Wether this is the fastest way to make games or not, the demand for HTML5 game engineering is gaining traction in several ways. HTML5 framework makers are promising one time develop and multiple platform deploy, which in theory sounds very nice. And 'optimist' game developers are really having fun using their already mastered web standards skills to create one page games. Why is there so much interest?, you have to wonder. I have these assumptions.
Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
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Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#42I don’t think anyone will argue the fact that the only other platform I would’ve been able to rapidly develop and deploy games like Nick vs Bus and Word Wars would be Flash. I would argue it. The speed with which you can develop simple games has much more to do with how well you understand the platform itself (its tools, libraries, capabilities) than what the platform is. I'm not saying platforms and languages don't…
That's a valid point. I updated the wording a bit.
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#43As a platform for game development, there is much better out there than HTML5.
With HTML5 you have to deal with many serious faults that do not exist when working with many other platforms. HTML5 canvas doesn't feature the ability to turn off anti-aliasing, HTML5 audio has only one channel per instance, has latency issues and is inconsistently implemented, JavaScript has many various faults, performance leaves something to be desired, you cannot do things that are common in most games like going fullscreen or grabbing the mouse, and overall it just feels like you have to wrestle with your web browser to write a game on top of it.
It is convenient to simply link a game to someone and let them play without manually downloading it, but is it really worth hacking around all these issues? Like the web browser was designed decades ago to share formatted text and images, we should design a modern, open browser that makes sense for video games. Perhaps something that combines the best qualities of web gaming and Steam, and distributes data through decentralized P2P?
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#44Doodle or Die is all HTML5.
Doodles are stored as JSONP: http://doodles.s3.amazonaws.com/d2/5iSFn-ME/8qp73zuBe.js
This json renders in canvas as the page loads like these amazing drawings: http://doodleordie.com/profile/underwearhero
We want to make a native mobile app because we've heard that HTML5 is slow enough to frustrating. I tried a Lua-based framework and it was fun to use but the resulting drawing too was too slow to be usable because every line had to be created as a new object, instead of Canvas-like pixel manipulation.
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#45Doodle or Die is all HTML5. Doodles are stored as JSONP: http://doodles.s3.amazonaws.com/d2/5iSFn-ME/8qp73zuBe.js This json renders in canvas as the page loads like these amazing drawings: http://doodleordie.com/profile/underwearhero We want to make a native mobile app because we've heard that HTML5 is slow enough to frustrating. I tried a Lua-based framework and it was fun to use but the resulting drawing too was to…
Impressive stuff!
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#46A couple of issues:
1. "assuming you’re with the rest of us in the 21st century" - that's pretty insulting to the millions who can't afford a smartphone.
2. "it’ll run from your phone’s browser" - but only if it's WebKit.
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#47A couple of issues: 1. "assuming you’re with the rest of us in the 21st century" - that's pretty insulting to the millions who can't afford a smartphone. 2. "it’ll run from your phone’s browser" - but only if it's WebKit.
1. Changed that blurb
2. I don't have an Android/WP7 phone to test it on, does it not work from yours?
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#48A couple of issues: 1. "assuming you’re with the rest of us in the 21st century" - that's pretty insulting to the millions who can't afford a smartphone. 2. "it’ll run from your phone’s browser" - but only if it's WebKit.
1. Changed that blurb 2. I don't have an Android/WP7 phone to test it on, does it not work from yours?
Thanks. I appreciate the quick response. Mobile Opera & Firefox don't work for me. I haven't looked into why yet but can do that on Monday and get back to you.
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. Changed that blurb 2. I don't have an Android/WP7 phone to test it on, does it not work from yours?
Thanks. I appreciate the quick response. Mobile Opera & Firefox don't work for me. I haven't looked into why yet but can do that on Monday and get back to you.
I'd appreciate that! My email is austin (at) clay [dot] io
Re: Why HTML5 is the best platform for rapid game development
#50The "game" is bad and and this article is bad.
A lot of the points the author is making in favor of HTML5 are simply not true.
No Compiling - Languages like flash can build while you and work and compile in under 5 seconds. This is also not a compelling reason to choose a platform, and no intelligent person has ever chosen a platform based on how fast it compiles.
Easy Testing - HTML5 is no easier to test than anything else. Perhaps having to connect a device to test would be an exception. Simply not true.
It's not a plugin - This is irrelevant. If we're talking about browsers, flash has more penetration than HTML5 does right now. So which is worse -- a plugin that 99% of PC users already have, or an executable installer that needs to be run in order to update or change to a browser that supports canvas?
You can rapidly prototype with many languages. I am not arguing against HTML5 at all. Infact, I believe it is probably the future of casual web games. I am only arguing against this poorly written article. The author actually claims that HTML5 is better because of the "hype" around it. Give me a break.
The only final thing I will say is that javascript is a shitty language to write anything like a big game in. If you know anything about CS fundamentals, then you can't refute this fact.