WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan [email protected]...
-
Upload
lesley-malone -
Category
Documents
-
view
222 -
download
0
Transcript of WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan [email protected]...
![Page 2: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
What is WAP?Wireless Application ProtocolWAP Microbrowsers in Every Phonedisplays WAP “decks”
Equivalent to Primitive Web BrowsersAllows: Text Images (b&w bitmaps) Hyperlinks Text entry
![Page 3: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
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
![Page 4: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
How Does it Work?
a. User requests URL; phone connects to towerb. Tower passes request to WAP gateway (WTP)c. Gateway decodes, passes request to server @ URL (HTTP)d. Server acts on request, returns data to gateway (HTTP)e. Gateway encodes, passes data to phone (WTP)f. Phone decodes, displays WAP deck to user.
![Page 5: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Think COLS, not InternetEntering URLs is a Pain in the AssPeople stick with the carrier’s navigational hierarchy
People Pay—the 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
![Page 6: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
WAP Is Inconsistently ImplementedInconsistent Browser Behavior Test for Nokia, Ericsson, OpenWave Use URL Links, not Select Lists Avoid Soft Buttons & Tables
Cookies Not Always AvailableUse URL Encoding
User Timers, Not Push
Forget about WTAI & WMLScript
![Page 7: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Game Session Should Take< 10 Minutes
If They’ve Got More Time, They’ll Find a Real Game Machine
Can Mean: Short Game Saved Gamestate Playable in 5 Minute Chunks
![Page 8: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Latency of 1-2 Seconds
Unlike SMS (can be 1 min +)
Multiple Interactions Within a Session Each can be of modest importanceForget Twitch Games
![Page 9: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Network Not ReliableHandle Drops Gracefully
Design so Player Disappearance Doesn’t Matter AI Take-Over Allow Player Re-Entry Stand-bys?
Allow Reentry Without Data InconsistencyTime-Outs on Decks
![Page 10: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Decks Must be < 1.4k
Unlike HTTP, Text & Images Sent as aSingle Request
Well, it’s better than SMS
HTTP > WTP Encoding Includes Compression
![Page 11: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
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
![Page 12: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Making the Most of Graphics
Make Every Pixel Count
“Updating” image means another server requestNo imagemaps
Still best to avoid “board” layouts
![Page 13: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Keep the UI TransparentSelect Lists (avoid)
Soft Buttons (avoid)
Text Entry (keep to a minimum)
URL-link Menus (exploit to the max)
![Page 14: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
What Game Styles Work?Head-to-head Games
Gameshows
Text Adventures
Boardless Strategy (e.g., Nuclear War)
![Page 15: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Evolution of WAPNear-Term:WMLScriptWTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface)
WAP 2.0:Supports HTTP & TCP/IPXHTML (Mobile Profile)Cascading StylesheetsLocal persistent storageMMS Integration
WAP likely to no longer be the main event
![Page 16: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
http://www.ungames.com/tmpl.php/games/vr/
![Page 17: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
http://www.jamdatgames.com/html/games_gladiator.html
![Page 18: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
http://www.dataclash.com/main.html
![Page 19: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
http://web.wirelessgames.com/lifestyles/pets/over.html
![Page 20: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Yes, Good WAP Games Are Possible, Virginia
Multiplayer
Persistent
Fantasy that appeals to the Hard CoreMedia licenses (sigh)
![Page 21: WAP Game Design Compelling Games in a Static Browser Environment Greg Costikyan costik@costik.com costik@costik.com.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062314/56649e055503460f94af1ae8/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
URLs
WAP Forum: www.wapforum.orgOpenWave SDK (includes emulator): http://developer.openwave.com/download/Nokia WAP emulator: http://www.forum.nokia.com/wapforum/nokiasim_new.htmlEricsson WAP emulator: http://www.ericsson.com/mobilityworld/sub/open/technologies/wap/tools.html