Some stuff about Java Gaming Generally:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1502&Itemid=2
More interesting reads on the SUN Game Server technology:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1418&Itemid=32
The game server on in particular was interesting read, for something we heard a tiny bit about then all seemed to go quiet.
Kev
So when is Sun releasing the needle point game? 
Endolf
hey look theres a screenshot of a LWJGL game, Tribal Trouble on that article! ;D
Gregory Pierce has an interessting point of view on javalobby’s thread (http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/m91952170.html) but too pessimistic in my opinion. He’s saying that java gaming techs are not for professionnal game developpers. I admit that on the console the market is impossible for many many years to come but in the PC I think the horizon looks much better with the few quality games alrady on the market: Puppy Games games, Puzzle Pirate, Tribal Trouble, Law and Order, … With all the quality librairies we already have, there is no reason why a company wouldn’t succeed on the PC in the consumer market. And here I don’t talk about casual gaming because we all know the horrible distribution problems caused by the JRE size and the so buggy webstart.
Another opinion I have is that if game companies are developping games in C/C++ with its related techs on the consoles then why those companies would like to use Java on the PC side? Multi-platform development you say (win, linux and mac)? Maybe but think about the cost of supporting 2 completly different set of techs at the same time? It’s rather more easy and less risky to support the already well known C/C++ games techs everywhere.
What do you think?
Pardon me if this post seems a bit rambly;
I’m employed as a game developer. We make games in flash, which is even more high level and encapsulating than java, and we really do make money.
So I disagree with the notion that you have to use C/C++ to develop commercially viable games. You can’t develop the next Half-Life in flash, granted, and you can’t develop the next gta in java and run it on a console.
I guess my point is “game development isn’t only about AAA titles”… especially nowadays when digital distribution is becoming increasingly simple.
Hopefully this whole java+gaming thing will lead to a couple of high-end java titles, and a buttload of original, fun, and interesting smaller games.
You know, like back when games were actually fun. 
I completely agree. I am still waiting (and eager ) to see high - end java title, there are all tools available now. As for interesting smaller games - I often think why , oh why, were Commodore64 games so addictive and so good. Because I was much younger or there were some “magic” unreachable by most today’s games… :-\
Well my point was about addressing game companies that produce AAA games, which is the most challenging market for Java if you want Java to become the SDK of choice in the future.
Those guys go where the users are, and users go where those guys are.
Neither of them have, nor need, java. :-\
The only ingredient missing from Tribal Trouble to make it a AAA title is a $1m advertising budget. Period. TT is an excellent game and worthy of Sun’s big attentions. Actually it’s worthy of several publishers’ big attentions except that Oddlabs wish to remain fairly independent, I believe.
Cas
I agree 100% with Cas here. TT is an AMAZING game, which I why I promote it at every turn (along with Alien Flux, I might add) when talking about Java and games. How do you think the Next-Gen guys found the right screen shot eh? It has Sun’s attention, but we are not a game company! We have the TT video on the front page of Java.Com where over 12m unique hits see it every month. We promote it as we can. I would love to see, from all the hits they get that turn into purchases, just how many come from Java.Com.
Why Ubi, EA or Atari has not picked it up is beyond me. When looking at games like Puzzle Pirates, the relentless promotion by Daniel James and crew is extrodinary. Here is a company that has made their own way, fought to get where they are, are present at the major conferences, build a name for themselves, etc. And they got picked up by Ubi.
-Chris
The former IMHO…the games weren’t better than today. In fact, they were worse. Get a C64 emulator, play some of them and see how long you can stand the gameplay and the graphics. There are a few games that are timeless…like Impossible Mission, Bruce Lee and (or course) Paradroid. But there is so much crap available. I can hardly believe that i used to play that s*** twenty years ago. The magic is not within the games, it’s within the nostalgia related to them.
[quote]Get a C64 emulator, play some of them and see how long you can stand the gameplay{/quote]
I agree. I tried that with elite, I can’t believe I used to do that to play game, it really did suck.
[/quote]
I suppose you are half right. Othe half is the fact that our brain is USED to see brilliant graphical effects, sounds, and everything commercial games have nowdays. So you cant play something from the past with your mind empty which results in “I cant beleive I played that”. That happened to me, too. with “Maniac Mansion”.
And I would add another timeless game - “Project: Firestart”.
[quote]I agree. I tried that with elite, I can’t believe I used to do that to play game, it really did suck.
[/quote]
Elite is really an awesome classic! Amazing how they could cram a whole 3D universe in less than about 40kb with even some missions thrown in. Probably the first of a genre. It just didn’t age very well (unlike Ms. Pacman or Galaga which are still as much fun today as they were then :-))
Civilization, Doom, UFO (later renamed X-Com), and Dune 2 are examples of games that are still definitely playable, and all of them are more innovative than Day of Allied Duty 2: United Assault or Halo 4: Electric Boogaloo will ever be.
Sure, the graphics on those games suck compared to Half-Doom 4, but that’s because hardware back then sucked.
I want to return to the time when relatively small teams still had room to innovate and come up with new ideas. I don’t want to see the gaming industry turn into another movie industry (or worse yet, another music industry) where only the most watered down and generic mass-market megahits get a chance.
Java and digital distribution will hopefully do this, by letting people develop nice games using free, simple and powerful tools, and then letting them market them without having to first get a publishing contract.
As for Tribal Trouble, it most certainly isn’t an AAA game like Tony Hawks Underground Speed for Burnout Revenge (specifically because of the lack of funding for advertisement and polish-until-it-bleeds-so-your-grandmother-will-like-it), but hopefully that won’t stop it from being a success.
And more importantly, I hope it won’t stop others from doing what those guys did. I want games like TT.
We absolutely love the free exposure we get from java.com! From a quick glance at the referrer stats, we get something like 30% of our online sales from java.com. So that’s definitely a positive thing about being a java game.
We’ve tried a few of the major publishers, but they simply don’t seem that interested. Right now, we’re focusing on smaller publishers like halycon (who is doing the marketing and publishing in germany) and on the Mac market.