Time to switch things up and do some programming — on a simple game. For most game developers, using Unity or UE4 is a no-brainer. Those engines are powerful, cross-platform, and affordable. So, of course that isn’t the route I’m taking.
I want to make a web game! A game that is as easy to access as keeping up on your favorite blog. A game you can play anywhere, on any device that has a web browser. While Unity & UE4 support HTML5/WebGL, they aren’t quite there yet. And, there is some question how effectively the resulting game could interact with other HTML5 elements of the page.
Enter BabylonJS. It’s an engine built on top of WebGL and is amazingly robust. It is primarily a graphics library. It is lower-level than working with Unity, but it has a similar feel in that most things “just work”. WebGL games are limited, both in performance and features, compared with their native counterparts. But, having someone able to play your game by simply typing in the URL calls to me.
The game is an experiment and will be simple, but hopefully fun. Here’s a screenshot of the beginnings of “Sheldon“. You can’t do anything except walk around (fun game, right?) — yet. The game will be updated as I work on it, so if you are interested in seeing a raw, non-curated, game-in-development, feel free to keep checking back. Here’s the link:
https://inkthorne.com/play/sheldon
