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.

Well, I am giving the GEC a forums section. I suspect that because these forums are so new they will probably be pretty lonely for a couple of weeks or even months. But it is my hope that they will eventually take off, slowly but surely. In the future when I finally introduce the Mock Grand Exchange investment tracker, forum membership will be a requirement (mainly in order to have the forum run user login so users can maintain their own personal mock investment history). The MockGEC is still a couple of months down the road. Hopefully a slow start of the forums will give me plenty of time to work out bugs and other kinks in the forum system along with adding more customizations. So consider these forums as a beta test right now. Though never fear, any memberships and posts in this beta system will be automatically carried over to the final product.

You can pretty much discuss anything Runescape, though an obvious focus of the forums will be RuneScape investments. However, remember that this blog, the GEC, and the forums have a strict policy against any material which is knowingly false (with the exception of April Fool’s jokes), inaccurate, abusive, hateful, harassing, sexually orientated, threatening or invasive of a person’s privacy, or any other material which may violate any applicable laws. We will also not tolerate any advice or solicitation about RuneScape real world trading, cheats, or bug exploits. And to become a member of these forums you will need to agree that your activities on the forums and the greater Grand Exchange Central website will in no way violate the official Rules of RuneScape.

Some of the current features of the forums I have right now include realtime connectivity to the GEC database. That means you can display, using BBcode, the current value of items you are discussing. Also, if you wish, you can display your characters current combat level in the header area of each posting you leave. Combat states are acquired once a day. This is of course optional. Other features to come soon.

Anyway, stop by the forums and introduce yourself, leave suggestions, or read a little more about how the GEC functions, future plans for the GEC, or any changes that are currently being made. See you on the forums.

Absenm

I seem to be in quite a pickle (or sauerkraut may be a better word). The last time I played Runescape was during the April Fool’s event. When I logged out I was still holding onto a cabbage. Well, today (April 3) I logged back in and still have a cabbage. Obviously I can’t store it or sell it. And I’m fairly certain that if I remove it, the cabbage will disappear all together. It does look like I can still chuck it to other players, but of course I don’t want to try that. And for all I know chucking it will cause it to disappear also. Of course, having a cabbage in both my hands means I am very limited combat wise. I really can only use magic and I hate magic. But yet there is a morbid curiosity in my brain that wants to know exactly how long one of these April Fool’s cabbages can be kept “alive”. Then again, Jagex in a few days might make it go away without any action by me. So I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Do I limit my actions actions for a few days or do I just chuck it to another player and hope that it lives on through other people? Of course, if Jagex doesn’t spontaneously remove these April Fool’s cabbages then they will become untradeable rares. No real value but there will be that all important “cool” factor that seems to impress newbs and makes the rest of us roll our eyes.

In semi-related news: The GEC got a bunch of hits on Wednesday because of the listing for the Magic Dragon Kiteshield. Of course that was an April Fool’s joke and there is no Magic Dragon Kiteshield that gives farming and fishing stat bonuses and is a drop by beating up Olivia the Draynor Village seed stall girl. But I will leave the item listing in the GEC as a historic footnote to the GEC itself.

Finally, I am sad to say that the price of Strange Fruit has taken a down turn. I am hoping this is only a hiccup and that Strange Fruit will stabilize at around 3500gp and start creeping back up at a much slower pace. In any case I am the proud to say that I currently have made over two million gp in profit from the fruits.

In blog news: Now this blog is also iPhone compatible. Also, because this blogs free server is just simply too unreliable I will be moving this blog over to the GEC site. I am hoping that link redirections will be seamless and my readers should have no significant transition problems.

Okay, the cabbage April Fool’s event is cute. Not nearly as cute as my idea for a Runescape Rickroll, but it is cute. Oh well, maybe next year. Anyway, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet there are free roaming cabbages floating around Runescape. A good place to go is Lumbridge castle to see and play with them. You should have accept aid turned on and both hands empty. Then you can play catch with the cabbages. There are also kick and tap options available but I’m not sure what those do yet. I only looked around for a few minutes. I am also not sure if there is more to the April Fool’s event but if I see anything else I’ll report it here.

By the way, if you are looking for more April Fools day related events on the web check out April Fool’s Day On The Web for a list of this years and other past years. The upside down YouTube is also pretty funny.

In other related news: I didn’t get off my butt to do anything for April Fool’s concerning my blog or the GEC. So there are no jokes here, sorry. Maybe next year.  I am also working on a blog post about the new Magic Dragon Kite Shield wieldable only by Rangers with mage combat level 90 or higher that was introduced in last weeks update.  I personally am dissappointed because my character Absenm is a combat warrior and I won’t be able to utilized it considerable stat bonuses (+37 fishing and +15 farming).  But atleast it is tradeable on the GE for just 5 gp so it may prove to be a good investment item. Other restrictions are that it can only be wielded while also wielding a two handed iron longsword. It is a rare drop after barehanded fighting Olivia the seed stall girl in Draynor Village.

One little comment on the whole 11 year old Timmy who got hacked because he got lead off the official Runescape site. Yeah, this is a couple of weeks late but I just heard about it.  Been so busy with the GEC I lost track of reading other people’s blogs.

At first I was actually feeling sorry for the kid. He seemed to have worked hard to get to where he was. He was high enough level to fish sharks so he must have spent a little time playing. But as the story progressed it became more and more fishy.

SEE NEWS VIDEO HERE!

The family says that they raised money so Timmy could buy weapons and other equipment. One hundred and forty dollars.  As any legitimate player of RuneScape knows, you cannot buy items in RuneScape with real world money (rule 12).  It seems that the family and the news crew are completely oblivious to the fact that this practice is against RuneScape rules and terms of service and that players are warned exhustively not to engage in such activities.

Thus little Timmy must have been engaged in real world trading if he used one hundred and forty real dollars to buy weapons, armour and become more powerful.  That is an offense that can and does get people banned. That is cheating. I now wonder if little Timmy was really just trying to join a clan and got tricked into going to the wrong RuneScape site. It takes jumping through quiet a few hoops in order to real world trade and I suspect that little Timmy knows at the very least he was cheating.

It is sad that he is only 11 years old and (hey, wait a minute!  What’s he doing chatting?  You need to be 13 or older to be on a non quick chat world).  Anyway, it is sad he had to learn such a tough lesson so young.  He had to learn that there are bad people in the world. He also had to learn that cheaters get cheated in the end. If he is a real world trader than he is a cheater. But maybe he will be a little smarter and a little wiser in the future.  Of course, maybe all of this could have been avoided if his family had taken the time to read the parents guide on the official website.  They should look into it.  From some of the quotes, it seems like the family isn’t aware that Runescape is not a childen’s game.