[MUD-Dev] Pocket PC Development

[Peter Tyson]

> From: Frank Crowell [mailto:maddog at shell9.ba.best.com]

> Actually at least one version of this was in the works several
> years ago.

<snip>

> Conceptually, it is not hard to imagine a lightweight client for
> the PDAs.  I believe the way that the wireless phone services are
> handling web stuff is that they use a server to do most of the
> work, then format and send to the phone just the data it needs for
> the request.

Ahh, interesting, well you don't have to actually run anything in an
always-on fashion. I'll give you a practical although currently
nonexistent example..

  Joe Gamer plays Shadowbane, he does his normal stuff with
  'L33tk1llaH' his PC, leveling and bashing stuff, but he also owns
  a forge and the npcs in it.  He goes to work in the morning with
  his pda. Syncing his PDA at work get gets stock levels and info
  from his shop (he of course can do all this in game too). Using
  his PDA in a meeting he orders more raw materials, sets the
  priorities for manufacture, changes prices, sends messages to his
  guildmates and organises the training/hirring of a new NPC. When
  he goes back to his desk he re-syncs his PDA and the data is sent
  to the Server and confirmed. I guess he is running a thin-client
  which is a simple (need not be terribly graphical either)
  interface which leaves the working out of results to the
  server. It could only handle a small set of tasks such as
  messaging, training, production, city management or whatehaveyou
  and would of course require everything to be confirmed by the
  server.


> Of course in a mud you don't need a separate server -- you just
> build in the hooks that you need. The basic problem is that
> wireless service for the PDAs is fairlylimited.

Not in Europe.. simply buy a GSM plug in thingy, drop in the right
software and a SIM card and voila, it's a phone. Then dial up an ISP
like any old modem could. I imagine you could put software on so you
could browse WAP services, but it's probably easier and cheaper to
dial straight into an ISP.  Not sure how or if this is different in
the US.

> Cell phones have a much better network, but their cost is
> horrendous.  The service from MobileAria actually gets its
> wireless from a cell phone and then feeds it into the Palm. Great
> for the phone companies, but not great for me.  It's an
> interesting project though..

Cost isn't so bad in Europe. Yeah, American's have a bad time of it
I know ;) Not sure about the rest, Europe is ok tho.

The sync version of things is the easiest at the moment and
relatively cheap development-wise I believe (run it through Avantgo
or some kinda of messaging system or page-sending system that is in
the ActiveSync prog).  Might be easiest on a PocketPC than on a
PalmOS system.

Can anyone tell i've just spend 10 weeks writing a report on mobile
gaming?  ;)

Anyway, it's a fun idea and I reckon a real revenue winner. I don't
think the programming overheads would be too high and I'm sure
people would pay a few extra dollars for the service every
month. Good fun!

Peter
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev