Google Gets Quake II Running In HTML5 258
Dr Herbert West writes "A trio of Google engineers have ported id Software's gib-filled first-person shooter Quake II to browsers — you know, for kicks — as a way to show just what HTML5-compatible web browsers are capable of. According to the developers, 'We started with the existing Jake2 Java port of the Quake II engine, then used the Google Web Toolkit (along with WebGL, WebSockets, and a lot of refactoring) to cross-compile it into JavaScript.' More details are available on one developer's blog, and installation instructions have been posted as well."
Art is not redistributable. (Score:5, Informative)
From the project FAQ [google.com]:
We are as yet unable to provide a public demo link. The Quake II code is GPL licensed, but the demo resources (textures, models, sounds, et al) are not, so we cannot simply upload them to a server. We are pursuing legitimate avenues to do so, though -- stay tuned.
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, Jake2 benchmarks: http://bytonic.de/html/benchmarks.html [bytonic.de]
Re:the linky in the video not working (Score:2, Informative)
Re:OMGLOLWTF (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Demostration of what? (Score:5, Informative)
The Java version of Jake2 runs at around the same speed as the native C version (sometimes a little slower, sometimes a little faster):
http://download.java.net/javadesktop/plugin2/jake2/ [java.net]
Re:Installation Instructions? (Score:5, Informative)
Also, it presently needs a dev version of chrome started with a command line parameter that disables some sandboxing features.
How about Urban Terror? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Installation Instructions? (Score:1, Informative)
The installation is actually for the server. If someone else installs it, hosts it, and gives you the website you should be able to run it without installing anything but the browser. (Though according to the guy above me it has to be a dev version of chrome).
Re:Innovation (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Make a new level! (Score:1, Informative)
Stealing from OpenArena wouldn't be useful as Quake3 is not Quake2. The formats of the textures, models, and maps, are completely different as they are MD3, Q3BSP and TGA/JPEG and one does not simply convert them down to MD2, Q2BSP and WAL.
MD2 doesn't have tags
Q2BSP doesn't have independent texture scaling and curved surfaces/beziers
WAL does not have alpha channels or 24/32bit color and is restricted to a fixed palette
Most importantly: no shader system.
Re:How about OpenQuartz? (Score:5, Informative)
WebGL and other libraries
WebGL isn't a library, it's a binding. It does bind to native OpenGL (if the browser supports that), and while it may not be strictly HTML5, it is in line with the HTML5 goals -- to make the browser itself the platform, without relying on plugins.
If this was an HTML5 demonstration, it would be using PNGs, SVG, and CSS to create the game
Fair enough, though that would be much slower.
Wow, almost as impressive as using activex rendering DirectX content that we first saw in the freaking 1990s.
Yes, because ActiveX is a nice, cross-platform standard with multiple open source implementations... Oh wait.
Read that again until it sinks in, by the way.
Cross-platform -- WebGL runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X, at the very least, and likely on the iPhone. Your attempt to pretend this is a Google-vs-the-world thing falls flat.
Standard -- WebGL is managed by Khronos, who maintains OpenGL itself -- the working group includes Apple, Google, Mozilla, and Opera.
Multiple open-source implementations -- Firefox and Chromium both support it in some dev build or other. That also means Gecko and Webkit, which means dozens of other browsers.
WebGL embedded in a browser or used as a plug-in is NOT the browser's rendering engine doing the work.
So what?
And for what it's worth, it is useful that it ends up on a Canvas. Unless I'm mistaken, that means it is composited with the rest of the document, meaning you could (for example) draw your HUD using standard HTML and only use the GL for the 3D. Please explain why this is a bad thing.