8 replies to this topic

[mongy910]

Hi guys! I am new to this site so sorry if this is in the wrong area, has already been written about, or anything like that My friend and I want to create a browser game and I was wondering what would be involved. The game would be similar to tribal wars, ikarium, or such, where the player manages a town etc. Does anyone know what kind of programming languages we would need to know? Right now i only know some html but i am fully willing to learn more. Would i just be getting way over my head? Thanks!

[mongy910]

To start with would you guys recommend that I learn Java? I have a Java textbook that i can read. Or does that not have anything to do with this?

[Aldacron]

You can use Java to create browser games, but that would require the user to have a Java plugin installed. If you want plugin-free gaming, Java isn't the answer. Most likely what you want is Javascript (which, despite the name, has no relationship to Java) in conjunction with HTML 5.

Edited by Aldacron, 02 July 2012 - 08:45 PM.

[DevLiquidKnight]

You could also use flash/action script to make a browser game, with a server back-end in something like php.

[SillyCow]

I would personally recommend you start with Javascript & HTML. It's gotten really nice, and works great on mobiles (contrary to Flash).
If and when you decide you need a backend, I recommend Java and Apache Tomcat, but your basic client side should already be up and running before you start messing around with the backend.

For Java-Script, make sure you get a good IDE. You should not try develop JS from a notepad (as is suggested by many bad tutorials). Net-beans is decent for a free IDE, and Webstorm is amazing if you have money.

[eFoDay]

Here are a few links relating to browser game dev that you may want to check out:
==

• http://www.html5rocks.com/en/gaming/
• https://developer.mo...a.org/en/WebGL/
• http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/
• http://code.google.com/p/box2d-html5/
• http://mrdoob.github.com/three.js/
• http://nodejs.org/
• http://impactjs.com/
• http://www.isogenicengine.com/

[Karsten_]

These questions show almost no prior knowlege of programming (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) ;)

So for this reason I strongly suggest Unity because at least you will be able to get something to the screen quickly and learn from there.

Browser development (especially javascript) is an erratic mess so at least Unity does abstract it into a cleaner environment).

(FYI normally I would never suggest Unity because of its stupid short-sighted DRM but for you it might provide an easier start for your game).

[mongy910]

Thanks for all the helpful replies! I've decided to learn javascript for now and am using netbeans. Unity also looked very interesting and I think I'll try it once i actually get an understanding of how game engines work

[Serapth]

I recently put together this list of HTML5 game development resources. There are a ton of options out there, and this list winnows it down to some of the best options ( IMHO that is ).

Additionally, I've done a couple tutorials on cocos2D for HTML5 ( with more in the works ), which is a solid HTML5 game library to get started with.


Have fun and stick with it! HTML5 development is actually kind of fun, except when it is infuriating that is!