Monthly Archives: March 2012

BrowserQuest: A Massively Multiplayer Game in HTML5 and JavaScript

Imagine a massively multiplayer game using HTML5 features, such as Canvas and WebSocket, that works in any modern browser. Ridiculous, you say? Then you haven’t seen BrowserQuest yet.

The clever demonstration, featured on the Mozilla Hacks blog, works on both desktops and mobile devices, in all it’s scrolling two-dimensional glory. It’s rendered on an HTML5 Canvas, uses WebSockets to stay in constant communication with the Node.js server, saves your progress with the local storage API, preloads the map in a different thread with Web Workers, plays sound with HTML5 Audio and even uses media queries to adapt to different devices. Oh, and the source code is all available on GitHub.

The game is largely exploring, hacking-and-slashing monsters along the way, while you collect achievements. It has chat, and you can find new items to replace your default gear, but no player-versus-player combat.

My laptop’s fans stayed far quieter than they would while playing a similar Flash game, which I would say says something about the level of optimization browsers have done when compared to OS X/Linux versions of Flash.

I think we’ll be seeing more games built this way in the near future, and 3D games once WebGL reaches the same level of maturity and browser support.

Prediction: Higher Resolution MacBooks Soon to Come

The addition of a 2048×1536 pixel “retina” display on the latest model of the iPad has created an interesting conundrum: many developers will no longer be able to fit the iOS Simulator on their computer screens. If you toggle it into the mode added…

BlogBuzz March 17, 2012

Thinking Async

I’ve written about loading JavaScript asynchronously in the past, as it’s a great way to decrease load times and prevent hang-ups when third-party scripts don’t load properly. But Chris Coyier has went and compiled the definitive guide. It covers the basic concepts and reasons…

What to Do After You Install Ubuntu Server in VMwware Fusion

I recently installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu Server in a VMware Fusion virtual machine, so I could test some things out locally. (It’s a great way to set up a local development server with a similar configuration to your production server.) The initial…

BlogBuzz March 10, 2012

Scripting News Hits 15 Year Mark, and Other Really Old Websites

Back in the spring of 1997, Dave Winer launched a website known as Scripting News. It was one of the first sites that would come to be known as weblogs, or simply “blogs.” Mr. Winer is famous for his involvement with the development of…

What is a Kibibyte?

If there are eight bits in a byte, how many bytes are there in a kilobyte? If you’re familiar with computers, you might say 1,024, while someone who is less so may say 1,000. Who is right? Surprisingly, the person who answered 1,000 would…