I have an all Java game implementation.
Applets, Applications, and Servlets are used.
It is called Web Earth Online and can be found at:
http://www.WebEarthOnline.com
Best Regards,
Chester Alan Godsy
:o
Wow!!!
Is there any chance we will see a full screen web start version? 
I like the Chief Seattle quote 
I have the whole letter, one of the greatest texts that ever landed on paper.
Erik
Argh… doesn’t look like it works through a firewall does it? :-/
really nice,
appears as if you have an intricate set of algorithms working
the world - impressive.
Larry
[quote]I have an all Java game implementation.
Applets, Applications, and Servlets are used.
It is called Web Earth Online and can be found at:
http://www.WebEarthOnline.com
Best Regards,
Chester Alan Godsy
[/quote]
Looks nice, but it’s buggy - the whole login system is a bit screwed; one time in three, after loading, I get “critical error; close all browser windows and restart”. This is really not a good thing to say - like many people, I have tens of browser windows open at once.
Also, there seem to be race conditions so that you end up logging in as a character that you shouldn’t have been. It’s very confusing.
In game, the UI is half excellent, half appalling. The great bit is that it’s very intuitive. The terrible bit is that it’s very very very jerky, extremely unpleasant to play. I don’t know what client-server protocol it’s using, but it appears VERY inefficient (e.g. 2 seconds for most actions to register, up to 5 seconds frequently). This is approximately equal to playing an FPS at less than 5 fps! It’s PAINFUL!
Other than that, it’s a nice original game. Various other higher-level usability issues (like, it’s very hard to know what the heck is going on a lot of the time!).
[quote]Argh… doesn’t look like it works through a firewall does it? :-/
[/quote]
It does if the firewall will pass IP ports 9001 and 9002.
[quote] :o
Wow!!!
Is there any chance we will see a full screen web start version?
I like the Chief Seattle quote
I have the whole letter, one of the greatest texts that ever landed on paper.
Erik
[/quote]
I am working on that next. I guess I am here looking for ways to improve the client technology. The client is a 100% pure applet that runs on JDK 1.1 And applets are really weak. I would like to use something like Direct X with Java. Any clues on how to do that? I would love to see the whole quote. Perhaps you could email a copy of you have an electronic version?
[quote]really nice,
appears as if you have an intricate set of algorithms working
the world - impressive.
Larry
[/quote]
Thanks.
The worlds are fully interactive and alive.
Players are raising families of animals along with computer run ones in real time.
The reason I am here looking on sun related sites is to improve the client technology. This client is 100% Java applet (JDK 1.1 compatible) and that is a very weak platform (to be kind). Java applet technology is full of bugs and memory management problems especially with OS’s like win 98, ME. I am really not sure I can stay with Java for the client. But if I could do something like Java mixed with Direct X I might be in business. I am wondering what successful commercial developers are using? And what some of the options are for better game clients?
your problem is limiting yourself to 1.1. if you’re willing to reach the point of considering directX (why you are interested in doing htat instead of opengl i’m not sure…) you should try out a modern version of java first. you can do some pretty good stuff with 100% java
1.1 is what Microsoft ships with Explorer which has over 90% of the browser market. New users trying something tend to be reluctant to want to install software. If I am going to have them install a new JRE, then I might as well install about anything at that point. You mentioned opengl. Do you happen to know any links which are good for investigating this? I noticed that the commercial developer that was spot lighted on java-gaming.org “Legacy Interactive” who produced Law and Order appears to be using some Java and DirectX. Does anyone know any specifics on which technologies their games are based?
They use Java3D ™ except on MacOS where they ported the whole thing over to GL4Java.
Kev
[quote]I am working on that next. I guess I am here looking for ways to improve the client technology. The client is a 100% pure applet that runs on JDK 1.1 And applets are really weak. I would like to use something like Direct X with Java. Any clues on how to do that? I would love to see the whole quote. Perhaps you could email a copy of you have an electronic version?
[/quote]
If you want to keep the 1.1 users, would it be possible to keep your 1.1 client and add an enhanced webstart enabled 1.4 client which for example uses LWJGL for openGL/openAL? I suppose gameplay happens on the server anyway.
Please don’t use directX as you will be limiting yourself to Microsoft. Use openGL/openAL instead.
There’s only one way to get rid of the ugly MS 1.1 VM and that is to start supporting 1.4
I’ll see if I can find the Chief Seattle letter electronically and send it to you
Erik
Would you know where to get more info on an “enhanced webstart enabled 1.4 client” ?
Thanks ahead for looking into the quote.
[quote]1.1 is what Microsoft ships with Explorer which has over 90% of the browser market.
[/quote]
I’m afraid you’ve been badly misinformed. Microsoft is shipping MUCH more recent versions of java to all windows users who bought windows before Jan/Feb this year. I’ve had 1.4-compiled code working fine on the current MSIE JVM - I haven’t checked which version of the Java libraries MS supports yet, but it seems pretty recent.
And, FWVLIW, Explorer’s share of the market is a massive chunk less than 90%.
If “what does the user already have installed on their PC” is the ONLY thing in your decision of what language/etc to use, then I would politely suggest you need to take another look at your decision-process.
You should Visual Basic, since you’re happy with windows-only code. There’s really no reason to use anything else!
Unless, that is, you have a more typical set of requirements, such as:
- how well supported the platform is
- how buggy the platform is
- what the performance is
- how easy it is to maintain the code
- how easy it is to do network code, and maintain it (often, this is important in it’s own right, when it comes to client-server games)
- what other languages can be executed from within your platform
With all those in mind, DirectX is a really bad idea; it really isn’t designed for the stuff you are currently doing. I would very strongly suggest you use Flash, Shockwave, or similar, based on my guesses at your actual needs.
Since you already have a significant amount of code in Java, I’d suggest that Java is actually quite a good language to carry on coding in. After the Macromedia products (Flash, etc), I’d probably recommend Java in the “second best” category for your purposes.
There are probably two problems you are having with Java at the moment:
- You are using an implemenation that has thousands of unfixed bugs
- You are not using OO programming properly.
If you switch to something else, and your problems are mainly in category 2, you should use anything that is non-OO, or else your life is not going to get any easier.
If your problems are mainly in category 1, then (as suggested by others above) you will probably be VERY happy if you start using technology less than 6 years out of date (yes, 1.1 really is that old - although bugfixes carried on a little more recently than that).
I just ran a test on this machine which has a version of IE which shipped last december running on Windows XP and has just been rev’ed up with current MS services packs. The JDK version reported via a Java Applet is 1.1.4 Period. I am not misinformed about this. It is you who are misinformed.
I just read this article the other day.
It states that MS has over 95% of the market
Article:
… Microsoft’s decision could make it more difficult for Macintosh users hoping to access Web content that is tailored for the Internet Explorer, which, like Windows, has more than a 95 percent market share. Microsoft’s Sommer said that the two companies were talking over user content compatibility issues between future versions of IE and Safari …
source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030617/wr_nm/tech_microsoft_apple_dc_3
Yes, the MS VM is 1.1.4. They’re not even allowed to produce a newer version at the moment if they would want to (which they don’t).
[quote]You should Visual Basic, since you’re happy with windows-only code.
[/quote]
I suppose using java for these kinds of games is not all about platform independance. It’s also the ultra easy deployment.
If you’d do it in VB, there’s a good chance a lot less people will try it out due the VB’s runtime environment issues and inconsistencies (never saw the ‘wrong version of vbrun.dll’ dialog?).
VB code is just not very suitable for internet deployment.
And I’m then we haven’t even discussed VB’s suitability for games development.
[quote]Would you know where to get more info on an “enhanced webstart enabled 1.4 client” ?
[/quote]
What I meant is just a new version of the client of your game (the applet), but not using an applet but making it a java application deployed through Java Web Start (which is part of the 1.4 JRE distribution) and utilizing java 1.4’s capabilities.
For more info on Java Web Start:
http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/architecture.html
If you have java 1.4 and a 3D video card, you could have a look at http://www.mycgiserver.com/~movegaga/cosmictrip.html and see how Java Web Start works from the user’s perspective.
It uses java webstart to install itself together with the native API’s needed for openGL access. </shameless plug>
[quote]Yes, the MS VM is 1.1.4. They’re not even allowed to produce a newer version at the moment if they would want to (which they don’t).
I suppose using java for these kinds of games is not all about platform independance. It’s also the ultra easy deployment.
If you’d do it in VB, there’s a good chance a lot less people will try it out due the VB’s runtime environment issues and inconsistencies (never saw the ‘wrong version of vbrun.dll’ dialog?).
VB code is just not very suitable for internet deployment.
And I’m then we haven’t even discussed VB’s suitability for games development.
[/quote]
Easy deployment is important in my opinion. I own an engineering company and we deploy VB applications and the ‘deployability’ with VB is deplorable.
I will check out the rest. Thanks for the input.
Who cares about whether Microsoft (damned Bill Gates) is going to ship a current version of Java? Microsoft probably won’t go along with the Sun VM and will probably cheat by adding some Microsoft Incorporated crap. >:(
I heard that Dell and, I think, Compaq… or was it Gateway… are going to ship Java 1.4.2 compatible Windows XP machines in 2004. They have some kind of deal with Sun.
[quote]Who cares about whether Microsoft (damned Bill Gates) is going to ship a current version of Java?
[/quote]
It would help the availability of java a great deal. Unfortunately, this would never happen as Microsoft sees java as a threat.