4 ms·
3D gaming in the browser is coming. Interestingly, while in the past people like John Carmack had to get around the limitations of the hardware, in the browser
by Maro 14y ago
3D gaming in the browser is coming. Interestingly, while in the past people like John Carmack had to get around the limitations of the hardware, in the browser we'll be working around the limitations of the software layers between the game (presumably written in Javascript, using WebGL) and the hardware.
Anyways, I think this is a super interesting line of research and development, I wish I would not be tied up doing other stuff for the next 12 months. I'd love to just take the Quake 1 engine and (try to) implement it in Javascript with WebGL and see what happens. I estimate that's the level of graphics that's ambitiously doable in the browser in 1-2 years, by the time something like this would ship.
EDIT: As helpful commenters point out below, Quake 3 seems doable.
Also see yesterday's post on this topic:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4258670 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4258670
- acron0 14y agoI hope this comes as a pleasant surprise then :) http://media.tojicode.com/q3bsp/ http://media.tojicode.com/q3bsp/
- SvenBergstrom 14y agoMaro, try this link : http://centrc.com:4005/ http://centrc.com:4005/ It is a proof of concept I did in one evening for the next part of the discussion. It uses Three.js to render the stuff. :)
- Maro 14y agoIt says: "The Facility. Play online. Sandbox." Can't get past that (Enter, ESC, click). FF14 on Win7.
- SvenBergstrom 14y agoDid you try clicking Sandbox? Thats the only option in that demo atm... but it might only work in chrome as it was a one night test :)
- azakai 14y agoDoesn't seem to work, a title screen shows but clicking etc. does nothing. FF17 on Linux.
- SvenBergstrom 14y ago"but it might only work in chrome as it was a one night test" , as above :)
- mtgx 14y agohttp://www.webgl.com/2011/11/webgl-quake-3-demo/ http://www.webgl.com/2011/11/webgl-quake-3-demo/
- corysama 14y ago3D gaming in the browser is here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bhoaojooagiaaiidlnfhkkafjpbbnnno https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bhoaojooagiaaiidln...
- azakai 14y ago> 3D gaming in the browser is here That's just in one browser. If Opera signed a deal with Steam and bundled it in their browser, would all the Steam games now "run in the browser"? Technically in some boring sense perhaps, but it wouldn't be on the web.
- corysama 14y agoDo you know which Chrome-specific feature they are using? I'm not sure, but I expect it's user-convenience features like out-of-spec persistent storage extensions and notifications. My point is that Skids is a quite high-end 3D game written in JS&WebGL that is playable today. It's a big step up from the dozens of "spinning teapot"-style demos most people have seen come out of WebGL so far. Technically, in some boring sense, it's not "on the web". But, it's great progress and a showcase of what can be done very soon, if not today, in Chrome, FF, Opera and Safari if people start trying. Maybe it'll never be possible in IE or Lynx. But, I'll take what I can get.
- azakai 14y ago> Do you know which Chrome-specific feature they are using? No idea. But they literally list Chrome as the only supported browser, so this looks pretty Chrome-specific. There are lots of other impressive 3D JS&WebGL apps out there that are not specific to one browser, most however are tech demos and not fully finished products - I expect that to change before the end of the year though.
- hell0_th3r3 14y agoevery webgl demo i run brings my mac-pro system to its knees, and this is to run demos that would be considered state of the art for 2004. i don't see this becoming the standard deployment model for games
- windsurfer 14y agoSo a group of students put this together in a few months: http://littlesquareblock.com/upandabove/ http://littlesquareblock.com/upandabove/ It's a little inefficient and a little ugly, but I think it's pretty cool.