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
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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

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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

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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)

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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

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http//www.ungames.com/tmpl.php/games/vr/
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http//www.jamdatgames.com/html/games_gladiator.ht
ml
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http//www.dataclash.com/main.html
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http//web.wirelessgames.com/lifestyles/pets/over.
html
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Yes, Good WAP Games Are Possible, Virginia

• Multiplayer

• Persistent

• Fantasy that appeals to the Hard Core

• Media licenses (sigh)

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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