Game project due dilligence

Java on Mobile Devices J2ME
#1

Hello all,

We are in the ultra-preplanning phase of starting a game company and need to first verify that what we are thinking of is possible, given the technology that currently exists. Any assistance will be greatly appriciated.

Is there a way to run a J2ME application on a phone that can communicate with a web server (either by SMS, email, text message, or something else) and then once the server runs any necessary calculations, send a response back to the phone app?

We are exploring the idea of turn based games, and really need to know if what we all think is possible, actually is!

Again, thank you for any and all input!

Eric

#2

It’s not easy but it’s possible. As far as the specs go, a J2ME enabled device must support at least http as a network protocol. But the networking aspects are one of the most broken parts of most phones.

But it’s definitely possible, and I can say that with 100% confidence since I work in a company just like that and we’re not doing too bad.

shmoove

#3

I’ve done it.

The simple http connections that are just periodic seem to be fairly straight forward. I was tunneling some binary data in the http stream and the only phone I have had trouble with was the Nokia 3650. It seems to only allow PNG images as binary data. The work around was to change the reply header to PNG. I have two games which make about three connections per game (2-5 minute games) and it works just fine on real phones.

I’ve written two separate server products for J2ME. The first I lost to a bad business partner. The second is still in development. I’m sure there are hundereds of these types of servers out there. I created both http and socket clients and initial testing seems to have them working fairly well. I would expected anything better that 2-3 second latency on the socket side and more on the http side, but I do have such a system working on ATT phones, Cingular phones, Nextel phones and T-mobile.

Getting the carriers to accept your games is a whole different matter and I don’t have any ideas for you there. Out one side of their mouth they want multiplayer, and out the other side they are so afraid you will swamp their network that they turn and run. Not to mention that device certificate with non-network games is extremely expensive I’m not looking forward to getting my network clients certified.

Wood

#4

[quote]I was tunneling some binary data in the http stream and the only phone I have had trouble with was the Nokia 3650. It seems to only allow PNG images as binary data.
[/quote]
It’s not the phone, it’s the carrier. They often have wierd limitations/blocks on their networks.

shmoove

#5

I thought so too except that it worked on one phone and not another on the same network. The 3650 is the only phone that seems to have this issue. I even tried it on my freebee 3595 and it worked just fine.

#6

Are both phones using the same access point?

shmoove

PS: To the OP, now you can get a little taste of the headaches incurred in developing networked apps for J2ME :slight_smile: