{"author_name":"ippa","cat":"LD #21","comments":[],"epoch":1314128820,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"63671","p_author":"ippa","p_authorkey":"1087","p_urlkey":"99456","p_title":"HTML5 \/ Javascript gamedev postmortem","p_cat":"LD #21","p_event":"LD21","p_time":"1314128820","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"1087","us_name":"ippa","us_username":"ippa","event_start":"1313712000","event_key":"7","event_name":"LD21"},"text":"

So I chose to make a game with HTML5 \/ Javascript using the JawsJS html5 gamelib<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I used the <canvas>-tag since I wanted to make a freeform level with pixelperfect collisions, basically I made the whole thing in graphics gale, could as well have done it in paintbrush.<\/p>\n

The new HTML5 <canvas> tag makes it easy to get the data in raw format, basically an array with RGBA values. From there on it’s to check collisions.. 1 pixel at the feet is a decent start.<\/p>\n

The most annoying thing is probably the audio-formats that’s supported for the new <audio>-tag.<\/p>\n

Safari doesn’t play OGGs for some lame reason, and Firefox doesn’t do MP3s. So all audio has to be provided in 2 formats.. also you wan’t detection at asset-loading time etc. I could have lived without that cruft.<\/p>\n

Otherwise Javascript has become amazingly fast, I think V8 is faster then ruby and python. All browsers come with good debugging possibilites.<\/p>\n

Javascript doesn’t have the traditional classes and inheritence, but rather prototypical inheritence.. which can be confusing at first.<\/p>\n

What I love is the dynamic nature of objects in Javascript.. basically all objects are big key-value storages (hashes).<\/p>\n

So you can whenever you want just set a new flag\/property on whatever object.<\/p>\n

\/* Player.dead has never been defined or used at this point *\/<\/p>\n

if(player.dead) { … do sometting …} \/\/ won’t throw any error.. played.dead will just return undefined<\/p>\n

player.dead = true<\/p>\n

if(player.dead) { … do something .. } \/\/ played.dead is now true and code will be executed<\/p>\n

The biggest upside with javascript is ofcourse ppl not having to download anything. No virus-scan etc etc. Just instant gaming. And the big players are making the javascript engines faster on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Play my Javascript game here:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-21\/?action=preview&uid=108<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s a teaser-shot from the game, you start in the “west prison\"\"<\/a>” and have to find your way out of a huge castle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n \n

Tags: canvas<\/a>, html5<\/a>, javascript<\/a>, postmortem<\/a><\/p>","time":"August 23rd, 2011 2:47 pm","title":"HTML5 \/ Javascript gamedev postmortem"}