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SDK's for Wireless Games - Will They Succeed?
Memetic asks: "There is a software
development kit for wireless games, downloadable from
TTPCom, a wireless devices IP
vendor. It's described as: 'an open API delivering access to all the
mobile phone's features in order to develop a new generation of
on-line and multi-user games...it is possible to take advantage of
the GSM, GPRS or 3GPP networks by downloading these games over the
air, sending SMS messages between players, and creating multi-user
content and games. Technologies such as Bluetooth or GPS are also
made available' My question, does anyone see independent developers
emerging for donloadable gaming or will this market be driven by the
network operators / handset manufacturers?" While using this
technology to build games on cell phones doesn't intrigue me,
adapting this for our current and future crop of handheld computing
devices does. What kind of future do you think there is for games
development on such platforms like the Visor, the PalmPilot, and the
next-generation-Gameboy that may come down the pipe in the
next couple of years?
Who needs wireless games, when the actual wireless technologies, like cellulars stil suffer from extreemly limited bandwith, bad and small displays etc.
Unless the breakthrough on the hardware part comes (theres some pretty cool stuff in japan already), games on such devices make only limited sense...
Spyware for phones, anyone?
Hmm ... do these APIs include wireless peer-to-peer? If so, I could easily imagine a "wireless Napster", where each participant keeps their MP3s on their portable player, and anyone can stream MP3s from anyone else within peering range. Sound fun?
I'm fairly sure one of those 200MHZ+ Pocket PC machines is able to do some pretty amazing graphics work. Keep in mind, DOOM ran on a 486 at 33Mhz with a smooth framerate. You underestimate the power in these units.
Plus, with such small, low-res screens, there's more than enough power for anything you could want on those babies.
There are some viruses for european phones already.
:-)
If you have an API for controling more of the phone's features, you can bet that viruses will pop up. And it is much more dificult to reformat a phone than a PC's hard drive
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
Okay, here's one way to look at things. Multiplay has become what gaming is about noew days. Most computer games can't get away anymore without having some form of multiplay as part of it.
Now imagine a world where we have these handhelds that could allow us to play mutliplayer games. And I don't mean games like Quake, I mean games more along the line of Majestic. But think of a great spy game that you could be playing with millions around the world, over a Palm Pilot or something. The person standing next to you on the bus could be playing too, and even could be the one working against you. If nothing else, it'd create an excuse of all the paranoid people out there to really be paranoid. Now if you could get games like that over wireless PDA's, you'd see them take off quickly.
Okay, so who's gonna build that awesome wireless PDA and Phone spygame for me?
Personally I'd be pretty worried about running software on my phone unless it came from someone who I trust. I wonder how long it'll be before we see the first wireless worms with systems like this, I notice on their game engine page they mention WGE System allowing access to system resources. I wanted to find out exactly what this was but I couldn't find a link to their "open API" docs (mabye I'm blind) and I'm not really prepared to download their SDK for the priviledge.
;-)
I don't see much of a market for these kind of applications right now and I'm pretty content only playing games on my PC, but I suppose once the technology gets better I might give it a try. Having said that I had a flatmate who would spend hours sitting in a corner playing "snake" with his phone (yes haha very original, now get your mind out of the gutter) so perhaps theres more of a market than I think. The closest I came to playing wireless games would have to be wap elite which is a wap version of the classic game Elite. Oh and if you don't know Elite you are not a true nerd
He who defends everything, defends nothing. -- Fredrick The Great
I would rather see a suite of applications that tie in not only to other cell phones but central computers so you can have an Exchange-style system setup delivering that information. I think that for a lot of people who are out of the office a lot and on the go this would really come in handy.
Instead of logging into a terminal somewhere, you can just update your status via cell phones through the system.. I ended up writing something similar that operated via email, but you basically were stuck with whatever email client the phone had and had to deal with that.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
The main problem, Cliff, is that people who want to do this kind of thing with their handheld devices typically buy the PocketPC. Palm-freaks (a term of endearment, not a slight) are usually more interested in the smooth operation of their device and the ease of use stemming from its minimalist design.
I'm not quite a Palm or Windows CE nut (I have devices running both OS' and I'm interested in an iPaq to get Linux running on it), but I will say that the majority of interesting and unique games are for the Palm OS. I'll admit this is strange, because most PocketPC style PDAs are definetly better in the hardware department.
If you need to interpret my post, then you don't get it.
Well, not necessary.
.mil server (forgot the server name).
Imagine a game like this:
A strategy war simulation game, that can be played among a group of people. Each player starts with a set of territories, which form a country or a kingdom, or an empire, depending on what you want to call it. And the player is the leader of that country. The rest of the planet is occupied by a other countries (which may or may not have a player). The goal is to capture territories (for the aggressive), or protect yourself from being eaten up. Obviously, you want to make the game as realistic as possible, by taking into consideration your resources, your population, your military, etc. You are the chief, so you can issue orders to move your army/navy/air force, to attack, to defend, to do research on specific topics, etc. Your subordinates will send you reports, memos, etc.
The interface you need for this game is very minimal, just text. But the game must be hosted on a server somewhere. You send orders and receive reports thru wireless messages on your handheld.
This kind of game can be played on for months, even years.
Actually, in the early 90's, we used to play it thru email. You signed up thru email, you send command thru email, you receive report thru email. The game was hosted on a
It was very addicting. Now make the game go beyond planet Earth....
Some one showed me this the other day - it's Zork implemented as a '404 not found' page!! :oD
Just had to share it..
I remember playing "community" strategy games on BBSs about 15 years ago (remember Trade Wars?), where a) the graphics were terrible (ascii), b) connection was slow (1200 bps modem), c) there wasn't much in terms of messaging or community either (although you could send messages). Lot's of fun.
Why? Because the concept was different, new and exiting, that's why. You'd play against other humans, not a dumb computer opponent.
So while I agree that the community part is important, there are definitely interesting ways to achieve that (e.g. Pirates). Technically you'd just use Bluetooth, GPS, or telco triangulation techniques for it.
So if at least some of these people are innovative we should see some pretty neat apps. And I mean neat apps, I couldn't care less if downloadable primitive shoot-em-ups fail to be successful on mobiles.
Idempotent operation: Like MS software, wether you run it once or often, that doesn't make it any better.