Java situation and chances on the games market

General Discussions
#1

Like in topic - what do you think about current Java situation on the games market? Do you see any chances to change current situation and try to predict how popular in gamedev Java will be? Let the discussion begin! :slight_smile:

In my opinion currently Java is rather unpopular in gamedev (especially in comparison with C#/.NET), but situation is getting better and better, mostly thanks to Minecraft - I think it inspired many people to start programming. There are many incoming Java titles.

I am writing this mostly from PC point of view, I don’t know how situation looks on another platforms.

#2

Probably best to ask this question on a generic game dev site rather than a Java specific point of view, if you’re looking for an answer rather than micro-trolling then you’ll get a more useful answer there.

Cheers,

Kev

#3

Once Java applications (good) become separated from Java applets (bad), then things will improve.

#4

I think they should completely abondon applets - we have better alternatives and Java reputation is getting bad because of them. ::slight_smile:

#5

Java is a programming language, not a way of life.

If you know Java, the programming language, you’re in a pretty good place.

Honestly, I think Java is going the way the dinosaurs went. Being free and agile in your choice of languages is the way to go. Javascript is probably going to dominate the world (which it already is doing!).

#6

In all honesty if wasn’t targeting a browser based engine and a desktop platform I would have probably chosen. Net C# for jevaengine.

I think applets have a very poor reputation due to the constant escapes from the sandboxed environment they’re thrown into and this does, admittedly, make applets a huge and typically unworthy security risk for the users. Most browsers seem to be actively fighting against applets as well (took me a while to get firefox to let me enable my java plugin)

That said it is a real shame a crap language like as2 plus poor security maintenance beat out an infinitely more superior free and open sourced java. Seriously flash actionscript absolutely sucks (mind you my experiences are from as 2.0 - I hear 3.0 is much better.

Still, I do believe java has the potential to gain some control over the webbrowser game market - but not with standing the media attention it has now. Almost any security specialist will tell you to disable applets and never look back.

#7

customers dont know and dont even care as long as it just works for them (meaning packaging a private jre of course)

so the only difference is toolchain - if you need something the java toolchain doesn have, go C++