Massive Scale Mobile Porting

Project Type: Lead Developer Experience (Pre-Agency)

Role: Gameplay Programming, Mobile UI Optimization, Touch Control Implementation

Tech Stack: RuneScript, Proprietary Engine, Mobile Integration

Executive Summary

Before founding Ocean View Games, our lead developer served as a key contributor to one of the most ambitious mobile ports in gaming history: RuneScape Mobile.

Bringing a 20-year-old MMORPG with complex desktop interfaces to iOS and Android required solving unique engineering challenges. This experience now forms the technical backbone of Ocean View Games, providing our clients with AAA-grade expertise in legacy code modernization, mobile UI/UX adaptation, and cross-platform optimization.

The Challenge: “Desktop Complexity on a Touchscreen”

RuneScape is famous for its intricate menus, inventory management, and “click-heavy” gameplay. The core challenge was not just performance, but usability. How do you translate a keyboard-and-mouse experience to a 6-inch screen without alienating the player base?

This required a deep understanding of:

• Legacy Codebases: Navigating and refactoring decades-old code without breaking live features.
• Input Mapping: Converting precise mouse clicks into intuitive touch gestures.
• UI Density: Redesigning complex HUDs to be readable on mobile devices.

Technical Solutions & Implementation

1. Refactoring Core Systems for Mobile

A significant portion of the work involved rewriting the “Mining” and “Smithing” core loops.

The Problem: The original code relied heavily on desktop-specific logic that felt clunky on mobile.

The Solution: We re-engineered the interaction logic to prioritize “tap zones” and simplified state machines.

Agency Application: At Ocean View Games, we apply this same “refactor-first” approach when helping clients port their existing PC games to mobile, ensuring the game feels native, not just emulated.

2. Adaptive UI Architecture

The mobile interface had to be dynamic, shifting contextually based on what the player was doing (combat vs. skilling).

The Solution: Implementation of context-sensitive interfaces that declutter the screen.

Agency Application: This experience drives our current UI/UX services. We know how to display complex data (stats, inventories, logs) on small screens without overwhelming the user—a critical skill for both strategy games and educational apps.

3. Cross-Platform Parity

A key requirement was that mobile players had to exist in the same world as desktop players without disadvantage.

The Solution: Rigorous optimization of network packets and client-side prediction to ensure latency didn’t handicap mobile users.

Agency Application: We understand that “mobile-first” doesn’t mean “mobile-only.” We build systems that scale across platforms from Day 1.

The Value to Our Clients

While this project was completed at Jagex, the methodologies developed during the RuneScape Mobile launch are embedded in the Ocean View Games DNA.

When you hire us, you aren’t just hiring Unity developers; you are hiring engineers who have:

• Shipped products to millions of daily active users.
• Navigated the constraints of massive legacy architectures.
• Solved the hardest UX problems in the industry.

Need AAA experience for your indie budget? Contact us to discuss your porting project.