HTML5 - when would it be ready?

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

I recently came across a number of articles again about HTML5 and how it is right around the corner. While in general, I feel like I keep hearing the same thing about HTML5 for the past few years, but I am curious what others think about when it would be ready for mobile gaming?

I recently saw some html5 examples of Cut-The-Rope, Angry Bird, and other top mobile games ported to HTML5 as example projects, but all these examples seem to run on desktop only. Not sure if there are good mobile html5 game examples?

And how might a tool like Corona SDK fit into such an ecosystem? Perhaps cross compiling our Corona code into WebGL or Canvas?

Interested in other’s opinions. [import]uid: 41124 topic_id: 28963 reply_id: 328963[/import]

#2

As far as I know, if the html5 works on desktop it should work on iOS too. But then I don’t see a reason to combine html5 and corona because the power of corona lies in it’s easy game development. So if you already have your game coded in html5, why would you need corona? [import]uid: 113596 topic_id: 28963 reply_id: 116606[/import]

#3

HTML5 if amorphous. It includes a bunch of different technologies and it gets labeled in with a bunch of things that are not HTML5, like CSS3, responsive design and so on.

Both Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS are HTML5 browsers and can do many HTML5 things. The Mobile Safari is a bit behind Desktop Safari in some features, but it should be able to use the new semantic tags, use embedded video and audio, support local storage, provide location based information and support canvas.

It should also support many of the new CSS3 features, but for some things like transformations and such may lag behind the desktop browser.

So when you say when will HTML5 be ready, well I’ve been building HTML5 websites for several years. There is enough technology that you can closely emulate some native apps with web apps.

Now to games. Game’s require a programming language that can do stuff. HTML5 isn’t a programming language, it’s a markup language. CSS is a styling language, and while some people have done some very cool stuff with CSS only, it’s not sustainable for anything interactive. This leaves Javascript to pick up the work to do anything interactive.

While Javascript is powerful and robust and you can do some cool stuff with <canvas> you still have to write a lot of low level code. Simple things like adding an image to the screen and moving it around take more code. While the browsers take advantage of graphic accelerated hardware, the web browser isn’t designed about moving textures around at high speed.

I don’t see HTML5 as being a viable game platform for a few more years, until Corona comes out with API libraries to do the bulk of the work [import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 28963 reply_id: 116612[/import]

#4

@robmiracle I agree I think a programming platform/engine like Corona will be crucial to make HTML 5 a viable platform for making games for most people.

In addition to the lack of a good game tool and some compatibility issues, my impression is also that HTML5 is still not performing fast enough on the mobile devices for games (even “simple” casual games like Angry Bird style games). Do others have experience or thoughts on the performance front? [import]uid: 41124 topic_id: 28963 reply_id: 116723[/import]

#5

From what little I tried, performance was hit or miss - certainly no problems on my desktop though - but my biggest concerns were focus bugs and the whole “you can’t encrypt your app package” problem.

In any case I think Gamemaker has an HTML5 exporter now as probably a few other packages do too. It just doesn’t seem to matter that much right now with App ecosystems ruling the device universe… [import]uid: 41884 topic_id: 28963 reply_id: 116741[/import]