15 replies to this topic

[mystd]

I've made a boardgame couple of years ago and since html5 is pretty much the web game plattform of the future, I've decided to make it into a browsergame. Im fammilar with html and know how to use loops and arrays etc. but Im very n00b at game dev. I've tried to make some simple games with java last year, read some basics and hacked some code together, but I encountered too many problems and gave up. Hopefully Ill be able to do it with html5 and js this time. There is some much stuff on html5 coding that I dont know where to start, best would be a tutorial that goes step by step trough the process. But I've only found tutorials for action games, none for turnbased multiplayer games. Would be great if someone could direct me to one. Then there are many tools and engines and I dont know which I should choose or if I sould code it without.
What I need is multiplayer, graphics will be 2D, drag & drop, scrolling and zooming. Im gratefull for any tips you have.

[larspensjo]

But I've only found tutorials for action games, none for turnbased multiplayer games.

It may be that the tutorial for action games gives you exactly the same information you want for turned based games (except possibly lower requirements on FPS). If not, please elaborate a little on what your requirements are.

[mystd]

I currently dont need any animations, Ill add that later on if needed, lots of work animating. If it gets popular, case I can port it from paper to js, Ill make it 3D anyway. It dosnt even need the canvas but it would be bad if I made it without and wanted to add animations later. Ill start with autoresizing the canvas to the browser and fullscreen. Then make a grid to place jpgs in and add scrolling and zooming. After that Ill start building the gameloop. The Board (map) is variable in hight an size, cards are always added at another card, creating a labyrinth, thats why I need scrolling and zooming. The game is played with a master controlling the placement of the map cards monsters etc. and the other players try to survive in it. I already had lots of fun playing it with my friends but I failed finding a publisher for it, so Ive decided to make it a free online game. My programming skills are hacking stuff together I find to understand how it works. I've found some tut with jquery but I'd rather use a good and easy game dev library. I've found this: http://webinsightlab...5-game-engines/ but I have no Idea which fits my needs best. Currently Im searching everything I need as tutorial and I'll hack all the stuff from the tuts together, but Im still missing multiplayer tut and a boardgame sc I can learn from. Also since I like open source and my game will be anyway I prefer open source engins/libraries. But if they are to hard to use I'll have to switch to a commercial one.

Edited by mystd, 27 July 2012 - 09:00 AM.

[Serapth]

I just finished writing up a tutorial series of sorts, about an *extremely* simple web hosted JavaScript game I wrote to help my daughter. That series combined with my cocos2D series would probably cover about everything you need to know, except of course, how to program in HTML/Javascript.

[mystd]

Thanks Ill take a look at it. I would love to code for real but I've already thrown the towel with c++ and java. My frustration tolerance is a bit low, I really hope I'll work out with js now.

All 4 links redirekt to http://www.gamefromscratch.com/post/2012/07/13/JavaScript-Toddler-Game-Part-1-Hosting-a-cocos2D-app-in-Nodejs.aspx you should fix that ^^

Edited by mystd, 27 July 2012 - 10:05 AM.

[Serapth]

Woops. Thanks for the heads up, fixed.

[mystd]

I want to use text files for easy balancing and customization. As example a creature would have a text file where all the parts are written in the imgs used hitpoints etc.would that make the game load very slow if I implemented file I/O like that for every object in the game? That way it would be very flexible and that is what I want or is there better way?

[Serapth]

Using text files for config in web games is common enough, and can be optimized quite heavily. Generally you just need to load the file once, so speed is a non-factor. Look into JSON, that is your most likely solution.

[mystd]

Well one config file is a bit different than >50 text files.

[Serapth]

Well one config file is a bit different than >50 text files.

If they are loaded once, not really.

[mystd]

Good to know thanks.

I'm thinking about making the game 3D right off the bat, but my geometry is pretty rusty and wasn't the best anyway. I imagine it like just adding a z axis to everything, does it matter a lot coding wise, if I use cocos3D or glge? 3D models and animation or drawing 2D animation isn't the problem I know how to use blender, photoshop and co., my coding is the problematic part. Im also thinking of using a 3D engine but making the game 2D so in case I want to make it 3D I'll have it easier. Im still not sure if I should use cocos2D - 3D there are not much demos for it and the ones I used had performance issues.

Edited by mystd, 30 July 2012 - 09:37 AM.

[mystd]

I've decided to go 2D better some nice 2D graphics than low poly 3D.

Does cocos2D work well with an editor like tiled? (http://www.mapeditor.org)

I'm currently making a list pros and cons of all the engines I've found, Ill decide that way which one Ill use:

Cocos2D Pros: Free, Large community with lots of tutorials, has been around for a while
Impact: Pros: Editor, bunch of tutorials Cons: 100$
Construct 2: Pros: Almost no coding needed, lots of tutorials, price is 0 to way too much Cons: My coding will probably stay lousy
Isogenic engine: Pros: Intergrated multiplayer, built in mmo featue, Cons: very expensive, community is small
melon.js: Pros: free, uses tiled as map editor

I'm really having a hard time to choosing one...


Btw. The performance issue was mozillas fault not cocos.

Edited by mystd, 01 August 2012 - 07:20 AM.

[mystd]

I've decided to go with the impact engine since the community seems to be the biggest.

[mystd]

I'm thinking of using dynamic lights instead of drawing light effects into the sprite sheets. Is that possible without webGL and would that be overkill for smartphones?

[6677]

Without webGL it will be VERY hard and would probably make it un-runnable on smartphones, it would probably lag a fair bit. With WebGL all sorts of stuff becomes possible but very few browser support it (and no smartphone browsers that I know of)

EDIT:
Firefox, chrome, safari (on OSX snow leopard and above only, off by default) and opera are the only desktop browsers supporting it.

Nokia N900, Blackberry PlayBook, Unstable builds of Firefox for Mobile and the Android version of Opera Mobile also support it.

Edited by 6677, 05 August 2012 - 03:38 AM.

[mystd]

I see at least its possible. It's gonna take while until the game is in a state that it can be played anyways, until then hopefully browsers will support it better. Ill make the graphic contend with dynamic light in mind then. Thx