Palm recently posted an article and opened a new forum on their webOSdev developer site, covering the possibilities for creating games on webOS and allowing game developers the chance to share ideas, tips and provide feedback to Palm for future versions of the SDK. The platform is currently "suitable for creating a wide range of games: puzzles, word games, card and board games, innovative social games...even simple arcade games," they note. Palm Developer Community Manager, Chuq Von Rospach writes:
"Game developers: Now’s your chance to help Palm shape the future of mobile device game development on the webOS platform. Visit our latest developer forum, the webOS Game Developer Café, and tell us and the rest of the community about your webOS game development efforts."
While 3D "fast-paced arcade games" are still not supported, they have been implementing support such as the canvas tag, which allows for 2D dynamically generated graphics. In addition, it may be only be a matter of time before OpenGL and other gaming features are added to webOS, with Palm recently hiring a Graphics Frameworks Engineer.
Other ways to enjoy gaming on the Pre include emulators such as Playstation and MAME as well as other Linux ports such as an NES emulator. Flash 10 Beta is coming later this year, and game companies such as PopCap are already working on porting their Arcade lineup to the Pre. So don't fear; there are plenty of options for your free time while webOS gets its gaming legs up.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011