5 ms·

Browser Pong

66 points by AbhishekBiswal 13y ago

th0114nd 13y ago
Cool. But it's pretty easy to cheat, just resize your paddle to take up the entire screen and you auto-win.
- infinita740 13y ago
  This can lead to a bug, if you play human vs human and resize both paddles, the "ball" speed up and eventually go through one of the paddles
- b0rsuk 13y ago
  Why bother if you can just close the opponent's window ? :D
- pydanny 13y ago
  So what? It's cool. Don't cheat.
OliC 13y ago
I honestly thought that moving a browser window with javascript had been impossible since early IE.
- infinita740 13y ago
  Maybe this is only true for the main browser windows, not small popups
- garethadams 13y ago
  Generally speaking, you're allowed to manipulate windows as long as you spawned them
narsil 13y ago
Pretty good. The source code [1] is also clean and commented. The randomized increasing velocity was a nice touch. [1] http://stewd.io/pong/lib/pong.js http://stewd.io/pong/lib/pong.js
- rkaplan 13y ago
  Can anyone explain this a quirk line of the source code to me? (In the framebuster portion at the top of the file): window.location.href = 'ht' + 'tp' + ':' + '//stewd'+ '.io/' + 'pong'; Why has he written 'ht' + 'tp' + ':' etc instead of just the URL as one string? My suspicion is something to do with preventing framebuster-busters from working, but I'm not sure. I've never seen that before.
  - stewdio 13y ago
    There are sites out there that attempt to offer a service that protects your privacy by fetching websites for you through their servers and then pass you the content afterward—so your IP isn’t part of the request chain. That sounds like a nice service. Unfortunately I found there were 3 problems with a particular company offering this service: 1. From what I’ve read these guys just pass your info on to interested agencies anyway, entirely defeating the purpose. 2. In order to offer the service for free they insert adverts into the content—I assume to cover their operational costs. 3. This particular agency was able to get a pretty high search engine result—rivaling my own URLs—by just copying my stuff, Browser Pong being a prime example. At the time this meant if someone liked what I did and searched for it there was a good chance they’d end up visiting a boxed in version of Pong with adverts on it. Aside from some tongue-in-cheek exceptions I’ve been firm about not putting ads on my sites. (And for the most part this doesn’t matter because they don’t get a ton of hits, but when something blows up like Pong or Jed there’s you know ... like maybe a whole $29.95 to be made there.) I made these things for the enjoyment of it and didn’t want to dilute them with ”a word from our [randomly selected] sponsor.” So I started experimenting and figured out how this company was parsing the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to patch the links so everything would go through their servers. The code snippet you pointed out was just a quick way to hide the URL from their parser and get them out of my hair. I don’t have anything against ad-based models or referencing someone else’s work (obviously). But in this particular case I felt it crossed a line so I pulled the trigger. I hope that answers your question ;)
skrause 13y ago
Using 'A' and 'Z' for up and down is always great fun on a German keyboard where 'Y' and 'Z' are switched.
rca 13y ago
I don't understand what it's supposed to do, it just spawned three windows, one plain yellow and the two others with 3 stripes and an increasing counter. Is that a bug or did I miss something? (I tested with up-to-date firefox and chromium, same thing)
- iHalcyon 13y ago
  If the windows are not moving, then it is a bug (although, check that you haven't clicked pause on the game). Otherwise, they should be moving and recreating the game pong. The plain yellow is the ball, the striped are the paddles for the characters (controlled by A&Z for the left one and UP&DOWN for the right one). Tick one of the boxes as non human to play against a computer.
  - rca 13y ago
    Oh, the windows are supposed to be the game! Ok, then it's not a bug (per se) but I'm using a tiling wm, it's preventing the windows from moving. Thanks for the explanation.
    - gizmo686 13y ago
      I had the same problem
munimkazia 13y ago
Just FYI.. It didn't work for me on Google Chrome (stable) or Chromium on Ubuntu 13.04.. It did work in Firefox. Pretty crazy use of windows. Also, I tried my best to beat the AI, but couldn't! That's a hard game
- xentronium 13y ago
  > It didn't work for me on Google Chrome (stable) or Chromium on Ubuntu 13.04. Did you disable popup blocker?
  - prakster 13y ago
    Works very well for me (Chrome, Windows)
  - katherineparker 13y ago
    I used it in Chrome and had to do this for it to work.
  - munimkazia 13y ago
    Oh yeah! That was probably what was stopping it from working. It did open up the opponents window though. I think the score raised to 2 after some moving around and then stopped (I guess it was my turn then).
Avshalom 13y ago
A much older implementation: http://www.project-euh.com/pong/ http://www.project-euh.com/pong/
RegEx 13y ago
Stewart Smith has a presentation in which he discusses Browser Pong along with some other projects. It's a very enjoyable presentation to watch! http://vimeo.com/22433439 http://vimeo.com/22433439
pydanny 13y ago
This is the most awesome use of browser windows ever.
deadhead 13y ago
I have two monitors (Google Chrome on Ubuntu). The paddles appeared on one while the ball appeared on the other. It was still playable, but was rather odd lining up the paddle against the ball on a different monitor.
coldarchon 13y ago
I'm pretty sure this has been done 10 years ago on a 4k competition. Meh.
mvikramaditya 13y ago
Wasn't this one of the original "Chrome Experiments"? I remember there being quite a lot of them, most of which were fun to play with.
bobsy 13y ago
The first game on HN which I actually competed. Great fun. Had a rather fantastic come back from 1 - 9 down to win 12 - 10 against the computer. Fairly beatable once you get the technique down. My heart stopped at 8 - 9 when I dropped a point and thought I had lost. The shot was a horizontal slow shot from left to right and for some reason I moved out the way.. Never found pong so thrilling. Must play it more often.
jmpavlec 13y ago
Just delete the opponent window, easy shutout
stewdio 13y ago
I feel compelled to point out that all of Browser Pong’s sounds were composed specifically for it by a Mr. Dominic Matar who is not only a multi-talented musician, earnest with feedback, and strikingly handsome—he’s also a breeze to collaborate with. So if you’re looking for that sort of person for a project do check out his stuff and drop him a line: http://dominicmatar.com http://dominicmatar.com

Browser Pong

th0114nd 13y ago

Cool. But it's pretty easy to cheat, just resize your paddle to take up the entire screen and you auto-win.

infinita740 13y ago
This can lead to a bug, if you play human vs human and resize both paddles, the "ball" speed up and eventually go through one of the paddles
b0rsuk 13y ago
Why bother if you can just close the opponent's window ? :D
pydanny 13y ago
So what? It's cool. Don't cheat.

OliC 13y ago

I honestly thought that moving a browser window with javascript had been impossible since early IE.

infinita740 13y ago
Maybe this is only true for the main browser windows, not small popups
garethadams 13y ago
Generally speaking, you're allowed to manipulate windows as long as you spawned them

narsil 13y ago

Pretty good. The source code [1] is also clean and commented. The randomized increasing velocity was a nice touch. [1] http://stewd.io/pong/lib/pong.js http://stewd.io/pong/lib/pong.js

rkaplan 13y ago
Can anyone explain this a quirk line of the source code to me? (In the framebuster portion at the top of the file): window.location.href = 'ht' + 'tp' + ':' + '//stewd'+ '.io/' + 'pong'; Why has he written 'ht' + 'tp' + ':' etc instead of just the URL as one string? My suspicion is something to do with preventing framebuster-busters from working, but I'm not sure. I've never seen that before.
- stewdio 13y ago
  There are sites out there that attempt to offer a service that protects your privacy by fetching websites for you through their servers and then pass you the content afterward—so your IP isn’t part of the request chain. That sounds like a nice service. Unfortunately I found there were 3 problems with a particular company offering this service: 1. From what I’ve read these guys just pass your info on to interested agencies anyway, entirely defeating the purpose. 2. In order to offer the service for free they insert adverts into the content—I assume to cover their operational costs. 3. This particular agency was able to get a pretty high search engine result—rivaling my own URLs—by just copying my stuff, Browser Pong being a prime example. At the time this meant if someone liked what I did and searched for it there was a good chance they’d end up visiting a boxed in version of Pong with adverts on it. Aside from some tongue-in-cheek exceptions I’ve been firm about not putting ads on my sites. (And for the most part this doesn’t matter because they don’t get a ton of hits, but when something blows up like Pong or Jed there’s you know ... like maybe a whole $29.95 to be made there.) I made these things for the enjoyment of it and didn’t want to dilute them with ”a word from our [randomly selected] sponsor.” So I started experimenting and figured out how this company was parsing the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to patch the links so everything would go through their servers. The code snippet you pointed out was just a quick way to hide the URL from their parser and get them out of my hair. I don’t have anything against ad-based models or referencing someone else’s work (obviously). But in this particular case I felt it crossed a line so I pulled the trigger. I hope that answers your question ;)

skrause 13y ago

Using 'A' and 'Z' for up and down is always great fun on a German keyboard where 'Y' and 'Z' are switched.

rca 13y ago

I don't understand what it's supposed to do, it just spawned three windows, one plain yellow and the two others with 3 stripes and an increasing counter. Is that a bug or did I miss something? (I tested with up-to-date firefox and chromium, same thing)

iHalcyon 13y ago
If the windows are not moving, then it is a bug (although, check that you haven't clicked pause on the game). Otherwise, they should be moving and recreating the game pong. The plain yellow is the ball, the striped are the paddles for the characters (controlled by A&Z for the left one and UP&DOWN for the right one). Tick one of the boxes as non human to play against a computer.
- rca 13y ago
  Oh, the windows are supposed to be the game! Ok, then it's not a bug (per se) but I'm using a tiling wm, it's preventing the windows from moving. Thanks for the explanation.
  - gizmo686 13y ago
    I had the same problem

munimkazia 13y ago

Just FYI.. It didn't work for me on Google Chrome (stable) or Chromium on Ubuntu 13.04.. It did work in Firefox. Pretty crazy use of windows. Also, I tried my best to beat the AI, but couldn't! That's a hard game

xentronium 13y ago
> It didn't work for me on Google Chrome (stable) or Chromium on Ubuntu 13.04. Did you disable popup blocker?
- prakster 13y ago
  Works very well for me (Chrome, Windows)
- katherineparker 13y ago
  I used it in Chrome and had to do this for it to work.
- munimkazia 13y ago
  Oh yeah! That was probably what was stopping it from working. It did open up the opponents window though. I think the score raised to 2 after some moving around and then stopped (I guess it was my turn then).

Avshalom 13y ago

A much older implementation: http://www.project-euh.com/pong/ http://www.project-euh.com/pong/

RegEx 13y ago

Stewart Smith has a presentation in which he discusses Browser Pong along with some other projects. It's a very enjoyable presentation to watch! http://vimeo.com/22433439 http://vimeo.com/22433439

pydanny 13y ago

This is the most awesome use of browser windows ever.

deadhead 13y ago

I have two monitors (Google Chrome on Ubuntu). The paddles appeared on one while the ball appeared on the other. It was still playable, but was rather odd lining up the paddle against the ball on a different monitor.

coldarchon 13y ago

I'm pretty sure this has been done 10 years ago on a 4k competition. Meh.

mvikramaditya 13y ago

Wasn't this one of the original "Chrome Experiments"? I remember there being quite a lot of them, most of which were fun to play with.

bobsy 13y ago

The first game on HN which I actually competed. Great fun. Had a rather fantastic come back from 1 - 9 down to win 12 - 10 against the computer. Fairly beatable once you get the technique down. My heart stopped at 8 - 9 when I dropped a point and thought I had lost. The shot was a horizontal slow shot from left to right and for some reason I moved out the way.. Never found pong so thrilling. Must play it more often.

jmpavlec 13y ago

Just delete the opponent window, easy shutout

stewdio 13y ago

I feel compelled to point out that all of Browser Pong’s sounds were composed specifically for it by a Mr. Dominic Matar who is not only a multi-talented musician, earnest with feedback, and strikingly handsome—he’s also a breeze to collaborate with. So if you’re looking for that sort of person for a project do check out his stuff and drop him a line: http://dominicmatar.com http://dominicmatar.com