the ND (maybe the solution for a tmw portable client)

[carlitos]

First of all, im not trying to make any kind of marketing, i was just surfing througth the web and i saw this http://the-nd.com/ and my first thought was a portable client for the mana world. i dont know anything about game development and i dont know if its possible to use that hardware with mana world, but if its possible, i would be very happy and i know it would be a great way to share this game to others. i would like if someone who knows more about programming and that stuff to tell me if its possible, it would make me happier .

It has a 400 mhz cpu, a 2.4 inch backlit LCD display with a resolution of 320x240, it will feature at least 16MB of RAM, but more likely 32MB, the device will support 2D games only and will run a custom developed embedded Linux firmware

P.S. sorry for the bad english

[Kage]

Interesting project... will it have networking abilities? That would be a key requirement for TMW

[carlitos]

of course, it would be boring without wifi

[o11c]

Really cool.

That being said, I'm not sure how well TMW would work on 400MHz at 320x240, with only 32 MB RAM.

[carlitos]

but do you think it would be possible??? the best thing is that it will cost like 10 dollars and its open source

[Kage]

Maybe a different client created from the main would be possible. But the main client would need to be stripped down BIG time for it to work. The system requirement for Mana is beyond the ability of this machine.

But it is possible, strip features and optimize enough it will work. Like key bindings, since the machine has a set number of buttons (unlike a computer). It would make more sense to strip key / action assignment. Just one of many things that would be needed.

Also, given the machine has no keyboard, might cause issues in that players need to type a username/password as well as chat with others.

So there are a lot of interesting problems that will need to be overcome.

[o11c]

Also, given the machine has no keyboard, might cause issues in that players need to type a username/password as well as chat with others.

The obvious solution is to store username/password as configuration.
I guess people will just have to not chat much. For botchecks, maybe the 2-minute limit will actually be meaningfully reached.

[Crush]

The very small screen resolution of only 320x240 is also a problem. These are less than 4 player sprites over another. The best solution to get enough on the screen would be to reduce the tilesize to 16x16 and scale all images down. There are no artist resources to do this manually, so we will have to do it automatically. This means that the art will suffer.

And we didn't talk about the GUI yet. This will have to be redone completely to work with the small screen size.


Mobile devices are the future. But unfortunately the whole mobile segment lacks a portable development framework which allows to create cross-platform applications. Android uses Java, Apple devices use ObjectiveC, Windows Phone uses Silverlight and the manufacturers of dedicated gaming handhelds like Nintendo or Sony do everything to keep non-commercial software away from their devices.

This technological fragmentation means that you have to develop an application from scratch for every mobile platform, and because of the attitude of the involved companies, who are all at each others throat, it is very unlikely that a platform-independent development standard will emerge in the near future.

[Matt]

I doubt it. Even the GP2X was more powerful, the only good point the ND has is the price tag. But I doubt they will match it, it is vaporware as of now. Look at the OpenPandora, another community project for an open source handheld, made by people actually trustworthy and known among the community - they had an 100% price increase and delivered years late.

The ND is good enough for some emulators (up to the snes, maybe, with speedhacks) and homebrew games, we will see if enough community gathers around it to create good software for it - if it will be ever released, the guy behind it is kinda shady, see "Bobs game", lol.

[Jaxad0127]

I doubt it. Even the GP2X was more powerful, the only good point the ND has is the price tag. But I doubt they will match it, it is vaporware as of now. Look at the OpenPandora, another community project for an open source handheld, made by people actually trustworthy and known among the community - they had an 100% price increase and delivered years late.

The ND is good enough for some emulators (up to the snes, maybe, with speedhacks) and homebrew games, we will see if enough community gathers around it to create good software for it - if it will be ever released, the guy behind it is kinda shady, see "Bobs game", lol.

Those who pre-ordered the Pandora (like myself) didn't see a price increase.

The Pandora can run TMW 0.0.29.1, so it should be fine for Mana. Once I get mine, I'll port.

[Matt]

I doubt it. Even the GP2X was more powerful, the only good point the ND has is the price tag. But I doubt they will match it, it is vaporware as of now. Look at the OpenPandora, another community project for an open source handheld, made by people actually trustworthy and known among the community - they had an 100% price increase and delivered years late.

The ND is good enough for some emulators (up to the snes, maybe, with speedhacks) and homebrew games, we will see if enough community gathers around it to create good software for it - if it will be ever released, the guy behind it is kinda shady, see "Bobs game", lol.

Those who pre-ordered the Pandora (like myself) didn't see a price increase.

The Pandora can run TMW 0.0.29.1, so it should be fine for Mana. Once I get mine, I'll port.

? I was talking about the ND, i know the Pandora has an TMW port.

The pandora ripoff is that even when you preordered other people still get their console earlier if they paid the big price - preorderers are able to pay more to get the pandora after 7 days, the others have to wait, big time. I met Michael personally at our retro fair, he is a nice guy, I like him, respect what he did, but this is just not okay - even if the hardware got more expensive. Well, but it is up to the people to request a refund, pay more or wait some more again - and the community is mostly nice.