Wii Internet Channel Homebrew

Most of the code migration to the new version 3.x of the Wii Opera SDK is complete.  One of the big changes is the format for mesh arrays.  The format is as follows:

Mesh[triangle][x1,y1,z1, x2,y2,z2, x3,y3,z3, r,g,b, texture, shading]

Mesh[triangle][x1,y1, x2,y2, x3,y3, r,g,b, texture, shading]

As you may notice, this new format opens the door to mesh arrays with mixed type triangles, meaning that both textured and flat-shaded triangles can inhabit the same mesh. Let me take a moment to explain what the two added values are:

texture: This refers to the element number of a texture image array, which if defined elsewhere.  By placing a negative value here, it flags the SDK to use the RGB colors instead of a texture. If a non-negative value is given but no texture array is passed to the SDK, the triangle will also be flat-shaded.

shading: This is more of an internal value than anything, used by shading and fading.  It contains a value in the interval [-1, 1].  This value can also be set manually to add brightness effects to the triangle.

I will be updating the documentation and further migrating code over the next few days.  All example webpages are updated to make use of the new code already.

The dungeon editor for the Wii Opera SDK’s raycasting class is under development now. To play around with a very early version, visit here.  Currently the dungeons cannot be saved or loaded, but they can be edited and viewed by clicking on texture images.  The final version will offer the following:

• Ability to load and save custom dungeons
• Seemless integration into games
• Linking of dungeons to website accounts
• Uploadable textures
• Gallery viewer for dungeons made by others
• Set teleportation points
• Scriptable settings for levels
• Customizable dungeon sizes from 10×10 to 99×99

The following features have been added to the Raycasting class:

• Left and right strafing
• Ducking
• Variable camera altitude
• Teleporting
• Background images for sky and ground

With these added features, the possibility exists to create games in the genres of on-rails shooter and 3D sidescroller.

Much of the Wii Opera SDK is being overhauled or rewritten from scratch for the upcoming version 3.0 release.  Unfortunately, some of the new features have to wait until the Opera 9.5 build of the Internet Channel becomes available for the Wii.  The new Wii Remote class is available now, as is the Raycasting class, in the preview release.  The new Drawing class makes use of the Canvas::transform function, which is available in Opera 9.5 but not the 9.27 build of the Internet Channel.  You can see it in action on a computer, but the demo does not work on the Wii yet.  Also coming with the 3.0 release will be a dungeon editor for the raycaster so that developers can create their own games.  The raycaster is versatile enough that it can even be used to create on-rails flight sims and 3D side scrollers.

A new Wii Remote class for the Wii Opera SDK has just been released, superceding the previously existing one.  A demonstration can be found at http://wiioperasdk.com/remote.html.

This new class contains the following features:

• Read button presses from all 4 Wii Remotes
• Read distance from Sensor Bar of all 4 Wii Remotes
• Read cursor position of all 4 Wii Remotes
• Read angle of roll for all 4 Wii Remotes
• Read button presses from 3 Nunchuks
• Read button presses from a keyboard acting as a Wii Remote
• Autodetect active keyboard or Wii Remote NEW!
• Autoswap between remote and controller orientation based on Wii Remote direction NEW!
• Autorotate D-pad orientation based on Wii Remote orientation NEW!
• Read additional keypresses when using BOTH a Wii Remote and a USB keyboard NEW!
• Toggle disabling of default key/button actions NEW!