webOS™ and Game Development

The first webOS device—the Palm Pre—features a large multitouch screen and an advanced microprocessor—perfect hardware features to support mobile gaming. We know that as a game developer, you want to write games that can take advantage of those features. More importantly, we know you want to develop games that satisfy your creative and technical standards, not to mention the cravings of the first webOS users.

webOS and Palm Mojo SDK development currently offers the basic elements you'll need to create games across many of the most popular categories. HTML, JavaScript, and CSS – the same core technologies that serve web developers so well and power the webOS user experience – are also suitable for creating a wide range of games: puzzles, word games, card and board games, innovative social games, and the list goes on – even simple arcade games. You can see a couple of examples next to this article.

To complement these web technologies, the Palm Mojo™ SDK provides access – via JavaScript APIs – to a variety of device events and services you can use to build games.

So, while the Mojo Framework does not currently support some types of games – most notably 3D and fast-paced arcade games – we expect you to produce great games from day one. Richer game experiences will become possible over time as web technologies mature and as Palm extends the capabilities of the Mojo SDK. We're going to watch to see what you develop, what you need, what works for you, and what doesn't work. To help us do that, we want you to talk to us about what you need to take your games to the next level.

Mostly, we'd like you to make the most of what the Mojo SDK provides. Here's what we'd recommend:

Use HTML, JavaScript, and CSS; and please: push the limits! Someone out there is going to deliver an insanely great game for webOS in the next few months, and it might as well be you.
Take advantage of the canvas element. See Canvas Tag Support in the Mojo SDK online documentation for details of how the Mojo SDK and webOS currently support Canvas. Again, we want to know what you are doing so we can enhance canvas support in future releases.
Visit and contribute to the Game Developer Cafe on webOSdev. There, you can talk about what you're up to, ask (and answer) questions, and help carry forward the state-of-art of webOS game development. Palm will be watching, and yours will be the feedback we use to figure out where to take webOS game development – and playing –capabilities.

We're opening the store with our basic ingredients, and we know you will make creative and extensive use of them. As we work to make our game-related APIs more robust, get in there and help us shape the future. Use web technologies to the limits of their capabilities – and your imaginations. Also, talk about what you're doing on the Game Developer Cafe. And while you're there tell us what you'd like to see. This is your platform: We're here to add the capabilities that make you truly creative and successful—and to then step out of the way so your killer game can get the attention it deserves.