Camen Design Forum

HTML5 Game Development

append delete theraje

So, I'm usually working on game development. When I'm not, I'm thinking about game development. I was recently looking for ways to develop a particular game idea I had, and I had a few options that were suitable:

C# and XNA Game Studio Express. Limits me to Windows/XBOX360, but is a really nice framework for game development.

C++ and a game engine. I don't particularly need the bloat of a fully-fledged game engine, but it gives me the most options, and decent platform independence.

Flash. I mentioned to Kroc that I was considering this, as it does everything I need for my idea... and he asked me "are you quite mad o_o". I was wondering that myself, to be honest. :P

So Kroc showed me a few things, including an HTML5 game library at kesiev.com/… which looks pretty darn sweet. I tried playing with the HTML5 Canvas element in Firefox, and I am impressed with what I was able to do in a short amount of time. Best of all, the supported features fit my project perfectly.

So is anyone here an HTML5 gamer, or a game developer? Please relate your stories. :)

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append delete #1. JJ

Hahaha, I was kind of thinking the same thing as Kroc when I read, "Flash."

Yeah, the canvas element is amazing. I've never actually messed around with it. Honestly, I only really try new things when I have a goal in mind, or when I need to use them. So I haven't gotten around to it yet.

But now that WebSockets (EventSource) are getting implemented, you could actually start making *real* online multiplayer games with the canvas element and EventSource. Currently, I think Opera and Google Chrome both have EventSource implemented.

dev.w3.org/… if you're interested.

append delete #2. Kroc

I’ve been looking at the canvas element since Firefox 3.0 but don’t have the time and resources to fully complete a game. The API is nice and easy and very similar to Win32, so I’ve found it relatively simple to port VB6 PacMar to JavaScript; the speed is essentially the same, which is amazing for a browser.

Mozilla are holding an HTML5 gaming competition at the moment, so it will be interesting what people come up with. I know the technology is plenty capable, and the Quake II/HTML5 demo shows just how capable.

Audio is a bit limited at the moment, but there’s plenty of innovation going on—Mozilla have proposed and implemented an API for writing audio streams. One example shows a synthesizer built inside a web browser. They’ve just announced an extension that allows recording video from the browser. One day, we could be doing stuff like Kinnect using a web browser and JavaScript!

append delete #3. SpeedoJoe

My brother works as a Sound Designer for Frontier Developments in Cambridge. I just thought I'd mention that. :)

phoboslab.org/… is a very impressive HTML5 game.

append delete #4. Martijn

I’ll open with saying that I’m not much of a gamer apart from the odd Nintendo game.

marijnhaverbeke.nl/… - is one of my favourite canvas using games.

However, I for one always here my CPU fans speeding up as soon as some canvas game is being loaded. I don’t really see them as a good gaming platform until after lots of optimisation.

IMHO: It’s an interesting platform and I’m looking forward to the developments in it. But not just yet.

append delete #5. theraje

That's strange that your computer behaves that way, Martijn - I've been poking around at some HTML5 Canvas stuff, and haven't really had anything like that go on. Flash is FAR worse as far as that goes IME.

append delete #6. SpeedoJoe

@Martijn
Yeah, that is a bit weird that your CPU usage increases enough to make your fan run faster.

To be honest, Biolab Disaster pretty much proves that HTML5 is a good game development platform.

append delete #7. theraje

Too true, SpeedoJoe. It's just too darn easy to get something up and running with HTML5. And all you need is a (decent) Web browser and a text editor, which makes me happy (no downloading over dial-up!).

Since I wrote this post, I have the beginnings of a framework for my game project. I've already shared it with Kroc, and he gave me the 'thumbs up' on it, which makes me happy. Double happiness makes me happy. Triple happiness makes me happy.

*continues in an infinite loop*

append delete #8. theraje

Uh oh... overflowed with happiness. Unfortunately, happiness is a signed variable, which means nobody better gimme no lip or I might buss a cap in yo arse.

Hehe :P

append delete #9. SpeedoJoe

vimeo.com/…

Here's a making-of of Biolab Disaster, if any developers are interested.

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