In the age of multiple platforms and smartphones there is one definite feature which is supported by all – a browser. Running with this idea is the latest innovation in browser gaming – the gaming engine.

Impact – HTML5 Canvas & JavaScript Game Engine

Impact is, it claims, the “most awesomest way to create even more HTML 5 games” and at first glance, you’d be hard pressed to argue against that. The slick website demonstrating the engine shows a game created using the engine running on browsers both on desktops and on mobile. It also comes with its own dedicated level editor so people who are more design orientated are looked after as well.

The engine’s greatest strength is its well written and nicely presented documentation – with examples of each class in action. All this for just $99 is a steal – however there are free alternatives out there…

LimeJS HTML5 Game Framework

Available via Github, LimeJS is entirely free and open source – allowing you to build fast and (more importantly) native-experience games for multiple platforms. It has a decent community around it, however it does seem to suffer from the “too many cooks” issue and the documentation is poorly presented – offering little more than is absolutely necessary. As a free alternative, however, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything better suited for HTML5 game development.

JawsJS

More of an individual’s attempt to work with HTML5 canvas, JawsJS definitely has some legs. It has since been extended beyond the canvas and the developer promises plenty of updates in the following few months. Definitely one to watch.

GameQuery

Perhaps the one that interests me the most, GameQuery attempts to create a gaming engine based around the already fantastic jQuery framework. The developers are specifically promising that it will be easy, quick and stick to the jQuery philosophy. As an avid jQuery fan myself, this one has me excited. Supporting solid gaming features such as collision detection and animation and promising that beginners can develop basic 2D games – this could do for game development what jQuery did for carousels.

Double click pickaxe. Click ground. Wait. Fail. Double click pickaxe. Click ground. Gather.

For me, this was as addictive and engrosing as it got.

Ultima Online, an MMORPG released late 1997 by Origin Systems, was the game to open the doors for the likes of Everquest and eventually World of Warcraft to barge through. Played from an isometric perspective, the game put you in the customizable clothes of your avatar who could travel the lands of Britannia and fight evil, set up shop, mine, tame animals, build their own city or attack other players, salavaging their wares.

When I began playing, the controversial splitting of the player vs player areas (PvP) and safe areas into the two lands of Feluccia and Trammel had already happened and by the time I had amassed enough money to purchase the plans for my own house, all spaces had been grabbed by the elite. The only route to go down at this point was to keep saving the pennies and eventually buy a pre-built house of the homeowner – often selling at a remarkable premium depending on where the house was situated.

Managing a home was a game in itself.

The game was fascinating. Not only were the mechanics of the game complex and compelling, the players who filled up the vast lands – from Trinsic to Vesper – were dynamic, varied, annoying, hilarious and creative. Expanding on the feature that allowed a player to run their own shop, players combined their shops and created malls,treasure hunts and duelling pits, gave guided tours around the local area and provided services for pub quizes and weddings.

The majority of the unique ideas that players created would not be possible if not for Ultima Online’s often overlooked item management system. The ability to “drop” any item directly into the gameworld, yours and everyone elses, meant players could organise chairs and tables and form a wedding venue. This is something that could not be achieved in the static worlds of Azeroth and the like.

Of course, with the ability to customize the land for all players, came the people who griefed. Boxes placed infront of door ways, teleportation gates surrounded by immovable objects often caused the developers to get hands on with the world they had developed. Game Masters (GMs) were illustrious in their appearance – hooded robes that were unavailable to players gave them an ethereal quality about them, as if they were really from the higher circle. Ultimited powers gave the GMs the talent to magic any item into the game world or remove a player indefinately.

Player Killers were one of the controversial elements of this freeform world.

Websites began popping up, journaling the trials and tribulations of players wrongly put into GM voidspace – a holding cell seperate from the entire game world with no doors. These weren’t the only websites to form their own life outside the game – uo.stratics.com was a library of information, documenting the limitless items, monsters, skills and tactics that could be obtained in the game. UO-auctions.com became the eBay of Britannia, users swapping ingame gold for houses and magical swords. imanewbie.com provided a comedic twist on the game with a weekly on going story about the character ImaNewbie.

Characters weren’t limited by skill, only imagination. With a total of 700 points being able to be put into one of the 60+ skills (including fencing, fishing, cartography, peacemaking, musicianship, cooking, taming, alchemy, hiding and archery) a player could become a master in 7 skills, often refering to them as Grand Master (confusingly abbreviated to GM also). Again, websites sprung up giving information on how to get the best from your character and listing complimentary skills. Because of this, templates became the standard way to plan out your character, the idea of becoming a legendary animal tamer or treasure hunter was achieavable.

Ultima Online has changed now, servers are emptier than ever and the game has been streamlined in an attempt to gain the attention of the new MMO fans who have only ever known the tank’n'spank systems of Warcraft and Everquest. This really is a shame because Ultima Online of old was an unbelievable game filled with unbelievable people. It had so many great systems that these days would be deemed “too hardcore” or “unrealistic” – the ideas of losing all your items when killed, percentage based skills and homeownership.

Hopefully one day a team of developers will see the lasting appeal of giving players the ability to do anything they want to themselves and their world to the extent that the team at OSI once did.

Double click pick-axe. Click ground. Wait. Vas Corp Por, Kal Vas Flam, Corp Por. Dammit. Pk’d.