rswgame 2.0?

[sun-e]

How easy and playerfriendly will be an browser based rswgame? Or playable with app on smartphone?

[drwr]

I'd love to have such a thing, because people expect games to be played in-browser these days. The world seems to be leaning hard against downloaded game clients.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at the time I wrote the current game client, in the early 2000's; there was no such thing as an in-browser game back then (at least, not in the sense that we have them now). And it took me about two years of my free time to write the current game client, which is fundamentally not an in-browser game. It would presumably take me another two years of work to rewrite it to be an in-browser game.

As much as I love the game, it's unrealistic for me to expend that level of effort for the benefit of the small community that seems to enjoy long-form games like this.

David

[sun-e]

Hm, must be possible to write a "browser client" and use the API to the server like the client...

[JimE]

I've been thinking along browser lines also. Maybe Java/Javascript? It would certainly handle any graphics needed.

I'd be happy to collaborate on anything that arises. Although I'd be less than a novice at either language.

Have a look at the Coding Train on YouTube. It has numerous examples of live coding to get graphical output. He also shows how to add user input devices.

There is also the possibility that new/young players might be attracted to a web interface.

[sun-e]

I guess, with a nice web interface like NEPTUNES PRIDE the playercount will increase pretty mich. Starweb is a great game and I am boring and wondering about tick based browsergames or games like civ, where a match in multiplayer counts few hundred rounds.

[pjtr]

And it took me about two years of my free time to write the current game client, which is fundamentally not an in-browser game. It would presumably take me another two years of work to rewrite it to be an in-browser game.

Thank you for your work. From experience in running a free turn based game [1], I know the magnitude of the time investment for hobby game development first hand. Out of cusiosity: Do you have a rough absolute time estimate?

I am not sure whether RSW really fits the current demographic of the market, and how easy the UI/GUI is translatable to a simplified mobile interface.

I guess, with a nice web interface like NEPTUNES PRIDE the playercount will increase pretty mich.

This is a hypothesis. Do you have any arguments to back that up? From a quick Google search it does not seem like Neptune's Pride has increased humoungously [2,3].

My take is that certain categories of games will stay in the market, albeit in the super passionate player niche. At least Atlantis, Olympia, VGA Planets Nu, etc prove this point. Most of these games are not easily translated to a mobile UI, and the competition on the gaming market is HUGE.

My hypothesis: It is easier (and cheaper) to grow the player base organically than actually developing a new client.



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[1] Arcadia Atllantis Series, see also: https://web.archive.org/web/20081105155 ... harmus.de/
[2] https://forum.ironhelmet.com/t/how-many-players/6210/6
[3] ~ 580 members on Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/neptunespride/ ... ll_active/
[4] https://planets.nu/