SlickShady333’s review of DSiPaint.com

Sylverstone14’s review of DSiPaint.com

Twiiter now has the ability to twiit to different categories called “threads”.  For DS/DSi users, there is a new drop-box to select the thread. For Wii users, start the twiit with “thread: threadname” (no quotes) for the first line.  All posts default to the “Main” thread.  The thread names all have RSS newsfeed image links for subscribing to just threads of interest.

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!

With the release of the Nintendo DSi and its Opera Web browser, I felt it best to take one of my first projects for the Wii’s Internet Channel, HullBreach Online, and scale it to the dual screens to let gamers play on-the-go. This project would become HullBreach Online Lite.

While running tests on the Nintendo DSi Browser, I found that although there is support for the canvas object, it seems to be fairly crippled when concerning image data. Apparently this was meant to save RAM on the handheld by not caching off-screen data. Thus, I began working with ways to re-create HullBreach Online’s mobile cousin by using nothing but image placement, background scrolling, and other standard DHTML features. From that comes a game that should for all intents and purposes be compatible with the older Nintendo DS Browsers as well.

To save on memory, images have been scaled and colors reduced. Players cannot see one another’s ships, yet they can still chat with each other – even between both versions of HullBreach Online. Due to the lack of useful button input, the entire game is touchscreen-controlled. Moving between locations and travelling through hyperspace are both achieved by on-screen button clicks, which are accompanied by appropriate animations of the ship and motion of the map cursor.

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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!