14 DAY TRIAL // Game developers interested in coming up with new titles for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PC from Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion now have at their disposal a new tool for that.
The company has just announced the availability of a Native SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS (‘Native SDK’) in a closed beta program.
With the new development kit, RIM provides game developers with access to various tools to make the building of games for the tablet PC an easier task, including POSIX compliant libraries, and access to various sensors on the device.
“The Native SDK provides you with the ability to create rich and compelling games for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet using C/C++, the Standard Template Library (STL) and Open GL ES 1.1/2.0,” the company explains.
“The Native SDK includes a number of POSIX compliant libraries, as well as support for accelerometer, device orientation, and a variety of other functions to make porting your existing games as easy as possible.”
At the same time, the Native SDK comes with QNX Momentics Tool Suite, an Eclipse-based integrated development environment aimed at offering memory profiling, info on the usage of memory, as well as application debugging.
QNX Momentics also sports tools that developers would require when it comes to the debugging of sophisticated programs, such as hardware accelerated OpenGL applications.
“QNX Momentics is designed to provide you with a safe, secure, and powerful environment to quickly and efficiently build applications for the BlackBerry Tablet OS,” RIM explains.
Developers who will join the Native SDK beta program will be provided with periodic updates to QNX Momentics, so that new APIs will be available for them to improve the games built for the BlackBerry PlayBook.
Those who would like to join the beta program will need to head over to RIM's website here to fill the form there. The company will contact them with additional details on the program.
“Space is limited in this preview and space will be granted on a first come first served basis. We will work to expand the program in the coming weeks for anyone interested in C/C++ development for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet platform,” the company explains.