Okay, for handheld devices and games that aren't COMPLETELY compatible, make an alternate provider that provides arrow controls for moving the character. This will make people REALLY FREAKIN HAPPY.
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I've done a little work on a dpad control but I haven't touched it in a bit. I'd ideally like that, along with mobile detection, to be part of our default skin, maybe even added to translated skins.
The webclient is extremely flexible, so it can support controls like this. A dpad controller would mainly need to read the existing macro set, setup shortcut buttons for commands, and setup arrows for movement-based commands. | |
Hot dog, I didn't realize you were putting so much focus on the mobile gaming aspect. Good to know, as that is one of the things I'm most excited about. Are there any plans for native .apk / iOS equivalent exports?
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Native ports, no. I don't think that'll be feasible.
As far as dpad work, I haven't really been putting in the after-hours time on that lately, and would welcome anyone else stepping up to that challenge. (Same with grids and bars. I may manage to make a tab control on my own though since the info control does so much of the same stuff right now.) | |
I had assumed that once everything goes live, someone will figure out how to do a Java wrapper for the web client to make it an APK, but honestly I don't know enough about Java to even begin experimenting right now. I want to actually finish a game before I start messing with the Java end of things, and hopefully by then there will be a few libraries to help get started. lol
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The webclient is basically JavaScript. The client itself is written in Dart, which we compile to JS, and the controls are pretty much pure JS.
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We eventually plan on open-sourcing the webclient and documenting the protocol, which will allow creation of third-party ports such as iOS. The only issue is that we'd like to be a part of the potential profits (which currently come from the ad) so we'd want to work something out there. But this is all contingent on this being stable, so we really need more testing. While I appreciate the great feedback from those who are testing, the actual usage so far is really underwhelming. I don't know if people have just moved on (this was a huge request at one point), or if they are wary of trying new things or what, but we put a hell of a lot of work into this and barely anyone is using it.
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Personally, I quit BYOND for the most part except to check back every now and then to see if this had been released yet. I have a feeling that a lot of people have given up hope. Once I find a suitable hoster (because Comcast won't let you port forward without a business-class account now :/) I'm going to be stress testing the absolute heck out of the web client. I have a feeling that once we're past beta and into a stable release and the games released with it start gaining traction, BYOND will gain a lot of momentum as a viable platform for developers.
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If I can remember how to make something at all in dream maker, I would definitely take the time to work out creating my own custom elements in web languages and seeing how well it wraps with WinJS and whatnot to make a potential Windows 8 / Windows Phone 8 app
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Unwanted4Murder wrote:
Personally, I quit BYOND for the most part except to check back every now and then to see if this had been released yet. I have a feeling that a lot of people have given up hope. Once I find a suitable hoster (because Comcast won't let you port forward without a business-class account now :/) I'm going to be stress testing the absolute heck out of the web client. I have a feeling that once we're past beta and into a stable release and the games released with it start gaining traction, BYOND will gain a lot of momentum as a viable platform for developers. If you still have me on msn/skype I can host your test servers for you. Glad to see you're still around. If you don't have me as your contact anymore, page me and i'll send you the info :) | |
Thanks man! Yeah I'm still plugging away. I don't have you added anymore (because I change screen names like I change pants), but I'll shoot you a page when I get done making a new one. :p
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Keep in mind that port forwarding is not required to test the webclient locally. If you want to test it by yourself, you still need to use Dream Daemon, but you don't need a reachable port as long as you replace your IP address with "localhost" in the webclient link.
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Yeah, I know. I've been testing locally, but would like to cast a wider net. I still have a lot of fans of my old game that would like to play anyway - might as well put 'em to work, eh?
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Tom wrote:
We eventually plan on open-sourcing the webclient and documenting the protocol, which will allow creation of third-party ports such as iOS. The only issue is that we'd like to be a part of the potential profits (which currently come from the ad) so we'd want to work something out there. But this is all contingent on this being stable, so we really need more testing. While I appreciate the great feedback from those who are testing, the actual usage so far is really underwhelming. I don't know if people have just moved on (this was a huge request at one point), or if they are wary of trying new things or what, but we put a hell of a lot of work into this and barely anyone is using it. There definitely needs to be a easy to understand tutorial(complete with pictures and sample code) in creating an interface for the web client, especially if you're making a game from scratch. LummoxJR's Web Client Developer's guide covers a lot of ground, but if you know nothing about JavaScript, you're going to have a hard time figuring out where to start. It doesn't help that you have to make your game in DM and then switch gears to JS for the webclient. This is especially true since not all existing interface elements carry over from the .dmf. | |
Well, I'm not even necessarily talking about the custom controls (although it would be nice to get more feedback on that). I was just hoping we'd get more testing of the webclient, even for very old games. For example, I keep hearing that SS13 isn't working but that's because they have intentionally setup the login to only allow "seeker" connections-- it doesn't seem that much to ask to remove this restriction and let us know what works. I just get the impression that, outside of a handful of people (including yourself-- thanks for the reports), no one really wants to make the slightest effort to move this forward. And that is extremely discouraging to me because we only really bothered to take on this massive project because so many people had been requesting this sort of thing for years.
As far as the dms/js stuff goes-- yeah, there will be a learning curve and that is inevitable if we want to allow a more powerful infrastructure, but I think that's something we can document over time. In the meantime, if anyone does play with it (and we were hoping people might try to take on things like the grid control and get their name recognized in the official distribution), they can of course ask us any questions they might have. | |
Another question for people who love Linux. Since most Linux distros do not have window's fonts...would it show the same font as on screen playing a game through web client? (I don't tend on using Linux until Linux has better support for a lot of programs I like to use). I prefer the same font because it tends to look better with a good font the creator has picked out.
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It will probably just use an appropriate default fallback (eg a serif or sans-serif font) if the font isn't installed, but we haven't had enough testing on those platforms to know for sure. Generally if the browser is rendering pages ok, I'd expect the same for the webclient.
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I've been away from BYOND for a while, and have gotten really busy with real life for the moment but as soon as I can I am really interested in looking into all of this with the web client.
It is really exciting news, and while I doubt I have enough experience to develop anything like the grid control I would like to test it out and see about it for games. I can certainly see how things might be discouraging right now, but word doesn't always travel fast, and a lot of people probably left and need time to receive word before they come back. Games coming out into the open could also encourage more activity, and so on. I just think it'll take some time, but the interest must be there. This is huge. | |
Now, to see if I can make it work in practice.