Mobile Gaming Device Idea

[PointCaptainJ]

So I am really into roguelikes, namely Linley's Dungeon Crawl and NetHack, and there are copies of these games for Androids and such, but none are really exactly the same... I can't tell you how many times I've been bored and wanting to play a Roguelike but not having a computer. I had an idea, and talked to a tech friend of mine. Our idea is a phone-type processor, anything that is small and fast, and a cell phone keyboard (a QWERTY one) and using some sort of lightweight OS to launch the game and basically have a portable Dungeon Crawl/NetHack device. Do you guys think this is at all possible? How would we launch the game? How would we be able to reset the game without shutting down the power? Any suggestions, tips, or ideas would be massively appreciated. Thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

How is this different than the same game running on a smartphone? That's exactly what you described. PSP, DS, N-Gage, etc..., all do this. If you can code a phone OS, you can certainly take some of this hardware and write the OS for it to run whatever games you want, given the restrictions of the API available for the OS. Anything is possible with the right knowledge and equipment.

 

[PointCaptainJ]

Because I don't want a smart phone and it would be much cheaper just to make this, considering me and my 'partner' have enough parts to at least make a prototype.

 

[hang-the-9]

Well then get going! What CPUs do you have? There are probaby open-source operating systems built for almost all CPUs, load up one of those, and find out if any of the games run on that OS. About your questions about how to work with the game, it all depends on what OS you pick to run and how the game was written. You'll probably have to recode the game quite a bit. There are usually development tools built for systems you can work with to build the game interface.

As far as HOW to do that, that's the hard part, programming is not a trivial task especially when starting new.

 

[PointCaptainJ]

I'm already experienced in C++ but I've never dealt with OS's. The only thing I'm really worried about is the reset. And I'm not sure on the CPU, my partner is the one with all the parts, he said he thinks that it can suffice for a proto-type for sure. Do you have any idea for OS's that could be on the internet that are extremely lightweight?

 

[hang-the-9]

I'm already experienced in C++ but I've never dealt with OS's. The only thing I'm really worried about is the reset. And I'm not sure on the CPU, my partner is the one with all the parts, he said he thinks that it can suffice for a proto-type for sure. Do you have any idea for OS's that could be on the internet that are extremely lightweight?

You'll have to check for the CPU, and also you need to make sure they offer what you need. An OS can be light enough that it provides 2-3 functions for the device. You need to find one that offers a way for other applications to run on top of in, including graphics, etc...

You may be better off finding out which existing devices already had code written for them.

C++ probably won't work too well in this case, you'll probably need Java and maybe assembly language. C++ is not a very portable language, and you need to have the OS have a way of running the code.

Take a look at this book http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781565923546.do

My dad writes programs for all sorts of small devices, he did code for the new Roomba Vacuums, some phones, military devices, so I've been around this stuff a bit. Although I have not programmed since college myself which is quite a while back hehe.

 

[PointCaptainJ]

Ah, I see. We shall see when we start working on the actual machine itself... if it actually becomes that difficult I suppose I will just live without my dungeon crawl.