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Jagex launches HTML5/WebGL game mode for RuneScape (beta) (runescape.com)

80 points by Clorith ↗ HN
Jagex, creators of the popular MMORPG RuneScape just launched their beta version of RS3, a purely HTML5/WebGL implementation of their (so far) java based game.

I -think- this might be the first huge implementation of html5 in game form, and clearly marks Jagex as even bigger innovators in both the web and gaming industry.

32 comments

[ 5.0 ms ] story [ 71.8 ms ] thread
james33
This is exciting news for the validity of HTML5 games in the browser!
Clorith
It is, it also shows what innovative ways Jagex go to in bring both the web and gaming industry closer, and forward.

Just for clarification; I'm not an employee of Jagex, I'm a long time player of RuneScape though. I'm also a huge fan of what they've accomplished when you look at the systems they use, and the hardware required to enjoy their products.

kaolinite
Hm, are you an employee?
publicfig
I was wondering that same thing. Looking at the accounts infrequent commenting history and then all the responses in this thread seem to point towards that.
jmsduran
This is nice news! I'm very interested in seeing how their HTML5 client turns out.

On a side note, I used to play Runescape years ago back in High School/College. Looks like so much has changed since then, maybe this summer I'll look to re-activate my old character :).

Cthulhu_
Like how the previous iterations were exciting for the validity of Java for video games? Wasn't very successful in that respect.
lucid00
I've been wondering why this hasn't been done yet.

Their game being coded in Java should make it easy to port to many different platforms seeing as there's a library or framework for almost anything Java.

I don't play RuneScape but I'm happy to see this, this should help bring the game to other platforms like Android, Firefox OS and hopefully iOS (they could make a native app for iOS).

azakai
I click "go to beta" and then "register", and it says my Java is not up to date? I thought this was Java-free?
Clorith
The beta is unfortunately not accepting new users at the moment, I'm guessing they don't want to put too much strain on anything before it's been thoroughly tested.
ladon86
Congrats, porting a Java codebase of that size is no small undertaking.
reportingsjr
I think it was actually easier than that for them to do. From what I recall they actually have their own in house language that compiles to java. I can't remember what it was called off of the top of my head, but I would imagine it would be much easier to port a compiler than a codebase the size of runescape's.
Cyphusx
The content, e.g. quests, map, npcs, dialog, etc are all in proprietary formats (Runescript and various config formats) but this doesn't compile to Java - it's simply loaded by the engine.

The engine, server and client, is 100% hand coded in Java, and the client portion of that is what we manually 'ported' to Javascript. I say 'ported' in quotes, as though lots of the new code performs the same or similar job to the existing Java client (bugs and all!), its implementation is sometimes quite different to that of the original Java version.

Zirro
I remember having to give up playing RuneScape back when I switched to a Mac many years ago, due to how poorly Java integrated and performed within the available browsers (not to mention the glitching hardware-acceleration support).

While I have generally lost interest in these sort of games since then, this is exciting enough to make me want to try it out again.

Perihelion
I had to use the downloadable Runescape client to get it to work on OSX. It works reasonably well but still sucks that I can't play in my browser anymore. A lot has changed so it's probably worth looking into!
dzhiurgis
I was forced to quit Runescape after extensive use of SCAR bot. It was the weirdest 2 years of my life.
der3k
If anyone still remembers RSC (Runescape Classic) and would like to continue playing it, this is the most popular and well-kept private server for it FYI: http://www.rscemulation.net/
Clorith
Jagex also maintains the Classic worlds for those who maintained a character presence there, private servers are actually being taken down left and right as they violate Jagex's terms and their legal team is quite efficient (there are many news articles about their legal battles as of late)
arianvanp
So i basically ended up as a programmer by hacking the runescape clients so i could use them in the creation of private servers. Illegal but great fun (but wasn't everything illegal but great fun as a teenager?). Contributed quite a lot to the private server community. I still tend to hang out in the programmer usergroups of those communities though I lost interest in modding runescape. But hey, I'm a programmer now, so thanks jagex

p.s. : sorry for helping so many people steal your content, it was just for the lulz. I promise!

experiment0
Hey so did I!

My first programming experience was working on RS2DBase. It was pretty popular back in the day. I met loads of great people through those forums and I don't think I'd have gotten into programming without them.

whaevr
Same here, Jagex's client and private servers are what I cut my teeth on when it came to programming. My entire fascination with programing evolved from runescape. Hacking, cheating, and modding it.
cgag
Cheating at runescape is how I ended up as a programmer as well, mostly writing scripts for scar back in middle school. I tried to making a client, but all I managed to do is allow you to spam trade requests and disconnect people. It ended up being popular for a couple days until everyone started blocking trade requests while in the wilderness.

Man I miss that game.

EStudley
It's unfortunate, but this may be too little too late for Runescape. After Jagex was slowly bought by VCs company decisions became less about the experience for the player and more about the bottom dollar.

Maybe this will be enough to bring back some of their lost subscribers, but who knows.

MisterWebz
Absolutely. As of last year, they have this thing in the game called Squeal of Fortune. You earn or buy "spins" and you use them to win coins, items or experience. It's basically gambling, but instead of winning real money, you win virtual money. Not only does it destroy any integrity the game had left, it aims to get kids addicted to gambling.
EStudley
It's not gambling that is at the heart of Squeal of Fortune; it's micro-transactions. Runescape has been moving in that direction for a long time to squeeze whatever is left of the remaining player base.
coffeeaddicted
Also to keep people coming back regularly they introduced lots of daily and weekly boni so everyone trying to pause got this feeling of missing out. I guess they got inspired a lot by Zynga for a while.
jere
That's interesting. I haven't been following Runescape, but the VC purchase makes a lot sense.

I had a lot of fun with the original Ace of Spades. It was an amazingly fun minecraft-like FPS. I was excited when I heard Jagex was picking it up and assumed there was no way they could mess that up. Turns out, they did mess it up. It looks like they added a bit of graphical polish, tacked on some gameplay, and shoved it out the door. Supposedly the new gameplay is less fun than the original and now it costs money. It has a 49 on metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/ace-of-spades

Lockyy
I don't even understand how you can ruin Ace of Spades. It was such a brilliant game, all it needed was polish. The game play was simple and brilliant.

What did they change so much that ruined it?

jere
I know! They went from simple trench warefare to an over the top class based game. One class has a rocket launcher; another a jetpack.

>Ace of Spades was reviewed in the February 2013 issue of Edge Magazine, which found the official version to be "maniacally fast", and added that construction "feels pointless; barricades and buildings are meaningless when an enemy can jetpack over them or snipe straight through them, and the game moves too fast to allow complex strategising." Additionally, it said that the game's alpha incarnation was slower, "offering a long war where players constructed secret tunnels and vast, defensible forts." Ultimately, the review decided that the official version of Ace of Spades "tries to reach a no man's land between considered construction and chaotic destruction, but its foundations aren't sturdy enough to hold any longterm weight."

If you're missing the original gameplay though you have two options. The original game is still hosted on a site call buildandshoot.com and the Jagex game added a classic mode. I'm beyond paying for it at this point though.