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PS Suite is going the right way

Thu, 03 May 2012 04:37:00 GMT

Hard man to please Is pleased...

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Playstaion Suite SDK, which is in Beta build for now and looking impressive already. This article explains my hope for this as a platform. Imagine developing on the new PS Vita, you can now...

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Well what can I say. My WebGL development has been in the way lately (sorry I can't place more light, wish I could!), and low and behold I find that the beta version of the Playstation® Suite is available. Now in version 0.98 at time of post; this is a beast and I have tried the some of the examples and I have to say. Wow...

Ok, before I get carried away, The Playstation® Suite SDK is a dev kit which allows you to write code for both Sony Based Android devices or the Sony Playstation® Vita handheld. Yesterday, I 'borrowed' my friend's Vita to run the sample program code and boy am I impressed with this SDK and 'the whole Shebang'. Then when I had time to myself I tried the examples on the very solid emulator which comes with the SDK, it is not as exciting as the 'real thing', but you get my drift :D.

So what about it that makes me so keen...

It uses MonoDevelop, an open source C# IDE, which is a solid platform to develop with. It has been re-branded Playstation® Suite Studio. You cannot build and distribute Vita executables (of course!), or write in native C/C++ code; which might be a total off putting deal for some. C# is a good language, as I've used it in the past on previous projects years ago; the only caveat would be is the performance issues compared to lower level native languages. When you install the SDK, you have to deal with so many terms and conditions which I'm okay with; but I can't see some of my esteemed FOSS friends and colleagues jumping onto this promising platform.

The thing that makes me so impressed is seeing the demo run, which is very promising for all you creative types. Tutorials are solid and easy to grasp. There are even demo game example code, which is great for the intermediate who has completed the tutorials; so the learning curve isn't too high.

They might not be the tools the AAA game developer would use, but you can produce powerful 3D games and apps. There are conversion tools, and other gems to help produce solid interactive software. The nice thing to see is that it allows you to use the Playstation® input control mechanism.

The code is typical C#, in that it is purely Object-Orientated. The 3D graphics library looks like a OO hybrid version of Direct3D9 and OpenGL, which if you know one of these API's; will be simple to use or port existing projects. The shaders used reminds me more of NVidia's CG/HLSL, rather than GLSL. With shaders the syntax difference is fairly small as they work the same in execution.

Potential

...Yes, there is loads in this regard. Budding programmers and hobbyists can develop on PS Vita on official dev kits (watered down, but one none the less). Indies have a chance to shine with this, and the added user base of Sony based Android devices, this can seriously make it a great time for Indie game development. I've been impressed by so many great Indie games (Humble Bundle have allowed some amazing Indie games to arrive on my Ubuntu Linux box). As long as Sony doesn't treat this platform the same way Microsoft treated XNA; in being neglected and be left as an afterthought. I think with the development of Google Play/Android and iOS platforms, it is becoming apparent that serious developers will look at this as a solid platform; and can make or break it's potential of user adoption. And when if the devs produce quality software, it only benefits the platform it is on; as Platforms and Operating Systems live and die by the available applications (Look at Windows Phone 7 at this current time).

Well then...

I'm not going to borrow my friends Vita, as I am envious and my projects take too much time for me to play with PS Suite coding; maybe too much of a distraction. I want to code for this beauty, so I will have to do something I wasn't going to intend doing. My intention in a nutshell - Buy this Vita beauty; and code for the real hardware. Emulator is robust and solid enough, but it is not the same.

Maybe I will have to settle with a very good emulator for now, as I am becoming a gadget whore now in my old age. But on all I've seen, it is very solid and robust, with a very good emulator and tools. And bear in mind it is still beta at this point. If you have developed full blown games, publish them and let us all know.

In the meanwhile, download this brilliant SDK.

Kit Wilson's Site Launched at Last

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:27:00 GMT

Diversifying along the way...

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Kit Wilson's site has been launched to offer bespoke systems web or native.

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As usual been away busy on many things. One of those is the new Kit Wilson's Web & Media Solutions Website. This is a shameless plug to be honest, regardless of that it did not take long and I needed to sell myself it bit more. So I can gain any potential interests from anyone who wants web and native application development solutions. I have yet to activate more of the features that will be available over time; at the time of writing this, the site is there so I can just test the water. I would not mind anyone to visit the site and pass their opinion, constructive criticism would not go a miss.

Flash Is Not Ready to Die Yet!

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:52:00 GMT

The naysayers might disagree with this one

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After the furore of the direction Adobe are taking Flash with the Cancellation of Flash on Mobile platforms and the submission of Flex into the Apache Software Foundation. Myself, after many years can see the reason why it is on the downward spiral. When Flash was launched back in the 1990's, it was the best way to use animation and have interactive features on the web. Fast forward towards 2012, HTML5 has changed the landscape in regards to interaction on the web with open standards which can be deployed on the most modern web browsers; and at the same time not depend on critically compromised plug-ins. The one thing at the time of release of this article that HTML5 falls short on compared to Flash is the streaming capabilities; it is not the case that it is not capable, the issue that stands in the way is the different members of WHATWG coming to a consensus on how to implement a standard which all can adhere to. Look at the hassle set by the standard of which video format can play in the video element. In time, things will be sorted out on the HTML5 side of things.

Now with the main point, Flash might not be the power it once was, but it will be with us for many years to come. I don't think it will be around on the web as it was before, but i feel it will still have a place for many things like interactive kiosks, AAA Game UI, Standalone games (as the number of Flash games is absolutely huge, and there are still many to be published), and more importantly for many Flashanistas; live streaming. Companies use Flash not only for streaming, but also for DRM, and adding a few advertisement banners. When Steve Jobs banned Flash from the IOS devices, it could be said that the intention was that Apple could have full control of the Web Apps (poor flash ports, quality control,etc); I remember his explaining that he feared the security flaws, and now 20 months later he was proved so right. Sadly, he is no longer with us, but it seems his hand is dragging Flash down with him slowly to the other side where there is no coming back. I find it funny that man responsible for the demise of Flash mentioned back in early 2010, that Open Standards HTML5 should be used for all future web specifications; yet at the same time wanted to have proprietary .h264 video formats with HTML5. Sadly that is the state of today's conglomerate I.T. industry, confusion, contradiction and contrived situations which lead to a unnecessary intangible mess. I am no advocate of any persuasion or political leanings, but I just want things that work, and I think 99.99% of developers want the same.

Slow to move on...

It is proprietary, and that is a problem for many. I have met many people on the net, who will only confide in something that is well known and easy to deploy; and for those individuals Flash is that. I remember speaking at a meeting in January 2011 to a I.T. business woman (who i won't name to save her blushes), she was stating that Flash was the future. I had to politely rebuff her, and explain that it is not 2000. I expected back 11 months ago that Flash with all the slow patches on its critically flawed player was on borrowed time on the web browser. I explained about HTML5 and she was a bit sheepish towards it. I wonder if she feels the same as even Adobe has finally decided to concentrate on HTML5 authoring tools and admit, Flash as a platform has no future as a web player. Adobe has wisely thrown its hat into the HTML5 content arena early with Edge, which looks very promising indeed.

Business has to embrace and be beware of the future...

In my country the U.K., there is a slow realisation that the web and I.T. in general is changing to a more open-standard infrastructure. Many companies buy into the marketing and all that jazz, spending on expensive software to do nothing more than what Jquery can do in a few lines of code. It is great to live in the world of the web as other developers from around the world have the same feeling about how we can go forward. Sometimes I hear people bemoan that they hate flash because of the slow bloated SWF file and general sloppy flash performance. Like any high-level programming language that is because there are more poorly unoptimised programs in Actionscript; usually done by designers who learn to program in a weekend class and write pretty, but bloated apps, which on any system is going to slowdown. They do not appreciate that creating objects in a OOP language take up bytes and they add up, with copy and pasted code which they do not understand; but they put in anyway. I have seen it with my own eyes when I had to analyse codebases. I mean you get that with native apps, even C++, Java, etc; yet no one blames those languages or compilers. Ive seen flash apps that are surprisingly fast, so that performance argument is not really valid. Sometimes you feel people are racing to be at the forefront of the 'next big thing' without knowing what the focus is to move on; while at the same time disregarding what is here today, here and now. HTML5 is still a working draft, as i have noticed some of the API specs have been omitted this year alone. And trust me, as there are bloated Actionscript code in Flash, you wait until you see unoptimised Javascript code with HTML5/WebGL. Seriously that scares me, but hey it is part of what makes the web interesting and scary at the same time.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy!

Those writing premature obituaries for Flash, have to remember while Flash 'is so 1998' to people like ourselves; remember businesses over the last ten years have developed web apps, CMS, intranet, and other systems that are built in Flash which are used within their business I.T. eco-system. With cost and uncertainty, these businesses would be resistant to change. Even though you know that there is not anything HTML in general cannot do that Flash can do with web apps, companies depending on these flash infrastructure will not throw away a system which will cost ultimately a lot of money to replace. You would be amazed how many businesses I know still have Flash CMS systems, even though AJAX has been around for about 9 years now. Look how long IE6 has been around, only because business cannot be bothered to keep up to date with the latest technology as it costs time and money. A typical business mentality is 'if it works, why fix it?'; it will not only be inconvenient for the company to upgrade to a new system or software, it will be costly too. Even Microsoft wants to obliterate IE6. And Flash falls in the same category. In my experience of working in I.T. for too many years to admit, the amount of companies I know bought someone's marketing bile, and tied to a prison where they cannot upgrade any system is a number I would have to place digits with; the sad thing is they are eternally stuck with Flash based systems and infrastructure without any code or database documentation. I.T companies that lead them down the Primrose path, and making the possibility of them trusting new technologies and other more reliable software developers very unlikely. Remember not all people who want a system built around their business are I.T. sharp or aware as their task is to run the day to day machination of the business, not the geeky stuff. So like IE6, Flash will despite what Adobe hope, will still be around for many years. I haven't touched Flex/Flash in professional software development in years, so seeing the world move on from Flash is sad as I am a sentimentalist. But sentiment does not play out well in present reality. I don't know what the hundreds of games companies that have built games for the web using Flash like Zynga are going to do; I cannot see them abandon the platform for a while, and as with many other social web game developers. These social gaming networks have millions of game players around the world who do not know what HTML5 is, yet they cannot go without Flash for their gaming fix. The average casual game player does not know better than rely on Flash, and they like the business company who will not be throwing Flash away anytime soon. Some people still play Bejeweled on a browser in flash even though the game is over a decade old. There will be ports of some of the classic flash games to HTML5, but not all; and while those games are in existence, there will always be a demand for Flash to play them.

Where does Flash go from here?

With the inclusion of Flex moving to Apache, could there be a more logical step for Adobe to move Flash as a whole to Open Source. With all their eggs in the new HTML5 basket, it would make more sense. They would not have to deal with the continual patch fixes and waste their resources on obsolete technology. Flash nowadays is a platform rather than the pretty 2D animator that it was in the late '90s, no different to Python, or Vala. These technologies have been open source for as long as they have existed and it has been their strength to be open. Maybe patent concerns might be a stumbling block, but I can only see that being a problem with the flv video container. Hopefully it goes that way, and it does become open, as it will keep those who depend on this obsolete technology happy and it will most likely enjoy a renaissance with more eyes and hands to fixing and enhancing a technology which is not going away anytime soon. Desktop might not be fashionable in a couple of years in general computing uses (predicted by many), but the large array of flash games will always be in demand; hopefully on tablet platforms. If Google, Apache or another body regulates where Flash can move forward with initial help of Adobe, that would leave Flash with a clear, bright future.

Long Overdue

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:42:00 GMT

Been away, But back for more

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Getting back into the flow of Reliant Code

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After been away for the last several months on many professional projects, which didn't leave me with any time to get anything done on this site. No added articles, blogs or content over the last several months, but now I have more time to do so. With the diversity of technologies and platforms, I now have the scope to indulge into other avenues and technologies which have been restricted by the business landscape I have been occupied with in the last several months. With Reliant Code I have had to do a total code rewrite on the site, which will enable it to be more user friendly; and for me easier to maintain.

Anyway, after the great year in technology we have all just witnessed, I am totally optimistic about what is in store in the future in general. The web is now becoming the total platform for all devices, Open Source/Standards are becoming more excepted in business and in general day-to-day use, new gadgets are offering us the array of choices never seen before at prices that are brilliant to the consumer.

So excited with all there is going on right now; but while I am glad, it is time to get ready for the next direction of this site. I have written several tutorials on paper; and when I get the time, I will type them up and publish it as soon as possible. I have the initial tutorials to get out of the way, then I have some exciting projects to get started which will be part of this site. The thing I am looking forward to is that I can write in my Tweets, and do something on with site to accompany it.

HTML5 is the Future

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:36:00 GMT

And it is here sooner than you thought...

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I have been dabbling with the new features that are available in HTML5. It brings HTML and Javascript to another level. Features such as Dragging and Dropping Files, Video, and Audio elements are very exciting as they eliminate the need for plug-ins. The one feature that I have been developing with is Canvas. I have wrote a few demos and games in 2D Canvas and WebGL (Some portions of this website render in Canvas depending on browser), which I am soon to launch as a series of tutorials. They are mostly in Javascript; even though it is best recommended to use the latest web browser, as Javascript has evolved in leaps and bounds over the last year as performance has improved so much. Javascript as a whole is not perfect yet, as it can slow down on some computers, or different HTML5 features are not fully supported in some browsers; yet you can see some major possibilities which will carry Web Development throughout this new exciting decade.

Javascript's speed for example is not it's biggest strength, but as I mentioned earlier, the new browsers will take on that issue and create a platform that can rival Adobe Flash in the long run. The thing I have enjoyed working with and keen to work more on is WebGL which is in technology devised by the Khronos Group; which is a 3D API standard similar to Khronos' Desktop 3D API OpenGL. With the possibility this brings to develop hardware rendered graphics via the web is going to be stunning for those 3D graphics connoisseur and enthusiasts (I'm waiting for more web browsers to support these features fully!).

I am currently writing tools and tutorials to accompany this site on both 2D Canvas Game development and WebGL Graphics programming at this current time (February 2011). I am testing the web apps on Google Chrome Beta, as Firefox 4, has yet to become a stable release at this time of writing thus does not support WebGL as Chrome does. Once Firefox 4 is ready, then I know the best time to launch these tutorials will be then.

Other portions of HTML5 will be covered in later tutorials which will be available over the next couple of months during Summer 2011. Stay Tuned and you will be filled in.

Examples linked above courtesy of HTML5 Demos.