Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

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freecivnet
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Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by freecivnet »

Hello,

Here's an idea for Wesnoth: create a client for Wesnoth which is playable in
a web browser. This will give more people easy access to playing Wesnoth.
What do you think of this idea? Would it even be possible, given Wesnoth's architecture?
Since Wesnoth uses clients and servers, I would think it's possible.

Freeciv has created a web client, which can be played here: http://www.freeciv.net/.

Image

It renders an isometric map using the HTML5 canvas element.
Something similar should be possible for the Battle for Wesnoth.
Would there be any interest in such a client for Wesnoth?

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thespaceinvader
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by thespaceinvader »

I'm sure such a thing would see use, but there are no coders available to make it work, if it is even possible to do with web based media (something which I, in my limited knowledge of programming, am decidedly doubtful of). If you wanted it done, you'd have to either do it yourself, or find someone with the time, ability and drive to make it work.

It ain't gonna happen any other way.
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Blarumyrran »

http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=21807

Mind the name, it was pretty much a multiplayer web client for Wesnoth that got only the most basic stuff implemented (more than just an UI for the original cpp program - it redid everything from scratch). Wesnoth has a level of detail vastly higher than that of FreeCiv; to implement actually all the stuff in Wesnoth in a web client is silly. Making a web client compatible with the Default era Wesnoth multiplayer, but nothing more, does sound sort of feasible though, in my newb opinion. Go ahead if you want to give a try.
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Hulavuta
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Hulavuta »

I could be wrong, but if the game was on the web, it would not be as customizable. When it's installed, you can go into its archive and change the data.
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Yoyobuae »

I would take it easy at first.

A good first step would be a to just render a map (with transitions *shudders*). Preferably reading data directly from WML (or a preprocessed version of it). Then being able to show a replay would be nice (forum embeddable replays? yes, please :D). Then local player interaction. And finally login into multiplayer and such.

It would be a long process though.
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Viliam »

It means writing the game again, in a different programming language, doesn't it?

The only good thing about it, is that you would have clear specification of what needs to be done. And your data files are already made. Still a lot of work, though.
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Zarel »

It's possible... but it's a major undertaking... you would indeed have to rewrite literally everything, except maybe wesnothd. And to do it for free? :/ I'm not sure anyone would have that much free time...
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by helling3r »

Sorry resurrecting this old thread, but i stumbled onto it by a google search for a webclient.
I suppose there is nothing new in this field?

I lack proper knowledge, however wouldn't it be possible to enhance the c-client in such a way that it:
a) provides a http (soap/rest) interface to be able to receive low level interactions (mouse clicks essentially)
b) delivers rendering information (a rendered image at the basic level to start with)

This way the webclient could only deal with the basic web stuff: creating a fresh client instance, showing the rendered images, tunneling user input to the client, which then results in an updated image...

Maybe suchba c-to-web wrapper already exists?
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by octalot »

Where would the C code run? It sounds like it would need to be on a server somewhere, as if it's on the player's PC then there's no need for the browser to be involved; that would take a lot more processing power than the existing Wesnoth server.

The ability to run the whole client in the browser might be possible with Vultraz's Wesnoth-on-Godot project. The Godot project itself has an article about their attempts to run in a browser: https://godotengine.org/article/webassembly-godot-web
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by gnombat »

Someone tried to get Wesnoth working in the browser with Emscripten a few years ago. It was able to load the main screen but I don't think it ever got beyond that.
shevegen
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by shevegen »

Consider how important the www became, I think that should be a todo-check in the future. But I guess it is also a lot of work ... don't think there is a trivial way to add this.

Good to know at one point it was possible to play it via Emscripten. Perhaps if someone could try to get that running again, just to showcase that it were possible ... that might help.
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Re: Web client for Wesnoth, like Freeciv.

Post by Jay_jayjay »

Haldric could possibly support something like a web client
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