Limitation of browser based games
by Bhargav P · in General Discussion · 11/08/2009 (2:48 am) · 6 replies
I know I ask a lot of questions, but I need a really, really good engine that would take less time to develop. I've always been amazed by "Runescape" and similar games. Runescape is online, no download required. So I was wondering is it smart to make a whole role-playing game run off a browser? A role-playing game that has a lot of hours of story base. For example, the latest would be Dragon Age Origins. Its around 20 Gigabytes when installed and has around 500 hours of gameplay. I was going for an enormous like that. Is it okay to run that kind of huge game off of a browser? What would it take to run it (details like servers, apx cost)? Is it wise to run it? Also when a torque x 3d game is running off of a browser, does the customer still require a graphics card or is it rendered on the server (like Onlive technology)
Once again, I know a lot of questions, but I mean $1000 + the cost of servers + crew is not very inexpensive either. I just want to collect as much as data as I can so I don't get screwed over in development.
Once again, I know a lot of questions, but I mean $1000 + the cost of servers + crew is not very inexpensive either. I just want to collect as much as data as I can so I don't get screwed over in development.
About the author
#2
EDIT:
Thought I'd mention this as well. Like Tilan said, nothing is rendered server-side. Client's machine renders the game.
11/08/2009 (4:19 am)
Well technically, RuneScape does have a download. The loading screen you get when you first play downloads the game client into your computer. Same goes for pretty much anything in your web browser, for that matter. The loading time on Flash games, for example, are from the transfer of data from a web server to your computer. The browser plugins used in Torque3D and Instant Action download the game content to the end user's computer. Games distributed via web deployment have to be designed to take up minimal space, so the players don't have to wait hours for it download.EDIT:
Thought I'd mention this as well. Like Tilan said, nothing is rendered server-side. Client's machine renders the game.
#3
11/08/2009 (4:43 am)
So there is no point of Browser based games. Only use browser games when you are making very small game right? As I think Online game that would be around 15 gigs would kill bandwidth.
#4
I'm not saying you can't make a browser based MMO with Torque, I'm just saying that you'll need to make some optimizations to reduce the size. Its not the quests/storyline that takes up most of the space, its the models, textures, terrains, etc. If you keep your textures very low resolution, use only simple models, and minimize the amount of assets you have in the game, you could probably use web deployment.
11/08/2009 (4:50 am)
It wouldn't "kill" bandwidth, it would just take a while to download. ;)I'm not saying you can't make a browser based MMO with Torque, I'm just saying that you'll need to make some optimizations to reduce the size. Its not the quests/storyline that takes up most of the space, its the models, textures, terrains, etc. If you keep your textures very low resolution, use only simple models, and minimize the amount of assets you have in the game, you could probably use web deployment.
#5
11/08/2009 (9:29 am)
Moved to a better home than the TX forums. 
#6
11/08/2009 (7:39 pm)
Runescape uses the Java Web Plugin, which does require a download on Windows to install. Though, it is installed on 100% of OSX and a very good percentage of Windows computers.
Torque 3D Owner Rapid Fire T
The similar naming is a bit awkward, but if you check out the InstantAction portal on the GarageGames site, you can see some games using Torque 3D online.
All rendering is done on the Client side. Onlive technology is not commercial yet, as far as I've seen, and can suffer from bad lag if your connection is not ideal.
Anything else, check out the Torque 3D forums.