PSP homebrew game adds unique twist

[SymetriX]

Kotaku (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/clips/psp-game-has-you-roam-neighborhood-in-search-of-points-185037.php) brings word of an innovative homebrew game for the PSP which has the player pounding the pavement in search of wifi access points:


ColleTic has you running around outside trying to collect WLAN access points with your portable. Each point is given a distinct color, geometric shape and sound based on its particular MAC address. The size of the point is determined by how strong the signal is. The object of the game is to fill your three-by-three grid with shapes, finishing with three in a row.
CollecTic (http://www.pixelsix.org/collectic/) was created by a student named Jonas Hielscher (http://pixelsix.org/wiki/pmwiki.php) who submitted the game to earn his Masters degree in Media Technology.

Watch the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENnT5DVnj5Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ekotaku%2Ecom%2Fgaming%2Fcl ips%2Fpsp%2Dgame%2Dhas%2Dyou%2Droam%2Dneighborhood %2Din%2Dsearch%2Dof%2Dpoints%2D185037%2Ephp) to see it in action.

[TrackZero]

Interesting "game" design for the unit. It's just too bad that the DS doesn't allow easy homebrew like this (and before any hater kids start, don't bother or you'll get the back of my hand), since there's far more of them out there.

[Blade]

It's an interesting concept. Not really applicable to real games, but very neat.

[mos]

It's just too bad that the DS doesn't allow easy homebrew like this
www.dsdev.org (http://www.dsdev.org) is a good place to start.

(Note I said "start." That site hasn't been active in months.)

[pseudopseudo]

I'm not going to lie, the active PSP homebrew community is the only reason I still have my PSP.

I'd never use this though... I believe the sun to be evil, and I won't be seen wandering around looking for WLAN access points like a man lost in the desert, looking for water. :D

[fndarkone]

does it work if the wlan points are encrypted/secured?

[pseudopseudo]

does it work if the wlan points are encrypted/secured?
If I remember correctly, secured/encrypted points show up as different little symbols in the game... you should really read the article. It'd answer a lot of questions for you.

[jeffool]

Very cool game. I had a similar, but not as cool, idea after hearing Wil Wright's idea (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/10/1723254) for the GDC design contest for 'games inspired by Emily Dickinson.' Every net-enabled computer you connected it to would register with a site an up your score. I called it "Terminal Action." Never actually did any work on it, though. And this looks much cooler.

[ParTime]

Interesting "game" design for the unit. It's just too bad that the DS doesn't allow easy homebrew like this (and before any hater kids start, don't bother or you'll get the back of my hand), since there's far more of them out there.

I have to disagree about "ease". I got my CF adapter on June 19, and was writing simple programs from a tutorial the same day. By June 25, less than a week later, I was using the 3d unit (http://kvance.livejournal.com/959712.html) which has an OpenGL-like API(!!) still following tutorials. Two days after that, I was off the tutorials, and had a game board and a piece in 3d (http://kvance.livejournal.com/960244.html).

How much easier could PSP homebrew be? This wasn't more difficult than writing games for DOS, or any program where you have to talk directly to the hardware.

[TrackZero]

How much easier could PSP homebrew be? This wasn't more difficult than writing games for DOS, or any program where you have to talk directly to the hardware.

I'm refering to getting homebrew working on the system, not the simplicity of it's programming language(s).

[TrackZero]

www.dsdev.org (http://www.dsdev.org) is a good place to start.

(Note I said "start." That site hasn't been active in months.)

And I never said the DS doesn't have homebrew. But it's definitely not as easy to get into (since you need extra hardware if you want to have your programs with you).

[ParTime]

I'm refering to getting homebrew working on the system, not the simplicity of it's programming language(s).

Oh, gotcha. I actually agree with you on that, there are too many choices and it took a lot of research to figure out what to buy (SD card adapters aren't well supported), not to void my warranty, etc.

You can already buy a DS card that disables authentication by itself, and I imagine the next step will be one with SDRAM and a microSD slot included. Or built-in flash memory with a special reader, I suppose. Either way, I can't think of a technical reason why there's no single "DS homebrew card" except the parts have to be much smaller than those for the GBA slot.