Home > Articles > Programming > Java

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

WAP Games

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which is discussed in great detail in Chapter 4, "Wireless Standards:How Data Goes To and Fro," is a very simplistic game platform. All game traffic must be downloaded from the network and must be displayed in simple cards. The cards themselves are nothing more than small Web pages. You can basically display text, see simple black and white graphics, and enter basic data into a form. That's it! Worse yet, the downloading between each card is usually very slow, requiring a few seconds of patient foot-tapping.

Despite all these limitations, dozens of creative and daring individuals and companies have come out with an impressive array of WAP games.

Wireless Games

URL: http://www.wirelessgames.com/

The Wireless Games Web site was created by a publisher of wireless games and other technologies called Digital Bridges (http://www.digitalbridges.com/). This British company is dedicated to creating and expanding the reach of WAP games.

Some of their offerings include the following:

Sorcery

Shown in Figure 3.1, this is a full-featured role-playing game. This game brings the worlds, characters, and play from the beloved Steve Jackson Sorcery game onto wireless phones.

The game is a typical fantasy adventure. You quest in search of the Crown of Kings, solving puzzles, fighting monsters, and building up your character.

Figure 3.1 Sorcery.

Tanks

You play a tank commander, facing off against another tank. All you do is choose the direction you want to fire, select a velocity, and fire. Your opponent then gets a shot at you.

You can actually send your opponent messages as you shoot it out. A simple but engaging game.

Fight KO

You are a trainer. You must take a virtual fighter and try to build the best boxer by juggling various attributes. You can then compete against other fighters, as shown in Figure 3.2.

The more your boxer fights, the more experienced he becomes. You can continually edit and save your character for future battles.

Figure 3.2 Fight KO.

Code Breaker

In this simple game, you are a master safecracker trying to rob an entire town. You go from store to store, guessing codes and trying to get the loot. You have ten tries before the police show up.

Mines

This is a WAP variation of the popular and addictive Mine Sweeper game that comes with all Microsoft Windows machines.

You must try to work your way to the center of a grid and grab the flag. But the going isn't easy—you must sniff out and avoid stepping on any mines.

Casino Games

Wireless Games offers a suite of various games of chance, including

  • High/Low

  • Video Poker

  • Blackjack (see Figure 3.3)

  • Fruit Machine (Slots)

  • Roulette

  • Craps

Figure 3.3 Blackjack.

Popular Classics

Additionally, there are a number of simple, popular classics offered:

  • Hangman—Solve a hidden word puzzle or feel the pain.

  • Fours—A "Connect-Four"-type game. Try to drop checkers into slots and get four in a row (see Figure 3.4).

  • Tic Tac Toe—Everyone's favorite (and unwinnable) three-in-a-row game.

  • Anagram—Try to unscramble phrases.

Figure 3.4 Fours.

Wireless Pets

This is a simple virtual pet "game" created by The Games Kitchen, and borrowing from Bandai's popular Tamagotchi.

The idea is to take a baby pet and feed, care, and play with it. You must keep it happy and full, or it will get sick and possibly even die. Figure 3.5 shows a sample game session. Your pet "lives" in real time on the Wireless Games servers. You can log in and check on your pet at any time.

Quiz Call and LMA Football Quiz

Trivia is one of the simplest and most sensible genres of wireless games. Trivia doesn't need a lot of fancy graphics or network speed—only a good database of tough questions. It's easy to quickly log in and challenge yourself to a few toughies at any time. Trivia is also something that is highly popular, given TV shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Figure 3.5 Wireless Pets.

Wireless Games offers two games:

  • Quizcall—Answer five questions correctly and you can reach the ultimate Knock Out Round.

  • LMA Football Quiz—How good is your knowledge of football (soccer, that is)? The highest scorers each day are posted for all to see.

Top Trumps

This is a popular card-collecting game, licensed from Playaday.com. One player picks a statistic from the back of a selected card and issues a challenge to an opponent. If the opponent's card has a higher stat, then the opponent wins the card that you challenged with. Figure 3.6 shows a sample card.

Figure 3.6 Top Trumps.

Wentworth Golf

This advanced game lets you play on a 3D simulation modeled after an actual golf course. You and your caddy must choose the best club based on the wind and course conditions, and then hit the ball in a given direction. Figure 3.7 shows a sample screen.

Figure 3.7 Wentworth Golf.

Jamdat

URL: http://www.jamdat.com

Jamdat has become one of the most successful wireless game companies in the world. The following is a sampling of Jamdat's games:

Gladiator

One of the most popular WAP games in the world is Gladiator. This game brought in more than 3.2 million extra minutes of airtime on the Sprint PCS service in the first three months after it launched in October 2000.

The rules are extremely simple: You are a gladiator challenging an opponent to head-to-head combat. You can choose which area of the body to strike at, what type of strike to deliver, and how to defend, as shown in Figure 3.8.

Your gladiator will grow stronger with each win. You can then take your new, stronger gladiator and challenge other players.

At its heart, Gladiator is no more than a multiplayer version of Rock-Paper-Scissors. However, clever graphics, engaging text, and a strong community base have turned the game into a sort of epic.

Figure 3.8 Gladiator.

Other games by Jamdat include

  • Home Run Derby—A baseball game of pitcher versus batter. Two players face off. The pitcher chooses the type of pitch, and the batter chooses the type of hit. The result will range from a strike to a home run.

  • Krazy Konondrum—A party game where you get to answer questions such as, "Would you rather be a doughnut or a pomegranate?" The game takes your answers and compiles them with other people's, generating a live survey or poll.

  • Rock, Paper, Sizzer and Roshambofu—Jamdat has several versions of the original Rock-Paper-Scissors game. In Roshambofu, you play the game against an Ancient Master, as shown in Figure 3.9.

Figure 3.9 Roshambofu.

PicoFun

URL: http://www.picofun.com/

This Swedish company has created a set of innovative offerings.

Lifestylers

This clever game goes beyond the "Virtual Pet" genre, allowing you to act as a master to another human being. Players can pick their goals, depending on the personality type of their characters. You can then balance your character's various attributes and skills, as shown in Figure 3.10.

Figure 3.10 Lifestylers.

Your Lifestyler character lives, eats, sleeps, dates, and works—just like you. But there are all sorts of highly humorous and wacky situations and confrontations, where choices must be made. Choose how your character behaves, and the character will begin to fall into different lifestyle categories, including Casanova, Athlete, Couch Potato, Average Joe, Geek, and Clown.

Picofun Football

Picofun Football, released in 2000, was one of the world's first multiplayer WAP games. This soccer simulation game allows you to manage your own team. You can pick from dozens of players to buy and sell. You must also pay good salaries and keep morale high. During fantasy games against other players, you can see detailed statistics.

On the Green

On the Green is a highly detailed golf simulation game. There are numerous courses, each with different graphics, hazards, and scenery. With each hole, you can choose your club, angle of swing, and the power of the swing. As you play, you can progress up 13 skill levels.

Wall Street Wizard

Wall Street Wizard is a fantasy stock market trading game. You can trade real shares with fake money. Every player starts with the same amount of money, and whomever's portfolio has the highest percentage gain at the end of each month is a winner.

Fight Arena

This is a multiplayer battle where you can choose to play against another player or against a computer challenger. With each fight, your character's abilities will improve. To reach the number one ranking, you must successfully beat all computerized and human opponents.

Handy Games

URL: http://www.handy-games.com/hg/index.php

This German company has created some of the goriest and sexiest WAP games out there. Quite an accomplishment on such a small, black-and-white screen....

WAP Knights

This is another dungeon-exploring role-playing game. As illustrated in Figure 3.11, you must work your way through a maze fighting monsters and seeking treasure. You will eventually find keys to open doors to new levels. The graphics are particularly good for WAP, and they're rendered on-the-fly. You can also save the game at any time and continue at your leisure, which is a nice feature for the on-the-go game player.

Figure 3.11 WAP Knights.

WAP Tanks

This is a turn-based tank battling game. You face off against the enemy in a 5x5 grid speckled with buildings. You can perform two actions each move, with the option to either move, fire, or repair your tank. This game can be played against other people or against the computer. You work your way up a high score list with each new battle.

WAP Massacre

This is another fighting game, very similar to Jamdat's Gladiator. The gruesome graphics, however, are much more advanced, as shown in Figure 3.12.

Figure 3.12 WAP Massacre.

WAP Interpol

You take on the role of an Interpol cop, chasing a criminal around the world. You must hunt from locale to locale, gaining clues and learning more about your suspect. When you think you've got the criminal identified, you can issue an arrest warrant.

WAP Crates

This is a logic puzzle wherein you move various crates across a grid, trying to match a given pattern. You must carefully study the board and pick a strategy with each level.

WAP Girlfriends

This game is another variation on the "Virtual Pet" genre. In this case, you're in a relationship with a "Virtual Girlfriend." You must keep up with your girlfriend's demands, choose different ways to make money for her, and be sure to pay attention to your girlfriend regularly. Figure 3.13 shows a sample screen. The game is a little sexist, of course, but if you're into that sort of thing, the juvenile humor of it all might be for you.

Figure 3.13 WAP Girlfriends.

FunCaster.com

URL: http://www.funcaster.com/

FunCaster offers 30 different types of games, including casino, chance, mind, leisure, word, and kids games. Some of the more unusual offerings include

  • Mermaid—A game of pure chance. You can choose from five different rocks. Choose a rock, then guess what type of marine lifeform lives beneath. You can double your score if a mermaid appears.

  • Shapez—Guess the arrangement of four shapes, given six possible shapes, as seen in Figure 3.14. The play is similar to the classic Mastermind game.

Figure 3.14 Shapez.

Unplugged Games

URL: http://www.ungames.com/

Unplugged Games creates back-end game technology as well as original wireless games. The founders of the company come from a strong game background and are focused on using small devices in innovative ways.

Void Raider

Void Raider is a complex, rich game of intergalactic trade and war. You begin as the Ensign in command of a tiny starship, and must capture enemy merchant ships, selling the cargo at a profit. You can also hire yourself out as an escort, and protect friendly merchant ships from enemy raids. If you get good enough, you can even go on hunts for enemy privateers, kidnap them, and demand random.

You must manage your crew, your ship's engine, and your weapons. As you earn more money, you can upgrade your ship and hire better crews. You can eventually get promoted to Fleet Admiral.

Rags 2 Riches

In this wacky game, you are a fashion designer trying to predict next season's trends. This is a rich guessing game with amusing writing and wacky situations.

Word Trader

Word Trader is one of the most original WAP games out there. You are given a list of five words. Each word is associated with a different category, such as animals or cooking. You trade away the words you don't want to other players, and then get new words dealt to you at random. The idea is to build a list of five within the same category.

After you've made a match, you "claim" that category. The first player to claim six out of eight categories is the winner.

nGame

URL: http://www.ngame.com/index.html

nGame features games that can be played across multiple platforms. Many of their games work on the Web, on interactive TV, and on mobile phones.

The company has dozens of WAP games, including nearly every classic casino game. They also have a great selection of originals:

Alien Fish Exchange

Try to breed the most exotic aquatic life! You are given a few alien fish to start off with. Take care of your fish, feeding them and playing with them, to encourage them to mutate into new breeds. The game features dozens of different breeds, each with different attributes and behaviors.

The game is multiplayer and the world is persistent—you can log off the game at any time, and your fish continue to grow...or waste away. You can access your virtual aquarium from the Web, your cell phone (Figure 3.15) or your digital TV set (Figure 3.16).

Figure 3.15 Alien Fish Exchange on a cell phone.

Figure 3.16 Alien Fish Exchange on digital TV.

Carrier Force

You command a fleet of eight ships—patrol boat, minesweeper, assault ship, submarine, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, or aircraft carrier. Select two of your ships to fight. If you use a powerful ship, you will always win—but you want to avoid sacrificing a powerful carrier against a lowly patrol boat. Points are gained for every enemy ship you defeat, as seen in Figure 3.17. The game can be played against human players or against the computer.

Figure 3.17 Carrier Force.

Chop Suey Kung Fu

You choose a Kung Fu Master and then fight against an opponent. Each turn, both players pick from a selection of martial arts moves. More powerful moves are less likely to hit. As with most other nGame games, this game is playable against either humans or the computer.

Data Clash

You are a hacker. Your job is to create various attack programs and do battle with other players across the network. You must also write your own defensive programs, because you can be attacked at any time.

The game is in a persistent world. Your programs can be attacked whether you are logged in or not. As you explore the network, you will also compete against dozens of other hackers. Your can maintain your programs by logging in via the Web, digital TV, or mobile phone.

There are 90 different offensive and defensive programs to choose from! Figure 3.18 shows a sample screen from the game.

Figure 3.18 Data Clash.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020