This game will NOT work in IE because it doesn’t support the canvas element.
May 19, 2010 5:41 PM Subscribe
It's Flash Friday HTML 5 Wednesday! A variant of Asteroids has been unleashed on the web, as proof of the canvas element's abilities within the updated markup language; however, the color palette is opposite of the arcade game's original scheme, hyperdrive and shields are absent, as is audio, since in hypertext, additional lines of code are necessary for anyone to hear you scream. [via]
Asteroids looks less professional with a white background.
posted by birdherder at 5:47 PM on May 19, 2010 [8 favorites]
posted by birdherder at 5:47 PM on May 19, 2010 [8 favorites]
This is pretty cool to see the progress being made. It reminds me of something I think every time there's a new platform or an effort to start something over, though: progress is defined as getting closer to being able to do things the previous platform or system has been doing for a long time.
I guess that could sound snarky, but it's not meant to be. I've done this myself, where I've written code to do something fun, then thought of a better way to write it after it's already working. So the next day's progress is simply that, outwardly, the thing does exactly what it did yesterday, but I know in my heart it's doing it in a better way.
What tends to happen with these things is once they're good enough to have duplicated previous functionality, some smarter person than me comes along and says "you know if we would just do this with it next..." and suddenly it goes from kind of interesting to holy crap that's cool. I'm not sure that moment has occurred with HTML5 yet, but it seems like it probably will.
posted by FishBike at 5:52 PM on May 19, 2010 [4 favorites]
I guess that could sound snarky, but it's not meant to be. I've done this myself, where I've written code to do something fun, then thought of a better way to write it after it's already working. So the next day's progress is simply that, outwardly, the thing does exactly what it did yesterday, but I know in my heart it's doing it in a better way.
What tends to happen with these things is once they're good enough to have duplicated previous functionality, some smarter person than me comes along and says "you know if we would just do this with it next..." and suddenly it goes from kind of interesting to holy crap that's cool. I'm not sure that moment has occurred with HTML5 yet, but it seems like it probably will.
posted by FishBike at 5:52 PM on May 19, 2010 [4 favorites]
The ship controls are very wrong. The ship accelerates waaaaaay too fast, and bullets don't inherit the ship's velocity. Also, while we're on the subject of things that aren't in the demo let's not forget the UFO's, which were the key to every power player's high score strategy (much to the dismay of Atari's play testers who never thought of that before the game was released).
posted by localroger at 5:59 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by localroger at 5:59 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
It reminds me of something I think every time there's a new platform or an effort to start something over, though: progress is defined as getting closer to being able to do things the previous platform or system has been doing for a long time.
I always think of it as a series of walls. You can do everything in THIS room and the NEXT room, but then there's this wall. And then after a lot of research, you find/make a hole in the wall but you can't do much more than poke a finger in there. Then you kind of stick some looong pliers in there and root around. The hole gets a bit bigger and the tools to reach inside get more varied and easier to control. More holes open up in other parts of the wall. Eventually you are at a point where the wall is basically gone, either because of so many holes or because you can manipulate everything in the room so well from outside that it doesn't matter.
Then you reach the next wall...
posted by DU at 6:00 PM on May 19, 2010
I always think of it as a series of walls. You can do everything in THIS room and the NEXT room, but then there's this wall. And then after a lot of research, you find/make a hole in the wall but you can't do much more than poke a finger in there. Then you kind of stick some looong pliers in there and root around. The hole gets a bit bigger and the tools to reach inside get more varied and easier to control. More holes open up in other parts of the wall. Eventually you are at a point where the wall is basically gone, either because of so many holes or because you can manipulate everything in the room so well from outside that it doesn't matter.
Then you reach the next wall...
posted by DU at 6:00 PM on May 19, 2010
Also, while we're on the subject of things that aren't in the demo let's not forget the UFO's [...]
I got UFOs. I got killed by UFOs, damn it!
posted by FishBike at 6:02 PM on May 19, 2010
I got UFOs. I got killed by UFOs, damn it!
posted by FishBike at 6:02 PM on May 19, 2010
in hypertext, additional lines of code are necessary for anyone to hear you scream.
I laughed. :D
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:03 PM on May 19, 2010
I laughed. :D
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:03 PM on May 19, 2010
The ship controls are very wrong.
Oh, good. I was just about to have a pre-midlife crisis thinking I was getting too old for a round of Asteroids. "How. How the hell did I play this as a kid? Am I that slow now? THIS IS NOT OK!"
posted by loquacious at 6:07 PM on May 19, 2010
Oh, good. I was just about to have a pre-midlife crisis thinking I was getting too old for a round of Asteroids. "How. How the hell did I play this as a kid? Am I that slow now? THIS IS NOT OK!"
posted by loquacious at 6:07 PM on May 19, 2010
I always forget how much I suck at Asteroids until I play it again.
posted by stavrogin at 6:07 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by stavrogin at 6:07 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
I knew exactly how it was supposed to "feel" after damn near 30 years -- my first thought was man, it's too fast! Still, pretty fun and cool.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:21 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:21 PM on May 19, 2010
Canvas? I'll show you cool Canvas. How about a working Ray Caster? I've been meaning to write an FPP about Ray Casters, basically an old way to fake 3D hallways. Think Wolfenstien. Here's another one done in PHP
It's kind of like what Fishbike said. Not really advancing the art, it just looks cool.
posted by hellojed at 6:31 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
It's kind of like what Fishbike said. Not really advancing the art, it just looks cool.
posted by hellojed at 6:31 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
And just like that I've found a snazzy 3D rendering engine made with Canvas/Javascript. Facinating.
posted by hellojed at 6:34 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by hellojed at 6:34 PM on May 19, 2010
via Waxy: HTML5 Zombo.com
its, its, its, everything i've always wanted and so much more
posted by wcfields at 6:58 PM on May 19, 2010
its, its, its, everything i've always wanted and so much more
posted by wcfields at 6:58 PM on May 19, 2010
Well, that's all well and good, but what about the Great American Tower Defense game?
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:02 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:02 PM on May 19, 2010
Ah, the Euclidean 2-torus.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:17 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:17 PM on May 19, 2010
I won't be impressed until I can play Blocky (html) 5.
posted by juiceCake at 8:49 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by juiceCake at 8:49 PM on May 19, 2010
My god, its just like 1983.
How long before someone writes the first HTML5 Canvas web browser? And will it support Flash?
posted by erniepan at 9:56 PM on May 19, 2010
How long before someone writes the first HTML5 Canvas web browser? And will it support Flash?
posted by erniepan at 9:56 PM on May 19, 2010
huh. I've been working on my own version of HTML5 Asteroids, the lessons from which I'm going to apply to a canvas gaming toolkit:
(note, unfinished, but runs really smooth!)
http://potch.me/projects/beltwars
posted by potch at 10:31 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
(note, unfinished, but runs really smooth!)
http://potch.me/projects/beltwars
posted by potch at 10:31 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
http://potch.me/projects/beltwars
"Aww snap!", said the OSX Chrome Browser.
posted by hanoixan at 10:55 PM on May 19, 2010
"Aww snap!", said the OSX Chrome Browser.
posted by hanoixan at 10:55 PM on May 19, 2010
Wait! I take that back. It's now working, potch, and I LOVE IT. I've never played it first person like that. I'm dizzy, but immersed.
posted by hanoixan at 10:57 PM on May 19, 2010
posted by hanoixan at 10:57 PM on May 19, 2010
hanoxian: Glad you like it!
Hm, chrome really hates that page for some reason. I shall look in that.
posted by potch at 11:15 PM on May 19, 2010
Hm, chrome really hates that page for some reason. I shall look in that.
posted by potch at 11:15 PM on May 19, 2010
FFS. A much better version of this game is available... ON THE ACTUAL IE9 WEB SITE. http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Graphics/35SVG--oids/Default.xhtml
They used SVG to implement it, served up a XHTML. I know Microsoft/IE hate is fashionable on teh internets, but seriously, dissing IE in the headline? Is Metafilter for angry tweens now?
posted by f4 at 11:33 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
They used SVG to implement it, served up a XHTML. I know Microsoft/IE hate is fashionable on teh internets, but seriously, dissing IE in the headline? Is Metafilter for angry tweens now?
posted by f4 at 11:33 PM on May 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
dissing IE in the headline?
Um, I don't think it's dissing per se. The game doesn't work in IE, because the current version doesn't support the canvas element. That's more like a statement of fact than a dis.
Also, that SVG implementation is certainly rough around the edges, but it runs super smooth.
posted by potch at 12:02 AM on May 20, 2010
Um, I don't think it's dissing per se. The game doesn't work in IE, because the current version doesn't support the canvas element. That's more like a statement of fact than a dis.
Also, that SVG implementation is certainly rough around the edges, but it runs super smooth.
posted by potch at 12:02 AM on May 20, 2010
Oh, come on people. You all have faces. You all have palms. You know exactly what you should be doing here.
Have you thought about why you aren't?
posted by effugas at 12:26 AM on May 20, 2010
Have you thought about why you aren't?
posted by effugas at 12:26 AM on May 20, 2010
That SVG version of Asteroids is pretty nice. SVG is a better match for vector graphics games.
Still, no sound, in any of them. And once folks start playing with sound APIs we're going to discover that millisecond accurate timing is a bit awkward in Javascript.
posted by Nelson at 7:40 AM on May 20, 2010
Still, no sound, in any of them. And once folks start playing with sound APIs we're going to discover that millisecond accurate timing is a bit awkward in Javascript.
posted by Nelson at 7:40 AM on May 20, 2010
I'm picturing cavas being able to do what VRHTML was never really able to. Aren't Google working on a multi-user 3D engine for html5?
posted by codacorolla at 7:46 AM on May 20, 2010
posted by codacorolla at 7:46 AM on May 20, 2010
There's WebGL, an HTML5 canvas API for hardware accelerated 3d rendering. It has some momentum and buy-in from every major web browser manufacturer except one. Big surprise, MSIE isn't on board.
posted by Nelson at 8:40 AM on May 20, 2010
posted by Nelson at 8:40 AM on May 20, 2010
JavaScript NES is fun too. Pretty much the first test of a new runtime platform is an emulator of some kind.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:10 AM on May 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:10 AM on May 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Works great in Firefox! I still pretty much suck at Asteroids.
posted by Xoebe at 1:19 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by Xoebe at 1:19 PM on May 20, 2010
If you have a development build of Chrome you can try Quake II in the canvas element. I believe there's a Firefox build with the WebGL stuff enabled, don't think it's in trunk yet though.
posted by robertc at 4:35 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by robertc at 4:35 PM on May 20, 2010
Also, whoever made that svg Asteroids apparently never learned Newtonian physics....
posted by cthuljew at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by cthuljew at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2010
A more colourful asteroids can be seen here: Asteroids.
posted by juiceCake at 10:36 AM on June 4, 2010
posted by juiceCake at 10:36 AM on June 4, 2010
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I love Javascript and HTML 5 canvas and all that. Sound is a real weakness in the stack right now, though.
posted by Nelson at 5:42 PM on May 19, 2010