SDK's for Wireless Games - Will They Succeed? 143
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 them... (Score:3, Interesting)
Unless the breakthrough on the hardware part comes (theres some pretty cool stuff in japan already), games on such devices make only limited sense...
Phone development kit (Score:2, Interesting)
Distributed wireless file sharing (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:bare bones != gaming (Score:5, Interesting)
Plus, with such small, low-res screens, there's more than enough power for anything you could want on those babies.
It sounds perfect for viruses! (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Wireless multiplay to open new doors (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
Not right now (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [phink.net] which is a wap version of the classic game Elite. Oh and if you don't know Elite you are not a true nerd
I'd rather it be not only games (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Gaming on Palm, Handspring, etc. (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Re:Gaming on Palm, Handspring, etc. (Score:3, Interesting)
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....
Re:Write Text Games! (Score:2, Interesting)
Some one showed me this [thcnet.net] the other day - it's Zork implemented as a '404 not found' page!! :oD
Just had to share it..
Pirates! (Score:2, Interesting)
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.