Forum Nokia has just released its SNAP SDK for Java games developers. SNAP Mobile is the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) counterpart to N-Gage Arena technology. SNAP Mobile's multiplayer game-playing technology provides mobile devices access to Web, Instant Messaging and Presence (IMPS), offering a full-featured combination of connected and community features to help standardization and interaction of mobile games:

In and out-game community features

• account creation and management : Provides users a unique way of identifying one another while retaining their anonymity. SNAP Mobile uses unique “handles” rather than real names or real phone numbers. Users retain the same identity whether playing online or accessing the gaming community through the game, or while using a mobile or Web browser. SNAP Mobile can enforce unique user identities; for example, by associating one MSISDN or some other operator-provided unique user identifier with a given user ID.

• ranking: Encourage online gameplay and competition among players. Games report scores that are used to establish top-ranked players in a given game, a player's statistics (such as scores and standings in a game) and proximity rankings (a player's ranking in relation to other players ranked just above and below in the standings).

• friend lists: Lets users establish a contact list for messaging and gameplay challenges. The SNAP Mobile friends list is a ‘little black book' for the connected gaming community experience. Connected gaming communities provide users a way to hang out with people, share experiences, and make new friends. The friends list helps users keep track of their old and new friends, find out which friends are online, and chat with or challenge friends to a game.

• presence: Encourages online gameplay and messaging between users by letting users know when their friends are online. Presence indicators typically identify the friends who are online, offline, or away (players who are online but do not want to be disturbed).

• instant messaging: Allows users to send messages to friends and other users whether they are online or offline, or whether the users are in a lobby or a gameroom.

• News and events: Inform community members about all the new activities in the community. News and events list upcoming attractions all the time so that the users sense that they are a part of a vibrant community.

• Support section: Minimizes the need for support calls by providing users with support information, in the form of FAQs, self-help, phone settings, troubleshooting guides, and so on, to help users resolve their issues while avoiding costs associated with contacting developer support.

In-game connectivity:

• Head-to-head connected gaming: Provides peer-to-router-to-peer game sessions in which users can play against one another from beginning to end. These games are well suited for challenges and matchmaking.

• Pervasive world games: Provide always-on, multiplayer game sessions that users all over the world can enter, play, and exit at any time. Massively multiplayer online mobile games serve as a good example of pervasive world games.

• Versatile matchmaking: Offers ways for users to find and compete against one another. SNAP Mobile offers four matchmaking modes: Challenge mode, in which one player requests a specific opponent; Random mode, in which users automatically join any available gameroom to play against other users in that room; Join mode, in which a player joins a specific gameroom and lobby; Sort start mode, which uses a configurable load balancer to place users in gamerooms.

• Lobbies and gamerooms: Offer places for users to meet, hang out, chat, and engage in gameplay. Lobbies contain gamerooms, where gameplay takes place.

• Cross-operator connected gameplay (optional): Increases the user base, providing customers with more opportunities for online gameplay and messaging. Cross-operator functionality can be turned off per operator request.

SNAP SDK Downloads

  SNAP Mobile SDK:The SNAP Mobile SDK provides all the necessary resources for developing games on the SNAP Mobile platform. It includes the SNAP Mobile API, Javadocs, sample code, server emulator tool, and other support documentation.

  Datasheet of SNAP Mobile SDK: Introduces the basic features of SNAP Mobile platform, SNAP Mobile Client SDK and SNAP Mobile API.

  SNAP Mobile API: Documentation that specifies the classes and usage of SNAP Mobile API.

  SNAP Mobile: Hello World Tutorial For J2ME Clients : This tutorial introduces J2ME developers to basic SNAP Mobile game development practices.

SNAP SDK Documentation

  SNAP Mobile: Technical Overview: This document provides a high-level introduction to the SNAP Mobile technology and the community services that support it.

  SNAP Mobile: Community Service Emulator User's Guide: This document provides instructions on using a configurable SNAP Mobile development tool that simulates networked communication between a game client and the community services. The community service emulator is preconfigured to work with the SNAP Mobile sample application, which is packaged with the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit.

  SNAP Mobile: Community Sample Application User's Guide: This document provides procedures for using the SNAP Mobile community sample application in the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit. The community sample demonstrates most user functionalities of the SNAP Mobile client API.

  SNAP Mobile: Game Developer's Guide For J2ME Clients: This document provides guidelines for developers who want to include networked community features, such as multiplayer game functionality, authentication, instant messaging and presence, and other services to game applications.

  SNAP Mobile: Game Developer's FAQ For J2ME Clients: This document answers frequently-asked questions regarding SNAP Mobile, its components and their functionality.

  SNAP Mobile: Registration And Login Guidelines For J2ME Clients: This document supplements the SNAP Mobile Game Developer's Guide for J2ME Clients by providing requirements and guidelines to follow when developing registration and login functionality in a SNAP Mobile game.

  SNAP Mobile: Ranking Guide For J2ME Game Developers: This is a guide for game developers using the SNAP Mobile API to submit and retrieve player ranking data in a SNAP Mobile game.

  SNAP Mobile: Standard Game Requirements: This document serves as a standard reference document for SNAP Mobile game certification. The document details the technical, usability, and publishing requirements that apply to SNAP Mobile games.