LAN Ethernet connection via an RJ45 port.
Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn.
Bluetooth 4.0 LE.
USB 2.0 (one port). This is the port where components such as mice,
keyboards, and storage can be hooked up to. It is sometimes called the
inbound USB port.



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Chapter 1
[ 9 ]
Micro USB (one port). This is the port that you should use for hooking
OUYA to your computer for development purposes. It is sometimes called
the outbound USB port.
The OUYA pack
Controller
The specications of the OUYA controller bundled with the console are as follows:
A wireless controller with a radio frequency of 2.4 GHz. This uses a standard
Bluetooth connection.
A standard game controller layout (two analog joysticks, D-pad, eight action
buttons, and one system button).
A touchpad, so that mobile games that are ported onto the system can be
played more easily.
Battery operated; needs two AA batteries to power it.



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Why OUYA?
[ 10 ]
OUYA supports up to four controllers, as shown in the following diagram:
The control pad
Software
The default software specications of OUYA are as follows:
Android operating system 4.1 Jelly Bean
Custom TV UI
It has an integrated storage, which allows us to search and download games
(and other applications)
Includes the SDK for development (OUYA ODK), which is available online
for download
OUYA is more than a console it's a
business model
The console is the beginning of an ecosystem of businesses that want to leverage
e-commerce systems with the aid of the "micro" transactions system.
Video games are the category leader of the applications market, beating competition
from categories such as entertainment, utilities, and productivity according to the
trends of software consumption in the information era.



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Chapter 1
[ 11 ]
The OUYA console is based on a system of monetization of games, referred to as the
Freemium system, where the business model operates and consists of offering free
basic services, combined with the option of purchasing additional items.
The owner of a game published via the console has the opportunity to generate
money in the following ways:
Selling the complete version of the video game (an unlocked version of the
game or a version that has some restrictions removed)
Selling worlds or levels
Selling elements of the inventory, such as clothes, weapons, shields, and
special powers
The following variables are monitored in a Freemium business model:
Daily Active Users (DAU)
Monthly Active Users (MAU)
Index, which combines Daily Active Users versus Monthly Active Users
The OUYA portal offers some basic level of analytics for developers, such as
downloads and purchases.
OUYA content restrictions
The company is very clear about the type of content that is permitted on the OUYA
system. Explicit content is not permitted, including the following:
Any content promoting hatred toward a person or a group of people for
their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation,
or gender identity
Any content that promotes violence in the real world, in any form
Sexually explicit material is forbidden in the contents of the console and
their applications
Content that infringes on any copyright; the creators of the content must
respect intellectual property and third-party copyright laws, including
patents, marks, commercial secrets, and laws of authorship and others laws
of property that are guarded
Viruses, worms, malware, or any other items that may harm the gamers or
the OUYA platform



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Why OUYA?
[ 12 ]
Marks or branding
You can utilize the OUYA name, logo, and commercial mark, but you must
respect that they are the intellectual property of the company, for which they
should receive credit.
OUYA has an ofcial manual of corporate identity that should be used. You can
nd it at https://www.ouya.tv/brand-guidelines/.
The corporate logo
Content scope, applications, and social
networks
Besides the OUYA store, there are various media outlets, applications, and social
networks that players and developers can use to reach out and make their games
and content more popular. Some of these applications and networks include XBMC,
TwitchTV, Onlive, VEVO, PLEX, and Crunchyroll, and we will learn about them in
detail in the following sections.
XBMC
The XBMC media center is an open source multimedia entertainment platform
under the GNU GPL license. Its ofcial website is http://xbmc.org/.
TwitchTV
TwitchTV is an original service where players enjoy sharing their games with
other users. It also offers its own chat tools and channels. This website has been
functioning since 2011. In November 2012, Planet Side 2 was released, the rst game
that natively supports TwitchTV capabilities, but many others are coming. This can
be a fun tool to show others your skills in various game types. Its ofcial website is
http://www.twitch.tv/.



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Chapter 1
[ 13 ]
Onlive
Onlive is a video game distribution system that allows rental on demand (this
means that you can rent the game for a few days or up to three years). This service is
equivalent to cloud computing in the game industry, with the game being computed,
rendered, and stored online. Onlive does not ofcially support OUYA, but you
can get it to work by sideloading the APK on your system. Its ofcial website is
http://www.onlive.com/.
VEVO
VEVO is a music video site owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music
Group, Abu Dhabi Media Company, and Arthur Music Company. EMI Music
has given them the license to reproduce its content. Its ofcial website is
http://www.vevo.com/.
PLEX
PLEX is a media center that lets you organize the library of movies, series, and music.
We can play it from the OUYA console and create a system of positive feedback
for all the items related with high-level interactive content. Its ofcial website is
http://www.plexapp.com/.
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American website and international online community focused on
streaming media such as anime, manga, music, video games, and racing from East
Asia. Its ofcial website is http://www.crunchyroll.com/.
The important point is that you have software and services that attract users. The
OUYA development company is in talks with Hulu, Netix, Amazon, and Google
for their services.
Development tools to build video games
for OUYA
In this section, we'll take a look at some of the developer tools for the OUYA system.



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Why OUYA?
[ 14 ]
Adobe Air
Adobe AIR is a free development framework and platform to create games and
applications for mobile devices; it allows developers to create games for the OUYA
console as it allows the creation of native applications for Android.
Download the software from http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/air-sdk-
download.html.
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/adobe-air.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-sdk-
examples/tree/master/AdobeAir.
Android SDK/NDK (Java or C language)
The Android SDK is a free development framework based on Java that allows
developers to make games using development IDEs such as Eclipse. The Android
native development kit (NDK) is an alternative development framework that
is free and allows you to develop native applications using the C or C++
programming languages.
It is worth mentioning that in an application written with NDK, you may need to use
the Java Native Interface (JNI) to make use of only the used functions from Java.
Download the software (Android SDK / Android NDK) from http://developer.
android.com/sdk/index.html or http://developer.android.com/tools/sdk/
ndk/index.html.
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/android.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-sdk-
examples/tree/master/Android.
Corona
The Corona SDK can be used for all types of mobile developers, from beginners to
those with advanced knowledge of programming. It is a framework and SDK to
develop games on the Android platform and OUYA. It also allows us to blend HTML5
with OpenGL or to use enterprise features such as access to a SQLite local database,
JSON libraries, and asynchronous HTTP connection to store data in the cloud.



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Chapter 1
[ 15 ]
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/corona.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-sdk-
examples/tree/master/Corona.
GameMaker
GameMaker is based on an interpreted programming language and software
development kit (SDK) to develop video games. The program is designed to allow
its users to easily develop games without having to learn a programming language
such as C++ or Java.
The program is free. However, there is an extended commercial version with
additional features.
Download the software from http://yoyogames.com/gamemaker/download.
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/game-maker.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-sdk-
examples/tree/master/GameMaker.
MonoGame
MonoGame is an open source implementation of Microsoft's XNA platform. The goal
when developing games using this framework is an additional way to create games
and applications for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8; Mac OS X, Linux, and
Windows 8; and OUYA and PlayStation.
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/mono-game.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-sdk-
examples/tree/master/MonoGame.



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Why OUYA?
[ 16 ]
Unity3D
Unity3D is a platform game engine that works as a development environment that
supports OUYA. In the web console, developers can nd documentation on how to
prepare Unity to work with the console, and the ODK includes the les needed to
integrate Unity with OUYA libraries. We also have to consider that programming for
Unity is based on scripting, and for that we can use UnityScript languages such as
C# or Boo.
Among the engine options for video games development, Unity3D has the highest
quality and technical support. In addition to the many applications, development
kits, and source code that the Asset Store has, it can also be used to get useful
material for projects and development on multiple platforms.
Unity3D is available as a development platform for the Windows and Mac operating
systems, and allows you to create games for Windows, iOS, Linux, Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, iPad, iPhone, Android, and OUYA (actually). Thanks to
the Web plugin that comes with Unity3D, you can also develop games for Windows
and Mac browsers.
In the following chapters, we will walk you through the process of downloading and
installing Unity3D for creating the practice applications and examples mentioned in
this book.
Download the Unity3D software from http://unity3d.com/unity/download/.
The ofcial documentation for OUYA can be found at https://devs.ouya.tv/
developers/docs/unity.
Download the examples for OUYA from https://github.com/ouya/ouya-unity-
plugin.
Summary
In this chapter, we learned how to start a new project, the technical specications
of the console (hardware and software), the contents that are not allowed to be
published on the console, and the main development tools that are currently
available in the market.
Also, we mentioned the key applications and online platforms that are currently
available on the console.



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