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>For example with Wasm and WebGPU it's possible to create AAA games running in the browser. Someone will do it. It'll be awesome. You get a shitty distribution

>For example with Wasm and WebGPU it's possible to create AAA games running in the browser. Someone will do it. It'll be awesome. You get a shitty distribution model (relying on browser for cache or limited localstorage, or whatever you want it's shitty in the browser and inconsistent, browsers aren't built to handle GB sized assets). You pay the sandbox tax even in the ideal scenario and there are plenty pathological ones. And even if you aren't performance constrained you're adding battery drain for no benefit. Then there's the shitty input model and interaction with browser chrome. And what are the benefits exactly ? Avoiding app stores ? Might benefit the developer but not really a benefit for the consumer.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago
>And what are the benefits exactly ? Avoiding app stores ? Might benefit the developer but not really a benefit for the consumer. well, if a company can avoid paying a significant portion of revenue to an app store they might be able to hire better or more developers which might conceivably be a benefit for the consumer.
- incrudible 5y ago
  Does your experience as a consumer not suggest that the amount of developers employed is, if at all, inversely correlated with software quality?
  - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
    no, it suggests that just as the amount of developers past a certain point on a project is a drag on that project the amount of developers of a product past a certain point does not significantly increase the quality of that product. If indeed the amount of developers employed was inversely correlated with software quality then the best software is that which does not exist. I realize there is a pithy saying that the best code is no code at all but I am not especially fond of such illogical pithiness. There may be products that it is best they not exist at all, but for products we do want to exist it follows that some number of developers of that product correlates with the quality of its existence.
    - incrudible 5y ago
      I was thinking in terms of Amdahls and Brooks law. Of course zero is an edge case, but in my experience the best designs in terms of quality (not number of features) come from individual work. You can not scale this part out.
Zababa 5y ago
I think they were making a point about performance.
lodovic 5y ago
Some people can't wait until all games are proper Electron apps
worrycue 5y ago
> And what are the benefits exactly ? Slightly off topic but I wonder if WASM and the web can provide a “fixed” virtual platform for games. A lot of games are heavily platform dependent, when the hardware for those platforms die the games will be nigh unplayable without a huge remastering effort or building an emulator of said platform which may or may not be technically feasible - even on PC we have games breaking as hardware advanced, e.g. Deus Ex had to be patched to work with multi core CPUs if I remembered right.
krageon 5y ago
> GB sized assets You don't need such assets to make good games anyway. The obsessions with AAA are unhealthy - many of the best games are not AAA at all, but strictly indie.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

>And what are the benefits exactly ? Avoiding app stores ? Might benefit the developer but not really a benefit for the consumer. well, if a company can avoid paying a significant portion of revenue to an app store they might be able to hire better or more developers which might conceivably be a benefit for the consumer.

incrudible 5y ago
Does your experience as a consumer not suggest that the amount of developers employed is, if at all, inversely correlated with software quality?
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  no, it suggests that just as the amount of developers past a certain point on a project is a drag on that project the amount of developers of a product past a certain point does not significantly increase the quality of that product. If indeed the amount of developers employed was inversely correlated with software quality then the best software is that which does not exist. I realize there is a pithy saying that the best code is no code at all but I am not especially fond of such illogical pithiness. There may be products that it is best they not exist at all, but for products we do want to exist it follows that some number of developers of that product correlates with the quality of its existence.
  - incrudible 5y ago
    I was thinking in terms of Amdahls and Brooks law. Of course zero is an edge case, but in my experience the best designs in terms of quality (not number of features) come from individual work. You can not scale this part out.

Zababa 5y ago

I think they were making a point about performance.

lodovic 5y ago

Some people can't wait until all games are proper Electron apps

worrycue 5y ago

> And what are the benefits exactly ? Slightly off topic but I wonder if WASM and the web can provide a “fixed” virtual platform for games. A lot of games are heavily platform dependent, when the hardware for those platforms die the games will be nigh unplayable without a huge remastering effort or building an emulator of said platform which may or may not be technically feasible - even on PC we have games breaking as hardware advanced, e.g. Deus Ex had to be patched to work with multi core CPUs if I remembered right.

krageon 5y ago

> GB sized assets You don't need such assets to make good games anyway. The obsessions with AAA are unhealthy - many of the best games are not AAA at all, but strictly indie.