Javascript Libraries - To Impact.JS or not to...

Javascript Libraries - To Impact.JS or not to... (Read 115 times) javascript Impact.JS HTML5 Enchant.JS

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RyanTheBoy

#1 November 19, 2013, 07:58:42 pm

Normal Person
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Joined: Sep 24, 2013
Posts: 45

Hey peoples, just curious as to whether or not anybody has ever used the Impact.JS game library?

I am currently working on a game project for my employer and have been stumbling through the Enchant.JS library and their partially translated API.

From what I have seen of both Impact seems to run faster and handles much bulkier projects than Enchant. Enchant games always remind me of old-school java applets: the FPS fluctuates and things tend to break easily. On top of that Impact has a much more active community of developers and much more documentation.

The only hesitation I have at this juncture is the $99 license fee (which I would need to pay since this is a commercial project). I just wondered if anyone here had any incite into this quandary before I contact my boss to pester her to purchase the license on my behalf.

EDIT: This should probably be moved to the programming forum. Derp.

Last Edit: November 20, 2013, 03:01:11 am by RyanTheBoy

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MaD

#2 December 01, 2013, 12:08:24 am

the darkest member
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Joined: Aug 20, 2003
Posts: 110

I've had a lot of experience with ImpactJS and I really like it. I did the last swjam using Impact and if you want you can view the code for that on github at https://github.com/zach-binary/sw-jam1 or play at http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/

I think the $99 shouldn't be a big deal if you are working for a serious company. That's pennies compared to something like Unity3d Pro which is what a lot of studios use.

There are also a lot of other javascript game frameworks, such as limejs which probably gets a lot more support than ImpactJS (I thought the same thing you were thinking but I've had to solve a lot my own problems. Sometimes I've gotten lucky and ran into dom the creator on #impactjs in freenode though)

If you want some more information on other frameworks here is a handy page that shows an implementation of breakout with each of the popular frameworks. http://city41.github.io/breakouts/index.html. I think you're best choices are lime, impact, or just buckling down and using Construct 2 if you aren't doing anything really fancy.

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RyanTheBoy

#3 December 03, 2013, 12:14:00 pm

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Joined: Sep 24, 2013
Posts: 45

Thanks for the information! I am trying to stay full-stack JavaScript so the Python requirements of Lime makes me a little skiddish.

I am still not 100% sold on Impact but the game you've presented here certainly controls a lot more smoothly than what I have thrown together in Enchant. I'd not considered Construct 2 though it would certainly have made prototyping a lot easier.

The situation is weird as my 'company' is a grant project for a midwestern state school. I was hired on my design merits and only started programming when it became apparent that nobody else on the team was going to. I chose Enchant initially to stay within budget and have learned a lot. The library gives a lot of freedom certainly with adding outside libraries (I am currently learning backend via Node to try and dynamically deliver educational content into the game).

For now, against my better inclinations, I think I am going to try and muscle through Enchant. It may change later if we actually end up earning a little more money. This whole job is a new territory for me so I am somewhat nearsighted and leading the blind.

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