New Web Platforms For Game Development

As my ADD would dictate, I have been thinking about what I’m going to work on after I finish my current project. My first thought was to work on a Multi-player Tetris game as described in an article on becoming a network programmer. Then there were two announcements that may change my mind.

First, was the announcement that GarageGames and IAC were creating a site, InstantAction.com, which would allow you to use GarageGames’ tools to create games that are playable through a standard web browser. My guess is that they will enable the Torque engine to run in a plug-in and then execute games that were developed with some/all the existing Torque products or a new member of the Torque family. This is interesting because I wouldn’t have to go the Flash route. Flash is great because you don’t have to download the games, but it isn’t a framework specifically for developing games. There are some big questions though, like will you be able to deploy these games anywhere or only at InstantAction.com? WIll I be able to take my existing TGB game and deploy it in this new environment?

The second announcement that caught my eye was Raph Koster’s latest endeavor, Metaplace. It promises to allow people to create MMORPG’s, puzzle games, etc, eventually. It will be interesting to see how much is working at this point. Here’s a demo:


Should be interesting. Gives me some incentive to finish my game so I can play around with these two technologies.