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The Game channel is an application that allows for the distribution of game advertising and previews. The application is strictly Web based and written entirely in HTML and VRML. The game world is a VRML-based arcade that provides game kiosks represented in a 3D environment. The user can navigate through the 3D arcade and then choose a particular game.

After selecting the game, the user is shown a game kiosk. The game advertising plays, giving the user a video preview. He or she can then press the play button to get a stored video clip of game play. If interested, he or she can select the banner and jump straight to the live game site to look up more information on the game or even purchase the game online.

The 3D VRML graphics and the use of 30-FPS full-motion video are intended to provide a better experience than just viewing normal 2D Web pages. The response to the user is faster, and the quality of audio and video is much better than can be delivered over the Internet.

WebCD* publisher is used to develop the game channel, which allows for the creation of CD-ROMs that mirror existing Web sites. The publisher provides the features necessary to manage and create a rich multimedia channel.

The Game Channel interface is built around WebCD* Viewer, which optionally displays normal Web pages in a full screen kiosk mode, and adds a search engine and bookmark feature for easy navigation of large Web sites. A game arcade was developed using 3D studio Max* to demonstrate a 3D world into a channel; once an arcade game is selected, the user is presented with a game kiosk, created using dynamic HTML and Java Script. A ticker tape Java applet is included to provide advertising from multiple channels, and ActiveMovie* and Indeo Video 5.0 add rich multimedia to the application for game previews and advertising.

VRML is a language for describing 3D objects and possible user interactions with them. Using VRML, developers can build a sequence of visual images into Web pages that a user can interact with by moving, rotating and clicking within a 3D scene. The game channel uses a VRML-based arcade for users to move within and select the game they are interested in. The VRML world was created using 3D Studio Max*. Anchors were placed on 3D objects to jump to a two dimensional HTML page displaying the game kiosk. All the VRML assets and scripts defining the world resided on the Web.

The game application uses Indeo Video 5.0 to provide 30FPS video embedded within an HTML Web page. Standard HTML is used to embed the AVI video clip that will be redirected to the CD by WebCD* publisher. The code to embed the movie clip is shown below with the appropriate parameters such as height, width and position. Dynamic HTML is used to position the graphic precisely on the background image, and WebCD* publisher is used to retrieve the asset and then redirect it to the file stored on CD-ROM.

< IMG dynsrc= "HTTP://134.134.246.52/game/lol.avi"

style="position: absolute; top: 138; left: 238"

>

The next step is to create bookmarks to HTML pages stored on the CD-ROM or live on the Web. This is a simple process of marking each intended HTML page as a bookmark.

Kiosk mode provides for a full-screen display of your WebCD application. The normal browser menu buttons and toolbars are no longer available. This mode allows for fully branded and customized interfaces for your applications. The home and starting pages are set before burning the CD.

The process for creating a WebCD application consists of three phases: content retrieval, setting bookmarks and searches, and building the CD. Large Assets should be tagged for local redirection to CD-ROM.

The first step in creating the WebCD* publisher application is to browse the site and select assets to be retrieved on the CD-ROM. It provides an automatic retrieval mechanism. You select the starting page, and the Web publisher will retrieve all the links within the starting page.

WebCD* publisher is arranged with a simple hierarchical view of the Web site on the left and a live browser on the right. Retrieved HTML documents and graphics are displayed on the left hand side. The developer surfs the Web site(s) on the right and then marks the URL for retrieval on the left. Assets can also be marked as not to be retrieved, in which case this content will be retrieved live from the Web site. An additional feature of WebCD* publisher is that it will mark bad links as you retrieve them. This ensures that the final product delivered on CD-ROM will not contain missing links. When the retrieval process is completed, the CD-ROM can be tested, ensuring that all pages were retrieved correctly.

File redirection is used to store the large Indeo Video 5.0 AVI clips. Pressing the right mouse button over the URL or asset and then selecting local redirection brings up the local redirection window. To prevent these assets from being cached, the files must be stored in the docs\wcdother directory on the CD image. The original URL is redirected to the CD-ROM file set in the local file text window. This simplifies the inclusion of rich multimedia assets into an existing Web site. Sizable assets can be created to provide higher resolution images, or better quality audio or video.

After the Web site is retrieved using WebCD* publisher, a CD-ROM can be produced. This CD-ROM can be browsed off-line without the performance problems associated with the Internet. The greatest benefit is the addition of richer multimedia assets to enhance the standard Web site.

The CD-ROM is a direct image of what is stored on the Web Site. Application updates are accomplished by modifying the Web pages stored on the server. The WebCD proxy interface determines which assets are the newest and displays them within the viewer, and the user can browse the Web site off-line or connect to retrieve the latest updates. The game application mixed content stored on the CD-ROM with the latest advertising stored on the Web site.

To verify that your application will run on the Internet when live, you must set the URLs to your Web site(s). The URLs entered should validate that your server is running and that the user can connect live to your site. If the server is not running or the user is off-line, he or she may run in a faster mode that accesses only the CD. This is also where you set the cache setting for browsing the Web. Since our application uses both stored content on the CD and live content on the Web, the Refresher setting was used.

WebCD* Publisher is a useful tool for converting existing Web sites into rich and compelling channel applications. For large Web sites, it provides bookmarking and searching to provide easier access to key Web pages and information. The Web site can be made richer by adding higher resolution graphics, audio or video to the CD-ROM. When viewing the application, the user is accessing the Web site but gets better performance because the assets are local.

*Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

© 1997 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

* Legal Information © 1998 Intel Corporation