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Main forum => GLBasic - en => Topic started by: mentalthink on 2015-Aug-04

Title: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: mentalthink on 2015-Aug-04
HI guys I comment this because I read somedays ago, about Html5 and seems don't will be the stantard for browsers, I read 2 groups (Firefox With Microsoft, and google) are doing or they do a languaje calles "Assembly for the Web" seems to be extremelly for faster and powrfull than Html5... or perhaps two languajes living togeter.

I comment because perhaps continuing developing Html5 in GLbasic can be waste time for another platform cancelled.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: hardyx on 2015-Aug-04
HTML5 is the future and the succesor of the hyper-bloated Flash. Assembly for the web is a reduced subset of Javascript wich can be executed faster than full featured and object-oriented Javascript. But it's the same: HTML5 is a document language that needs Javascript. You can't program in HTML5 because it's a document format. It's like if you say "I program in Microsoft DOCX format"  =D

HTML5     ---> document description
Javascript ---> actions, algorithms
WebAssembly ---> fast subset of Javascript
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: MrPlow on 2015-Aug-04
I also think HTML5 is more about presentation and animations for web design and UX UI than games.

HTML5 is not as good as Flash for games but it has its place - also its so easy to rip code from HTML5 games.



Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: mentalthink on 2015-Aug-05
Ok Hardyx thanks for clarify me!!!
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: matchy on 2015-Aug-09
The importance of HTML5 for web games is high at the moment because there's just an abundance of indie titles being produced all the time. So if you are targeting the one click game play market, now is a good time. For example: http://itch.io/
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: MrTAToad on 2015-Aug-09
Its a shame that Enscriptem is rather slow...
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: mentalthink on 2015-Aug-09
MrTatoad I comment always a old user called Coolo did an html5 port and runs very very fine (I think he leave the code in the forum), but nobody wants or accept coolo did a great job, the 3D I think not is done but I think in 2D is possible do games.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: MrTAToad on 2015-Aug-09
Yes, his was rather good - it did have a few things missing unfortunately, though.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: erico on 2015-Aug-09
+1 for what Matchy said
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
Hello. I am a new user of GLBasic.

I have been using Unity for 2D game development for the past 20 months or so. And I keep thinking the workflows are adding development time.

Having been a programmer for a long time I am used to and prefer a more code-oriented approach to development. So I recently set out on a mission to find alternatives and test them.

So far I have tested Monkey X and HaxeFlixel. I just started testing GLBasic. You can see my comparison of 2D Game Development Frameworks on my website:
NOTE: I UPDATED THIS POST TO REMOVE THE LINK BECAUSE I HAVEN'T HAD MY OLD WEBSITE FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW.

Anyway, a major thing I am looking for is support for development of multi-platform games particularly desktop and web. I thought GLBasic is supposed to support HTML5 development. The free version I am testing with does not so I came to the forums to research and from what I have read it seems like even in the current pro version there is still no support for HTML5 (or Flash or OpenFL) in GLBasic. Is this correct?

I can understand the developer wanting to get paid before giving away the farm and yet I also think if there is HTML5 / web support in GLBasic it really should be included in the free version. People need to be able to try it and see for themselves that it actually works. As it is I am very reluctant to spend $125 just to find out if web games are actually supported and, if so, how good the support is.

Anyway, can anyone tell me... does GLBasic support development of web games? If so, can you point me to any online examples that I can check out for myself?

EDIT: I guess I should clarify the above. I did test the HTML5 and OpenGL builds and they had some weird console thingy at the bottom of the webpage. Also, the compilation complained about needing the JDK. I will download and install the JDK and try it again. But mainly I am just wondering what the state is because on the forum I see threads like this one talking about the need for HTML5 support. So... I am guessing if the users are talking about HTML5 support being needed then GLBasic must not currently support HTML5. Right? lol


Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: spacefractal on 2015-Aug-10
Native support is allways better than html5/JavaScript. We can regreet that. Even Facebook dropped html5 in thier app and swapped it for a antive one. Glbasic using as online game is also quite far away me thinks, due the compile size is quite big. This is a drawback, and its one of the harder platform to works with too.

Im do thinks rather to support this platform, we should look on to support Windows 8 Phone as well Universal Windows 10 support.  But of course the later one is much more important really.

Currectly im see, Windows, Android, iOS and Pandora is the most used platforms really with glBasic users. Not html5.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: MrTAToad on 2015-Aug-10
HTML 5 is available in the demo too...  You do need to install the Java SDK.

Pretty good review, by the way.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
Two questions...

1. What is that big console area that appears at the bottom of the web page for HTML deployments? If looks like some kind of development/debug tool. Is it only there for the free version or is there some way to remove it?

2. My HTML test pages all error out. I am sure this is because I didn't have the JDK installed for the builds. Still... if GLBasic already supports HTML5 and OpenGL builds then what is the purpose of this thread?

Personally, I never used to have any interest in HTML game dev and using Unity changed my perspective on that. Being able to deploy to web is very important. I often deploy to web to get feedback from play-testers. And these days gamers are very keen on web games. They get to play and try out games without needing to download, install and otherwise fill up their hard drives.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: spacefractal on 2015-Aug-10
Except Unity require a plugin.... More more browsers have begin to remove this kind of supports.

Im do have to say glbasic html5 is not strong for webgames if you ask me, and its code uses about 3mb, which is a big download each time, but yes for testing, this is of course not a issue at all, and its only support some browsers.

Glbasic stronger points is really for native applications (mostly for iOS and Android). Glbasic have been updated to support iOS 64bit and iOS8, and using newer SDK for Android.

The big console window you see is the STDOUT outout, when that command is used. Im uses a lots of those in my games for testing.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
Ah okay. Yes, I used the DEBUG command when making the parallax scrolling demo for Windows. I left it in and rebuilt for HTML. When I get a chance I will install the JDK, comment out those DEBUG lines in my source and rebuild. Sounds like I will see a different end result then.

Yep Unity does require the web player currently and will soon switch to HTML5 OpenGL for web builds  They've been working on it. Probably before the end of the year they will have it. Still, I don't care much for the 2D workflow in Unity. That is why I am testing all of these other frameworks.

It is unfortunate GLBasic does not have strong web game dev support. Still I am looking forward to testing again later today! Definitely want to give GLBasic a fair assessment.

Thanks!
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: MrPlow on 2015-Aug-10
Also, if you are evaluating and adding comments for GLBasic the Android native development of GLBasic is super!
Like you I am not a fan of drag-droppy workflows (prefer re-usable coding).

Just out of curiousity I will see if I can html5 output my Pong game. :)

Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
I downloaded the JDK last night. Just installed it at beginning of my lunch break. Also I created a wrapper for the DEBUG lines and updated the code to all go through that DebugWrapper method and just commented out the DEBUG inside it.

Built to HTML5 and the build process was definitely better. No errors no mention of setting up the JDK.
However, testing in Firefox, Opera, Chrome and IE the demo failed to run in any of them. Also the debug console or whatever all of that stuff is with the giant icons is still displaying (the GO, ..! and ..?).

Then I built to HTML5-WebGL and tried it again. Got the exact same behavior.

It's a shame really because I was getting to like the language and think it could be a solid choice for 2D game development.



Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
Quote from: MrPlow on 2015-Aug-10
Also, if you are evaluating and adding comments for GLBasic the Android native development of GLBasic is super!
Like you I am not a fan of drag-droppy workflows (prefer re-usable coding).

I am not into mobile development at all. Don't play games on my phone either. lol ;)

Quote from: MrPlow on 2015-Aug-10Just out of curiousity I will see if I can html5 output my Pong game. :)

That'd be cool to see.

Is the HTML5 stuff being worked on? It seems like it would not be terribly difficult to do now considering Monkey X, HaxeFlixel and others seem to support it for multiple browsers with no problems.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: spacefractal on 2015-Aug-10
Monkey X is more designed for compiling with various langauges in mind and compile to those (C#, C++, Flash, Javascript etc), quite better than Glbasic. Im cant regreet that.

The problem with glbasic is Glbasic actuelly was not designed with html5/Javascript in mind at all, but Gernot found a nice compiler for it. Howover its far from problem free, clutter very much, hard to work with, can easy breaks, and only support some browsers. This is what im thinks about this platform (not against glbasic here, only this platform).

This is why this thread talking about the future of extractly this platform. Howover if we could fix those issues, then its could property could port to more platforms (Windows Phone 8 example). But im dont thinks this would been happens.

Howover Glbasic its a very great native platform language, where GlBasic is quite very very strong here (disepitee few bugs). Im last year planned to move to Unity, but can been a little bit lost, but glBasic is just good for small games (im did few big too).

PS. im thinks there was two other diretive, 123basic , and another one by MrTAToad (if im remember correctly?) have tried to port using SDL2, but im have either looked into those.

PS. Glbasic Source Code is quite very big. Im have that source code and have helped Gernot with various iOS and Android fixes.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: matchy on 2015-Aug-10
Quote from: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-10
Is the HTML5 stuff being worked on?

Oh yeah, the large GLBasic team should have the next version out later this week.  :O :D
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: erico on 2015-Aug-10
We are a perfect size team. :O :good:

Last time I tried html5 it compiled but the browser complained about something memory wise.
I recall Gernot said he would look into that for next update, and since it was a couple updates ago, I´m not now sure if that got fixed.

Also, my game uses only legacy commands.
I´m interested in mr.Plow´s test.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: matchy on 2015-Aug-10
+1 for what erico said (posted really)  ;)
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-11
Ha ha! Okay. Sounds like for web games GLBasic is out of the picture.

When I make my update today on GLBasic I will be sure to mention that support for mobile game dev is said to be very good. I can verify firsthand that development for Windows desktop is very good.

Thanks a lot for the information. I appreciate it.
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: matchy on 2015-Aug-11
Cheesecake anyone?  :whistle:

Quote from: mentalthink on 2015-Aug-04
...about Html5 and seems don't will be the stantard for browsers...

Quote from: spacefractal on 2015-Aug-10
Except Unity require a plugin.... More more browsers have begin to remove this kind of supports.

Back to square one then. I think this is the reality and this is more of a general technical platform standard, rather than SDK support.  :zzz:
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: GarBenjamin on 2015-Aug-11
Not sure who is working on the HTML support. Just wanted to say one of the best web renderers I have come across is Pixi.js

http://www.pixijs.com/

Another that I came across in my travels is http://canvasengine.net/

Perhaps something like those could be used to provide web dev support for GLBasic and probably save a lot of time as well.
Just throwing it out there for the powers that be to consider. :)

Alright. I am off to check out the next game dev kit on my list.

I released my Tiled Map Loader and Tile Map Renderer GLBasic code over here:
http://www.glbasic.com/forum/index.php?topic=10414.0

Keep on coding!
Title: Re: HTML5 really is needed?¿
Post by: Hemlos on 2015-Aug-11
Hi Garben

Thanks for your support in the community lately, we would love to see more of you.

About the HTML5 ...some highschool genious nerd had a brain fart one day and pooped this out, then he went off to school and we havent heard from him since.