[quote name='mk.jr.fan' timestamp='1344043251' post='4966002']
learning javascript in school so i would probably become comfortable with it i just want to know if it is powerful enough to make games as big as limbo or have lighting effects like shadows.
Just make sure your not confusing javascript and java. Javascript is an embedded language most commonly used in HTML web pages (I think this is the one your referring to). Java is a full programming language.
Javascript is not a very powerful language, its meant to be "bolted onto" something else for basic control of that. In most cases that's a web browser and it can be used to detect that the mouse has entered the area a button covers and then change the colour of the button. With HTML5's canvas element and javascript you can make a basic game, alot of CPU power would be lost just in moving 1 sprite though. Internet explorer doesn't seem to like canvas elements though, kinda just ignores them. Theres also webGL which is far more powerful than a canvas element on its own but much harder to use. Unfortunately few browsers support webGL, the webkit API itself does so any browser with webkit will most likely support webGL (chrome and safari are 2 examples that use webkit and support webGL, there is other work to be done though so there are webkit browsers that don't support it), I don't know if firefox does, internet explorer doesn't. Making a limbo clone through javascript and canvas would be a bit convoluted, through webGL would be slightly less convoluted but a bit harder, performance would still be less than desirable. Shadows would almost certainly not be possible without webGL.
Usually those sorts of browser games are done as either a flash object or java applet, minecraft for example is usually played as a standalone java program but there is a java applet playable in browser (link to free version thats played in browser:
http://www.minecraft.net/classic/play). Only thing about using flash or java applets is that the web browser will require additional plugins and the user will have to have flash or java on their systems, not usually an issue anyway.
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but how can javascript be used in unity? if i try to code the game in javascript not by it self but with unity would it have less capabilities then coding in c#? or is it because it is "bolted onto" unity that it makes it it stronger?
I've recently started having a play around with Moai which is primarily for 2D games and I've been very impressed.
what is moai? is it just a cloud storage? or do you just put your game on that cloud for people to use?