WAP and games?

That's right! WAP & games! And it makes perfect sense.

And the leader in WAP development in India continues its innovative approach by extending its portfolio to include WAP games!

What's so great about WAP games?  Here's some key points:
1. No firmware limitations
2. Bye bye - 1.4k deck and 160 character SMS limits
3. So long, long development cycles
4. Welcome - shorter development and release cycles
5. Certifications take on a whole new meaning
6. Costs are more manageable

The down side:
- Limited color options
- Limited color/bit depth
- Lack of an event-driven environment
- Limited programming options
- Unable to support effective "board" style play

How does it work
1. User requests URL; Phone connects to nearest tower
2. Tower passes request to WAP gateway
3. Gateway decodes, passes result to server @ URL (HTTP call)
4. Server processes request - returns data to gateway
5. Gateway may encode, passes data to phone
6. Phone displays

Other than this, have put together some key considerations that one should keep in mind:
- Majority of the action shifts to the server-side, so be careful w.r.t:

• server-side performance


• (server side) resource management


• session management


• keep each user footprint small

- User dynamics

• expect users sessions to be fragmented - each spurt < 5 min


• total game lenght should be < 10 min


• must-have: high persistence - ability to pause/resume frequently


• keep it simple


• variable display sizes from - 100 by 100 pixels, 1-bit graphics and lack of on-board processing


• users despise entering text


• entering URLs is a big pain!


• maximize URL-link menus

- There has to be a clear value proposition: as people are paying by data transfer
- Consider incorporating Location-based features
- Consider re-playability aspect

What types of games as suited for this format?
- turn-based, non-board games

• trivia


• role-playing


• gameshows


• text adventures


• non-board based strategy games

Other ideas include:
- stock trading or financial competitions and fantasy sports contests - something like ESPN Super Selector.

Proximity-playing - the bluetooth angle:
- expect single player, but be ready to offer - "nearby" players to join - proximity-multi-playing.

Using a Content Adaptation server, such as the one provided by MobiPorter, can easily extend the game across a plethora of handsets with minimum maintenance overhead while maintaining quality.

Gotcha's
- avoid select lists
- avoid soft buttons and tables
- Cookies are not always available, so use url encoding
- avoid imagemaps and unnecessary network traffic

Arguably, the main format for games in North America. Accepted in Europe. With the emergence of level4 browsers, expect the space to really start heating up!