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Here's an interesting thing I stumbled upon while I was looking up ioquake3 stuff. QuakeJS is a port of the ioquake3 engine to Javascript and WebGL and it plays original Quake 3 maps.
WebGL has been a pretty cool thing recently and there has been plenty of buzz about it but so far it has mostly been a funny little toy which can render some tech demos and small experiments. In fact, this is not even the first time Quake 3 is being rendered with WebGL, though last time it was simply rendering the map without any gameplay. QuakeJS allows you to actually play Quake 3 with a couple of bots, though the list of maps available on the website isn't particularly staggering.
It's not really an optimal Quake 3 experience as it occasionally lags a bit and isn't the fastest and most optimized way to play overall but you can waste a couple of minutes shooting rockets at some bots.
While not necessarily the most impressive thing in the world, I think QuakeJS shows that quite cool things can be done with modern browsers without third-party plugins. I personally am quite interested to see if these web technologies can actually provide a platform for full-blown games in the future. Maybe someday we'll even get our own little Quake Live replacement by running OpenArena with WebGL and Emscripten.
Website: http://www.quakejs.com/
Github: https://github.com/inolen/quakejs Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
WebGL has been a pretty cool thing recently and there has been plenty of buzz about it but so far it has mostly been a funny little toy which can render some tech demos and small experiments. In fact, this is not even the first time Quake 3 is being rendered with WebGL, though last time it was simply rendering the map without any gameplay. QuakeJS allows you to actually play Quake 3 with a couple of bots, though the list of maps available on the website isn't particularly staggering.
It's not really an optimal Quake 3 experience as it occasionally lags a bit and isn't the fastest and most optimized way to play overall but you can waste a couple of minutes shooting rockets at some bots.
While not necessarily the most impressive thing in the world, I think QuakeJS shows that quite cool things can be done with modern browsers without third-party plugins. I personally am quite interested to see if these web technologies can actually provide a platform for full-blown games in the future. Maybe someday we'll even get our own little Quake Live replacement by running OpenArena with WebGL and Emscripten.
Website: http://www.quakejs.com/
Github: https://github.com/inolen/quakejs Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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7 comments
Awesome find. It plays beautifully and looks great! This is the future of all gaming...
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GustyGhost Jan 6, 2016
I would hope not the future of all gaming. How would you own the game in such a scenario? What happens if you don't have internet access? To rely on WebGL for all your gaming would be no different than to give in to any other DRM schemes.
If it is the future of gaming, hopefully that only applies to multiplayer-only titles which need network access anyway.
Last edited by GustyGhost on 6 January 2016 at 11:04 pm UTC
If it is the future of gaming, hopefully that only applies to multiplayer-only titles which need network access anyway.
Last edited by GustyGhost on 6 January 2016 at 11:04 pm UTC
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Good point AnxiousInfusion; though if I my be so bold as to attempt to answer why I think it is...
"How would you own the game in such a scenario?" - same way you own it in steam, you dont really - but you can access it anywhere.
"What happens if you don't have internet access?" - offline data can foreseeably be use to cache a portion of the game for offline use.
"To rely on WebGL for all your gaming would be no different than to give in to any other DRM schemes." - DRM applies locking you into only "one specific" ecosystem, websites by their very nature are not DRM because you can access on all platforms. IE: you brought the game on your Linux box but you are not locked into using it on your Linux box ONLY - you can still play it on your Mac or Android tablet?
Not only is WebGL owned by Khronos and founded by Mozilla (pretty good open source credentials then) - but its foreseeable that it could support VULKAN one day too! Which would be truly epic for us TUX gamers!
"How would you own the game in such a scenario?" - same way you own it in steam, you dont really - but you can access it anywhere.
"What happens if you don't have internet access?" - offline data can foreseeably be use to cache a portion of the game for offline use.
"To rely on WebGL for all your gaming would be no different than to give in to any other DRM schemes." - DRM applies locking you into only "one specific" ecosystem, websites by their very nature are not DRM because you can access on all platforms. IE: you brought the game on your Linux box but you are not locked into using it on your Linux box ONLY - you can still play it on your Mac or Android tablet?
Not only is WebGL owned by Khronos and founded by Mozilla (pretty good open source credentials then) - but its foreseeable that it could support VULKAN one day too! Which would be truly epic for us TUX gamers!
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Quoting: AnxiousInfusionI would hope not the future of all gaming. How would you own the game in such a scenario? What happens if you don't have internet access? To rely on WebGL for all your gaming would be no different than to give in to any other DRM schemes.I understand your conservative point of view. But the world has moved on...
If it is the future of gaming, hopefully that only applies to multiplayer-only titles which need network access anyway.
I agree with Xelancer. Why exactly do you want to own a game, anyway? Some people like to display the boxes in collections, which they see as hobbys. Other than this, it's hard to see another use of physically owning game media. Accessing offline is possible once you have downloaded, from most online retailers. The world will be soon 100% online anyway (like it or not! I, for once, don't like it. But it's the way it is...)
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EDIT: Removed comment... didn't belong here. :/
Last edited by tuubi on 7 January 2016 at 4:56 pm UTC
Quoting: khalismurWhy exactly do you want to own a game, anyway?You didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway: For the same reason I want to own my hardware and my kitchen table. It shouldn't be anyone's business what I choose to do or not to do with a product I've bought, including giving it away or modifying it in any manner that happens to strike my fancy. The rate at which we keep losing our rights as consumers is scary as hell. And the product-as-service loophole grows ever wider.
Quoting: khalismurThe world will be soon 100% online anyway (like it or not! I, for once, don't like it. But it's the way it is...)Happily that particular sci-fi utopia/dystopia won't happen any time soon. At least not as long as we have physical bodies and live in a physical world.
Last edited by tuubi on 7 January 2016 at 4:56 pm UTC
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Just because something runs in your browser it does not necessarily need to be online by the way.
This could also be an offline html file (but i doubt that this will happen). You could easily present the user a download of the WebGL Application.
This could also be an offline html file (but i doubt that this will happen). You could easily present the user a download of the WebGL Application.
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GustyGhost Jan 7, 2016
Quoting: khalismurI understand your conservative point of view. But the world has moved on...
I agree with Xelancer. Why exactly do you want to own a game, anyway? Some people like to display the boxes in collections, which they see as hobbys. Other than this, it's hard to see another use of physically owning game media. Accessing offline is possible once you have downloaded, from most online retailers. The world will be soon 100% online anyway (like it or not! I, for once, don't like it. But it's the way it is...)
Naw, I'm not a physical box type of guy. In fact, I did away with all physical media years ago and went on a hunt to find a chassis that doesn't waste space on an optical drive bay (that's harder than you probably imagine). A 100% online world sure sounds nice, but that isn't the reality. With ISPs as crappy as they are and corporations using the "let us host everything for you" as a way to control not to help, I'm not keen on giving up my computing to "the cloud".
More so than browser gaming, complete cloud gaming is a wolf in sheep's clothing and we all need to stay vigilant that our purchases and our data belong to us.
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