Using a cross platform development tool.

[gsgames]

Hi, I've been lurking in the forum for a couple of days now deciding if I should take the plunge into HTML5 dev, curently doing Flash, and I couldn't help notice, with some surprise, that 99% of you are writing your games in native code.

 

Have you guys not considered using a cross platform dev tool like Monkey or Haxe or have you condsidered them and found them wanting?

 

I recently switched to Monkey from Flixel/Flashdevelop and found it to be quite good but I'm worried that maybe you guys know something I don't.

[inductible]

I heartily recommend typescript, as a seasoned Flash dev. Familiarity central.

As with mobile app dev, with web apps it's of critical importance to have full control over the final source output, and typescript is close enough to JS to enable easy debugging. I've been burned more than a few times with cross platform tools that purport to be a one click solution for every platform - eye them with suspicion, and do your due diligence by writing close to native

...Though if your project us simple, and your clients don't hold you massively accountable to minutiae, then haxe away!

[Chris]

Uhm, I really don't understand this topic.

 

This is a HTML5 game dev forum. Not about creating native games for any platform.

I don't know where you got the assumption 99% of us are writing native code.

 

We are writing JAVASCRIPT that runs in the browser. On any platform.

 

Just saying.

[soybean]

Maybe he meant native as in vanilla Javascript? Native to HTML5 .. instead of using cross-platform libs or frameworks?

[Chris]

So "native"/vanilla Javascript is not cross-platform? Okay...

[rich]

Yeah I think they just meant why aren't we cross-compiling to html5. I guess the simple reason for me is that I target mobile browser all our my games, and you really need nth degree control over what is happening down there, especially the ability to add in device specific hacks! (Android stock browser, I'm looking at you).

 

I've yet to see any cross-compiling solution create truly mobile friendly games. I'm sure it will happen eventually, it just hasn't appeared to yet. But maybe I didn't give them a good enough chance, they're constantly evolving and all.

[gsgames]

Yes, sorry for any confusion, I meant you guys are coding strictly for HTML5 instead of using a tool that can produce for Flash/HTML5/Andorid/IOS/etc.

 

As I'm leaving Flash dev due to it's uncertain future I'm a bit concerned about commiting to yet another specific "platform" instead of hedging my bets with a cross-compiling tool.

 

 

...you really need nth degree control over what is happening down there, especially the ability to add in device specific hacks!

That kinda sucks

[rich]

To be honest I'd challenge you to find a platform that is more open and company neutral than html5 Yes there are lots of big companies involved of course, but no single one of them controls it all.

 

Limiting yourself to one platform is I agree tricky. I suspect you want to be compiling to native mobile, console, PC, etc as well. But it all depends on what sort of games you're going to make imho. Most good game developers I know can turn their hand to any platform relatively painlessly, the core mechanics never really change that much between them.

[gsgames]

 

I suspect you want to be compiling to native mobile, console, PC, etc as well.

Yep, that's what I want.

 

 

Most good game developers I know can turn their hand to any platform relatively painlessly, the core mechanics never really change that much between them.

Yeah I found that to be the case. I tested Monkey by porting a flash game over to it and it just took a few hours to rewrite the code.

 

 

BTW, Is my assumption the most people are coding in Javascript incorrect?

 

Has a poll ever been done of this community to see how many people are using tools like GameMaker, Haxe, etc.

 

As someone who is just getting started in HTML5 this is a big concern for me.

 

I don't want to waste months going in the wrong direction, choosing a harder approach to making games than is necessary.

[Ezelia]

I used Haxe/NME to build a native Android/iOS game, the result was good as native App (yet not as performant as pure ObjectiveC or Java). (flash export worked good aswell)
Then I tried to export that game to HTML5 just to make a test and the performances was horrible !
NME create a new canvas for each displayObject and this is not the good way to go in HTML5.

so if you want to write HTML5, just stick to it's "native" language : JavaScript or use TypeScript to get a "better JavaScript"  .
 

[inductible]

I spent a good few months studying up 'pure' js (recommend 'the good parts' book), and got excited by the closures/module pattern technique which felt like a good bit of sense creeping back into the language. Now I've reimplemented our flash framework using typescript and pixi in just three days. Positively excited by my job again, as familiar (statically typed OOP) working practices earned over many years are once again valid...

Pure js is not for the feint hearted, for sure. I've heard it likened to 'assembly for the web', and believe this to be true in the long term - we'll be writing js/asm.js with higher level tools within a few years, but it really pays to study deep and know what's going on at the pure js 'low level'. Just get stuck in!

[gsgames]

Thanks everyone, I guess I'll be learning Javascript.