03-23-2011, 06:02 AM
I agree with you comments, though not so sure I agree with you on IE6-7 having majority market share.
According to the stats; IE does have overall market share (56.64% as of Feb 2011). However, that figure is broken down into:
IE6: 12.02%
IE7: 08.35%
IE8: 35.68%
IE9: 00.59%
[source]
You'll see that IE8 has by far the highest user base. The trend over recent years has seen people upgrade their browsers quicker and more frequently than in the past. I don't see this trend slowing down.
So our strategy is based on this. We think that by this time next year, IE9 will have a much larger user base that will continue to climb quickly.
Couple this with the fact our game is only going to be in beta this time next year, we felt it is better to build it on a platform that by the time our game has matured, the bulk of the browser user-base will be compatible.
IE8 gained 35% of the market in about 2 years. IE9 has just hit the streets, so I am expecting it to do similar things, if not quicker.
The other browsers (FF, Chrome etc) already support the HTML5 features we plan on taking advantage of.
According to the stats; IE does have overall market share (56.64% as of Feb 2011). However, that figure is broken down into:
IE6: 12.02%
IE7: 08.35%
IE8: 35.68%
IE9: 00.59%
[source]
You'll see that IE8 has by far the highest user base. The trend over recent years has seen people upgrade their browsers quicker and more frequently than in the past. I don't see this trend slowing down.
So our strategy is based on this. We think that by this time next year, IE9 will have a much larger user base that will continue to climb quickly.
Couple this with the fact our game is only going to be in beta this time next year, we felt it is better to build it on a platform that by the time our game has matured, the bulk of the browser user-base will be compatible.
IE8 gained 35% of the market in about 2 years. IE9 has just hit the streets, so I am expecting it to do similar things, if not quicker.
The other browsers (FF, Chrome etc) already support the HTML5 features we plan on taking advantage of.
(03-23-2011, 05:22 AM)Ramblurr Wrote: Indeed, unfortunately IE versions 6-7 have the majority market share by far, and they support only a few, if any, of the CSS3/HTML5 features.
Fortunately, IE 9 has been released and has received very positive reviews, not to mention its CSS3/HTML 5 support+performance is finally on par with modern versions of Chrome and FF.
Quote:oh and we've gone for a 'long polling' client-side implementation for our async calls.Awesome! Comet is something I think more web developers should consider when designing their architecture.
Regarding mapping and modern technology, for games set in space I would love to see a nifty application of WebGL to present interactive 3D starmaps. Navigating in 3D is tough however, and a lot of thought would have to be put into the interface and input model to make it easy and not confusing/disorienting. Maybe a sort of fake 3D would work, where the user can freely move in 2D and the 3rd dimension is semi-fixed.
![[Image: gad_games_logo_small.gif]](http://www.gadgames.com/images/gad_games_logo_small.gif){kind=logo}