Wireless Game Development in C/C++ with BREW

Ralph Barbagallo

Wireless game development in C/C++ with BREW / by Ralph Barbagallo.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-55622-905-4
1.Computer games--Programming. 2. C (Computer program language).
3. C++ (Computer program language) 4. Application software--Development.
5. Wireless communication systems. I. Title.
QA76.76.C672 B36 2002
794.8'15265--dc21 2002154121
CIP

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Plano, Texas 75074

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Wordware Publishing, Inc. Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 1-55622-905-4

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0302

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All brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks should not be regarded as intent to infringe on the property of others. The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their products.

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Dedication

To the memory of Vito and Mary

Acknowledgments

This book is the end result of a year's journey into the heart of darkness of wireless gaming development. During the wild and unpredictable duration of this book's development, I learned a lot-not just about wireless technology but also about the sometimes utterly nonsensical practices and people of the business world.

Jim Hill and Wes Beckwith at Wordware Publishing deserve a lot of credit for spending time and resources on a book about a subject that nobody really knew anything about at the time. Their vision and flexibility has made this book possible.

Also, credit is due the people who read over the manuscript and checked it for technical and factual accuracy. This includes another pioneering BREW developer, John Szeder of Seismic Studios, and my old college buddy from the U-Mass Lowell Computer Science days, Dave Sowsy. Also, my editor, Beth Kohler at Wordware, has proven invaluable in pointing out all of my lingering sloppiness. Not to mention the good people at Qualcomm and Porter Novelli, who offered invaluable support in gathering information. This includes the inimitable Adriana Saldaña, Nick Mendoza, Steve Albers, Mike Yuen, Alison Graves, and Michele Bakic. Also, thanks goes out to the artists who provided artwork, photos, and other support including Roger Seto, Chris George, and Brian Schmitt.

Many people helped in providing content including pictures of applications and information about various products and services. Thanks goes out to Ilkyu Song and Jay Jung at GameVIL, Barry Sohl from DemiVision, Jerry Graham and Peter Bernard at Insignia Solutions, F. Conrad Hametner III at DWANGO, Ann Garner at nGame, Don DeLucia at Mattel, Jonathan Correa formerly of Mattel, Nicholas Dickey at Dynamo Development, and Matt Sponer for some last-minute byte-packing information. Special mention goes to the crew at Monkeystone Games, including but not limited to Tom Hall, John Romero, Stevie Case, and Lucas Davis. Good luck, guys!

Of course I cannot forget my parents, Ralph and Marie Barbagallo, without whom I probably would have ended up as a random assortment of molecules in a tree or a bowl of soup or something. Random thanks goes to others who helped contribute to the book or otherwise deserve mention such as James A. Frost, Karl Hornell, Doug McCartney, Jennifer Olsen and Daniel R. Huebner at Game Developer magazine, everyone at Wireless Gaming Review, the team at Nuvo Studios, and anyone else I forgot.

Finally, I cannot forget to thank the artists whose CDs playing in the background have helped the creation of the book go much smoother than it would have otherwise. This includes Kool Keith, M.F. Doom/Monsta Island Czars, 7L and Esoteric, People Under the Stairs, Non Phixion, Necro, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Ultramagnetic MCs, Digable Planets, Curtis Mayfield, Black Box Recorder, Diamond D, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Public Enemy, Moka Only, Del/Hieroglyphics, Chill Rob G, Scienz of Life, The Jungle Brothers, Kraftwerk, Masta Ace, Sam Cooke, Godfather Don, Outkast, Percee-P, KRS ONE, and the list goes on and on.

About the Companion Files

The companion files can be downloaded from www.wordware.com/brew. These files include all of the source code discussed in the book, as well as Robin Burrow's useful Mappy tile map editor and a demo of Cosmigo Pro Motion. There are also a few other useful files, including bitmaps with various palettes that may be used by some BREW handsets.

The code is organized in folders according to chapters. Simply copy the folders to your hard drive and you should be able to compile them with Visual C++ or, in some cases, the ARM BREW Builder. This book assumes you have installed the BREW SDK to the default location on your C drive. BREW Developer Studio projects require the inclusion of a few source files from the folder in which the BREW SDK is installed. If you have put the BREW SDK anywhere other than the default installation folder, you will have to edit the workspaces to reflect this.