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WAP Game Design

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WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan www.ungames.com www.costik.com costik_at_costik.com What is WAP? Wireless Application ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: WAP Game Design


1
WAP Game Design
  • Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment

Greg Costikyan www.ungames.comwww.costik.comcost
ik_at_costik.com
2
What is WAP?
  • Wireless Application Protocol
  • WAP Microbrowsers in Every Phonedisplays WAP
    decks
  • Equivalent to Primitive Web Browsers
  • Allows
  • Text
  • Images (bw bitmaps)
  • Hyperlinks
  • Text entry

3
Why Develop WAP Games?
  • Better environment than SMS
  • Links Lists make for better UI
  • Not limited to 160 characters
  • Can rely on image-display capability
  • Latency issues not as brutal
  • Main Format for Games in North Americaand
    acceptable in Europe
  • Functional business model

4
How Does it Work?
  1. User requests URL phone connects to tower
  2. Tower passes request to WAP gateway (WTP)
  3. Gateway decodes, passes request to server _at_ URL
    (HTTP)
  4. Server acts on request, returns data to gateway
    (HTTP)
  5. Gateway encodes, passes data to phone (WTP)
  6. Phone decodes, displays WAP deck to user.

5
Think COLS, not Internet
  • Entering URLs is a Pain in the Ass
  • People stick with the carriers navigational
    hierarchy
  • People Paythe Carriers, Not You
  • Like the old Commercial Online Services
  • Need a deal to gain access to customers
  • Customers funnelled to you
  • Share revenue with the carrier

6
WAP Is Inconsistently Implemented
  • Inconsistent Browser Behavior
  • Test for Nokia, Ericsson, OpenWave
  • Use URL Links, not Select Lists
  • Avoid Soft Buttons Tables
  • Cookies Not Always Available
  • Use URL Encoding
  • User Timers, Not Push
  • Forget about WTAI WMLScript

7
Game Session Should Takelt 10 Minutes
  • If Theyve Got More Time, Theyll Find a Real
    Game Machine
  • Can Mean
  • Short Game
  • Saved Gamestate
  • Playable in 5 Minute Chunks

8
Latency of 1-2 Seconds
  • Unlike SMS (can be 1 min )
  • Multiple Interactions Within a Session
  • Each can be of modest importance
  • Forget Twitch Games

9
Network Not Reliable
  • Handle Drops Gracefully
  • Design so Player Disappearance Doesnt Matter
  • AI Take-Over
  • Allow Player Re-Entry
  • Stand-bys?
  • Allow Reentry Without Data Inconsistency
  • Time-Outs on Decks

10
Decks Must be lt 1.4k
  • Well, its better than SMS
  • Unlike HTTP, Text Images Sent as a
  • Single Request
  • HTTP gt WTP Encoding Includes Compression

11
Dealing with 1.4k Limit
  • Write Tersely
  • Use Graphics Sparely
  • Make Animations Separate Deckwith timer to
    autoload next deck
  • Can Make Long Documents Multiple Decks
  • Consider Terse Mode for Experienced Players

12
Making the Most of Graphics
  • Make Every Pixel Count
  • Updating image means another server request
  • No imagemaps
  • Still best to avoid board layouts

13
Keep the UI Transparent
  • Select Lists (avoid)
  • Soft Buttons (avoid)
  • Text Entry (keep to a minimum)
  • URL-link Menus (exploit to the max)

14
What Game Styles Work?
  • Head-to-head Games
  • Gameshows
  • Text Adventures
  • Boardless Strategy (e.g., Nuclear War)

15
Evolution of WAP
  • Near-TermWMLScriptWTAI (Wireless Telephony
    Application Interface)
  • WAP 2.0Supports HTTP TCP/IPXHTML (Mobile
    Profile)Cascading StylesheetsLocal persistent
    storageMMS Integration
  • WAP likely to no longer be the main event

16
http//www.ungames.com/tmpl.php/games/vr/
17
http//www.jamdatgames.com/html/games_gladiator.ht
ml
18
http//www.dataclash.com/main.html
19
http//web.wirelessgames.com/lifestyles/pets/over.
html
20
Yes, Good WAP Games Are Possible, Virginia
  • Multiplayer
  • Persistent
  • Fantasy that appeals to the Hard Core
  • Media licenses (sigh)

21
URLs
  • WAP Forum www.wapforum.org
  • OpenWave SDK (includes emulator)
    http//developer.openwave.com/download/
  • Nokia WAP emulator http//www.forum.nokia.com/wap
    forum/nokiasim_new.html
  • Ericsson WAP emulator http//www.ericsson.com/mob
    ilityworld/sub/open/technologies/wap/tools.html
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