4 ms·

Wooga releases mobile HTML5 Game as Open Source

64 points by hukl 14y ago

rsanchez1 14y ago
Excellent, this is great stuff. I wish they had released a separate HTML5 Game Engine. At a glance, it looks like everything is tied pretty closely to the game itself. I've been looking at engines like Isogenic and Construct 2, but here you have a large HTML5 game larger than most had been able to demonstrate. Plus, its open source, where the previously mentioned engines are closed source and require a license purchase, although Construct 2 has pretty good documentation on how to make games. I really like what Wooga did with this.
natmaster 14y ago
Doesn't work in Firefox
- sbhat7 14y ago
  There is an issue open[1], looks like a fix is in the works. 1. https://github.com/wooga/Pocket-Island/issues/2 https://github.com/wooga/Pocket-Island/issues/2
a3_nm 14y ago
Just to be precise, only the game engine is open source. "Images are licensed under a Creative Commons License and are provided separately," and this CC license is BY-NC-SA which is neither FSF- nor OSI-compliant.
- zitterbewegung 14y ago
  This looks like a good thing for the liberated pixel cup to be used to replace those assets. http://lpc.opengameart.org/ http://lpc.opengameart.org/
runaway 14y ago
Is there a way to release an HTML5 game that isn't open source (viewable code)? Other than obfuscating the code isn't it necessarily available to the user?
- harrylove 14y ago
  You can wrap it up inside a web view and deploy as a native app. This is what frameworks like PhoneGap are for. Given the game is available in the iOS app store, this is probabably what they did, assuming they didn't write their own wrapper application.
  - gregwebs 14y ago
    obfuscating the js would still be more important, as there are probably some simple hacks to get all the javascript back from the web view or the js file used by the app.
lnanek2 14y ago
Will be interesting to see if this benefits the original game any later on. Maybe people will write Android games using it and contribute back the ability to the original, etc.. Or maybe they won't, etc..
cyscott 14y ago
Looks like they are ceasing development because of technical limitations and user engagement problems that come with it being an HTML5 app vs native app. http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-should-be-worried-about-woogas-html5-exit/ http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-should-be-worried-about-wo...

64 points by hukl 14y ago

Excellent, this is great stuff. I wish they had released a separate HTML5 Game Engine. At a glance, it looks like everything is tied pretty closely to the game itself. I've been looking at engines like Isogenic and Construct 2, but here you have a large HTML5 game larger than most had been able to demonstrate. Plus, its open source, where the previously mentioned engines are closed source and require a license purchase, although Construct 2 has pretty good documentation on how to make games. I really like what Wooga did with this.

natmaster 14y ago

Doesn't work in Firefox

sbhat7 14y ago
There is an issue open[1], looks like a fix is in the works. 1. https://github.com/wooga/Pocket-Island/issues/2 https://github.com/wooga/Pocket-Island/issues/2

a3_nm 14y ago

Just to be precise, only the game engine is open source. "Images are licensed under a Creative Commons License and are provided separately," and this CC license is BY-NC-SA which is neither FSF- nor OSI-compliant.

zitterbewegung 14y ago
This looks like a good thing for the liberated pixel cup to be used to replace those assets. http://lpc.opengameart.org/ http://lpc.opengameart.org/

runaway 14y ago

Is there a way to release an HTML5 game that isn't open source (viewable code)? Other than obfuscating the code isn't it necessarily available to the user?

harrylove 14y ago
You can wrap it up inside a web view and deploy as a native app. This is what frameworks like PhoneGap are for. Given the game is available in the iOS app store, this is probabably what they did, assuming they didn't write their own wrapper application.
- gregwebs 14y ago
  obfuscating the js would still be more important, as there are probably some simple hacks to get all the javascript back from the web view or the js file used by the app.

lnanek2 14y ago

Will be interesting to see if this benefits the original game any later on. Maybe people will write Android games using it and contribute back the ability to the original, etc.. Or maybe they won't, etc..

cyscott 14y ago

Looks like they are ceasing development because of technical limitations and user engagement problems that come with it being an HTML5 app vs native app. http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-should-be-worried-about-woogas-html5-exit/ http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-should-be-worried-about-wo...