If you develop apps or games with Unity, take advantage of Fire TV’s growing popularity to reach a whole new audience. This session will explore some of the considerations applicable when developing for streaming media devices, including Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. We’ll demonstrate how to account for the form factor (overscan, landscape, device and controller detection), and show you Unity makes it easy to create Fire TV apps and games.

1. @peterdotgames peterheinrich
BRINGING UNITY GAMES TO FIRE TV
PETER HEINRICH
D E V E L O P E R E V A N G E L I S T, A M A Z O N

2. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

3. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

4. WHY FIRE TV?

5. S T R E A M I N G M E D I A D E V I C E S
No slowdown in sight for
double-digit sales growth
of SMDs.

6. S T R E A M I N G M E D I A D E V I C E S
Fire TV has been the #1 best-
selling streaming media player
in the US.

7. S T R E A M I N G M E D I A D E V I C E S
Prime Day 2016:
• 2.5x sales of Fire TV devices over 2015
• Fire TV Stick was the best-selling
Amazon device

8. A M A Z O N F I R E T V FA M I LY
FIRE TV
4K compatible (2160p)
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Quad-core CPU
2 GB RAM, 8 GB Internal Storage
(actual formated capacity will be less)
WiFi – Bluetooth 4.1
USB-A and MicroSD Slot

9. A M A Z O N F I R E T V FA M I LY
FIRE TV STICK
Full HD (1080p)
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Dual-core CPU
1 GB RAM, 8 GB Internal Storage
(actual formatted capacity will be less)
WiFi – Bluetooth 3.0
MicroUSB (power only)

10. 64%
37%41%
Of all the Mobile
Gamers that
use the Amazon
Appstore…
Spend Money on Mobile Games vs 41% on
Average and 37% for Google Play.
Aggregate of US, UK, FR, GER
A M A Z O N R E A C H E S ( B I G ) S P E N D E R S B E S T
Amazon Mobile Average Play Average
Newzoo, December 2014

11. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

12. THE 10’ EXPERIENCE

13. D E S I G N F O R T H E B I G S C R E E N
Yo u c a n t a r g e t y o u r g a m e s m a d e
f o r m o b i l e , t a b l e t , a n d d e s k t o p
f o r t h e l i v i n g r o o m .

14. T H E 1 0 ’ E X P E R I E N C E
D E S I G N I N G
F O R T V I S
D I F F E R E N T
Yo u w i l l h av e t o
d e s i g n y o u r
i n t e r fa c e d i f fe r e n t l y
fo r p e o p l e s i tt i n g
1 0 fe e t a w ay f ro m
t h e d i s p l ay.

15. T H E 1 0 ’ E X P E R I E N C E
The goal of 10-foot user interface
design is to make the user’s
interaction as simple and efficient
as possible…
W i k i p e d i a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_experience

16. T H E 1 0 ’ E X P E R I E N C E
…while still having an intuitive
layout, in terms of accomplishing
user goals—what is often called
user-centered design.
W i k i p e d i a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_experience

17. N AV I G AT I O N
B E R E M O T E - F R I E N D LY
• Focus on the core
navigation buttons
• Standard Android
navigation for Menu, Home,
and Back buttons
• Reserve media buttons for
playback only

18. A N T I C I P A T E U S E R
N A V I G A T I O N F L O W
N e v e r l e t t h e p l a y e r g e t
s t u c k o r f o r c e t h e m t o
b a c k t r a c k t h r o u g h
n a v i g a t i o n g r o u p s .

19. M O V I N G F R O M M O B I L E
W H E N Y O U R U I J U S T W O R K S
Chances are that
your existing
landscape design
will work perfectly
as-is, provided it
supports a few basic
features:
Button states for selected, disabled, etc.
Easy navigation via the Amazon Fire TV
Remote
Clearly indicates how to move from
screen to screen

20. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

21. WORKING WITH TV
RESOLUTIONS

22. F I R E T V A U T O M A T I C A L L Y D O W N S C A L E S T O 7 2 0 p & 4 8 0 p
BUILD FOR 1080p
TA R G E T O N E R E S O L U T I O N

23. R E S O U R C E C O N F I G U R AT I O N S
S E T U P
Create different layouts
and drawables for each
platform, stored in
subdirectories of res/.
For more information,
check out the Android
developer resources at
http://bit.ly/droid-screens.

24. ORIENTATION
The orientation of the Amazon Fire TV never changes, and requesting the
device rotation or orientation returns constant values.

25. P H Y S I C A L S P A C E A R O U N D D I S P L A Y A B L E A R E A
UNDERSTANDING OVERSCAN

26. C O O L C O L O R S W O R K B E T T E R T H A N W A R M C O L O R S
TV COLOR GAMUT

27. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

28. RESPONSIVE GAME
DESIGN

29. U I A S P E C T R AT I O , N O T R E S O L U T I O N
Design for aspect ratios
—16:9, 8:5, 4:3—
then adjust dynamically.

30. 1920 x 1080
(16:9)
1280 x 800
(8:5)
1280 x 600
(Close to 16:9)
F I R E D E V I C E R E S O L U T I O N S
Fire HD 6, 8, 10
Fire
Fire TV & Fire TV Stick

33. CONTROLLER EVOLUTION
http://gizmodo.com/5110650/the-evolution-of-the-console-controller

34. C O N T R O L L E R S U P P O RT
With a lot of planning and
consideration, you can
have a single input
mechanic across devices.

35. D E T E C T T H E P L AT F O R M
K E Y B O A R D G A M E PA D
A LWAY S D I S P L AY
T H E C O R R E C T
I N P U T C O N T R O L S
B A S E D O N T H E
P L AT F O R M I N U S E .

36. Use SystemInfo.deviceModel to correctly
detect Fire TV (Amazon AFTB) and Fire TV
Stick (Amazon AFTM).

37. Responsive game design can be summed up in the
following key requirements:
1. Game graphics and UI support multiple resolutions
2. Game mechanics work across multiple types of input
3. Publish to multiple platforms with the same codebase

38. AGENDA
W H Y F I R E T V ?
T H E 1 0 ’
E X P E R I E N C E
W O R K I N G W I T H
T V R E S O L U T I O N S
R E S P O N S I V E
G A M E D E S I G N O N D E V I C E

39. ON DEVICE

40. Simply Compile for Android
Fire OS is built on top of Android. Just create an APK like you
would for Android.
BUILD

41. Go to Settings | System | Developer
Options on the Fire TV device.
ENABLE FIRE TV
DEVELOPMENT

42. Turn on ADB Debugging and Apps from
Unknown Sources. USB debugging is
optional.
ENABLE FIRE TV
DEVELOPMENT

43. Navigate to Settings | System | About.CONNECT VIA WIFI

44. Scroll down to Network and note the IP
address associated with your Fire TV.
CONNECT VIA WIFI

45. From terminal window, use adb to
connect to your device at its IP address.
CONNECT VIA WIFI

46. RECAP

47. W H AT H AV E W E L E A R N E D ?
Design for the 10’ experience
R E C A P
1. Simplify navigation/use remote buttons
2. Show button select state
Build for TV
Detect the platform
3. Clarify how to move between screens
4. Limit on-screen text/boost font size
1. Target 1080p landscape
2. Add safety margin for overscan
3. Be aware of color gamut differences
1. Plan layouts according to aspect ratio
2. Be flexible on input method
3. Tailor help & tutorials to the device

48. Peter Heinrich
@peterdotgames
@AmazonAppDev
heinrich@amazon.co.uk
developer.amazon.com/appstore
THANK YOU!
bit.ly/AmazonSummitFeedback