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

I've shifted my focus over the past few weeks to Nintendo DSi Browser software development. (Many of the projects also work in the older Nintendo DS Browsers.) Here's a summary:

Twiiter Lite:
Members can now post twiits while on-the-go. Take your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi to any Wi-Fi hotspot, and continue twiiting like you have been from your Wii consoles!
http://twiiter.wiioperasdk.com

DS Opera SDK:
I've been running some tests of the Nintendo DSi Browser and posting the results at the DS Opera SDK website. Tests include canvas drawing, JavaScript object snooping, key input, UNICODE values, and more! I've also scaled down the old AJAX chatroom from HullBreach Online's Wii section so that it will work on the handheld.
http://dsoperasdk.com

HullBreach Online Lite:
I'm shrinking the HullBreach Online MMO RPG to fit the dual screen resolution and changing the Wii button interface to a fully touchscreen-based control scheme. Due to the crippled support of the canvas object on the Nintendo DSi Browser, I've opted to use nothing but standard HTML objects conntrolled by JavaScript. Layered images with scrolling background achieve graphics of space exploration. Although combat will initially be removed from the game, chatting, trading, missions, mining, and all the other features, will be present. I will announce when the game is ready to play and add new content to both version of HB Online. All character stats and missions carry seemlessly between the versions.
http://hullbreachonline.com

All these projects use the same member accounts. You can sign up at http://hullbreachonline.com or http://twiiter.wiioperasdk.com to take advantage of twiiting, chatting, gaming, and more!

Subscriptions have been integrated into Twiiter. Here are the features available:

• Subscribe/Unsubscribe to any other members' Twiits on that member's page
• Manage subscriptions from inside "My Area"
• Quickly access the member pages of all subscribees in "My Area"
• Automatically generate a custom RSS Newsfeed for subscriptions

Other Twiiter Developments:

• I've been working on SOAP Web Services, but apparently there is a bug with PHP 5.2.9 that killed SOAP that isn't over SSL. HullBreach Online's Web Services have died as well. I'm trying to find a work-around.
• I'll be setting up an automailer for all members who want alerts sent to their Wii consoles. Since I am an avid anti-spam advocate, this alert option will be set to OFF by default, and members will be able to turn on just the alerts they want.
• I will be tweaking the website for the best appearance in the Internet Channel. For the moment, I've held off adding any features that require a computer (like avatar uploads). If there is enough demand for these features, I will add them with a notice on the website by each features to inform members that a computer is needed.
• I'm holding off with the WordPress plug-in for the moment since RSS (which WordPress supports) is ready. I figure my time is better spent setting up other features on the website.
• I may set up a FAQ page now that I've been receiving questions about setup and a few of the features of the website.

Please be patient with waiting on updates. My wife and I had a baby about a week ago, so much of my free time has been dedicated to little Gabriella. Depending on my time this weekend, the general release of Twiiter may come soon. (Until now, only My Opera and a few friends have heard about it.)

I've been discussing Twiiter with some of the folks on My Opera in the Wii forum and in private messages and thought I'd give an update here:

Posting messages from a Wii now works, properly displaying the time of post and the name of the member who corresponds to the Wii's email address. I've started to add more features to the website, but it has some work left to do. Currently, messages can be viewed on a per-member basis, and members can log into accounts. Registration and account settings will be coming soon so that members won't need to visit http://hullbreachonline.com every time an account needs to be updated. (Any changes to Twiiter will also change account info for HullBreach Online and any other related websites.) Avatar uploads and selections as well as unwanted message deletions will come soon, also. I will post more news on the progress in this blog, at http://wiioperasdk.com/blog and in the Wii forum here at My Opera. Once the project matures more, I will contact the guys at GoNintendo, WiiNintendo, and 4ColorRebellion, since they have all been great followers of the homebrew scene for the Internet Channel.

If anyone has ideas or suggestions for additions to Twiiter, let me know. I've mainly been developing it as a stream-of-conscious project, like many of my Wii projects, so I sometimes get "writers' block" and need help being pushed in the right direction to bring ideas to fruition for the benefit of the users.

The new class for the Wii Opera SDK / HullBreach SDK that mimics the popular affine texture mapping of the SuperNES era is almost finished. This class will give the ability to create graphical effects like those produced in Super Mario Kart, Pilotwings, F-Zero, and other games, by scaling scanlines of rotates planes on screen mode 7 of the SuperNES. The interface will be similar to that of the Raycasting class on the homepage of http://wiioperasdk.com.

It is my hope that when this class is finished and fully-optimized that Internet Channel versions of SuperNES favorites will see their lights-of-day.

• The demo image shows the functionality with a sample checkboard pattern. Final game engines using this class will have the following abilities:
• Per landscape pixel coordinate mapping
• Default tiles for empty locations
• Variable pixel size (for speed vs. visual clarity optimization)
• Variable canvas size
• Controls for motion, turning, strafing
• Panoramic backgrounds
• Import custom tile maps
• Import custom tile images

The class will be ready in the next week with a simple demo. Once this class is finished, I will begin work on the next project: Terrain Mapping.