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3D Freeciv-Web (Beta) Released (freeciv.org)
It's the open source web version of the classic Linux strategy game, and now Slashdot reader Andreas(R) -- one of its developers -- has an announcement.
Now the developers are working on bringing the game to the modern era with 3D WebGL graphics [and] a beta of the 3D WebGL version of Freeciv has been released today. The game will work on any device with a browser with HTML5 and WebGL support, and three gigabytes of RAM... It's a volunteer community development project and anyone is welcome to contribute to the project. Have fun and remember to sleep!
The developers of Freeciv-web are now also working on a VR version using Google Cardboard, according to the site, while the original Freeciv itself has still been maintained for over 20 years -- and apparently even has its own dedicated port number.
The developers of Freeciv-web are now also working on a VR version using Google Cardboard, according to the site, while the original Freeciv itself has still been maintained for over 20 years -- and apparently even has its own dedicated port number.
Why does it require so much memory? Is it because JavaScript is such an awful and inefficient language? It makes me laugh when JavaScript clones of old DOS games need multiple gigabytes of memory, while the original DOS games ran fine with only 1 or maybe 2 MB!
Any particular reason you can't manage to make it more memory efficient? I've done quite a bit of WebGL work, with both three.js and our own 3d libraries. While three.js isn't very efficient (compared to less general solutions) I can't imagine how poor the rest of the implementation must be to require 3 gigs of ram!
Is it something else, like tooling? Are your models just unnecessarily complex? Judging from the screenshots, that couldn't possibly be the case.
Something, I don't know what, has gone horribly wrong with your project.
You could blame the language if you want, but we've produced far more impressive things that require significantly fewer resources (1% of the memory requirement, for example.) using the same tech.*
I can only hope that you and your team are already well-aware of this problem and are actively working to remove whatever absurdity lead to these insane client requirements.
*(Well, not jQ or jQUI, as those are so obviously oversized and inefficient. They add no value. It's a massive waste, and an easy thing to cut out. Of course, with your ridiculous client requirements, it's just a drop in the bucket.)
Have you done any memory usage profiling to find out why it needs 3 GB of RAM?
If you haven't, you really should! Something sounds very wrong for a relatively simple game with simple 3D graphics to be using so much memory.
If you have, then you should be able to explain to us exactly why it uses so much memory. You should be able to give us details about the data being stored, for example, and any data structures being used.
Look at the screenshot in the announcement article.
Really, I insist that you take a look.
The graphics quality is rudimentary.
Somebody else described it as looking like "from the early 1990s". At first I thought that was an exaggeration, but it isn't. To be blunt, it looks worse than games from that time period.
I don't see how anyone can justify 3D graphics of such a low quality requiring 3 GB or more of RAM! It's unjustifiable, as far as I'm concerned.