I wonder how a JavaScript port done manually like this would compare to an emscripten port in terms of performance? It was a little choppy on my old laptop that can run Quake 3 decently.
Woah, what does that mean now? I played through the first level, do I have to worry about an arbitrary code execution exploit having compromised my computer now?
My original Droid ran Quake 3 with no problems at native res at a super solid frame rate. Browser performance has come far, but it's still no match for native from what I've seen.
True but web performance is advancing faster than native performance. It's catching up. Give it enough time and the difference won't be big enough to justify the additional cost of developing for multiple platforms when you can get 90% of the performance with a cross-platform code base. Whether that code base is HTML5+WebGL or something more like Unity with WebAssembly is another matter, but I believe, in 5 years or so, writing native code will be not be the norm for mobile apps.
I'm not sure how suggesting a uiWebView wrapper might only use 10% of performance compared to native is really 'defying the laws of physics'. The reason it's catching up is because the browser is essentially is moving out of the way.
For example, right now, if I write a GLSL fragment shader and run it in a native app it runs on the GPU exactly how you'd expect. If I then use the same shader in JS using WebGL ... it does exactly the same thing on the GPU. The performance is the same. In a few years the same will be for the rest of the code - it'll be loaded by a browser but it'll be running basically the same instructions on the CPU as a native app.
The browser chrome, security sandboxing, and a few other bits will slow things down a little, but not so much that we'll need to develop native code except for games that really push the limits of the platform they're on.
just tested on an HTC Desire 601. Ran faster in Fennec (firefox) than on an Athlon X2 with a Radeon HD 4200 running linux (open drivers) and Firefox. Wasn't expecting that at all.
Quaddicted is a great site ran by a great Quake archivist/enthusiast (Spirit). He's helped keep back ups of Quake mods and maps and even written a java application to download and install them easily onto your Quake installation from his site. Just don't appreciate the domain name, appreciate the guy too!
It didn't work at first for me when I tried it in the very start of the game, but once I went through a portal to enter the 'select your episode' rooms, it started to work.
I remember seeing screenshots of GL Quake and QuakeII in PC Mags taken on machines with 3DFX cards, and wanting one badly. However, no way my parents could spend the money on that.
Hat tip for being the elite of the elite PC gamers back in the 90's!
Yeah I remember this being one of the first games truly to put the sounds deep into my brain, over grinding multiplayer over countless hours.. just learning from the sounds where the enemies were, who took the red armor and where, when the quad appeared ..
Those jump sounds going over the moving platforms in DM2, somebody rocket jumping in DM4 to the top, DM6 rocket camping and somebody coming behind the corner with the grenade launcher ..
Excellent sound design, Trent Reznor and the ID team did a really good job in spatial location via sound. I dont even know many modern games that have reached the same level, modern multiplayer games don't somehow use sound as well as quake always did to tell you what is happening in the environment.
Although not realistic in any way, but it made sense for the game.
Awesome! But I was really hoping it was going to be multiplayer. It would be much cooler if you could just hop straight in to shooting at some other people...
I second this question, also, why would you expect it to work? I'd far rather they (or anyone) spent their time on clients (browsers) that support features than address issues which could be resolved by someone using a modern browser.
Its still running though a bit dead since StarCraft. They I was very active but they recently dropped Linux support so i cant play anymore.
They apparently did a rerelease on steam where they nerfed the game mechanics. For example strafe jumping is automatic now, causing a lot of rage at old school players.
Would love to see it back on SteamOS and Linux in the future. Such a gold game.
https://code.google.com/p/quake2-gwt-port/