Slashdot Mirror

> Scripting languages, basically do not do threading, of any kind, at all. They're too slow to synchronize across threads, which makes invoking threads inside them fruitless

Bullshit. You CAN do asynchronously loading of assets with JavaScript.

From d3wasm

I did a couple of changes to the idTech 4 engine in order to be able to start the game before all the data have been loaded. So, along with the initial 5MB executable download, there is a first 15MB download to fetch only what is necessary to load the game engine and enter the main menu. Then, the remaining ~380MB are fetched asynchronously.

> While you certainly can write an application or game with a scripting language, it will be slow, it will be limited by the operating system's own libraries (eg 32-bit libraries on a 64-bit OS as just one example) and generally require more maintenance than simply writing it in C to begin with.

I prefer C/C++ myself but you don't know what the fuck you are talking about W.R.T games and scripting:

1. You DO realize that there is a WIDE variety of games from "idle games" and simple puzzle games to full blown First Person Shooters right?

Are you telling me the JavaScript implementation of 2048, xkcd Sand Castle Builder, or Cookie Clicker is slow??

2. You DO realize you can "transpile" C/C++ code into JavaScript right, such as Doom 3, using Emscripten right?

Or how about RollerCoaster Tycoon? Here OpenRCT2 was ported to run inside a browser.

> yet GPU's APIs have standardized more or less on just four API's, OpenGL, Direct3D, Vulkan, and WebGL.

FTFY.

WebGL exists to offload rendering to the GPU inside the browser. There are TONS of playable WebGL Games

3. Lastly, Unity can target WebGL

Unity's take can be read at blogs.unity3d.com/2019/01/10/our-response-to-improbables-blog-post-and-why-you-can-keep-working-on-your-spatialos-game/

Ex professional game developer here. (I've shipped games on PS1, PS2, PC, Wii, DS, and helped numerous companies with their PS3 engines and toolchain. Left the professional industry in 2011 for a stable paycheck but I do my own (indie) game programming and design now, am a hardcore gamer, and help fellow game developers with advice.)

Sorry for the LONG read, but think I can lend some information that will be insightful and not inciteful. =P

> why we still haven't seen modders, foss developers and artists get together to build their own games.

We have, but on a limited scale.

TL:DR;

* Tech Hurdle
* Too many cooks in the kitchen
* Co-dependency upon the Game Engine and everything else
* Theory vs Implementation
* The "good" modders get "poached"

The LONG answer:

There are numerous reasons for this:

* Tech Hurdle

The first hurdle was the tech hurdle. Up until recently writing a "general purpose engine" was folly. Was the game 2D or 3D? If 3D, you HAD to optimize for indoor or outdoor environments for the most part with various kludges to support the other. If you notice both Unity and Unreal now offer a "2D" mode -- Unity with 2D Game Kit and Unreal with Paper2D

Examples where tech matters:

Trying to do "dense jungle environments" in a 3D shooter was basically a recipe of framerate FAIL until Crysis came along:

Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
Don't do that!!

We "solved" this problem by basically throwing more money at hardware (GPU / CPUs)

How does the engine handle the "contradictory" nature of transparency?

* Opaque objects can be rendered front-to-back using the hardware's "Early Z Test".
* Transparent objects need to be rendered back-to-front so you get the correct colors.

How does an engine handle thousands of lights?

* Deferred rending "solves" this problem but doesn't work for transparency. DOH!

People are using hybrid approaches of Forward Render vs Deferred Render. If the "big boys" are STILL figuring this out, Unity 2018.1 with their High Definition Render Pipeline (HD RP) (Preview) -- what chance does amateurs have? Yes, we see engines like Irrlicht but that is a steep learning curve for non-technical people.

We've seen SOME limited success. Back when Quake 2 was popular we Cube 2: Sauerbraten as a good example of the community coming together to produce something "good."

Open Source engines have typically performed like crap. I've posted in the past

how Mike Acton reviewed Ogre 1.9's OrgreNode.cpp pointing out its horrible design and performance.

As a result Orge 2.x game up with a gameplan -- they put together a PDF of how OOP screwed their performance over.

Turns out, Mike Acton was right. They ended up with a 5x performance increase by ditching OOP and using DOD.

How many people own Jason's quintessential engine development book Game Engine Architecture? How many understand it?

* Too many cooks in the kitchen.

C++ is "good" example of "Design by committee." Everybody has their favorite pet peeve bloating the core user experience until it is an over-engineered clusterfuck.

You'll notice that almost all of the

Ex professional game developer here. (I've shipped games on PS1, PS2, PC, Wii, DS, and helped numerous companies with their PS3 engines and toolchain. Left the professional industry in 2011 for a stable paycheck but I do my own (indie) game programming and design now, am a hardcore gamer, and help fellow game developers with advice.)

Sorry for the LONG read, but think I can lend some information that will be insightful and not inciteful. =P

> why we still haven't seen modders, foss developers and artists get together to build their own games.

We have, but on a limited scale.

TL:DR;

* Tech Hurdle
* Too many cooks in the kitchen
* Co-dependency upon the Game Engine and everything else
* Theory vs Implementation
* The "good" modders get "poached"

The LONG answer:

There are numerous reasons for this:

* Tech Hurdle

The first hurdle was the tech hurdle. Up until recently writing a "general purpose engine" was folly. Was the game 2D or 3D? If 3D, you HAD to optimize for indoor or outdoor environments for the most part with various kludges to support the other. If you notice both Unity and Unreal now offer a "2D" mode -- Unity with 2D Game Kit and Unreal with Paper2D

Examples where tech matters:

Trying to do "dense jungle environments" in a 3D shooter was basically a recipe of framerate FAIL until Crysis came along:

Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
Don't do that!!

We "solved" this problem by basically throwing more money at hardware (GPU / CPUs)

How does the engine handle the "contradictory" nature of transparency?

* Opaque objects can be rendered front-to-back using the hardware's "Early Z Test".
* Transparent objects need to be rendered back-to-front so you get the correct colors.

How does an engine handle thousands of lights?

* Deferred rending "solves" this problem but doesn't work for transparency. DOH!

People are using hybrid approaches of Forward Render vs Deferred Render. If the "big boys" are STILL figuring this out, Unity 2018.1 with their High Definition Render Pipeline (HD RP) (Preview) -- what chance does amateurs have? Yes, we see engines like Irrlicht but that is a steep learning curve for non-technical people.

We've seen SOME limited success. Back when Quake 2 was popular we Cube 2: Sauerbraten as a good example of the community coming together to produce something "good."

Open Source engines have typically performed like crap. I've posted in the past

how Mike Acton reviewed Ogre 1.9's OrgreNode.cpp pointing out its horrible design and performance.

As a result Orge 2.x game up with a gameplan -- they put together a PDF of how OOP screwed their performance over.

Turns out, Mike Acton was right. They ended up with a 5x performance increase by ditching OOP and using DOD.

How many people own Jason's quintessential engine development book Game Engine Architecture? How many understand it?

* Too many cooks in the kitchen.

C++ is "good" example of "Design by committee." Everybody has their favorite pet peeve bloating the core user experience until it is an over-engineered clusterfuck.

You'll notice that almost all of the

AC can't even get their complaint right...

Unity's original platform was MacOS, and was designed to be cross-platform, and succeeds quite well at it.

Linux & SteamOS are explicitly supported, and have been for a while...

I've been playing the 64-bit version of Kerbal Space Program (which uses Unity3D) on Linux for probably four years at this point.

There is no app I would ever get sucked into "renting", ever.

And what would you recommend for web animation now that Adobe Animate CC is rental-only?

Full scene animation or small games. Use Unity or a similar tool that can export to WebGL.

Unity is also a rental: $420 per seat per year until your entire company has $200,000 in annual revenue, then $1500 per seat per year. (Sources: "Subscription! Why?", "Evolution of our products and pricing", and "Unity Pro, Unity Plus and Unity Personal Software Additional Terms") So that rules out Unity by markdavis's standard. Which "similar tool that can export to WebGL" did you have in mind?

There is no app I would ever get sucked into "renting", ever.

And what would you recommend for web animation now that Adobe Animate CC is rental-only?

Full scene animation or small games. Use Unity or a similar tool that can export to WebGL.

Unity is also a rental: $420 per seat per year until your entire company has $200,000 in annual revenue, then $1500 per seat per year. (Sources: "Subscription! Why?", "Evolution of our products and pricing", and "Unity Pro, Unity Plus and Unity Personal Software Additional Terms") So that rules out Unity by markdavis's standard. Which "similar tool that can export to WebGL" did you have in mind?

There is no app I would ever get sucked into "renting", ever.

And what would you recommend for web animation now that Adobe Animate CC is rental-only?

Full scene animation or small games. Use Unity or a similar tool that can export to WebGL.

Unity is also a rental: $420 per seat per year until your entire company has $200,000 in annual revenue, then $1500 per seat per year. (Sources: "Subscription! Why?", "Evolution of our products and pricing", and "Unity Pro, Unity Plus and Unity Personal Software Additional Terms") So that rules out Unity by markdavis's standard. Which "similar tool that can export to WebGL" did you have in mind?

Unity is a great game engine.... oh wait...

http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/9675/is-unity-engine-written-in-monoc-or-c.html

"The Unity runtime is written in C/C++. [...] The editor is built on the Unity runtime and additionally includes editor-specific C/C++ binaries."
--AngryAnt (Emil Johansen), Ex Unity Technologies

"Unity is written in C++, with the following exceptions: [...] There is hardly any functionality in UnityEngine.dll, the only thing it does is relay your c#/javascript calls into the C++ part of Unity. Without the C++ part there is nothing."
--Lucas Meijer, Unity

http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/9675/is-unity-engine-written-in-monoc-or-c.html

"The Unity runtime is written in C/C++. [...] The editor is built on the Unity runtime and additionally includes editor-specific C/C++ binaries."
--AngryAnt (Emil Johansen), Ex Unity Technologies

"Unity is written in C++, with the following exceptions: [...] There is hardly any functionality in UnityEngine.dll, the only thing it does is relay your c#/javascript calls into the C++ part of Unity. Without the C++ part there is nothing."
--Lucas Meijer, Unity

Chrome is actually significantly faster with WebGL / GPU accelerated content

Got a benchmark for that? This WebGL benchmark says otherwise.

> I imagine that Unity and Unreal both have a plethora of off the shelf modules for doing DRM.

Nope and nope. They don't waste their time when:

a) Other people already provide solutions (e.g. Denuvo, etc.)
b) they could be working on improving their toolset instead.

> What's your experience with integrating DRM with your games in recent years? How long does it take?

Depends on which platform. On consoles you (usually) don't have to do anything.

On PC: Anywhere from minutes (Steam) to days.

Also, DRM causes you to re-test *everything*.

> I used to be a pirate, back in the days when CDROM was all the rage ... Considering the sophistication of some of the cracks I used, I'm guessing it took a hacker a considerable amount of time breaking the DRM for the game as well.

Before I became a professional game developer I _cracked_ games on 8-bit (Apple), 16-bit and 32-bit (PC). "Cracking" took anywhere from minutes to hours.

> I don't think a hacker will bother breaking DRM on a game retailing for $20.

Incorrect.

We do it for the challenge -- the price of the game is irrelevant -- although the price will tend to reflect the difficulty of protection employed. One would naturally expect a $60 game to have better protection then a $20 game.

The _fastest_ way to motivate a programmer is to tell him he can't do something.

2. define competitive

Okay. Competitive: Firefox is faster.

Games. Flash games. While the performance of Flash is not on par with native compiled code, it still outperforms AJAX/HTML5 solutions by orders of magnitude.

I don't know where you got that idea from. HTML5 and WebGL are plenty fast enough. HTML5 games like HexGL and Ga.me have been around for a long time and work well. Even Disney uses WebGL a lot for their online games, like the Star Wars Aracde games.

dogged desire to clone Chrome in all ways except performance

Meh, Firefox and Microsoft Edge outperform Chrome so I'm glad they're not cloning the performance.

You can just target Unity on Universal Windows Platform (UWP) today using Visual Studio Community to target PC. All of this is free, at least for small scale personal use (read the licensing yourself to be sure.)

Porting to the Xbox One using this dev environment should be extremely straightforward - the whole idea is the UWP is the same on Xbox, desktop PC and Phone, and doing exactly this (running a Unity/UWP game) is what is demonstrated in this article. The hard part should, in theory, be adding gamepad support rather than just mouse and/or touch!

Have faith:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-on-linux-release-notes-and-known-issues.350256/

Benchmark: http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/12/15/updated-webgl-benchmark-results/

Odd. On Unity's performance benchmarks in 2014 and 2015 Firefox outperforms the rest. Why not work the problem with Firefox's built-in profiler or the profiler add-on? It's pretty easy to use.

Odd. On Unity's performance benchmarks in 2014 and 2015 Firefox outperforms the rest. Why not work the problem with Firefox's built-in profiler or the profiler add-on? It's pretty easy to use.

Yes, this is mostly memory related. Browsers have a tendency to either crash when parsing all the code, or to run out of memory when trying to allocate the memory for the game itself (which emscripten implements using a single big array of bytes in JavaScript). See http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual...

They just released a beta build (with a .deb) last last week.

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/...

Already out, although in a very buggy form and not in the repository.

For games though, there are still far more (and better) web games for Flash than there are for noFlash.

I'd agree with more but not better. What's an example of a Flash game that's better than HTML5 games like DeadTrigger 2 or AngryBots or HexGL or Bejeweled or Browser Quest or the GA.ME games. I don't think Flash games have any technical edge over HTML5 games these days.

The PS4's user interface is implemented in WebGL. Don Olmstead gave a talk on its development and optimization.

For games though, there are still far more (and better) web games for Flash than there are for noFlash.

I'd agree with more but not better. What's an example of a Flash game that's better than HTML5 games like DeadTrigger 2 or AngryBots or HexGL or Bejeweled or Browser Quest or the GA.ME games. I don't think Flash games have any technical edge over HTML5 games these days.

The PS4's user interface is implemented in WebGL. Don Olmstead gave a talk on its development and optimization.

Uses more resources? Yep, both CPU cycles and memory, just compare Flash/VP8 to HTML V5 H.264 of the same quality and you'll find its a pig.

Well just use VP8 for HTML5 video then since you claim it's better on the CPU.

when it comes to animation and gaming HTML V5 isn't anywhere as good as Flash

Adobe Edge Animate is good for HTML5 animation. I'm not sure what you mean for gaming. Are you saying that Flash delivers something far superior to HTML5 games like HexGL or AngryBots or DeadTrigger 2? Seems unlikely.

Uses more resources? Yep, both CPU cycles and memory, just compare Flash/VP8 to HTML V5 H.264 of the same quality and you'll find its a pig.

Well just use VP8 for HTML5 video then since you claim it's better on the CPU.

when it comes to animation and gaming HTML V5 isn't anywhere as good as Flash

Adobe Edge Animate is good for HTML5 animation. I'm not sure what you mean for gaming. Are you saying that Flash delivers something far superior to HTML5 games like HexGL or AngryBots or DeadTrigger 2? Seems unlikely.

even then it wouldn't work very well since the sound is separate from the animation

Sound being separate from the animation seems to work well with HTML5.

While I have never work in C# myself, the ability stop code in a debugger, write some code, and then continue executing (compiling your code in real-time) seemed like a really awesome feature (as a C++ guy, we don't get to do this).

The Unity engine is also quite popular and an increasingly popular choice is C# for use with it.

Maybe Microsoft can make one useful invention every decade?;)

There are some interesting open source scripting languages out there like Angel Script which allows you to add features to games without recompiling the whole thing. This also simplifies addition of modding support and allows to choose which scripts are available in readable format. Not sure how secure the whole approach is but my friend who wrote a complete voxel engine seams to think it is a pretty good idea. At the very least it is a good idea in a single player game. Crap I had to deal with when modding Skyrim for example didn't seam very impressive in comparison.

While I have never work in C# myself, the ability stop code in a debugger, write some code, and then continue executing (compiling your code in real-time) seemed like a really awesome feature (as a C++ guy, we don't get to do this).

The Unity engine is also quite popular and an increasingly popular choice is C# for use with it.

Maybe Microsoft can make one useful invention every decade?;)

If you are a developer, market share shouldn't concern you too much, as it changes every month when something new comes to market. Installed base is what most people would go by.
There are very few reliable means of collecting installed base stats, but a cross-platform SDK from an ISV who isnt affiliated with any of the platform providers, powering many popular games would probably be a good first stop

I'm not saying they can't do a good game, it's just that they're not quite there yet.

I vote with my wallet and commend them for their lack of DRM in the past. Not to mention they take care of their customers.

For cross platform I'd add Bioware and Blizzard to that. Not Bethesda, they do good games, but they seriously need more solid QA. It's sad to think that their least buggy console game on the PS3 was Oblivion

Simply criminal. A vanilla experience robbed of Bethesda's strength: mods. Bioware was once a powerhouse, Mass Effect 3? Blizzard releases are strong.

As much as that feature is appealing to some do you think that they should dedicate dev time to duplicate functionality already in other applications or the OS?

Games do this all the time, take widgets for example. Typically the engines feature media playback functionality or a sound library is licensed, and judging by the glut of media players out there, they're not exactly taxing to write. The Xbox has games that do exactly this.

There are plenty of ways to get cross-platform w/o using a web browser. Embarcadero

Doesn't look cross platform to me. For example: it appears as if there is no Linux support. The iOS support is a native app which put you at the whim of the Apple approval process. I don't consider that to be cross platform. Web apps aren't subject to that process.

There is no market for linux applications - the key word being "Market". You can't make a living selling your software, unlike BSD, OSX, Windows, iOS, and the Android runtime. Also, your claim that "it's subject to Apple's whims" is so bogus it's not a joke. This applies to ANY product being developed for iOS - your claim was that there were no cross-platform tools, which you are now trying to back up with lies by not just moving the goalposts, but by using made-up definitions that nobody else recognizes. It's really insulting.

or for 2d/3d games, etc, there's Unity, which also supports iOS and Android, PS3/4, XBox360/One, Blackberry, Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.

There are 2 reason to continue to use a browse: one is "because that's what we've been doing so far," the other is "we don't want to learn how to write real code". The "we target it because everyone has a browser" argument is bogus - browsers have been used to download and install programs for ages.

Your first objection isn't always the case. I am aware of development teams who have never developed for the web before and are now starting to because it's a viable platform for rich applications.

As for writing "real code"? How condescending and patently untrue. Downloading an application is not the same thing as developing once and running on multiple platforms.

So how is that web platform doing without an internet connection? Also, there's no viable market for Linux applications - the key word being "market", like in "we can sell a million copies and make tons of money."

And people who are just now turning to the web platform are SO far behind the times that they are not credible examples, unless you're looking for examples of still-living dinosaurs.

As for writing "real code"? How condescending and patently untrue. Downloading an application is not the same thing as developing once and running on multiple platforms.

Of course it's not the same. Never said it was. It's better. And contrary to your claim the tools are now out there to allow developers to support multiple platforms. Unlike web applications, which run on only one platform - the web browser. Good luck with that when the server goes down or you have a high-latency (or no) connection, or the company building the web app is no longer in business. In that last case, you're dead in the water, whereas even some of those old dBASE apps are still running today.

They're called web monkeys for a reason. Most of them cannot write real code. They're like a million monkeys banging on a million keyboards and throwing whatever comes out against the wall to see what sticks, like monkeys do with their poo.

But they sure do love their "google for it and cut-n-paste mad skillz" But they can't run with the big dogs.

There are plenty of ways to get cross-platform w/o using a web browser. Embarcadero

Doesn't look cross platform to me. For example: it appears as if there is no Linux support. The iOS support is a native app which put you at the whim of the Apple approval process. I don't consider that to be cross platform. Web apps aren't subject to that process.

or for 2d/3d games, etc, there's Unity, which also supports iOS and Android, PS3/4, XBox360/One, Blackberry, Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.

There are 2 reason to continue to use a browse: one is "because that's what we've been doing so far," the other is "we don't want to learn how to write real code". The "we target it because everyone has a browser" argument is bogus - browsers have been used to download and install programs for ages.

Your first objection isn't always the case. I am aware of development teams who have never developed for the web before and are now starting to because it's a viable platform for rich applications.

As for writing "real code"? How condescending and patently untrue. Downloading an application is not the same thing as developing once and running on multiple platforms.

Application development tools from Embarcadero are the development solution of choice for millions of software developers. Build and deploy industrial strength business ready truly native connected apps for Windows, Mac, mobile, and the Internet of Things, fast. Build apps using the same source codebase without sacrificing app quality, connectivity or performance. With native app support across all major platforms, developers can reach the largest addressable digital markets in the world.

or for 2d/3d games, etc, there's Unity, which also supports iOS and Android, PS3/4, XBox360/One, Blackberry, Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.

There are 2 reason to continue to use a browse: one is "because that's what we've been doing so far," the other is "we don't want to learn how to write real code". The "we target it because everyone has a browser" argument is bogus - browsers have been used to download and install programs for ages.

http://unity3d.com/get-unity Kind of. It's free in that you can download it and make games with it. When you start getting into the "enterprisey" type features then you have to pay. Also if your company made $100,000 making games last year then you have to pay (or some number like that).

I second Unity 3d.
- There are loads of tutorials at all levels on YouTube and various blogs and forums
- The free version is extremely capable and includes a code editor (Mono Develop)
- You can make both 2d and 3d games
- Programming isn't strictly necessary, at least to get started
- When you do start programming, it has powerful languages, both C# and Javascript
- A surprisingly high percentage of modern games are made with it, on mobile, PC, and console
- If you make something good, you can upgrade later to the pro version and publish to app stores

As a professional game developer myself, I've been very pleased with it as a good all-around solution, compared to other readily-downloadable engines or frameworks.

Hide nothing from him for game development.
He can't have total focus on any particular aspect and be able to ship anything.
Buy this kid a new gaming-class computer every 2 years.
This investment could save you $100,000 in college tuition fees.

This may be advanced, but worth a shot: Game Theory

As far as gameplay goes, follow the mantra of Dwarf Fortress and FTL, "Losing is Fun!".
Occasionally place players in impossible situations so they can experience failure while trying their best.
A game that's too easy or too linear gets dropped quickly.

Maybe he'll pick up the art side as well and make a game before he's out of high school.
8 years is long enough for a really good game, even designed/developed solo - Uplink had 3 devs, Banished is a 1-man shop.
I started programming at age 15 - within a year of getting my 1st computer.
I could have done it earlier, but didn't have the $2000+ required in those days.

More resources
Unity 3d
Playmaker - an AI design tool using zero code.
Blender
Blender Guru
character rigging

Quick assets (some free):
CG Textures
Open Game Art
Turbo Squid

Easy scenery:
Terrain - Terragen
Plants - Speedtree

One of the largest cross platform gaming engines today is based on Mono the open source implementation of .NET

http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual...

From mono also comes...

http://xamarin.com/

A very good cross platform development tool for developing mobile apps.

The CLI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Language_Infrastructure) was always open. Microsoft has worked with Mono developers from the get go and has even funded them...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.p...

The notion that this is a recent renaissance is a complete fallacy. Microsoft understands that like any other company that when people leverage your technologies there are many opportunities to make money.

Open Source is not inconsistent with their strategies, which are all about making money and dominating the market, like every other company on the planet.

Unity, Java, and Facebook Video might be problematic however. I guess we'll have to wait and see if Chrome users are important enough for the respective companies to redevelop their plugins.

Unity's moving to WebGL and has been working on it for a while:
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/...
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/...

The Unity5 beta supports it, but I'd be surprised if the final release is out before Chrome drops NPAPI. WebGL's not terribly mature yet either, mind you, so I doubt that for most people it would be perfectly seamless switch on the day the NPAPI switch hits anyway. Some extra time would have been helpful I'm sure, but from the sounds of it, Unity understands why browsers are going the direction they are, and are just focused on getting WebGL out as quickly as they can.

No idea as to what Java/FBVideo are planning, but maybe someone else can chime in there.

Unity, Java, and Facebook Video might be problematic however. I guess we'll have to wait and see if Chrome users are important enough for the respective companies to redevelop their plugins.

Unity's moving to WebGL and has been working on it for a while:
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/...
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/...

The Unity5 beta supports it, but I'd be surprised if the final release is out before Chrome drops NPAPI. WebGL's not terribly mature yet either, mind you, so I doubt that for most people it would be perfectly seamless switch on the day the NPAPI switch hits anyway. Some extra time would have been helpful I'm sure, but from the sounds of it, Unity understands why browsers are going the direction they are, and are just focused on getting WebGL out as quickly as they can.

No idea as to what Java/FBVideo are planning, but maybe someone else can chime in there.

Maybe you're just really out of touch? Most game companies do not start from scratch, but uses whatever engines they can get their hands on. Mostly they'll settle for just one engine if possible, or combine them in a standardized fashion.

Now that commercial-grade engines are available free-as-in-beer, game development has truly arrived for the masses:
http://unity3d.com/

(I'm in no way connected to Unity3D)

Remember, there are many ways to skin a cat. But starting by building your own knives is not optimal.

You mean high level like http://unity3d.com/unity ?

Help menu -> report a bug... Do you think it needs to be easier?
There's the issue tracker( http://issuetracker.unity3d.co... ) for submitting other bugs... and this gives a very loose guide to what issues bug people the most...

*Every* bug gets checked and seen!

The problem a lot of the time is working out which bug needs to be fixed first by the limited resources we have...

Some people want to make a profit, some don't. It gives the people who want to make a few dollars of their model get paid, and lets those who just want to make something offer theirs free. See https://www.assetstore.unity3d... for an example of this now. If you don't have all the skills to make a game, you can still make money off of selling assets.

I have no idea how this will go, but it will be interesting.

https://store.unity3d.com/
$1500 gets you the pro version, or $75 a month. That's not thousands.
Android and iOS are another chunk of cash each but are not required unless you're targeting those pro features.

Of course you can use and release free if you don't need the pro features...

And what financial risk are they taking? If I make a game and it flops badly with no sales they are still ahead by my monthly subscription.

As others have said - find something you enjoy programming. I started making games for mobile a couple of years ago using Unity3D and Mono/C# - it ticks a lot of boxes for me, just enough coding, just enough creativity and other bits, just enough story telling. If you get bored of one bit you try another and eventually you get there. Plus you learn something about your target platforms along the way.

Games or mobile might not be the way you rediscover your joy but there is bound to be some great tech out there that you just can't wait to get your teeth into. Word to the wise - Kinect and Leap are not it.

Right now Unity3d can target Linux, which is leaps and bounds in the right direction, but it really needs a native Linux development environment to be really useful.

The forum feedback page for a native Linux Unity3d editor has been around for over 3 years, received almost double the number of votes of the next highest issue in the feedback pages, and we're still waiting on it.

The impression I'm left with is that even those who produce a sophisticated enough gaming engine or system that can be genuinely competitive in that industry, and who might actually have some support for Linux aren't generally taking Linux seriously as a game development platform. Until that happens, I don't see Linux gaming going anywhere...even with what Valve is doing with it these days.

Why the hell does Linux or SteamOS need to be a development environment? Are people developing on iPads, PS3s or Wiis??

Get a grip guys, SteamOS needs to be a great environment for gamers and users. That's a tall order... forget what IDE's are available, how will it manage audio devices like headsets, and will surround sound work or be downmixed correctly, how will more than one person use it, will HMDI-CEC work, will power saving modes work well, what will keep background processes from affecting a running game, how will you back up user data that isn't cloud synced, how will multitasking work, will cheaters/hackers have their steam ID's banned?

Right now Unity3d can target Linux, which is leaps and bounds in the right direction, but it really needs a native Linux development environment to be really useful.

The forum feedback page for a native Linux Unity3d editor has been around for over 3 years, received almost double the number of votes of the next highest issue in the feedback pages, and we're still waiting on it.

The impression I'm left with is that even those who produce a sophisticated enough gaming engine or system that can be genuinely competitive in that industry, and who might actually have some support for Linux aren't generally taking Linux seriously as a game development platform. Until that happens, I don't see Linux gaming going anywhere...even with what Valve is doing with it these days.