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BabylonJS – A JavaScript framework for building 3D games with HTML 5 and WebGL

35 points by fenomas 12y ago

cridenour 12y ago
I found the playground much better to browse through. http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/ http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/
- fenomas 12y ago
  The playground is possibly my favorite thing about BabylonJS. Makes it very easy to share sample code and ask for help. It uses daily library builds, so several times I've submitted a bug along with a playground link reproducing the issue, and the next morning it just works.
- whoopdedo 12y ago
  Do the sound demos not work for anyone else in Firefox?
  - davrous 12y ago
    Firefox seems to have a lot of Web Audio bugs. I've already pinged one of the developer of the web audio stacks on Twitter. But I probably need to open a firebug request also. Our Web Audio engine runs fine in Chrome & Spartan.
bilbo0s 12y ago
I think I'll probably need to ask forgiveness for asking this question in advance. But it really is a subject of genuine curiosity for me. Is there a reason that someone would use a Javascript engine like Babylon, Three or PlayCanvas over... say... just using UDK or Unity to make a WebGL game ??? My knowledge of Javascript engines other than Three does not go deep... so it's entirely possible that this is a dumb question. I'm just wondering though. EDIT: Sorry .. I meant "PlayCanvas". Corrected.
- MayorOfMonkeys 12y ago
  Take this PlayCanvas game for example: http://tanx.playcanvas.com/ http://tanx.playcanvas.com/ It's a mere 1MB. You can play it in the mobile browser, mobile Facebook, Twitter Google+ clients, and mobile messaging apps. UDK and Unity can't hit those platforms. Also, with PlayCanvas, you're making your games online alongside a community that can collaborate with you, comment on your progress, help you fix bugs and so on. So I guess PlayCanvas is GitHub+Google Docs to UDK/Unity's MS Office.
- yoklov 12y ago
  Out of the box mobile browser support is a big one.
- garraeth 12y ago
  I can only presume, but these are what I see: --Unity requires a plugin be installed to play in a browser. http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform - scroll down to "UNITY FOR WEB": "Once a user installs it, the hugely popular Unity Web Player plugin updates automatically." --The developers know Javascript (Unity's "Javascript" isn't really Javascript, it's "Unityscript").
  - mikewhy 12y ago
    > --Unity requires a plugin be installed to play in a browser. http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform - scroll down to "UNITY FOR WEB": "Once a user installs it, the hugely popular Unity Web Player plugin updates automatically." Unity 5 introduces WebGL. However there are a few things that don't work in all major browsers
- drhayes9 12y ago
  Unity still doesn't have great support for making pure 2d games of the Mario/Metroid/Castlevania variety and is awfully heavyweight compared to an HTML5 canvas. That, and the accessibility of the API vs. having to download and work in an IDE that you'll eventually have to pay money for mean more JS games. Phaser.io[1] is a fairly comprehensive JS engine that is totally free. It's used to make professional games that run across a variety of devices. [1]: http://phaser.io/ http://phaser.io/

35 points by fenomas 12y ago

I found the playground much better to browse through. http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/ http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/

fenomas 12y ago
The playground is possibly my favorite thing about BabylonJS. Makes it very easy to share sample code and ask for help. It uses daily library builds, so several times I've submitted a bug along with a playground link reproducing the issue, and the next morning it just works.
whoopdedo 12y ago
Do the sound demos not work for anyone else in Firefox?
- davrous 12y ago
  Firefox seems to have a lot of Web Audio bugs. I've already pinged one of the developer of the web audio stacks on Twitter. But I probably need to open a firebug request also. Our Web Audio engine runs fine in Chrome & Spartan.

bilbo0s 12y ago

I think I'll probably need to ask forgiveness for asking this question in advance. But it really is a subject of genuine curiosity for me. Is there a reason that someone would use a Javascript engine like Babylon, Three or PlayCanvas over... say... just using UDK or Unity to make a WebGL game ??? My knowledge of Javascript engines other than Three does not go deep... so it's entirely possible that this is a dumb question. I'm just wondering though. EDIT: Sorry .. I meant "PlayCanvas". Corrected.

MayorOfMonkeys 12y ago
Take this PlayCanvas game for example: http://tanx.playcanvas.com/ http://tanx.playcanvas.com/ It's a mere 1MB. You can play it in the mobile browser, mobile Facebook, Twitter Google+ clients, and mobile messaging apps. UDK and Unity can't hit those platforms. Also, with PlayCanvas, you're making your games online alongside a community that can collaborate with you, comment on your progress, help you fix bugs and so on. So I guess PlayCanvas is GitHub+Google Docs to UDK/Unity's MS Office.
yoklov 12y ago
Out of the box mobile browser support is a big one.
garraeth 12y ago
I can only presume, but these are what I see: --Unity requires a plugin be installed to play in a browser. http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform - scroll down to "UNITY FOR WEB": "Once a user installs it, the hugely popular Unity Web Player plugin updates automatically." --The developers know Javascript (Unity's "Javascript" isn't really Javascript, it's "Unityscript").
- mikewhy 12y ago
  > --Unity requires a plugin be installed to play in a browser. http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform http://unity3d.com/unity/multiplatform - scroll down to "UNITY FOR WEB": "Once a user installs it, the hugely popular Unity Web Player plugin updates automatically." Unity 5 introduces WebGL. However there are a few things that don't work in all major browsers
drhayes9 12y ago
Unity still doesn't have great support for making pure 2d games of the Mario/Metroid/Castlevania variety and is awfully heavyweight compared to an HTML5 canvas. That, and the accessibility of the API vs. having to download and work in an IDE that you'll eventually have to pay money for mean more JS games. Phaser.io[1] is a fairly comprehensive JS engine that is totally free. It's used to make professional games that run across a variety of devices. [1]: http://phaser.io/ http://phaser.io/