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Ask HN: Possible to make a game engine in the browser?

by mbalex99 on 10/9/23, 2:02 AM with 6 comments

What would the limitations be if one were to create a game engine that could run in the browser?

Browsers now have file system access and WebGPU. What would be the major limitations of what it could do compared to a native engine that runs as a desktop app like Unity or Unreal.

by clipsy on 10/9/23, 3:35 AM
Unity[0] and Unreal[1] both have some degree of support for targeting modern web browsers as platforms.
[0]: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/webgl-building.html
[1]: https://github.com/UnrealEngineHTML5/Documentation
by solardev on 10/10/23, 1:02 AM
Not only is this possible, there's actually a bunch!
Unity has a WebGL player, but I guess Unity is dead now.
Other WebGL projects are the Quake 1 and Quake 3 Arena games ported to the web: https://www.netquake.io/ https://openarena.live/
PlayCanvas is a commercial offering: https://playcanvas.com/explore
There's also a bunch of open-source Javascript game engines: https://github.com/collections/javascript-game-engines
Of those, BabylonJS seems pretty powerful for 3D: https://www.babylonjs.com/games/
Or PixiJS for 2D: https://pixijs.com/
Lastly, there's also my personal preference... game streaming via GeForce Now (https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce-now/) or Luna (https://www.amazon.com/luna/landing-page) or Boosteroid (https://boosteroid.com/). They're like Stadia, but actually alive, and GFN in particular works really, really well. Way better than trying to render graphics locally on my Mac (the RTX 4080 is way more powerful than even the M2 Ultra, and cloud streaming means no heat or noise or battery consumption locally). I hope that, not clientside WebGL/JS, becomes the future of web gaming.
by dysoco on 10/9/23, 2:44 AM
Godot has a web editor [1] in case you don't know yet.
[1]: https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/editor/usin...
by MichaelEstes on 10/9/23, 4:23 AM
PlayCanvas is a game engine that runs on browsers, but I’m not certain what it’s future will be, it was bought by SnapChat, but SnapChat has shut down running games in app.
by ezedv on 10/9/23, 2:06 PM
Creating a browser-based game engine with file system access and WebGPU support is promising, but it does come with limitations. Browser-based engines may face performance bottlenecks compared to native desktop engines due to factors like limited hardware access and reliance on web technologies. They might also have restrictions on file system access for security reasons.
However, the advantage lies in accessibility and ease of distribution. For complex, resource-intensive games, native engines like Unity or Unreal may still offer superior performance and capabilities, but browser-based engines can reach a broader audience with simpler games or interactive web experiences.
In case you need help or assistance with your project, feel free to contact us! https://www.ratherlabs.com
by 3crazyone on 10/9/23, 5:59 AM
galacean[https://galacean.antgroup.com/] is Mobile first high performance web interactive engine, it support you make a game in web browser