F.A.Q.

Last Updated on November 24th, 2011 (sub-pages have their own dates)

Q. When did development start?
A. Planning started in February 2010 and development started in earnest in June 2010.

Q. I have an idea / feature request and would like to discuss this with you
A. Fantastic. We love to get feedback, requests and new ideas so please don’t hesitate to jot down your thoughts and send them over to us: isogenic@irrelon.com

Q. What kinds of games can I make with Isogenic?
A. Isometric MMOs, real-time strategy, top-down shooters, 2d and isometric racing games, 2d multiplayer platformers with full physics etc.

Q. Can I make 2d top-down / side-scrolling games in Isogenic?
A. Yes, 2d games are pretty simple compared to isometric games!

Q. Does Isogenic use any plug-ins or third-party libraries?
A. Isogenic doesn’t rely on any browser plug-ins and uses pure JavaScript, HTML and Canvas where available. We use jQuery to interact with the DOM.

Q. What browsers and devices does the engine support?
A. At the moment we support almost all browsers. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE (9+), Opera, Android Webkit (2.0+) and iOS Safari. We have tested the engine running on iPad 2 with iOS 5. Apple’s iOS 5 brought massive improvements to JavaScript performance and it is recommended that you upgrade to this version or higher as soon as possible. We are not interested in supporting very old browsers such as IE6 and honestly, if you’re still using it and are not being forced to at gun-point you probably shouldn’t be on the internet… you’re a danger to yourself and others! Get a decent browser here.

Q. How much does the engine cost?
A. We will be releasing the engine under a few different licenses to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to work with Isogenic. Please see our price sheet for more details. We also have discounts for bulk and educational use. Contact us if you have a query regarding those topics!

  • http://www.facebook.com/maksim.sojfer Максим Сойфер

    Forgive me for silly question but : do i need knowledge of javascript to make game ?
    or engine have some sort of “editor” ? Server logic need to be made by me with javascript or engine have some sort of tools to make it?

    • Anonymous

      Hi There,

      Yes you will need to have a good understanding of JavaScript in order to use the engine. JavaScript is a powerful but very easy to learn language that is both fun and intuitive!

      If you are just starting out I would recommend that you pick up a book or read some online tutorials before jumping in at the deep end with game development. Games are by far the most difficult applications to write because of the need for performance and high-quality code.

  • Tom Wilson

    Just wanted to clarify: for tiles for an isometric map, do we provide the engine assets that are already rendered in isometric perspective or is it scaling and rotating squares?

    • http://twitter.com/IsogenicEngine Rob Evans

      The assets are pre-rendered in the correct perspective. There is no reason that the engine cannot do this for you but on low powered devices, it would be a mistake to rely on client-side post-processing of image data.

      • Tom Wilson

        Thanks. Sounds good.

  • Manuel Strausz

    Just a general question regarding your engine-architecture: Are you using an event-driven programming style, where you can queue/receive events from and to game objects? If so, can a game programmer using your engine easily subscribe to certain event types (and/or specific objects or object-types)?
    Is there any kind of process managemer running e.g. for using co-operative multitasking?
    I know this might be a bit too in-depth for this FAQ, just curious as to what kind of model you had in mind there :)

    • Anonymous

      Hi Manuel, the engine is event driven yes, however individual game objects to not emit events themselves because they are not “active” parts of the code but rather blocks of data. The effect is much the same though because if for instance you wanted to know when a sprite moves to a particular location, you listen to the entities manager with that event ige.entities.events.on(‘afterMove’) and your listener is passed the entity that is the subject of the event.

      Not sure about the co-op multitasking question, could you give me a little more info about what you mean and I will try to answer.

      Thanks!

  • Nima

    Hi There,

    This engine looks very promising and exactly what I was looking for as a hobbyist who wants to get into game developing on the side for my own enjoyment (and possibly releasing it if I ever actually finish one).

    That said, I have recently gotten the Apple SDK for iOS and my goal was to make something for the iDevices first.  I was wondering with this engine, can I create my game and make an App on the iOS that’ll basically act as the access point to the game or does it have to be a browser they play through?

    Essentially, just wondering if I use Isogenic to make my game, will I be able to make an App and put it on the App store to access it or does it have to be accessed through the iOS Safari browser?

    Thanks

    • Anonymous

      Hey ya, we are currently working on an iOS wrapper that will allow you to keep all your code written in JavaScript but will execute as a native app that can be downloaded (and purchased) from the App Store. The native app acts to improve performance by taking over graphics and audio output; rendering to OpenGL and OpenAL.

      This means that although the engine and your game script are written and execute via JavaScript, the app takes over for intensive tasks like rendering so no actual WebView is ever presented to the user.

      • Nima

        Nice!  Thanks for the info.

        Now I can’t wait until this bad-boy of an engine is out and ready to be used!  Best of luck to you in finishing and releasing this beautiful digital artifact of yours so that the rest of us can start working on our games.

        Cheers

      • Mutasim

        Have you looked into integrating your product with the Appcelerator Titanium Mobile SDK? Considering that is a JS based SDK that compiles to native code, it could be a great marriage. I’m sure the guys over at Appcelerator would be willing to point you in the right direction.

        • http://www.isogenicengine.com Rob Evans

          Appcelerator canvas support is not as fast as a native OpenGL solution. A native solution using OpenGL is always going to perform faster. Last time I spoke to the guys at Appcelerator they were using a webview to output canvas-based calls. Are you sure they are now using OpenGL to do them?

  • terravista

    Hi,
    The project is looking really great. What facilities are available for creating a GUI – ie chat boards, equipment lists, status/health panels etc ? Is a GUI drawn in the canvas, or around the canvas ? Does the engine provide any API’s for handling the GUI, or is that outside the scope of the engine, and up to the developer to do from scratch ?

    • Anonymous

      At present, UI elements are being implemented via an HTML overlay so they are currently up to the developer to do. We’re working on a UI framework that will help with UI related tasks and for porting to devices that will use OpenGL rather than a web-view to display output.

    • http://www.isogenicengine.com Rob Evans

      Further to this, version 0.2.6b now supports basic UI element creation. Currently you can create buttons and other clickable regions that require one or more states based upon mouse / touch.

  • Rick

    Hi,
    This project looks really interesting. I’m glad to see such innovation for browser-based gaming. I have a question. Why did you decide on JavaScript for your server-side processing? It’s not a very popular technology for server-side processing. Just curious.

    Thanks,
       -Rick

    • Anonymous

      Hi Rick, the decision to use JS for the server-side was made for a few reasons, but main reason is this:

      With JS server-side our entire engine is one single project that runs in both environments. One language, one code-base from top to bottom makes it very easy to understand and very easy for web developers who are used to working with JS to use their existing skills to implement their game ideas. Using existing skills is key to raising adoption numbers in a project, lowering the barrier to entry.

      Although not yet particularly popular server-side, the power of JavaScript as a language is actually quite misunderstood. Many perceive it as a “child’s language” or something that can only be used to do simple tasks but actually it is capable of a lot more than most realise. JS server-side was an obvious choice when you consider that it is the ONLY option for a completely uniform language at both ends of a connection, and it was important that our project was accessible for web-developers at both ends!

      No other language can run natively, plugin-free cross-browser and I guarantee that in 10 years time, JS will be the single most-used language in the world.

      There is a certain stigma associated with JavaScript, mostly because it is easy to learn and very dynamic which leads many to disregard it as a toy for web developers, not “real” developers. I actually wrote a quick article about this and you can catch it here: http://www.isogenicengine.com/2011/06/09/why-in-10-years-time-youll-write-nothing-but-javascript-and-be-happy/

      For anyone who is wondering what on earth JS could possibly do server-side, I encourage them to check out the Node.js site which although sparse and not particularly inviting, should pique your interest: http://nodejs.org/

  • Guest

    hey! just wondering where you get your arts from
    do you draw all of them? they look really pretty!
    thanks

    • Anonymous

      Hey ya,

      We have an artist that does all the art for us. He is very talented!

  • Christian Brock

    This is an amazing looking engine you’ve got here Rob.  I’m researching ways to do exactly what your engine offers.  Browser based, multi platform, persistent, in depth MMO.  The game that our team is brain storming is going to be an online tabletop RPG w/ MMO elements.  I expect the game to be very database heavy, is there a mechanic in place to hook the engine up to our DB or would I need to have a Premium license in order to add this type of functionality?

    • http://www.isogenicengine.com Rob Evans

      You can write new DB interfaces without having access to the premium license. New modules for the engine can be written and used on any license tier. You will need to mimic the database API calls for your module so that when you use it the engine can make DB calls and get the same response back as it would expect but we can certainly help you with that.

      If you are committed to writing the module and willing to contribute your code back to the engine (and depending upon which DB system you are writing the module for) we would be happy to provide you with a very large discount on a premium license as a thank you.

      What DB server are you using at the moment?

  • Nemesys101
    • http://www.isogenicengine.com Rob Evans

      Thanks, well spotted! :)

  • Teresa

    Hi Rob,

    I do like to test out Isogenic Engine to see if I can create my game with this engine, but I have some questions that I need to know before I test my use case with Isogenic.

    1. What the minimum level of Smart phones does Isogenic support (iPhone, Android)? 

    2. What iOs release is required for playing the game made with Isogenic? Can you give me the minimum full function or limited functionality of iPad that the games like Angry Bird or isoCity can play on? Can the game be played on the iOs that older than 5.x such as iPad 1?

    3. The same question for iPhone and Android: can the games be played on 3G, 3GS…, or what is the minimum full function of iPhone and Android that the games like Angry Bird or isoCity can play on.

    4. Can Isogenic Engine communicate with the external servers/services that record game activity or provide data to be used in the game. If it can, do you have libraries/commands to assist with this.

    5. I tested the tweening module with the tweenStart method in the IgeTween class from your tutorial, but it did not work. This brings up a question to me: at what point does Isogenic have all the features/modules work? What are some current features/modules that actually work at this stage.

    6. Does Isogenic support asynchronous play and replay capability?

    7. How many players can participate in the MMO? Can I have multiple shared universe tracking that players can invite friends to the game?

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