One thing I have been very disappointed in even before I purchased my iPhone is that the device is incapable of running my favorite game. Runescape, written in Java, was designed to run on as many platforms as possible through the use of any standard web browser. The iPhone is unique in its distinction of containing a mostly functional web browser, Safari. So it would seem only logical that Runescape would run just fine on the iPhone. Sadly, Apple, in a stroke of illogic that boggles the mind, has prevented the use of Java on the iPhone. That needs repeating. Java is a platform whose main design is to run on as many kinds of devices as possible. Java is a leading force within the mobile phone market. Java is a cornerstone of web based application. Yes, Java is restricted on the number one leading Internet enabled mobile phone.

Before I go on, I want to address what some of you may have seen on the Internet concerning the iPhone and Runescape. There are some videos out there showing what appears to be Runescape running on an iPhone. These videos are not really showing Runescape running on the iPhone. At best, the videos show a VNC connection to a computer running Runescape (which in and of itself is pretty cool). At worst the videos show an iPhone/iPod Touch playing a video of a Runescape session. Because Java has not been implemented for the iPhone, Runescape does not run on the devices. Sorry.

But here are my suggestions to Jagex for how to design an iPhone compatible version of Runescape if Java is ever ported over to the iPhone. Java code can be pretty easily ported over to the C++ source code that the iPhone needs, but in the end it would probably only be cost effective for Jagex to support its main Java development platform. Runescape updates far too frequently to be an effective native iPhone application. But maybe someday Java will come to the iPhone and all will be right in the world. Lets hope that happens with the release of OS3 this summer (but don’t hold your breath).

Obviously, the user interface for an iPhone version of Runescape will need to be slightly modified to allow for multitouch control. The “screen shots” accompanying this article are OF COURSE artistic representations of what I am about to explain. They are not real screen shots and only serve for illustrative purposes.

First of all, Runescape would always need to be in landscape mode. It is the only configuration that would make any sense. After that obvious UI requirement, I would put all the control buttons to the right hand side of the screen (inventory, spells, stats, etc.) I would also include a navigational cross that would allow for changing the camera view. Just for fun I would provide an optional feature that would allow the camera angle to change by tilting the device left/right, up/down. Tapping anywhere else on the screen would perform any standard single click action (walk, run, select). Tap and hold would act as a right click and call up menus (just like the normal game). The chat box could still be displayed pretty much in the same location as the normal game. Scrolling through the box would be done by flicking, just like the built in iPhone browser.  Tapping a special Chat button would bring up a keyboard interface.

Screen space is obviously a major concern and the iPhone screen size wouldn’t allow for the always displayed boxes that appear on the normal screen game. Therefor selecting a control button (for example Inventory) would cause the control buttons to slide off the screen and the information box to slide onto the screen. Two finger tapping the information box would cause the box to slide off and the control buttons to slide back on. The mini map would also take up too much space and thus wouldn’t be displayed at all times. A special control button would be needed to call up the minimap. While the minimap is displayed it would function just like the normal minimap.

These few simple changes would provide an effective and useful user interface to allow almost all the same functionality as the normal full sized game. In fact, all the screen shots I used in this article have the full height of the normal game and only 10% less of the width. After the UI is modified there would only be a couple of issues with game play performance.

Of course a WiFi connection would be a must. Though Runescape was designed to be played on dialup connection speeds, I just do not see it working with 3G speeds / reliability (and most certainly not on Edge). The graphics might need to also be toned down slightly to help with performance issues (though this wouldn’t necessarily be a requirement). I also don’t really see any need for special iPhone/iPod worlds. The setup I suggest above would provide all the same functionality as normal and therefore no need for special worlds. All this depends, of course, of a iPhone version of Java having most of the same functionality of the currently available Java for computers.  The only real question left is whether the iPhone would be powerful enough to run the game.

Ideally having the game actually served to and run from the iPhone itself is what everyone would be after. But there is a slight work around to this issue that could provide more power. That would be working with a client server mechanism. A host computer on the local WiFi network would communicate with the main Runescape servers and process all the data. It could then serve Runescape screens through a highly modified version of VNC to the iPhone (with the same UI changes I mentioned before). This route has the benefit of only having the iPhone process streaming graphics, audio and basic Human User Interface Device functions. The host computer would do all the work. One draw back is that Runescape could only be played on local LANs with host computers. Another draw back is of course the introduction of a middle man computer that could cause additional lag and security issues. In the end, this whole client/server idea is horrible, but I wanted to mention it as a talking point.

Anyway, that is my idea for RuneScape on iPhone. Maybe somebody as Jagex will read this and at least bounce some of the ideas off the big wigs. For now, if you want to actually play Runescape on your iPhone you will need to use a VNC connection. Cheers.