Google Gets Quake II Running In HTML5

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."

Comments

Art is not redistributable.

[pavon]

From the project FAQ:

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:Demostration of what?

[binarylarry]

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/

Re:Installation Instructions?

[cduffy]

Also, it presently needs a dev version of chrome started with a command line parameter that disables some sandboxing features.

Re:How about OpenQuartz?

[SanityInAnarchy]

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.