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Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

blog.artillery.com

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Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#31

Post by CDRdude »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #20

This is impressive and cool, but I think web-based gaming will never catch on with the 'hardcore' for a few reasons. For one, C++ and the native toolchain is still more efficient. But it mostly comes down to perception and convenience. The perception of web-based games is that they're casual and cheap. And most hardcore gamers like to have a copy of the game on their computer - they paid for it, they want a copy that…

I'm not convinced that web-based is automatically doomed among the hardcore. I think that Quake Live the most popular game in it's subgenre (Arena FPS), and it's still hanging on as an esport, with a slot in Dreamhack as well as weekly tournaments. Granted, Quake Live has the massive advantage of being a resurrected version of Quake 3 Arena--but it does make a precedent in people's minds of a hardcore web-based game.

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#32

Post by _random_ »

anxman wrote: post #19
ebbv wrote: post #11

This looks really great. I just think the claims of "console quality" or "AAA quality" (which I heard associated with Day[9]'s announcement) are a bit disingenuous. I'm excited that you guys are pushing browser gaming, and what you've done so far looks great. Just please don't fall into the trap of over hyping and then disappointing customers.

CEO here: Thanks for the feedback. 'Console quality' and 'AAA' are very subjective and we totally understand your points. Our job is to make Atlas and anything on our platform objectively feel amazing and please keep in touch with us.

What are you going to sell - games and/or technology?

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#34

Post by civilian »

Does anyone know how they're going to lock the cursor into the browser window?

A common feature required for RTS games is being able to just push your cursor to the edge of the screen to move your viewport. (Since it's played full-screen.) It seems like a browser game would be missing this key feature.

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#35

Post by Skywing »

civilian wrote: post #34

Does anyone know how they're going to lock the cursor into the browser window? A common feature required for RTS games is being able to just push your cursor to the edge of the screen to move your viewport. (Since it's played full-screen.) It seems like a browser game would be missing this key feature.

Browser can request cursor control

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#37

Post by monsterix »

slacka wrote: post #29
monsterix wrote: post #9

Wow! This is mesmerizing. These posts on HTML5 stuff that pop-up on HN from time to time hint on what is to come on the web in the near term. I think HTML5 is a huge Tsunami gathering energy and steam out there! It will and should beat all these "I-am-the-best" closed systems (already does in some areas) sometime soon, and be on the top. System agnostic, immersive, inclusive, what not. Love it.

We may be seeing the same HTML5 demos on HN, but we're living in two different universes. In my world, I always open up these demos in a browser that's incompatible. If I do manage to get them working, my reaction is always like wow, I saw better native demos 10 years ago, and those just worked. Let's be honest. JavaScript, DOM, and CSS are terrible technologies to base any gaming system off of. As a gamer, performan…

> I saw better native demos 10 years ago, and those just worked.

Agreed. But you're missing the point. In those 10 years those of us who played in the native universe will not be the target market any more. Just like we listeners of Pink Floyd and Metallica aren't the target buyers of Justin Biebers and Lady Gagas of the day. The latter are as successful, immersive and relevant to those who matter.

> JavaScript, DOM, and CSS are terrible technologies to base any gaming system off of.

Now this is an opinion based on the current_level_of_performance (which I agree is not at the expected level.). But it's not a great way to judge what the future could hold. It's definitely a bet, like you said let's be honest with this.

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#38

Post by statico »

civilian wrote: post #34

Does anyone know how they're going to lock the cursor into the browser window? A common feature required for RTS games is being able to just push your cursor to the edge of the screen to move your viewport. (Since it's played full-screen.) It seems like a browser game would be missing this key feature.

Indeed! Mouse scroll in Project Atlas works pretty well at the moment. We aren't using the Pointer Lock API yet due to some input latency problems. A related Chromium issue is here: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=168459

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#39

Post by untog »

slacka wrote: post #29
monsterix wrote: post #9

Wow! This is mesmerizing. These posts on HTML5 stuff that pop-up on HN from time to time hint on what is to come on the web in the near term. I think HTML5 is a huge Tsunami gathering energy and steam out there! It will and should beat all these "I-am-the-best" closed systems (already does in some areas) sometime soon, and be on the top. System agnostic, immersive, inclusive, what not. Love it.

We may be seeing the same HTML5 demos on HN, but we're living in two different universes. In my world, I always open up these demos in a browser that's incompatible. If I do manage to get them working, my reaction is always like wow, I saw better native demos 10 years ago, and those just worked. Let's be honest. JavaScript, DOM, and CSS are terrible technologies to base any gaming system off of. As a gamer, performan…

JavaScript, DOM, and CSS are terrible technologies to base any gaming system off of

They are, but I very much doubt these guys are using the DOM or CSS. And if they're using asm.js then they're using a very different JavaScript, too.

Re: Artillery is building a hardcore RTS with HTML5 and WebGL

#40

Post by _random_ »

slacka wrote: post #29
monsterix wrote: post #9

Wow! This is mesmerizing. These posts on HTML5 stuff that pop-up on HN from time to time hint on what is to come on the web in the near term. I think HTML5 is a huge Tsunami gathering energy and steam out there! It will and should beat all these "I-am-the-best" closed systems (already does in some areas) sometime soon, and be on the top. System agnostic, immersive, inclusive, what not. Love it.

We may be seeing the same HTML5 demos on HN, but we're living in two different universes. In my world, I always open up these demos in a browser that's incompatible. If I do manage to get them working, my reaction is always like wow, I saw better native demos 10 years ago, and those just worked. Let's be honest. JavaScript, DOM, and CSS are terrible technologies to base any gaming system off of. As a gamer, performan…

Also unlike Steam you might have to re-download the whole thing if your browser decides to clear the cache for whatever reason. Can't play underground, on a plane or while camping as well (not a typical scenario though - nitpicking a bit).
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