Handheld Development Thread

So this is depressing. 5 months without a post here.

Anyways, anyone ever consider developing projects for hand-held gaming?

Edited by: JustDaveIsFine

Funny you should post about that (more importantly, that it shows up on the front page). I just picked up a Nintendo DS Lite and was about to start researching what precisely is needed to develop for it. Certainly attempting to efficiently use the resources within the bounds of the design would pose an interesting challenge...

I've attempted to work with the PSP before, but that was playing with a dev-kit. I did have some pretty good resources for homebrewing on the DS using the R4, as well as sample code, but I can't recall where that was. I'll have to rummage when I get the chance.

ambershee wrote: I've attempted to work with the PSP before, but that was playing with a dev-kit. I did have some pretty good resources for homebrewing on the DS using the R4, as well as sample code, but I can't recall where that was. I'll have to rummage when I get the chance.

oh yes please

I found this the other day. Its an SDK for iPhone development. Not free though.
Course, happens to be for Torque.

You can find it on Garage Games.

The 3D engine being $500, thats a decent price I suppose. Still quite a bit much.
Its worth considering if your a super-developer, and know what your developing.

I wouldn't spend $500 on an iPhone development tool, haha.

I'm no where qualified for doing any sort of engine on my own. Especially not for an iphone.

More-over that it's more of a redundant expenditure. The iPhone isn't much of a gaming platform, no matter how much Apple advertise it as such. Just like their iPod games *shudders*.

Last time I checked cell phone games were quite popular.

"The popularity of mobile games has increased in the 2000s, as over $3
billion USD worth of games were sold in 2007 internationally, and
projected annual growth of over 40%." -Wikipedia

I couldn't find a better source at the minute, but I'm fairly sure cell phone games are 'something' of a gaming platform.
Can't see how far you would get without a publisher if that is what your referring to.

Yes - but a game developed in say, J2ME is portable to almost any phone platform. A game developed for the iPhone can only be sold to iPhone owners, who are a very, very small part of the mobile market.

That makes sense.

That would make $500 far too un-reasonable.

Still, I'd like to try out a few of these to get a better opinion on how they work.

So i see you have taken the idea to heart and think about creating games for portable systems, now.

I think the Torque license for iphones is rather superfluous, but I wonder, if it's going to come for the PSP. I see no reason, why it shouldn't work for the PSP and I really wonder, if GarageGames are working on a PSP solution.
Then it would be interesting to see where you can take development. Torque would surely look good on the PSP.
I know games for phones sell quite well, but those are games like Bejeweled and and Majong. Nothing like the stuff you are making.

Dave you just got to get your mod finished as playable Alpha and keep developing for PC. If something interesting shows up in the meantime you can consider a portable solution for later. It's not good to get ones interests spread too much. You have to stay focussed and just get this mod of yours played fpr feedback!

Edited by: SinKing

You can't do a commercial title for the PSP without a devkit - and that's going to cost thousands. As a result, and Torque solution for it is probably a waste of time.

ambershee wrote: Yes - but a game developed in say, J2ME is portable to almost any phone platform. A game developed for the iPhone can only be sold to iPhone owners, who are a very, very small part of the mobile market.

The thing I'm noticing with phone development is that we're getting bombarded now with all kinds of phones that use Android (isn't it Java..? or C? I don't remember), J2ME and C. The problem is that J2ME is the primary coding language of the entire mobile industry and its not going to die over night.

The Iphone made a huge mistake by not supporting Java out of the box.. J2ME would have opened up so many oportunities for it.. but sadly is stuck in Steven Jobs Ego trip.

Further more you need a dev kit by Apple that cost money.. when J2ME is free and you can code it in Eclipse which is also free. This is why the IPhone is a joke. That and its still being treated like a phone (despite that it has allocated graphics processing. Which is going to waste on games like Bejewled 999+e)

I hope some day that all consoles will support J2ME and will be free to use commercially. Means more games for everyone.. and it means more multi-platform. Sadly only Sony are supporting it and its restricted on the console. (PS3 I think it needs a BluRay compiler or something. But it can run J2ME apparently)

Edited by: formerlyknownasMrCP

I've done a bit.

I'f I'm honest its just like developing low detail for the older games, Quake and the earliest Unreal series. DS polygon limits running at 350 tris, 64*64 texture maps, DS at <2000 tris and 128*128.

Its challenging stuff, but fun to do. Focusses and hones your skills and detail =].

You should check out Halo Solitude. Its homebrew for the PSP. Moddb.com

i keep intending to take a look a development on the DS but for some reason putting it off D:

I'm not really too anxious to jump into it either...

Perhaps I should just try a simple project just to see how it goes.
Thats all I really can do I guess.

Edited by: JustDaveIsFine

I think we should go back to using the Virtual Boy I had ago on it today and i thought it was amazing! The 3D graphic is brilliant, if very basic. Imagine what we could do today?