Wii Internet Channel and Nintendo DS/DSi Browser Homebrew

The real-time / playable version of also available at http://dsipaint.com.

With the release of the Nintendo DSi and its Opera Web browser, I felt it best to take one of my first projects for the Wii's Internet Channel, HullBreach Online, and scale it to the dual screens to let gamers play on-the-go. This project would become HullBreach Online Lite.

While running tests on the Nintendo DSi Browser, I found that although there is support for the canvas object, it seems to be fairly crippled when concerning image data. Apparently this was meant to save RAM on the handheld by not caching off-screen data. Thus, I began working with ways to re-create HullBreach Online's mobile cousin by using nothing but image placement, background scrolling, and other standard DHTML features. From that comes a game that should for all intents and purposes be compatible with the older Nintendo DS Browsers as well.

To save on memory, images have been scaled and colors reduced. Players cannot see one another's ships, yet they can still chat with each other - even between both versions of HullBreach Online. Due to the lack of useful button input, the entire game is touchscreen-controlled. Moving between locations and travelling through hyperspace are both achieved by on-screen button clicks, which are accompanied by appropriate animations of the ship and motion of the map cursor.

With the exception of space combat (which would be difficult with button clicks), everything that was present in HullBreach Online is also present in HullBreach Online Lite: Missions, mining, scanning, trading, ship upgrades, etc.

HullBreach Online Lite is nearing completion, so get ready to join the close to 5000 members now! In the meantime, you can create an account to play the full HullBreach Online, message members through Twiiter on your Wii or Nintendo DS/DSi, or visit the chatroom at http:/dsoperasdk.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.