[General Topics] Menneisyys:
3.2 Lounge (central server)-based multiplayer

In addition to (Internet-less, peer-to-peer) LAN games, this is the most important form of multiplayer gaming, making it possible to play anyone else from anywhere. The lounge- (central server-) based approach makes it possible to avoid directly entering remote IP addresses (unlike with Internet-based games lacking the lounge model like that of Orions or a great Stratego clone, Napoleonix, reviewed HERE) and also help for running into strangers wanting to play others, should you just want to look around for an opponent.

In the following screenshot, you can see the Internet lounge showing two games waiting for opponents:

There, you only need to click one of them and the game starts.

3.3 LAN (local) play

Fortunately, the other most versatile and important multiplayer mode, that of LAN play, also works and, what is more, supports multicast discovery, which means you won’t need to enter IP addresses anywhere, unlike with, say, the excellent Doom port DoomPPC / DoomGLES, which is very hard to configure, particularly if there’re more than two players in a game.

LAN play also includes Wi-Fi peer-to-peer gaming (this is supported by the vast majority of today’s handsets – only the lowest-end Windows Mobile phones come without Wi-Fi). Bluetooth PAN is also supported (as one would guess – after all, the networking architecture is totally transparent to multiplayer games – all they see is a local network where they can discover others / the server using multicast discovery protocols).

This is the game type that you will want to play if you don’t want to use your PDA’s phone (and/or it’s not a phone / you don’t have a data plan) and your opponents are nearby – say, in the same room, during a boring meeting. Of course, you can still use Internet play in this case too if both of you have Internet access.

3.4 Native Bluetooth support

If you have played games with native BT support, you know well enough their compatibility issues can be a real pain in the back. For example, it took me a lot of work for me and the HeroCraft Hitech folks (see THIS and THIS) to make Battle Cakes and Infinite Dreams multiplayer titles work with some Widcomm BT stack-based models.

Unfortunately, as of this writing (15/11/2007), the native Bluetooth gaming (which only supports the MS BT stack – there’s absolutely no Widcomm BT stack support) is pretty much useless. I’ve done some VERY serious and long compliance testing with all my MS BT stack-based Pocket PC’s and Smartphones (testing them against each other in both (client & server) modes). I could only find one combination (the HTC Wizard acted as a server and the Dell Axim x51v (A12, official WM5 ROM) and the HTC s710/Vox (WM6, official, original ROM) as the client. However, this setup only worked once; upon subsequent gaming attempts, it no longer worked. All the other combinations (in addition to the above-listed three models, I’ve also tested the HTC s310 (Oxygen) Smartphone and the HTC Universal Pocket PC) refused to work.

Note that the AIM folks have reported native Bluetooth gaming (generally) works between the Samsung Blackjack i320 and the HTC Kaiser (TyTN II).

As the AIM folks are pretty capable programmers, I’m pretty much confident they will release a version with working native BT support. For the time being, however, don’t assume it’ll work. You can, of course, safely give it a try. Just don’t worry if the client doesn’t start – it displays the Loading splash screen for about half a minute and, then, just exits to the operating system.

3.5 Hotseat mode

Finally, the game supports hotseat (non-inter-device) multiplayer mode up to four players. It, unlike with real inter-device multiplayer games (which need to be started from Play / Duel), must be started by Play / New.

There’re no different gaming modes in hotseat mode (assuming more than two players); the game is free-for-all (FFA). However, of course, if you team up with your friend to beat one or two AI enemies, you can effectively get rid of this problem. As your soldiers and machines won’t shoot anything in their range (as opposed to real-time strategy games), the lack of teaming capabilities aren’t a problem at all.

3.6 Multiplayer limitations

Unfortunately, in-game chat or even game lounge usernames (so that you know who you play) aren’t supported. In the game lounge, as has already been shown in THIS screenshot, only the map is displayed, and not the creator itself. This will definitely become an issue if many people start to play the game through the lounge.

As opposed to the hotseat mode (and games capable of running even four-person games – examples are like CoD2, Battle Cake, DoomPPC/GLES and the Great Gold Rush), inter-device multiplayer can only be played between two opponents.

There’s considerable lag (about five seconds) even on no-lagging LAN games. I don’t know whether this is absolutely necessary – most other multiplayer titles are almost lag-free, even non-realtime ones (that is, games where quick response isn’t a must.)

The AIM folks have stated they would implement at least the lounge name and/or the in-game chatting if and only if the game sells well. This means I really-really recommend you go and buy the game (I’d recommend doing this otherwise too – it’s a very nice title!).

4. Smartphones; resolution issues

When Blizzard’s Starcraft (which is, in my opinion, still the best RTS for Windows and Mac computers) was released, Blizzard explained it being locked to the VGA (640*480) resolution only was not to give an advantage to users having higher-resolution screens and, therefore, gaining a view of a bigger area of the map, avoiding the need for scrolling.

Let’s see how the resolution difference affects players on 176*220 MS Smartphone devices. First, two 176*220 screenshots:

(in-game)

(a map)

As can clearly be seen, compared to the QVGA version HERE, it’s pretty much usable and 176*220 users won’t be handicapped, not even when playing a QVGA user. (Note that the game doesn’t make use of (W)VGA resolution on Pocket PC’s equipped with high-resolution screens.)

4.1 Control

Controlling the units on a Smartphone, because of the lack of the touchscreen, is a bit harder (you need to rely on the D-pad – note that the dialpad buttons (2/4/6/8) aren’t supported at all). As there’s no pathfinding algorithm at all on the Pocket PC (that is, you must explicitly tell the unit where to move all the way), this isn’t that big a handicap when playing a Pocket PC user either.

In addition to the D-pad and the multi-function (changing between the overview / move / fire mode) Action button, you can access the menu with the Back button and the map with the right softkey.

4.2 Make sure your phone is application unlocked!

As of this writing, the game doesn’t check for the Smartphone’s being app locked. If it’s app locked, then the game installs and starts, but the phone will inevitably freeze while showing the initial splash screen to a point of having to remove the battery. This problem (that is, the game doesn’t explicitly check for the phone’s lock state) will surely be fixed in later game builds.

See for example THIS article for more links on application unlocking. Note that it’s absolutely legal.

5. Verdict

This title continues the best traditions of AIM Productions and delivers the same quality as that of their previous, quality games.

If you like (at least in Windows-based systems – unfortunately, as opposed to Infinite Dreams’ excellent multiplayer-enabled multiplatform titles like Super Miners and Explode Arena, there’re no Java / Symbian / Palm versions) multiplatform, multiplayer gaming with VERY flexible, both lounge-based and local multiplayer support, you should definitely give it a try. It’s one of the best multiplayer-enabled game released this year and a must for Snails / Worms, Atomic Cannon- and UFO-fans looking for a multiplayer-enabled mixture of these titles.

Also, if you don’t care for multiplayer, you might still want to give it a try – but, remember, games like this are the best when played in multiplayer mode.