A Game With Animations

[Xaos]

So, for my fish harvesting game I've been working on, I've been wondering, how hard would it be to keep the game the same (It basically just does math and outputs a number) but just show some animations, IE say a fisherman going out on his boat, catching some fish, showing how many fish were caught and then pop up something that shows all of the important info? Would this be hard to do? I plan to releasing a web version, an iOS Version and an Android version.

[Jackolantern]

If the animations aren't going to be interactive, and are only going to be there to spice up the number inputting and outputting of the primary app, I would just go with an HTML5 animation library like CreateJS, which is a suite of tools for HTML5 multimedia, with a somewhat similar style to Flash. Of particular interest in CreateJS would be EaselJS.

If this is really more the direction of an interactive, animated game, with controls that control the animations, etc., I would go towards a more complete game engine, such as ImpactJS, or for a free option, CraftyJS.

[Xaos]

Okay, thanks ! I can obv. see where HTML5 fits in with PHP on web, but how does it fit in with Java and C# while coding for mobile? Not much experience there. Also, has anyone worked with Google charts APIs? I need some line graphs.

[Jackolantern]

For mobile, you would not use Java/C#/Obj-C. Instead, you would use an HTML5 "wrapper" to turn your HTML5 app into a native mobile app. These are often called "hybrid apps", because it combines a native shell app and your HTML5/CSS/JS app into one package.

You have likely downloaded and used an app before that was made in HTML5. One of the most popular tools to create this today is CocoonJS, mostly because it requires the least alteration to the code, and game performance is great (much better than PhoneGap, which is probably the best for non-game apps). Another option is IntelXDK (formerly App Mobi). Their tools are the most advanced of them all, almost taking the form of a specific HTML5-to-mobile IDE. But XDK typically took more rewriting than the other options.

[Xaos]

For mobile, you would not use Java/C#/Obj-C. Instead, you would use an HTML5 "wrapper" to turn your HTML5 app into a native mobile app. These are often called "hybrid apps", because it combines a native shell app and your HTML5/CSS/JS app into one package.

You have likely downloaded and used an app before that was made in HTML5. One of the most popular tools to create this today is CocoonJS, mostly because it requires the least alteration to the code, and game performance is great (much better than PhoneGap, which is probably the best for non-game apps). Another option is IntelXDK (formerly App Mobi). Their tools are the most advanced of them all, almost taking the form of a specific HTML5-to-mobile IDE. But XDK typically took more rewriting than the other options.

Oh okay. How difficult is HTML5? Is it more similiar to PHP than say, Java?

[hallsofvallhalla]

If you ever played Forsaken Sanctum 2.0 it had graphical images when harvesting and such. They meant nothing to the game but just gave it some flavor. I will try to see if I still got a copy online.

[Jackolantern]

Oh okay. How difficult is HTML5? Is it more similiar to PHP than say, Java?

Sorry, I need to clarify. Technically, HTML5 is just the latest version of HTML, including new tags, such as <article> and <footer>, as well as a return back to the earlier rules of HTML4, such as dropping the requirement of every tag to either have a closing tag or be self-closing, etc. (basically a return to the pre-XHTML days).

However, confusingly, when a lot of people talk about "HTML5 apps", they are talking about using the new APIs introduced around the same time as HTML5, some of which are technically part of the HTML5 specification, and many of which are not. These include Geolocation API, Local Storage API, Websockets API, Webcam API, Canvas API, and others. For the most part, you actually use these with plain 'ole Javascript. They are simply new methods you can call in newer browsers that support them to use the functionality they offer. Sometimes people also lump in some of the new tricks in CSS3 as being part of "HTML5", such as native rounded corners, but that is obviously not technically part of the HTML5 specification (CSS has its own complete specification).

So HTML5 apps are made using pretty much the same client-side technologies we already know: HTML, CSS and Javascript. It is just learning how to use the new functionality. For the most part, you can make "HTML5 apps/games", without using the new HTML5 tags (outside of <canvas>, <video> and <audio> tags, which are the few that are important to multimedia) or CSS3. It really boils down to just learning how these new APIs in Javascript work.

[Xaos]

Oh okay. How difficult is HTML5? Is it more similiar to PHP than say, Java?

Sorry, I need to clarify. Technically, HTML5 is just the latest version of HTML, including new tags, such as <article> and <footer>, as well as a return back to the earlier rules of HTML4, such as dropping the requirement of every tag to either have a closing tag or be self-closing, etc. (basically a return to the pre-XHTML days).

However, confusingly, when a lot of people talk about "HTML5 apps", they are talking about using the new APIs introduced around the same time as HTML5, some of which are technically part of the HTML5 specification, and many of which are not. These include Geolocation API, Local Storage API, Websockets API, Webcam API, Canvas API, and others. For the most part, you actually use these with plain 'ole Javascript. They are simply new methods you can call in newer browsers that support them to use the functionality they offer. Sometimes people also lump in some of the new tricks in CSS3 as being part of "HTML5", such as native rounded corners, but that is obviously not technically part of the HTML5 specification (CSS has its own complete specification).

So HTML5 apps are made using pretty much the same client-side technologies we already know: HTML, CSS and Javascript. It is just learning how to use the new functionality. For the most part, you can make "HTML5 apps/games", without using the new HTML5 tags (outside of <canvas>, <video> and <audio> tags, which are the few that are important to multimedia) or CSS3. It really boils down to just learning how these new APIs in Javascript work.

Oh okay, that makes alot more sense. SO getting animations using that any engine shouldn't be amazingly hard work, eh?

[Jackolantern]

Not really, provided you understand JS

But again, if all you are wanting are static animations, I suggest using an animation library versus a game engine.

[hallsofvallhalla]

I absolutely love this library
http://www.sean.co.uk/a/webdesign/javas ... melib.shtm

It uses raw JS and no HTML5 so it is awesome and easy to use and I use it in my RTS videos. It is great for animations without using HTML5