WAP Game Design
Compelling Games in a Static Browser
Environment
Greg Costikyan
www.ungames.com
www.costik.com
[email protected]
What is WAP?
Wireless Application Protocol
WAP Microbrowsers in Every Phone
displays WAP “decks”
Equivalent to Primitive Web Browsers
Allows:
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Text
Images (b&w bitmaps)
Hyperlinks
Text entry
Why Develop WAP Games?
Better environment than SMS
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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
America
and acceptable in Europe
Functional business model
How Does it Work?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
User requests URL; phone connects to tower
Tower passes request to WAP gateway (WTP)
Gateway decodes, passes request to server @ URL (HTTP)
Server acts on request, returns data to gateway (HTTP)
Gateway encodes, passes data to phone (WTP)
Phone decodes, displays WAP deck to user.
Think COLS, not Internet
Entering URLs is a Pain in the Ass
People 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
WAP Is Inconsistently Implemented
Inconsistent Browser Behavior
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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
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
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
Network Not Reliable
Handle Drops Gracefully
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Design so Player Disappearance Doesn’t Matter
AI Take-Over
Allow Player Re-Entry
Stand-bys?
Allow Reentry Without Data
Inconsistency
Time-Outs on Decks
Decks Must be < 1.4k
Well, it’s better than SMS
Unlike HTTP, Text & Images Sent as a
Single Request
HTTP > WTP Encoding Includes
Compression
Dealing with 1.4k Limit
Write Tersely
Use Graphics Sparely
Make Animations Separate Deck
with timer to autoload next deck
Can Make Long Documents Multiple
Decks
Consider “Terse” Mode for Experienced
Players
Making the Most of Graphics
Make Every Pixel Count
“Updating” image means another server
request
No imagemaps
Still best to avoid “board” layouts
Keep the UI Transparent
Select Lists (avoid)
Soft Buttons (avoid)
Text Entry (keep to a minimum)
URL-link Menus (exploit to the max)
What Game Styles Work?
Head-to-head Games
Gameshows
Text Adventures
Boardless Strategy (e.g., Nuclear War)
Evolution of WAP
Near-Term:
WMLScript
WTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface)
WAP 2.0:
Supports HTTP & TCP/IP
XHTML (Mobile Profile)
Cascading Stylesheets
Local persistent storage
MMS Integration
WAP likely to no longer be the main
event
http://www.ungames.com/tmpl.php/games/vr/
http://www.jamdatgames.com/html/games_gladiator.html
http://www.dataclash.com/main.html
http://web.wirelessgames.com/lifestyles/pets/over.html
Yes, Good WAP Games Are
Possible, Virginia
Multiplayer
Persistent
Fantasy that appeals to the Hard Core
Media licenses (sigh)
URLs
WAP Forum: www.wapforum.org
OpenWave SDK (includes emulator):
http://developer.openwave.com/download/
Nokia WAP emulator:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/wapforum/nokia
sim_new.html
Ericsson WAP emulator:
http://www.ericsson.com/mobilityworld/sub/o
pen/technologies/wap/tools.html