[OT] 4X Java games for my mobile phone

dogscoff · #1 June 6th, 2005, 01:23 PM

OK, so I got me a new mobile phone (Motorola V980) and the first thing I do is plug it into my PC with a data cable and start hacking the cr4p out of it, trying to enable all the diabled features, remove all the useless branding etc etc etc.

Anyway, after much frustration I've finally got the java game uploader working, which means I can download .jar files off the web for free (as opposed to paying for a direct-to-phone download) and transfer them to my phone. I used to have this function on my old v300, but it wasn't up to much more than simple puzzlers & arcade games. like Tetris and Puzzlebobble (which are truly essential.)

My new phone has a slightly better hardware behind it (32meg storage, and the processor is probably >486), and I think it's probably capable of handling some simple strategy games- maybe even some kind of 4X game. I've found a chess game, which is a good start, and monopoly, which can be a bit of a laugh, but what I'd really like is something like se4 or Wesnoth. Obviously it won't be able to handle anything as sophisticated as either of those titles, but there are plenty of older 4X and strategy games that are less complex, but plenty of fun, and would probably fit in my new toy.

So, my question is, does anyone else indulge in .jar games for their phones? If so, do you know of any decent strategy titles in .jar format that I might be able to acquire? Finally, if not, does anyone know where I might learn about programming .jar files? I doubt I'll be able to program the game I'm looking for, but it will be fun trying.

Ragnarok-X · #2 June 6th, 2005, 02:17 PM

actually i downloaded about 200 java games from a recent lan party, but since i dont have a datacable i cant use them. lol.
So, no idea.

I can suggest you a single game though: look for "Ancient Empires": its like battle isle or Advance wars.

Will · #3 June 6th, 2005, 02:36 PM

Perhaps you could find a Java version of Rogue/Nethack/Angband or something like the old Zork. Ah, nostalgia... but I know of no places off the top of my head. Google is your friend, though.

As for programming *.jar files, technically, JARs are not programmed. You would create your game like you would for a normal Java application, *.java source files compiled with javac or your compiler of choice into *.class files. The JAR (or Java ARchive) files come in after this. There's a utility distributed with the developers kit from Sun that will take the *.class files from a project, and archive (and compress?) them together into a single file. The JavaVM then takes this file, extracts the *.class files, and runs the app.

Baron Munchausen · #4 June 6th, 2005, 03:21 PM

Not having a mobile phone, let alone a java-enabled one, I don't know how compatible these will be with your machine.

But here are a couple of java games I know of online.

Java Elite (Kinda, sorta like Starfury if not truly '4X')
http://www.bootlace.co.uk/index.php?...es&type=jelite

Dungeon Master for Java
http://dmjava.free.fr/news.htm

dogscoff · #5 June 7th, 2005, 04:55 AM

Thanks for the replies:

Ancient Empires sounds just like what I was looking for, I'll try it. Thanks.

Baron: Nethack on my phone would be about the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately, I really doubt nethack could be played comfortably with only 4 arrow keys, 12 numeric/ text keys, 2 soft keys and the various other buttons that my phone has. However I'll look at the nethack site and if it's available, I'll definitely try it.

Similarly, mobile Elite would truly be a thing of beauty. I don't think that code is available as a .jar but I'll look, and maybe bug the programmer.

RagX: What phone you got? Maybe you could borrow my cable.

Will: THanks for the info. Looks like it's all out of my league. And there was me with grand plans of making a mobile-phone reader for Othaglot & Cane to put on my website.

Fyron · #6 June 7th, 2005, 04:59 AM

Quote:

dogscoff said:
RagX: What phone you got? Maybe you could borrow my cable.

I suspect it would be cheaper for him to just go out and buy a cable than for you to travel to Germany or vice versa.

I got one for 0.99 cents US on Ebay, with 8 bucks shipping (hah!). I then found a nice free open source program that allows me to connect to the phone, so no 50 dollar software purchases necessary.

dogscoff · #7 June 7th, 2005, 06:09 AM

I was thinking of posting it to him, but yeah, they are cheap on ebay, if you know exactly what you are looking for, and trust the seller. (I've had a bad experience buying phone cables from ebay, although I did get my money back.)

Best place for mobile modding imho is howard's forums: www.howardforums.com/ There's a lot of noise and plenty of idiots there, but if you're persistent and prepared to wade through the crud and filter out the valuable information you can learn absolutely anything about your handset.

Update: Ancient Empires doesn't work on my v980. However I found a game called Townsmen2 which does. At first glance it appears to be a Settlers clone, which is fine by me. Used to stay up all night playing settlers 2 on my Amiga...

I also have at least one working chess game, a working version of 1942 (anyone remember that old classic?) and a few other interesting-looking games that I have yet to test.

Ragnarok-X · #8 June 7th, 2005, 12:33 PM

Pretty weird, Ancient Empire is PRETTY decent and should work if you have java enabled. Strange. If you can think up a way on why that game doesnt work, then you should really try to fix it. Its most probably the best strategy game out for mobile phones..
Thanks for that forum-link, i shall check it out once my to-be-purchased cable comes.
I have a Sony-Ericsson "K700i" btw. Its a pretty decent mobile, and since i have a contract for another 2 years i got the phone for a mere 1 �

dogscoff · #9 June 7th, 2005, 12:39 PM

Some games don't work on some phones, it's a sad and simple fact. You just have to shrug your shoulders and look for something else.

When you get your cable (or in fact, before you get your cable, ie NOW) go to Howard's forumss, look up your model and see what tricks and hacks you can apply to it. Some of it is risky- For example I wouldn't attempt flexing or flashing my phone unless in extreme circumstances- but most of it is low-risk stuff you can do to get more out of the phone. Usually it comes down to removing branding crap that the manufacturer/ phone company think you need, or unlocking features that they disabled (usually to make you buy stuff you could otherwise have for free.)