PDA version of BZFlag

All things BZFlag - no [OT] here please
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javawizard2539
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PDA version of BZFlag

Post by javawizard2539 »

Anyone know of a PDA version of BZFlag?
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JeffM
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Post by JeffM »

there is not one, and it would most likely be rather difficult to make one.
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Skyler
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Post by Skyler »

I'd say impossible, simply because of the high overhead required to render the 3d graphics.
F687/s
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Post by F687/s »

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Except for, maybe, convincing the developers that a PDA version of BZFlag is necessary....
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A Meteorite
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Post by A Meteorite »

F687/s wrote:NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!
It is, if you want a BZFlag as we currently know it, on a PDA. PDAs simply don't have enough horsepower to play BZFlag remotely like on a PC.

Even then if you did have enough horsepower, you'd need to find a PDA with hardware that has 3D acceleration (not happening).

The only realistic (in terms relative to a theoretical PDA version) of a mobile BZFlag is on a mobile console such as the PSP or Nintendo DS since the hardware is meant for 3D, but even then licensing costs and other things are way out of the budget of the BZFlag project. It'd still require too much work to be worth it, as games on a console are highly optimized for certain CPUs/GPUs (lots of assembly and use of console's SDK).
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Macrosoft
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Post by Macrosoft »

there are projects to run linux on pda's, but without a keyboard, controls would be a problem.
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JeffM
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Post by JeffM »

Some PDAs have hardware accelerated video, and embedded openGL, so it would indeed be possible. Many things would have to change in the code base to make it work on anything other then a PDA that fully emulates a desktop PC. Just having "Linux" does not mean that it would compile and run.

so again, none exists, it would be rather difficult to port to the various PDA systems/architectures, and it is most assuredly NOT necessary. The play experience would be severely limited by the hardware and input format. Basically it would be a significant amount of wasted time for the developers with little to no payoff.

BZAdmin on the other hand would have a large benefit, and in fact a few users have used various tools to get it running on mobile devices ( screen + ssh for example )
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