browser based game performance: i’m over my old flame
DESCRIPTION
Browser Based Game Performance: I’m Over My Old Flame with Jason Arena Presented at FITC Toronto on April 27-29, 2014 More info at www.FITC.ca Whenever Jason Arena asks other developers if they’re embracing browsers based game development – he typically hear the same responses: performance is slow, animation looks bad, not all devices support it, and the big one – it’s just not ready for primetime. Jason will share some of the things we’ve learned about browser based game development over the past two years. He will discuss misconceptions, optimization, coding environments and best practices for making robust browser based games.TRANSCRIPT
HTML 5 GameProcess & Optimization
Jason Arena, Keith McCullough, Matt Leffler
Every time I discuss HTML 5 with
developers I hear the same thing…
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It’s not ready for Primetime.
A Few Games SpongeBob Gone Missing(Platformer)
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Power Rangers
(Character animation)
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Bloomix Battle
Dora Magic Land
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Back Story Where we’ve beenWhy the transition to HTML 5?
Our clients • All browsers and devices
• Served into Webviews for Apps • Easy to update with new content
For Workinman
!
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HTML5 Environments Engines we’ve Considered;
PlayN
Construct2 CreateJS
HAXE • NME (Now OpenFL)
• Flambé
A Few HTML 5 Engines
(for a good laugh)
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Why Flambé• Easy transition from Flash
• Animation support
• Good performance
Also allows for lots of builds
• HTML 5
• iOS
• Android
• Flash (for IE 8 Desktops)
• Researching Steam
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WM Environments AnimationFlump
Takes a Flash animation and creates a
tweened animation with an atlas file
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SpriterA stand-alone animation tool
• Bones
• State blending
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Design • Flash
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
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WM Environments
Think FirstThere is no way for us to make graphics
for every device.
Screen Resolutions/Ratios • Design a modular UI (if possible)
• Scale graphics to screen size
• Bleed the rest for ratio. (Safe Area)
• Oversize art
• Responsive: Brain Crush Example
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It’s easy to set up good keyboard input
first, but don’t forget touch!
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Designing for both touch & keyboards
• We focus on making the game work with touch first and then add keyboard
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Avoid soft buttons if possible • Especially for action games
• For some reason producers love them
Think First
No Silver Bullet
• A lot of small savings add up • Static image compression
• Strategic use of animation tools
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Manage the loading experience • Show art fast! • Keep them Clicking!
Optimization
Load time Optimizations
Break down the loading process
1. Load Splash graphic
2. Load loader graphic
3. Load UI and game play graphics
4. Load level art on demand (5MB)
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~ We try to keep initial loads under 1MB but sometimes it’s a judgment call.
Tips & Tricks
In extreme cases: • Load less content on specific devices
• Load smaller animations or backgrounds
• Create device specific asset bundles
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Tips & Tricks
Loader Folder
Compress static assets as much as possible
PNGs Optimization • Posterization
• Dirty Transparency
• TinyPNG.org
• 8 Bit dithered PNG for hard edge assets
• Use 80% sized graphics. Scale them upUse compressed JPGs as Backgrounds
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Tips & Tricks
Compress AnimationsFlump
Use for main characters
• Great for detailed Flash animations
• Typically smaller download
• Bigger memory footprint
– Show Power Rangers Characters
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Tips & Tricks
Flump Atlas File Json FIle
Compress AnimationsPNG Sequences
Best for Enemies, Power Ups, & Particles
• Lower animation Framerate
• Typically larger download
• Smaller memory footprint
!
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Tips & Tricks
Use tweens for animation
• Lowest memory and download
• Best for small items animating
• Simple rotation
• Scaling
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Example: SB Gone Missing background characters
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Tips & Tricks
General Performance: PoolingHuge performance hit when instantiating or
disposing elements.
Example:
• Create all particles before gameplay
• Store them in the pool array
• Only add to render list when needed
Tips & Tricks
Device Performance
• Branch to handle device exceptions
• Game may look a little different
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Show Korra Example
Test on every device!
Tips & Tricks
Audio – different versions Mp3, OGG
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Multi channel audio issues
• WebAudio support in iOS
• Android only supports <audio> tags
• 3rd party wrappers
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Tips & Tricks
Wrappers Ludei: Cocoon JS
• Improved Audio support
• Improved performance?
• Better memory management Vs
Webview
• Consistent cross platform environment
A lil’ SomethingWM JS Embed Script• A JS library to embed games into HTML
• Handles Scaling
• APIs for game communication
• Inform Events:
• Game to HTML
• HTML to Game
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https://github.com/workinKeith/JSEmbed