Wii Internet Channel and Nintendo DS/DSi Browser Homebrew

HullBreach Online, the first MMO RPG for the Wii’s Internet Channel, has been scaled down to run on the Nintendo DSi Browser to play while on-the-go. Even though the graphics have been shrunk, don’t think that means the gameplay has. HB Online Lite boasts all the sectors, planets, missions, tradeable goods, ships, upgrades, asteroids, NPCs, chat functions, and player stats, that its older brother has. In fact, both the game universe and player accounts are shared, so players can seemlessly jump between versions of the game at any time.

HB Online Lite has a completely new interface that favors lower resolution, lower bandwidth, and an all touchscreen interface. Communication with the server has been accelerated, and the backend generates content using the newest technologies, something that dates the older HB Online.

HB Online Lite also contains a few features not present in HB Online. The first is real-time Twiiter feeds. Now players can see posts to the Wii/DS rapid blogging website appear instantly in the communication pane during gameplay. Also shops and shipyards now have NPC dialogs that ensue when selecting purchases or making sales.

Is the mobile version not your style? Don’t worry: Both versions will continue to gain massive amounts of content over the next few weeks. Players may visit the game one day to find Sector Theta Eta empty, and a visit the next day could reveal planets with several missions and goods to trade. New content will be dropped into both versions, becoming available in real-time.

To try HB Online Lite or HB Online now, visit http://hullbreachonline.com . Remember that accounts are shared between games, but Twiiter (http://twiiter.wiioperasdk.com) and DS Opera SDK (http://dsoperasdk.com) accounts are the same as well. Join the other 4800 players today!

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Screenshots are available at http://hullbreachonline.com

We’ve recently begun a new year, and with new years come New Year’s resolutions. I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and place some goals for the Wii Opera SDK / HullBreach SDK. If these resolutions can be kept, expect to see many more features arise in the SDK this year. Some of these depend on Opera releasing the much rumored Wii Opera 2.0 / Internet Channel 2.0 that so many believe will see the light of day after a Photoshopped image several months ago. Inevitably, a new release will come on day. It will probably not have a spinning tab-cube and big, unproportioned buttons like the Wii Opera 2.0 / Internet Channel 2.0, but there will obviously be a newer Opera built.

These resolutions will be listed in priorities and based on dependencies of a new Internet Channel build. I would also like to optimize some of the existing classes for Nintendo DSi usage.


RPGStats Class (New)
Priority: Moderate
Dependency: None

This class will create RPG character and enemy objects with all their stats. There will also be another helper-class to perform calculations relating to battle damage and item usage.

Comm Class (Existing)
Priority: High
Dependency: None

This class has existed since the 1.x series of the SDK, so it’s in bad need of an update. This update will use more efficient serialized values and offer multiple asynchronous AJAX calls.

Mee Class (New)
Priority: Low
Dependency: None

This class will create an Internet Channel version of Miis so that games using the SDK can have avatar heads that will carry across any games for consistancy.

Mode7 Class (New)
Priority: High
Dependency: None

This class will reproduce the screen mode 7 effect of the Super NES where scanlines of rotated backgrounds are scaled in 3D perspective. This effect was popularized in games like F-Zero and Super Mario Kart.

Terrain Class (New)
Priority: Low
Dependency: None

This class will create height-mapped terrains by passing texture and height values to the class. It will effectively open voxel graphics for the Internet Channel.

Keyboard Class (New)
Priority: Moderate
Dependency: None

This class will allow developers to have a translucent on-screen keyboard pop-up on the screen for entering characters into textboxes and textareas without an entirely new screen appearing.

3D2 Class (New)
Priority: Moderate
Dependency: Canvas 3D

This class will wrap Opera’s 3D canvas much in the way that the Draw class currently wraps the 2D canvas. It will allow for much faster texture-mapping of 3D meshes.

HullBreach Online has just moved to a faster server, and what better way is there to usher in the change than a major update? Asteroid mining has been added to the capabilities ships have in the game universe. Now players can scout out prime spots in the far reaches of space to gather goods to sell for credits. In addition to this update, there have been bug fixes in the areas of trading goods and disembarking from locations.

The Wii Opera SDK has been tweaked to pull more speed from the 3D math and the drawing functions. Many of the demos for the SDK are now faster as well. As for HullBreach: Large amounts of code have been reordered, cleaned-up, and condensed, making the game about 15% faster than before! Enjoy the speed boosts.

HullBreachOnline.com has just been overhauled to have a blog appearance similar to that of Smash Bros. Dojo.

I decided that HBOline needed some changes because the old layout was getting stagnant. Having a blog format makes it more fun for myself and for viewers. Many people have been visiting the website on a daily basis, so I thought I'd give them a treat of having something new on each visit. The content will be updated daily in the evenings (USA CST) with a few updates at a time. For the newest additions to the game, go no further than viewing the homepage. Each day I will add to the blog either something new in the game or something most players are unaware exists. Plus, I will add items that are well-known, but give in-depth back story descriptions, making them seem completely new as well.

As for other layout updates: The top menu has been removed, and all links are part of the main page content. The Wii Software Gallery items have been either moved to the Wii Opera SDK page or placed among page content as well.