MIDP-Man

November 24, 2000. Last modified May 2002.

In the words of Sun Microsystems, "The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) is a set of JavaTM APIs which, together with the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), provides a complete J2METM application runtime environment targeted at mobile information devices, such as cellular phones and two-way pagers." Think of it as a smaller Java for cell phones.

On the left is a regular Java applet that demonstrates a small MIDP application ("MIDlet") I developed. (Click the button under "Start" and then use the cursor keys.) In order to play the real game you need either a MIDP-capable device like the phone Motorola showed at Comdex 2000, or the reference implementation available from Sun. (The latter is essentially a phone emulator, from which I borrowed the graphics that surround the game demo.)

Update: After one and a half years, Namco has suddenly decided to look into the MIDP market and requested that I remove all downloadable material related to MIDP-Man, as it would interfere with their possible future attempts at making money on Pac-Man MIDlets. The same request goes to all other sites that feature this game. I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.

MIDP had great potential, but unfortunately a couple of technical omissions make it unsuitable for game development. Read more about that on the Technical Stuff page. Until Sun has updated their specifications, all I can say is: don't bother with MIDP if you want to build arcade games. It's like banging your head against a brick wall. Right now a half-decent Pac-Man clone is pretty much the limit.

Disclaimer: Pac-Man is a registered trademark of Namco. The PC rights to Pac-Man are owned by Hasbro Interactive. This site is not affiliated with either of them.