Nickel Iron / HTML5 game written in... Object Pascal!

[Eric]

My small pet/test game project of an HTML5 / Canvas game written in Object Pascal

It is built with OP4JS (currently in Alpha), which is using DWScript as compiler to generate JavaScript from a Object Pascal source code (so you get strong typing, compile-time syntax checks, virtual methods, etc.)
The output runs in iPad, iPhone, Android 2.3+, Chrome, etc.



Below are a couple videos captured in the Android emulator.

Very very first version:


Some sprites later:

[WILL]

Neat.

I was wondering when someone was going to make a game with OP4JS. Are you planning something bigger for the next game project?

I don't dare say 3D.

[Eric]

Currently I'm planning to mostly add to it, things like achievements, global high-scores, more levels, etc. to test the tech.

Maybe make other small games, I've noticed I tend to get swamped by the need for art in larger projects (sprites, textures, models, music...), placeholders graphics only go so far, and I'm just not time-efficient at doing any kind of art myself, quick PaintShop hacks are okay, but anything more complex and I'm doomed ;-)

3D may or may not be too far removed, it'll depend on how fast the W3C settles on a 3D standard (be it WebGL or something else).

[Ñuño Martínez]

My small pet/test game project of an HTML5 / Canvas game written in Object Pascal

It is built with OP4JS (currently in Alpha), which is using DWScript as compiler to generate JavaScript from a Object Pascal source code (so you get strong typing, compile-time syntax checks, virtual methods, etc.)
The output runs in iPad, iPhone, Android 2.3+, Chrome, etc.

Great job.

So you wrote the program in Object Pascal and translated it to JavaScript... But DWScript website says it's a "scripting engine for Delphi". Does it do the translation? Does it work on Linux? Does it work on WineHQ?

[Eric]

But DWScript website says it's a "scripting engine for Delphi". Does it do the translation?

It also says "Scripts can be executed from Delphi applications [...] or compiled into JavaScript that can be run client-side in a browser or any Javascript-capable engine"
So yes, it takes Object Pascal source, and spits out JavaScript.

Does it work on Linux? Does it work on WineHQ?

The JavaScript runs as long as you have a compatible web browser, anything not too ancient should be okay. For game stuff you need at least Canvas support, and the game is primarily tested/profiled for WebKit-based browser, ie. iOS, Android, Chrome & Safari.
FireFox, IE9 & Opera are okay except for some graphical glitches on the menu buttons (they aren't done in Canvas, but in HTML, and lack some specific CSS).

As for the compiler, at the latest news, DWScript compiles under FreePascal, but execution is problematic due to bugs in the FreePascal compiler/runtime wrt to Variants & Unicode Strings.

[Ñuño Martínez]

Sorry, I read it too fast... I'll try to use the compiler in WineHQ.

[WILL]

Have you updated your OP4JS source to Smart Mobile Studio yet? Or does it need much updating at this point?

[chronozphere]

Wow, I didn't even know that this was feasible to do. I'm very curious about some benchmarks, that show the quality of the compiler. It would be a shame if the pascal version would be significantly slower.

[paul_nicholls]

I thought this game was on the android market now, but I can't find it!

[WILL]

I thought this game was on the android market now, but I can't find it!

That depends on how it's packaged for distribution. I'm assuming that the tool developers will be leaving it open for maximum flexability for the individual developers to decide; strapped on JavaScript run-time engine, pages to be loaded on a web server and so on...

The end result would be 100% web compatible so I think that the end product's form will depend on those that use it to make HTML5 apps and games.