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Comment by maryrosecook | Hacker News Reader

Use Google Chrome to play the game. I've been working on this in my spare time for the last few months. This is an alpha version. The development has been iterative: adding something, trying it out, then often removing it. The gameplay is evolving into something that is centred around a series of tactical, pitched battles.

I'm simply posting this to show off what I've been working on. I would greatly appreciate suggestions for improvement. I know the graphics are horrible.

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This was fun, but doesn't this prove how poorly built Javascript is for games? Months to develop something that could be done in Flash in a few days.

I think you're right that it would have been quicker in Flash. The engine I used is mostly a drawing engine, with some basic game stuff included (particles, the beginnings of collision detection). However, this project was all about learning Javascript, and working in a newish field. Plus, a lot of the time I spent was on graphics (I suck at drawing) and iterating and exploring to find the gameplay and style.

All it proves is that the Flash toolchain is more mature.

Once you learn someone else's framework (not much of an option yet) or build your own (as I and others have) it takes no longer to make games in JS than Flash.

What does Flash provide that makes it easier to develop games like this? If Flash is currently much better than Javascript, don't we just need better high level canvas graphics libraries?

Actually, the graphics is good. Loved the stick figures.

I second that. The graphics are very stark and minimal, which really gets the player into what's important. I would say don't change the graphics.

Also, I really like how the bullets don't always aim straight. It's a cool bit of realism.

Thank you. I wish I was a better animater and drawer.

Any reason it doesn't work in other browsers?

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