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tech tantra thursday
for thursday november 10, 2011 Cosmic Encounter® Online at Facebook article
tech tantra facebook discussion thread
Bill Eberle: We appreciate your comments. Please let others know about this . . . we'd like to hear from as many possible collaborators as possible. Zachery Gaskins: While I'm primarily experienced in back-end coding, I'm getting into HTML5/JS as well. Interested but don't consider me a primary choice :P Bill Eberle: Thanks, Zach. My sense is that "it takes a village" . . . not something just a few of us can practically do all alone. Alex Nisnevich: I think this would be a wonderful idea - the current Flash client is a little dated and switching to HTML5/JavaScript should lead to a better, more reliable playing experience for users, while open-sourcing has the potential to make the development process quicker and more responsive to user requests/bugs. I have no idea just how big the current codebase is, but I imagine that this will be a huge project, that might take a long time with little to show for it up until the final stages. If you find enough developers to work on this, though, I think this can be the best thing to happen to Cosmic Encounter Online since its inception. Personally I would love to help. I've worked on multiplayer games with JavaScript before (with a C# backend, but I imagine SmartFoxServer shouldn't be too different from dealing with ASP). Peter Olotka: A key issue will be creating a system that enables the addition of aliens along the way. We would like to begin bringing the FFG aliens into Cosmic Encounter Online. Bill Eberle: One concern I have is that I've read that, in spite of the lip-service given to HTML5, many developers actually have been creating native applications and not generic HTML5/Javascript applications for the different smart phone and tablet OSs. I would like to hear more about why HTML5 and Javascript can "cut the mustard" for a project of this scope. Bill Eberle: I'm talking about the client-side of course. I'm assuming Java and the right Java mulit-user, multi-platform server and an XML protocol for communication on the server side. Bill Eberle: Alex, we appreciate your enthusiasm about taking Cosmic Online in this direction and will welcome your help. Your's also, Zach. If either of you know other Cosmic fans who might be interested, please ask them to look at and add to this thread. Alex Nisnevich: I feel that HTML/Javascript has the capability of working for a project of this scope, and will offer the advantage of being a truly cross-browser, cross-platform solution, especially when used with an adaptive CSS framework (such as Less: http://lessframework.com/), that will allow the site to look good on any screen size. Since JavaScript and ActionScript are both dialects of ECMAScript, JavaScript has essentially all of the capabilities of ActionScript, especially when combined with a good library (such as mooTools or jQuery). The one potential drawback is speed: HTML/JavaScript will always be slower than native applications. I feel that with good design practices (e.g. only loading code as it is needed, having a simple DOM structure), this issue can be avoided. Another big advantage of creating a web client is that, even if you decide to create native applications down the line, the web client can serve as a placeholder that works on all platforms, as well as remaining the client of choice for non-mobile players.
Less Framework is a CSS grid system for designing adaptive websites. It contain...s 4 layouts and 3 sets of typography presets, all based on a single grid. Chris Turner: While jQuery makes the planet turn, I vote native. If your focus is doing a mobile version, you want to have an interface that works on that device be best that it can be. Bill Eberle: Alex and Chris, currently I think that HTML5/Javascript would have the best chance of being both practical - doable as an open-source project - and most useful to others - lead to a result that could be shared and used by more people to advance the art and practice of the kind of online social gaming I think is worthwhile (hint: I think games about physically pretending to shoot people and things are . . . stupid and sad). However, if the final product would not have a "snappy" response time, then it would not fly and would not be worth the effort. So, Alex, I think your focus on good design and low-band memory requirements for the client is critical. I'll take some time to learn more about Less. Chris, I'd be interested to know what you think of Less also. Bill Eberle: Zach, do you have any experience with Less. What are your thoughts about the Less Framework? Zachery Gaskins: Haven't messed with Less, will probably look into it. Also, I think it'd be helpful to have minds like Bill Martinson and Phil Fleischmann in on some of the design because they are some of the most authoritative minds on how to address the inconsistencies that the FFG has both 1) exposed and 2) caused in the use of flares and powers, and have made a concerted effort to streamline the game flow into something that a programmatic approach could accomplish. Bill Eberle: Also, if we're replacing Flash, we have to be thinking "It's the animations!" Animations are a key feature in our current ui. Bill Eberle: Thanks, Zach. Important thoughts. Hope we can get Bill and Phil to chime in here . . . and in future discussions. Alan Queen: connect.movl.com :) Bill Eberle: Bill Eberle I like the idea of playing Cosmic TV to TV or TV to smartphone, etc, Alan. Would client animations/timing for same need to be done using your APIs plus native code for each platform? Or . . . would HTML5/CSS/Javascript work for the kind of ui animations we're using in Cosmic Online? Zach, Alex, and Chris please check out http://www.connect.movl.com/index.php and let us know what you think. Thanks.
Use the Samsung SDK 2.5 and the MOVL Connect Platform APIs to create converged applications and enter Samsung's FreeTheTVChallenge Bill Eberle: I like the idea of playing Cosmic TV to TV or TV to smartphone, etc, Alan. Would client animations/timing for same need to be done using your APIs plus native code for each platform? Or . . . would HTML5/CSS/Javascript work for the kind of ui animations we're using in Cosmic Online?
Bill Eberle: I think the Movl Connect Platform makes a lot of sense; being in living rooms and internet TVs connected to other living rooms and internet TVs with players controlling their resources and what happens using small portable computers (smart phones and tablets) feels like the right place for games like Cosmic . . . and the right goal for future development. Ryan David Ransford: I've got to go along with Alex here and say that you are all speaking about several separate deliverables: a server, a game API, a web client, an iOS client, an Android client, a Flash client, etc... Of these, only the first three are required to reach all audiences (with recent enough browsers, that is). Would it be reasonable to reserve argument about non-web platforms until at least some proofs of concept for the server/API/web client have been produced and found deficient? Bill Eberle: Hi Ryan. Well, I agree with Alex when he says that a "big advantage of creating a web client is that, even if you decide to create native applications down the line, the web client can serve as a placeholder that works on all platforms, as well as remaining the client of choice for non-mobile players." So that basic architecture is probably a good starting point. However, platforms are moving targets. We should make our best guess about where we want to be, i.e. in living rooms playing Cosmic on web TVs . . . and get ourselves started in that direction. We have a lot of respect for Alan Queen and his instincts and think the Movl developer platform, http://www.connect.movl.com/index.php, deserves careful consideration as a part of this project.
Use the Samsung SDK 2.5 and the MOVL Connect Platform APIs to create converged applications and enter Samsung's FreeTheTVChallenge Alex Nisnevich: Regarding animations: it's possible to do animations in both JavaScript and CSS3 (which should now be supported by all major browsers, but would probably not work on most mobile platforms). Performance may be an issue, but one thing that could be done is vary the amount / complexity of animations based on platform (for instance, making the animations simpler for mobile browsers). Peter Olotka: As a point of reference, posters to this thread should all have played the current version at www.cosmicencounter.com
Peter Olotka: As a historical point of reference the very first Cosmic Encounter online was made in the 1980s (but never released) for Applelink on the Apple 2 computer. Steve Case was a play tester.
Cosmic Encounter® Online at Facebook article
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