Next version of Cerberus-X?

[Wingnut]

Btw, for desktop I've been experimenting with creating HTML5 that can go in and out fullscreen and react on resizing the window so it becomes more like a desktop, I'm buzy with life right now but this is something I will be very interested in trying to make into a template.

 

[MikeHart]

Cordova can be used to bring your Javascript powered web app to mobile . Construct uses it, not sure if GDevelop uses that as well.

 

[Wingnut]

Cordova can be used to bring your Javascript powered web app to mobile . Construct uses it, not sure if GDevelop uses that as well.

Thanks for the tip! So I asked ChatGPT for further advice on Cordova and ways to develop HTML into mobile apps and after some thinkink, I would say Cordova is currently a good choice. My closest other choice would have been React Native but Cordova seem just a tad simpler to learn.

I Have not decided if I should go for a proper native development or try this one yet but it is very tempting..

"Choosing the right technology for your app development needs can be a challenging task, especially if you're not familiar with any of the available options. However, based on the requirements you've listed, here are some recommendations:

• If you need to build an app quickly and have no budget, you may want to consider using Cordova, as it allows you to build apps using web technologies and provides a wide range of plugins that can help you add the required functionality to your app.
• To achieve 60 fps graphics, you'll need to use a technology that supports high-performance rendering, such as WebGL. Cordova, Ionic, and React Native all support WebGL, although the performance may not be as good as in a native app.
• For AdMob integration, each platform has its own set of plugins and libraries that you can use. Cordova has the AdMob Pro plugin, Ionic has the Ionic AdMob Pro plugin, and React Native has several AdMob libraries available, such as the react-native-admob library.
• For PNG file sharing and loading, you can use plugins and libraries that provide file system access and sharing functionality. Cordova has several plugins available, such as the File Transfer plugin and the File plugin, Ionic also has several plugins available, such as the Cordova File Transfer plugin and the Ionic Native File plugin, and React Native has several libraries available, such as the react-native-fs library and the react-native-share library.

Based on your requirements and timeline, Cordova may be the best option for you, as it allows you to build apps quickly using web technologies, and provides a wide range of plugins that can help you add the required functionality to your app. However, it's important to keep in mind that building a high-quality app can still require a significant investment of time and effort, so be sure to set realistic expectations for your timeline and resources."

 

[Wingnut]

Most of these hybrid frameworks/libraries are getting old of course and it's hard to decide what direction to go but I found this one platform which seem to stand out, it's seems to beat Electron etc already and now it's actually coming to Mobile and WebAssembly.

Announcing the Tauri Mobile Alpha Release | Tauri Apps

Tauri mobile is here! The first alpha release 2.0.0-alpha.0 has been published.

tauri.app

I've seen the Cerberus-X HTML5 performance on my old iphone4 SE in Safari and it is flying! Same happens with my Android devices, actually HTML5 runs faster than native on Android.

A HTML5-only CX might make sense, That way we could focus on what we want, stuff like GUI and Ads, social sharing, files etc. All these things are part of modern gaming so it makes alot of sense.

It would make CX development so much leaner.


BTW Desktop does not require localhost to run apps, and the footprint is tiny, 99% in Rust. This is what makes it interesting.

 

[MikeHart]

I've seen the Cerberus-X HTML5 performance on my old iphone4 SE in Safari and it is flying! Same happens with my Android devices, actually HTML5 runs faster than native on Android.

Is that with Tauri?

 

[Wingnut]

Actually that is with Cerberus-X outputting HTML5 using the newest Chrome on each device. The thing is that webgl is produced quiet well with mojo2 so you'll get amazing quality. Safari and Chrome gives pretty much the exact same result. Firefox sucks tremendsly at rendering that is important to mention it is not even close, it behvase like old browsers, I think that's why they deciceded to kill it / given up on it.

The only thing does not always give native results in CX when you compile to html5 is the audio and i am talking about complex examples like the tracker example. I am currently coding alot using the Audio API with vanilla JavaScript and I see why it is problematic and it is for everyone but it's now standardizing, which is a huge step for the game industry. And also for mucisians. You can code a realtime synth that works in Chrome already. No other browser yet but maybe at the end of this year. Cerberus-X does not conform 100% yet but that should not be difficult, and also there's plenty of JS libraries to use like tone.js and they are amazing.

THREE.js and Babylon.js have pushed the quality of graphics for awhile now and whatever they do now will play such an important role. Facebook and Microsoft will for take the lead using these technologies and that will bring web-technology to the front even faster.

The only thing missing is a way to package things. I'm struggling with some of them right now, becuase I seem to be doing more installing and updating than actually any programming If Cerberus can help programmers with that..


If you have a modern phone with 120hz screen then the mojo2 on a mobile browser is unreal. It's a very enjoyable expeirence becuase the touch feels almost like a physical dpad.

 

[Wingnut]

I tried to translate some mojo2 code into THREE.js a couple of weeks ago, easy peasy right? Nope, I got such a respect for Mojo2 i can tell you that. I got plenty of support and help from the forums but it's not easy, and they knew that too. I guess one part of it is that its not good to force a scene system to the programmer, it should always be an option.

 

[yodasvideoarcade]

I was recently visiting the game design university in Darmstadt and talked to the teacher about Cerberus, and showed some of my games. He was very impressed to hear how easy and quick Cerberus can be used to make a game, compared to Unity. He also very much liked the fact that it can compile to HTML5, Mac, Win, iOs and Android. I guess Cerberus would be a great tool for lots of people, if they just knew about it.

 

[Phil7]

The only thing missing is a way to package things. I'm struggling with some of them right now, becuase I seem to be doing more installing and updating than actually any programming If Cerberus can help programmers with that..

What do you exactly mean?

 

[yodasvideoarcade]

I see what Wingnut means. As a casual programmer, updating stuff in order to be able to flawlessly compile and run things is quite a pain in the ass. I have the same problem at the moment. Sound not working on HTML5, Android not compiling ...

 

[Wingnut]

Well I have spent almost one wek just getting Corodva working, and when it worked then it crashed. I could keep going of course but time is ticking. After years of work..I mean now every week counts.

What I'm trying to say is that this is bssically my experience with alot of "technologies" that is meant speed up development. It's 99% bull. But I'm also sayin that it i s actually possible finally but there is no product mature yet. Maybe i'm biased and pissed right now but really have to deal with reality, I decided to use native code becuase I think I'm more used to that now. It will be a faster development cycle for me.

Android is compiling okay (CX) but i lack important native features and it's the dealbreaker..
For me this is about finding the best route, to speedy development and good quality.

It's so annoying bc I know CX as the backside of my hand and I have my app compiled into html5 in CX .. running better than anything in this world have seen, on my phone. But what good does it do there?

But I'm a flexible guy.. I'll do what I have to do to make it happen.

 

[Wingnut]

What do you exactly mean?

Remember how you felt when fixing the Java issue? Terminal-omania, batch scripts, settings, flags, platforms, looking up details that has NO relation to actual coding. And you are fighting the tool that are supposed to help you..

 

[SLotman]

Android is compiling okay (CX) but i lack important native features and it's the dealbreaker..
For me this is about finding the best route, to speedy development and good quality.

What exactly are you missing? You know you can just write Java code and use it in Cerberus, right?

Years ago I've made a small prototype trying to get a government grant, a game that used voice recognition and text to speech to communicate with the players. Took Google docs, wrote the necessary things in Java and just called it from inside Monkey (Cerberus didn't even exist back then) - worked like a charm.

Look at my rewarded ads post that has code on it to see how its all glued together. Its a bit harder if you have callbacks (I haven't figured out a good way to do it so far), but it can be done and maybe that's a solution for you?

 

[MikeHart]

I know that part so well. That is the dark side of tool dev and especially mobile related. Things change so fast it is pathetic. Sometimes I think they change because someone needs to justify their position at google or Apple. But google is worse here.
I envy everyone who just uses a tool and develops their app.

 

[Wingnut]

What exactly are you missing? You know you can just write Java code and use it in Cerberus, right?

Years ago I've made a small prototype trying to get a government grant, a game that used voice recognition and text to speech to communicate with the players. Took Google docs, wrote the necessary things in Java and just called it from inside Monkey (Cerberus didn't even exist back then) - worked like a charm.

Look at my rewarded ads post that has code on it to see how its all glued together. Its a bit harder if you have callbacks (I haven't figured out a good way to do it so far), but it can be done and maybe that's a solution for you?

I know I can write the exnensions myself and I was trying for awhile, the only reason why I stopped was time. I don't have too much money yet to spend either so, I need to use whatever exists. The actual extensions I need is, to be able to load and save PNG in Android with reuquest (you don't force anything programmtically in Android anymore, well you can do it the old way with direct file access to any place in your system,, including cards and whateeve in API 30+ and above but if you go that route you are still not allowed to put it in the store. I need user-requested loads/save extension, those are done now using something called FILEPROVIDER in adnroid, and they are the offical way to access files today. The save function could be a share function with file as an option , that would be okay too. That's all.

The Ad-mob should be working as it was updated a few months ago but I have not tested it bc f the file issue have been wrking on.

There's also a slight issue on how to handle unmanaged textures as FBO's instead as simple textures, that gets lost at context switches. You need to do this in all platforms so this is just a problem that I need to learn how to deal with it. I think Cerberus-x itseld can deal with it using a few opengl commands inserted in the app/Game main loop, But I have not tested it yet. It is the same with every engins, also LibGDX which is a very fine librry. Most ppl have problem with this context thign on Adnroid and they also missunestand ir and think that unmanaged textures is the same as FBOs. A certain Bot have teached me this


So if the texture, and admob are fixable(they might very well work the first test), which I hope.. then I would say PNG laod/Save is the only obstacle why I cannot use CX for this project. It feels like it should be an easy fix but I'm really not that strong in this area right now. I would need too much time.

 

[MikeHart]

I hope find a tool that will provide all you need for your app. But targeting mobile is a huge undertaking and 99% of the time you WILL find yourself doing native coding. There are companies out there that used cross platform frameworks like Teact native before. Still only 20% was React, the rest they did in native code. Then they dropped the framework completely and went native on iOS and Android.