Blackberry question (other platforms also)

Hi,

Am testing html5 as an alternative for web based multiplatform games.

I have uploaded some of the examples to my private webserver to test them on browser.

On my laptop they run just fine, is a centrino duo Win7. On chrome they are faster than firefox, but I can barely notice.

On another laptop, a pentium4 with Win XP,the games run noticeably slower, specially the ones with physics enabled.

I tested them all with my blackberry torch 9800 and they are slower than on the P4 laptop. On the blackberry curve8520 they do not run because the os do not support html5.

Which brings me to the question if C2 is really somehow optimized for mobile. The BB torch is one of the fastest blackberry. Soon will be testing on ipad and iphone,and will be compiling with phonegap and the RIM webapp compiler.

Anyone has had any experience with this?

I suggest you to read this blog article.

That's Ashley's analysis of HTML5 performances.

Have you tested other HTML5 applications/games than C2's on the blackberry ?

Kyatric, I tested games done with other engines, all of them on the BBweb browser, not as compiled executables. On the BB torch,

Construct 2, slow.

Impactjs, didn't even finish loading.

Gamemaker, veeeery slow rendering.   

limejs, slow.

jquerygame, very slow.

As comparison, all java games compiled with the RIM SDK, work very well on slower handhelds like the Blackberry 8520, and of course on the fastest, like the BBTorch.

Probably the best way of testing will be to create compiled webapps on the RIM webapp sdk or with phonegap, since the browser lag is practically eliminated that way.

A recent post from Ashley on the subject.

Also java is not javascript.

Also java is not javascript.

Of course... I see it is a very unfair comparison.

But since on the front page of Scirra you can read "Make games in Construct 2 that run on all modern desktops, mobiles and tablets.", am just trying to understand how do I get a game to run (as expected) on modern mobiles. (am not talking about low end devices here).

I still think that is a C2 good tool but I purchased the license in the hope that I could really deliver html5 for multiplatform, given the higher C2 performance...

Simple games should work OK on mobiles. It's just that mobiles are not very fast with HTML5 right now. However, it's constantly improving - for example iOS 5 really sped up HTML5 on iOS devices - so hopefully it won't be long before high-performance games work great on mobile. This isn't a problem with Construct 2, it's a limitation with the HTML5 technology, but I think it'll be cleared up soon.

Ashley, I agree, it is not Construct's fault. Maybe the issue here is why Construct is advertised as capable of making games playable on any mobile. Am sure in the future mobiles will be capable of a good performance on html5, but right now they clearly are not, for intense graphics as demanded by a game. I would add your comment above to the marketing schema, underlining that only "extremely simple" games perform well on mobiles.

In the meantime, I did a couple of builds on phonegap. These are done with licensed Construct2 R72, and the builds are for BB, android, webOS and symbian. (These are signed by phoneGap, and am not willing to put my iOS signing keys on line!).

I modified the ize catapult example to see how physics perform on the device. On my BB torch, it runs as a turtle. I placed no time diff to see how slow it can look. It is fluid, but slow, on both builds, with or without webGl. I am preparing a test without physics, but in the meantime you all can install and test this builds.

Here are the public pages with barcode and OTA links.

With WebGL

https://build.phonegap.com/apps/57440/share

Without WebGL

https://build.phonegap.com/apps/57210/share