4 replies to this topic

[Donovan]

A couple friends and I are developing a browser based game with 3D Graphics for the Scenery, and Flash Graphics for the Characters.

We have a web developer who is coding the website, and I will be handling the Interface of the game.


My question is, what is the best language to code a browser based game? (I know everyone like Java but what are the downsides to it?)

I pretty much need to know what programs I am going to have to re-learn or refresh myself in in order to do everything I need to within the interface such as, adding the graphics to the interface and coding the control of movement abilities, etc. Please give me as much information as you can, I am willing to take the time to learn all the languages. I just need to know everything I will need.

[Alexander]

You could in fact do this in Javascript, HTML5 supporting browsers (nearly all of them now) have the canvas element, and WebGL support. That is just a suggestion.

Otherwise, with 3D Java would be your best bet as it would run on a virtual machine on their computer for performance rather than as a (slow) plugin like Flash.

[DarkLordofthePenguins]

You will need a language that you can embed in the HTML as an applet. Java is used for this, but everyone uses Flash nowadays. Flash is programmed in Actionscript, which is a dialect of ECMAScript and therefore similar to Javascript. But the web just isn't made for 3D gaming. You'd be far better off writing an OS-based program in C/C++ with the ability to connect to the internet, or something to that effect.

[gregwarner]

My suggestion would be Java over Flash simply because of the possibility of faster performance. (since you want 3D, and I am personally not aware of Flash's 3D capabilities.) Plus, I like Java a lot! :)

[Alexander]

Yes, Flash does not currently support hardware acceleration required to do much 3D work, although I believe newer flash betas are starting to bring that in for netbooks to display higher resolution videos with video accelerator cards and not the processor.

To further my suggestion of WebGL, it is based on the OpenGL 2.0 ES specification so if somebody is literate in that specification and the API language it could be a wise and portable choice soon.