Web-Based Game Engines - Request For Input

Question

I'm creating a web-based online game and am trying to find the best fit in terms of a framework for the front end of the game. The back end of the game is currently using asp.net mvc 2. Given that I could take the controller actions and turn them into WCF service actions the choice in the back end should not affect my options of a front end.

One thing that is certain, it does need to play in a browser. I have done some research on an HTML 5-only front end as part of this process and am probably leaning in this direction but I have a few concerns:

1. Assuming this game is completed this time next year, what kinds of difficulties will I have with current HTML 5 adoption levels? Specifically I'm worried about Firefox 3.6 and IE 7/8 still having a large install base. I have looked at Chrome Frame to solve the IE problem but am not sure if there are drawbacks to that I am unaware of either (other than the installation requirement).

2. I'm used to doing C# with a nice IDE complete with realtime information about whether the code compiles and intellisense reminding me of symbol names. Am I going to run into a problem with Javascript where my code becomes big and difficult to manage? The accessibility problem that a Javascript only engine solves for my users is more important than convenience for me but it of course can't be unmanageable either.

3. Are the HTML 5 engines on the market right now mature enough to trust with my time investment? Am I at high risk of adopting a framework that will fall into disrepair in a year from now? Of the engines I have looked at, none seem to have really great community support, am I wrong? Are there others out there that do?

here are those I have found thus far:

• CraftyJS (http://craftyjs.com/api/Sprite.html)
• ImpactJS (http://impactjs.com/)
• PropulsionJS (http://www.propulsionjs.com/)
• The Render Engine (http://www.renderengine.com/demos.php)
• RPG JS (http://rpgjs.com/)
• EaselJS (http://easeljs.com/)

Does anyone know anything of the community with these or have any reason to trust that any of these will be well maintained or available for at least the next several years? Does anyone know of another framework that's out there? ImpatJS has the most impressive demo of them all and it's also the only one that isn't free.

Thanks for any help / advice. I'm just worried I'll choose a front-end that I regret and I don't want to have to start from scratch 4 or 5 months down the road.

This is a 2D browser-game. It's not targeting mobile now, but it will be moving to mobile immediately after first launch. One hope is that it will work on mobile fine if I do HTML 5. I may have to tweak it for display size but if I don't have to port it to mobile that would be a definite plus.

Answer 1

This is my two cents having just been through the same decision making process for my company.

Our goal was to create as broad a game as possible that means it needs to run on as many browsers as possible. I ruled out html5 right away because the adoption is not there and seems to be at least a couple years until it reaches more than 60% penetration.

This left me with Flash vs. Silverlight. Flash's installed base is huge and there are many game engines available for it. Flash is a safe bet unless you have specific requirements for video or 3d.

I choose Silverlight because I wanted a good installed base (60%) and I wanted to leverage my companies’ in-house .Net expertise. I also wanted to use WCF for the backend and did not want to mix environments.

Keep in mind that SL5 is going to support most of XNA which is a big deal. There are a ton of XNA engines and source code that you can use to start with.

Here's a great site for looking at html5 browser support:

http://caniuse.com/

Answer 2

I can't speak with expertise on the particulars of HTML5 and Canvas, but...

1. As far as support goes, you'll still have probably a large bunch of IE7-8 users. IE is a little different than other browsers because you have to DO something to install updates. (i.e, go to the Install Updates in Control Panel or visit ie.microsoft.com). Other browsers (like firefox) just tell you and make the update easy. So your FF 3.6 users should be gone, but IE will still probably be a problem. Keep in mind, though, that much of the old IE browser share is due to IT depts. keeping their users on older versions - something you won't need to worry about.
2. This could be a problem. However, developing JS in Visual Studio or a similar IDE isn't so bad - there's still IntelliSense and other helpful things, as well as realtime debugging. It's definitely going to be a bit more difficult than C#, especially as many of the new JS api's haven't been implemented into the Autocomplete's of many IDE's.
3. I don't think you need be afraid of this. At this point, HTML5 and Canvas have gotten far enough that they won't be revoked, only improved. There may be a few modifications of the APIS and such, but not enough to keep you from using it.