HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

ByteArray · 2017-07-14 13:47:24

Hey guys, I recently started working on a project that I'm calling "HaxEE". It's an experimental client for Everybody Edits that uses HTML5 technologies instead of Flash. It is written in Haxe and uses the OpenFL Phaser Frost game engine, and from there it is compiled into the final JavaScript code. I know the EE dev team has been working on "UnitEE" for a similar result, and my biggest reason for making HaxEE is this: while the WebGL export from Unity works well and has good functionality, the resulting game is very bloated and uses an unreasonable amount of processing power. I have seen many people complaining about poor performance and lag in the current Flash version, and I am sure that the Unity WebGL version would just make this problem worse. HaxEE is an attempt to solve this problem by using a much more lightweight solution while still upgrading to the modern HTML5 technology.

Screenshot from gameplay:

▼Hidden text

You can try it for yourself here:
http://joshua.lightwolfstudios.com/haxee/

Development log of the initial release:

▼Hidden text

2017/7/8 - Saturday
- Set up Haxe project and experimented with OpenFL
- Got PlayerIO integrated for HTML5 builds
- Made the game connect to the Everybody Edits servers as a guest and join a room
- Switched to logging in with an account, and made it output chat messages to the console

2017/7/9 - Sunday
- Disabled old test code and switched server to the "Old Everybody Edits" server
- Copied over graphics from Old EE
- Added a screen system and made screens for connecting, lobby, joining, and playing
- Made the lobby load and display the list of rooms, and added code for joining rooms
- Added world system to handle blocks, and loaded the world from the provided map string
- Listened in for block change events and added basic block placing
- Added keyboard input manager and free camera movement with arrow keys or WASD
- Made where player can click and drag to place blocks
- Added system to change selected block when the number keys are pressed
- Switched to a visual block selector, and added a face selector
- Started to keep track of players and their positions
- Listened in for players changing faces, and made the face selector functional
- Made a new connecting/splash screen with HaxEE logo

2017/7/10 - Monday
- Wrote a concept for the forum post and made some graphics for it
- Set up a basic "coming soon" page at "http://joshua.lightwolfstudios.com/haxee"
- Wrote the contents of this dev-log up until this point
- Made movement keys control player instead of camera directly, and made camera lag behind
- Added "tick" system for reliable physics time-stepping
- Implemented most of the player movement code from modern EE, although it was very buggy

2017/7/11 - Tuesday
- Debugged player physics, now they act just like modern EE
- Fixed a few significant bugs
- Tested the game with Kentiya to verify that everything was working
- Experimented with loading assets made in Flash
- Upgraded Haxe libraries to see if they had improved functionality
- Noticed some new performance issues and reverted the libraries for now
- Created a PlayerIO server for HaxEE and added core movement, world, and user sync functionality
- Tested and debugged new server, and uploaded first live version

2017/7/12 - Wednesday
- Remade the "menubar" and added buttons for god mode and minimap
- Made god mode functional, including server side, rendering, and physics
- Updated block graphics to look like they do in modern EE, also added the black block
- Made where the player can erase by holding the shift or control keys
- Revamped the lobby screen and made a few tweaks to the menubar
- Attempted screen fade transitions but there were problems
- Tried to get embedded fonts working

2017/7/13 - Thursday
- Managed to get embedded fonts working properly
- Tweaked some graphics, like the "go to lobby" button
- Made an item manager to keep track of blocks
- Added a fully functional minimap
- Made a block placement queue so player doesn't get stuck
- Added links at the bottom of the lobby
- Did a more optimized build and minified code
- Designed, created, and uploaded the HaxEE webpage
- Planned the forum post, with some text from the earlier concept

2017/7/14 - Friday
- Released HaxEE!

Some parts of the client were based on the "Old EE" (http://old.everybodyedits.com/), but I implemented the modern physics and graphics. Also, it currently runs on it's own PlayerIO server that mimics messages that go to and from the real server. I'll likely be doing some more experimentation and adding more features over time. I definitely want to make some standalone builds sometime soon. Standalone builds are now available for download on the website!

I know that some of you will ask why I'm not just making my own game instead, and I don't know that I have a good answer to that question. Although I've never been very active in the community, I've had a very long history with EE and I'd hate to see so much potential in the game go to waste. So I'm just doing what feels like my part in guiding EE into what could be a new era for the game. I'm also aware that there will likely be a major transition in the dev team very soon, and who knows what that will bring. But I hope this project can at least spark some interest among you and lead to more thoughtful discussion about the future of Everybody Edits.

So let me know what you think, and where you think I should go with HaxEE!
-- Josh

kubapolish, mutantdevle, Processor, MartenM, Kentiya, Latif, capasha, Gosha, Onjit, realmaster42, Xfrogman43, Kikikan, lrussell, showpath, Vinyl Melody, TaskManager, Taylor, Swarth100, ParadoxInTheVoid, rdash, Dencc, Firecrackericebreak, soniiiety, hummerz5, Jedpogi, AlphaJon, Doodle, Jorc, Anch, SirJosh3917, kaj93, MBlood, PTU, N1KF, John

Onjit · 2017-07-14 14:47:57

Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.

mutantdevle, kubapolish, capasha, Vinyl Melody, Swarth100, Kentiya, Gosha, Dencc, AlphaJon, John

Latif · 2017-07-14 16:25:25

Awesome! I hope you continue this project

ByteArray

capasha · 2017-07-14 16:28:32

Also I have no idea how much time you have put down on this. But if I look at the EE Staff they haven't succeeded with this in 2 or more years.
I love this, everything feels much smoother than the flash version.

ByteArray, kubapolish, realmaster42, Anch, Yonanoke

ByteArray · 2017-07-14 16:31:53

capasha wrote:

Also I have no idea how much time you have put down on this. But if I look at the EE Staff they haven't succeeded with this in 2 or more years.
I love this, everything feels much smoother than the flash version.

I'm glad you like it! I actually started on this last saturday, so less than a week ago. A full development log is included in the first post!

kubapolish

LukeM · 2017-07-14 17:06:51

Just wondering, why doesnt anyone ever make these sorts of things in pure javascirpt? Wouldnt that be just as easy to write, much less bloated by the exporter things, and generally more efficient because you actually write the end code, not something that is converted to something else, probably fairly inefficiently?

ByteArray · 2017-07-14 17:09:49

destroyer123 wrote:

Just wondering, why doesnt anyone ever make these sorts of things in pure javascirpt? Wouldnt that be just as easy to write, much less bloated by the exporter things, and generally more efficient because you actually write the end code, not something that is converted to something else, probably fairly inefficiently?

While some benefits could come by writing in raw JavaScript, managing a large project like that can get out of hand very quickly. The coding structure of JavaScript isn't really designed for bigger projects.

LukeM · 2017-07-14 17:13:54

TechnoWolf99 wrote:

destroyer123 wrote:
Just wondering, why doesnt anyone ever make these sorts of things in pure javascirpt? Wouldnt that be just as easy to write, much less bloated by the exporter things, and generally more efficient because you actually write the end code, not something that is converted to something else, probably fairly inefficiently?
While some benefits could come by writing in raw JavaScript, managing a large project like that can get out of hand very quickly. The coding structure of JavaScript isn't really designed for bigger projects.

What would be different about using javascript from using other languages? Javascript can pretty much do anything any other language can cant it? The main difference I can think of is that javascirpt doesnt have types, so it could sometimes get confusing if you dont keep information about the structure of the data.

realmaster42 · 2017-07-14 17:16:26

Easy way to crash worlds:

snip

It's nice. You should keep working on it, it's really smoother than the flash version.

*Do not post mallicious code that may crash worlds.

Xfrogman43 · 2017-07-14 17:28:22

a dude joined my world and then this happened

realmaster42, kubapolish

realmaster42 · 2017-07-14 17:29:35

Xfrogman43 wrote:

a dude joined my world and then this happened
http://i.imgur.com/uyqyNQt.png

I tried to post the exploit so Techno could fix it but it got snipped lol.

capasha · 2017-07-14 17:58:47

marcoantonimsantos wrote:

Xfrogman43 wrote:
a dude joined my world and then this happened
http://i.imgur.com/uyqyNQt.png
I tried to post the exploit so Techno could fix it but it got snipped lol.

Why not just Pm him? You don't need to share it for everyone.

realmaster42

Mieaz · 2017-07-14 18:02:42

Onjit wrote:

Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.

well just one thing, EE in future possibly shouldn't use player io

kubapolish

ByteArray · 2017-07-14 18:05:14

Don't worry guys, I'm aware of the issue and working on getting it fixed!

Edit: The server has type-checking now, also fixed a couple of small bugs in the client.

realmaster42

John · 2017-07-14 20:49:57

Are you related to Kentiya?

Kentiya · 2017-07-14 20:51:19

Emalton wrote:

Are you related to Kentiya?

He's my brother. I'm 19, he's 17.

ByteArray, Latif, realmaster42, Jedpogi, Dencc, PTU

John · 2017-07-14 20:53:46

Thought so

This is really cool by the way

realmaster42

ByteArray · 2017-07-23 12:48:28

I thought I should post on here about the updates I've been doing. I've been active on the Discord chat server for EE over the last week, working with everyone on there to help debug HaxEE and to try out new features. As development went on, I kept running into various core problems with OpenFL. So I've just switched to Phaser, and so far it's been going a little more smoothly. Well, there were some problems with keyboard and mouse input at first for some people, but most of them have been worked out. I still have more work to do on it to be more stable, but I think I'm in the right track. We'll see where this goes from here.

Kentiya, Latif

capasha · 2017-07-24 12:31:47

The only thing that needs to be fixed is that you can use the same name twice or even more. I joined with a bot that was named capasha and then I used capasha when I logged in.

Vinyl Melody · 2017-07-25 03:30:47

Post the client source code in github pls. All I get when I look at the .js directly is a bunch of one liners

N1KF

N1KF · 2017-07-25 03:44:47

Onjit wrote:

Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.

I doubt a game will reach the same spark of success by trying to replicate the past.

Gosha · 2017-07-25 05:22:10

N1KF wrote:

Onjit wrote:
Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.
I doubt a game will reach the same spark of success by trying to replicate the past.

It won't replicate it
It will learn from Ee mistakes and choose it's own road

At least I hope so

N1KF · 2017-07-25 05:31:54

Gosha wrote:

N1KF wrote:
Onjit wrote:
Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.
I doubt a game will reach the same spark of success by trying to replicate the past.
It won't replicate it
It will learn from Ee mistakes and choose it's own road

At least I hope so

So far it's using the same physics engine, user interface, graphics. It doesn't look that way to me.

Gosha · 2017-07-25 05:53:17

N1KF wrote:

Gosha wrote:
N1KF wrote:
Onjit wrote:
Honestly, if EE has any future, this is probably it.
I doubt a game will reach the same spark of success by trying to replicate the past.
It won't replicate it
It will learn from Ee mistakes and choose it's own road

At least I hope so
So far it's using the same physics engine, user interface, graphics. It doesn't look that way to me.

Ee's main problem was inventing things. They always not worked out enough and doesn't get updates
"cool update" turns out useless in couple of weeks

For example
Campaigns? Campaign suggestions?
Could be an amazing addition, but they decided to release only 2-3 campaigns each year and close season-based campaigns which is stupid imo
Solution could be crew campaigns

Crews?
Looks like they just needed a way to give players abilities to run commands as world owner. Crews could have so much potential
For example they could do crew campaigns
Crew could put 3-5 worlds in their crew campaign and release it
More likes and favorites campaign gets - more rank crew gains
Ee isn't rewarding for your work, this could fix it^

Blocks?
We have ton of useless blocks. Too many colours for all of them
Making colours for the blocks was okay on the early stages of the game when there weren't many blocks to begin with
Now we have a lot of useless shiny blocks. And so few useful action blocks!
Moving spikes, ramps, timed hazards, blocks which break when you are standing to long on them - there are a lot of cool suggestions which a really ignored. It's easier to draw a shiny block colour than program physics of the new block!

Code?
Ee code is terrible! It needs to be rewrited! And they knew that
2 years ago they announced unitee
This looks like a joke now.

Featured worlds?
So amazing idea
You could access to the worlds which a loved in the community
Oh what? You can't see them offline? Pls.

And I can continue forever

Ee had potential but staff were making useless things instead of upgrading old ones.

If HaxEE has a future, they should think hard about every update they make

LukeM · 2017-07-25 11:55:56

Gosha wrote:

Moving spikes, ramps, timed hazards, blocks which break when you are standing to long on them

The problem with these is that they just dont fit in with the way EE works, the whole block idea means moving spikes wouldnt fit in, ramps wouldnt be supported by the current physics engine, and blocks that break would have to have too many parameters for it to work in every situation (plus it could only be used in a few situations anyway)

I think the main thing that they think about when picking suggestions is 'does it fit in', and then if it does 'it it possible without re-doing everything'

Official Everybody Edits Forums

#1 2017-07-14 13:47:24, last edited by ByteArray (2017-08-09 03:29:05)

HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

#2 2017-07-14 14:47:57

Re: HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

#3 2017-07-14 16:25:25

Re: HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

#4 2017-07-14 16:28:32

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#6 2017-07-14 17:06:51

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Re: HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

#8 2017-07-14 17:13:54, last edited by LukeM (2017-07-25 17:45:04)

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#9 2017-07-14 17:16:26, last edited by realmaster42 (2017-07-14 17:27:21)

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#10 2017-07-14 17:28:22

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#14 2017-07-14 18:05:14, last edited by ByteArray (2017-07-14 19:12:05)

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#15 2017-07-14 20:49:57

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#16 2017-07-14 20:51:19

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#17 2017-07-14 20:53:46

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#18 2017-07-23 12:48:28

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#19 2017-07-24 12:31:47

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#20 2017-07-25 03:30:47

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#21 2017-07-25 03:44:47

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#22 2017-07-25 05:22:10

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#23 2017-07-25 05:31:54

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#24 2017-07-25 05:53:17

Re: HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

#25 2017-07-25 11:55:56, last edited by LukeM (2017-07-25 17:40:33)

Re: HaxEE - An experimental HTML5 client made with Haxe

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