A Mobile Adventure

1
A Mobile Adventure

• David Thorn
• Stuart Slater
• Wolverhampton University

2
Overview

• Adventure Gaming
• Mobile Devices
• Communication Technologies
• Development Tools Technologies.
• The Future

3
Mobile Adventure Gaming
4
Currently

• Limited to single player experience on hand held
  devices.
• Some 2 player but usually through a link cable
  and rare.
• Many adventure games are more action adventure
  than role playing games (RPGs).
• Phone sales have increased by 23 in 2004 to 164
  Million Phones.1

1 - http//www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20041105_
152706.html
5
Mobile Devices
6
Mobile Devices - Java Enabled

• SYMBIAN Operating System
• Most Popular Nokia Series 60
• Screen size can be 176 208

Elder Scrolls Travels - ShadowKey (N-Gage,
Bethesda 2004 ) http//www.elderscrolls.com/home/h
ome.htm
7
Java Devices Continued

• Content Delivery
• FTP download, MMC (N-gage), Bluetooth, USB cable.
• Preferred delivery method is a pay and download
  through a provider such as Vodafone.
• Costs typically 5 per game, exception is MMC
  based N-gage around 30.

8
Mobile Devices Microsoft Powered PDAs

• Microsoft Pocket PC Devices-
• Pocket PC 2002, 2003, 2003 2nd Edition.
• Up to 640480 Screen (IPAQ 4700, www.hp.com).

Ultima Underworld 1.0 by ZIO Interactive, Inc,
http//www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id4
042associateid8
9
Mobile Devices Microsoft Powered Phones

• Microsoft Smart Phone Devices-
• Smart Phone 2002, 2003, 2003 2nd Edition.
• 65k TFT display
• (220x176 pixels)

10
Pocket PC Devices

• Easily programmed with SDKs such as POCKET
  PC2003 using C or embedded C.
• Uses Visual Studio 2003 development environment.
• Emulators included plus ability to send directly
  to target device.

11
Mobile Devices Palm Powered

• Palm Operating System.
• Up to 64K Colours.

Dragons Bane, http//www.palmcreations.com/
12
Mobile DevicesDedicated Games Hardware
13
Mobile Devices - Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) DUE 2004 Expected to
sell 3.5 million units within 4 months of
release1. Game boy advance sales 511 Million
units.
1 www.gamingevolved.com
14
Mobile Devices Sony PSP
1.8Gb DVD 480 x 272 screen 7.1 Audio
http//www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/30/sony_detai
ls_playstation_portable_specs/
15
Mobile Devices Tap Wave ZODIAC
Palm Powered PDA 3.8inch screen 65K
Colours Bluetooth Downloadable games or SD Card
Format, 6 Hours Battery life.
www.tapwave.com
Source, www.t3.co.uk, December 2004.
16
Communication Technologies
17
Bluetooth

• Advantages
• Can be very secure, needs partnerships to be set.
• Robust infrastructure compared to WI-FI.
• Used by N-Gage for some MMC based games.

• Disadvantages
• Low Range approx 10M
• High power usage.

18
WI-FI

• Advantages
• Good distance 802.1g has around 100M capability.
• Hardware is low cost.
• Easy to incorporate into code.

• Disadvantages
• Security is a real issue.
• Power hungry.
• Interference is a real problem as operating
  frequencies are of high use.

19
GPRS

• Advantages
• Robust
• Tried and tested
• More suited to turn based games.
• Technology already in phones.

• Disadvantages
• Phone call costs
• For a permanently connected game a phone
  connection would need to be made which is
  expensive.

20
Link Cable

• Common in consoles such as Game Boy but unusual
  on phones and PDAs.

21
Infra Red

• Advantages
• Very common on devices.
• Lower battery usage than other technologies such
  as Blue Tooth.

• Disadvantages
• Needs line of sight
• Takes time to detect on target devices.
• Speed can be low.

22
Common Development Tools and Technologies
23
Tools 1 C

• Advantages
• Fast robust development language
• Easier migration for C, Visual Basic and Java
  Programmers.
• Reliable Emulators.

• Disadvantages
• Only Suitable for Microsoft powered devices.
• Limitations with 3D Games due to lack of support
  for mobile graphics APIs such as DirectX
  Mobile.

24
Tools 2 Java/J2ME

• Advantages
• Its JAVA so code reuse can be very high.
• Industry Standard for Mobile Phones so large
  marketplace.
• Proven track record with mobile gaming.

• Disadvantages
• Code needs compiling and testing on each target
  Device.
• Emulators can be very FLAKY.

25
Tools 3 Diesel/C

• Advantages
• Cross platform Symbian, Microsoft Pocket PC and
  Microsoft DirectX PC development of games.
• Common use of C so easy migration in mainstream
  industry.

• Disadvantages
• Expensive costs to licence typically 10K euros.
• Only covers Nokia series 60 devices such as
  N-Gage.

http//www.3darts.fi/mobile/
26
Tools 3 Diesel/C
The rendering pipeline of DieselEngine SDK is
capableof handling more than 100 000 polygons
per second in real-time on Nokia Series 60
devices.1
Easy Integration of 3D Models such as the example
shown above, from the SDK.
1http//www.3darts.fi/mobile/de.htm
27
The Future of Mobile Adventure Gaming.
28
Currently

• Adventure games are single player or multiplayer
  through Bluetooth or link cables.
• No MMORPG games that could use GPRS or SMS
  (Texting).
• Games are bought outright with no monthly charge.

29
The Near Future

• 3G Communication
• Dedicated Video Hardware by companies such as
  NVIDIA.1
• Convergence of technologies and Platforms.
• New Wireless Technologies such as Intel WI-MAX.
• Potential to use public access points with phones
  for playing games.

1 - http//www.techspot.com/story15573.html
30
Continued

• Revenues from single/2 player linked games likely
  to be easier to implement than MMORPGs.
• MMORPGs will need to take advantage of
  GPRS/texting in order to work but could be a
  potentially untapped market.

31
Questions?