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Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

austinhallock.com

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Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#2

Post by factorial »

"Honestly, HTML5 games get more attention just for being HTML5 – deserved or not."

...that's one of his arguments why HTML5 is the "best platform". I wish he would have gone more into detail how he defines "best" as his understanding of that adjective doesn't seem to take into account that more mature platforms have some benefits too. For instance, maturity.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#3

Post by austinhallock »

factorial wrote: post #2

"Honestly, HTML5 games get more attention just for being HTML5 – deserved or not." ...that's one of his arguments why HTML5 is the "best platform". I wish he would have gone more into detail how he defines "best" as his understanding of that adjective doesn't seem to take into account that more mature platforms have some benefits too. For instance, maturity.

It's definitely a shallow argument, but still a pro for HTML5 nonetheless. If I can make a game that's more likely to be played simply because of the tool I use, it's more lucrative to me.

I listed various other arguments for why I feel it's the "best" out there right now. I think the strongest arguments however are the two games in < 24 hours each.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#4

Post by factorial »

austinhallock wrote: post #3
factorial wrote: post #2

"Honestly, HTML5 games get more attention just for being HTML5 – deserved or not." ...that's one of his arguments why HTML5 is the "best platform". I wish he would have gone more into detail how he defines "best" as his understanding of that adjective doesn't seem to take into account that more mature platforms have some benefits too. For instance, maturity.

It's definitely a shallow argument, but still a pro for HTML5 nonetheless. If I can make a game that's more likely to be played simply because of the tool I use, it's more lucrative to me. I listed various other arguments for why I feel it's the "best" out there right now. I think the strongest arguments however are the two games in < 24 hours each.

If it's only played due to the platform it is on, then it's due to a novelty factor. I got that you were after "viral spread", but imagine a world in which people cared a bit less about rapid deployment and more about quality. I rather play a finely-crafted game than one that was put out in less than a day. This is not to say that it is not possible to put something decent together in a short amount of time. Just check out Ludum Dare for some examples.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#5

Post by austinhallock »

factorial wrote: post #4
austinhallock wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely a shallow argument, but still a pro for HTML5 nonetheless. If I can make a game that's more likely to be played simply because of the tool I use, it's more lucrative to me. I listed various other arguments for why I feel it's the "best" out there right now. I think the strongest arguments however are the two games in < 24 hours each.

If it's only played due to the platform it is on, then it's due to a novelty factor. I got that you were after "viral spread", but imagine a world in which people cared a bit less about rapid deployment and more about quality. I rather play a finely-crafted game than one that was put out in less than a day. This is not to say that it is not possible to put something decent together in a short amount of time. Just che…

The post was on "rapid game development", not "polished game development". It's up in the air which platform is best for a more generalized game, each have their strengths and weaknesses. Ludum Dare is a good example of games developed quickly in various languages -- it's certainly possible to create a quality game under time constraints in C++, Java, what-have-you, my thoughts however are that HTML5 is the optimal platform for that.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#7

Post by Kiro »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #6

With HTML5 you also have to worry about the cross browser compatibility mess , which doesn't seem to work well as "rapid" development. Not to mention that I think writing something like a scene graph in JS would make me rage.

Either the browser supports canvas or not. It's not much more mess than that and definitely not as messy as making a normal website cross compatible.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#8

Post by jjcm »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #6

With HTML5 you also have to worry about the cross browser compatibility mess , which doesn't seem to work well as "rapid" development. Not to mention that I think writing something like a scene graph in JS would make me rage.

Also performance right now simply isn't up to par. I'm writing some apps right now that heavily utilize the canvas element, and I'm having to rewrite a large portion of it at the moment simply because I can't get more than 5 fps on one of the new ipads.

Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development

#10

Post by kevingadd »

Kiro wrote: post #7
jiggy2011 wrote: post #6

With HTML5 you also have to worry about the cross browser compatibility mess , which doesn't seem to work well as "rapid" development. Not to mention that I think writing something like a scene graph in JS would make me rage.

Either the browser supports canvas or not. It's not much more mess than that and definitely not as messy as making a normal website cross compatible.

Canvas mostly works across browsers but there are still variances and browser-specific edge cases you have to detect. Cross-browser audio is an absolute trainwreck, and APIs like gamepad, fullscreen, etc. are all very finicky as well and will require careful effort if you want to use them in each browser. Plus, each JavaScript runtime has things it likes/doesn't like so to get playable performance for a serious game in all the browsers you'll have to spend a while figuring out how to tune your JS for all of them (or writing browser-specific versions). This is made worse by the fact that some of the major browsers don't have usable profiling tools...

But sure, if all you want to do is draw some lines and bitmaps on the screen, no problem.

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