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Report on Games workshop published

October 10, 2011

W3C HTML5 logo

Two weeks ago, we had the occasion to join the games community during onGameStart, the first HTML5 Games conference. Speakers at the conference explored many facets of games development using Web technologies, things that work, things that don’t. To explore game developers needs further and gather inputs for HTML.next, we organized a workshop the day after the conference. The workshop report is now available.

Workshop participants included people from Bocoup, Google, Mozilla, RIM, Tecnalia, and Wooga, all passionate about games and Web technologies. During the workshop, more than 20 features that would enable the development of better games using regular Web technologies were reviewed, refined and classified, leading to the identification of 11 new features of particular interest for the games community, namely:

To push for the inclusion of these features within W3C working groups charters, track standardization progress in W3C, and discuss potential other features directly relevant to the development of games using Web technologies, a Games Community Group was proposed and created at the end of the workshop. This group is also to communicate how to build games on the Open Web Platform to the general public.

A community group is a discussion forum open to anyone, without fees, particularly well suited to serve as coordination point for a particular community within W3C. Are you interested in the progress of the Web platform for games development? Join the Games Community group!

Building on the success of this first workshop, we will run a W3C Games Community Group Summit on 3 November 2011, next to the New Game Conference in San Francisco. Stay tuned on the Open Media Web Blog for announcement!

Check the full workshop report for details. Also, if you want to learn more about building games with Web technologies, check and register for the online training course on Game development in HTML5.

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New training course on Game development in HTML5

October 6, 2011

W3C is pleased to announce a brand new W3C online training course dedicated to “Game development in HTML5”. The objective of this course is to have students use open Web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 & JavaScript to create browser based multiplayer games.

W3C HTML5 logoIn this course, students will learn:

  • about the current state of JavaScript games
  • what are the HTML5 elements useful in game development
  • how to use HTML5 animation and CSS3 transitions
  • about collision detection and basic physics
  • how to implement multiplayer gameplay
  • how to deploy your game in the appstores

A snapshot of the course content is available in the course description below.

Taught by Michal Budzynski, the course will last 4 weeks, from 31 October to 27 November 2011.

To ensure your place on the course, do enroll now! The full price of the course is €225 but we have a limited number of seats available at the early bird rate of €145, open until 22 October 2011. Enroll now and benefit from the early bird rate!

Who should attend?

Course is prepared for both – Web Developers interested in creating games and Game Developers who wants to create games for Web browsers.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of HTML, JavaScript & CSS.

How does this work?

The online course is delivered as a series of 4 modules, one per week. Each module presents information as one or more lectures and includes an assignment and some other activity. The material for the week is made available on each Monday morning (at the latest). You should aim to complete the week’s work by the following weekend although assignments will be accepted up until the end of the course.

You can participate in the course from any time zone. When you choose to work on the material and assignments is entirely up to you. It is anticipated that you will need to spend around 2-3 hours per week on the course (as an average).

Interaction between participants is strongly encouraged through the discussion forum. The discussion forum is open at all times and the teachers will usually respond in good time, especially during (European) office hours.

All course material is presented in English. Assignments must also be submitted in English. Participants may post messages to the discussion forum in any language.

How Do I get a Certificate of Completion?

The course includes 4 practical tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) that all need to be completed satisfactorily if you are to receive a certificate of completion.

What do I need?

All material is delivered via the Web and so is accessible on any browser. The course is hosted by a Moodle platform. Participants are allocated an account on the training system and this grants access to course materials and the a dedicated discussion forum. Register now!

About the trainer: Michal Budzynski

Michal Budzynski photo Michal is a JavaScript developer from Poland with strong game development background, currently working for GG Network (owner of Gadu-Gadu, the biggest Polish instant messaging client). He has created one of the most popular Canvas HTML5 game tutorials – html5gametutorial.mibbu.eu. He recently organized onGameStart, the first HTML5 games event, in his home country Poland.
Michal is also creator of the first PhoneGap implementation for Samsung Bada system. As a Javascript trainer he has run technical workshops in many countries such as France, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy or Brazil. JavaScript is not just his job – it’s his lifestyle. Follow Michal @michalbe

Course description: “Game Development in HTML5”

During the workshop you will learn how to use Open Web Technologies such as JavaScript, CSS3 & HTML5 to create browser based multiplayer games. We will discuss and compare different methods of real-time animation, implementing game loop, structure of the code or communication between the players. Logic of our games will be based on an engine we will write – it will be able to animate sprites, detect collisions, add basic physics to our characters and much more. Finally, you will learn how to run your game as a desktop application outside the browser on MacOSX, Linux & Windows, or as a native application on your mobile device. And how to sell it in the appstores.

Each week ends with a practical assignement.

Week 1: Introduction to HTML5/JavaScript game development

We will remind basics of JavaScript & HTML5, learn how to manipulate Document Object Model and draw on canvas element. We will test different methods of implementing game loop and user controls. An history of JavaScript games will also be presented.
Week 1 assignment: “Create single object on a scene and control it using mouse or/and keyboard.”

Week 2: Let’s make it move!

We will discuss different methods of sprite animation using HTML5 and remind information about basics of physics from high school. We will also learn how to detect collisions between objects.
Week 2 assignment: “Create animated character that could jump on the platforms on the scene.”

Week 3: Connecting with other players

We will review methods for connecting players. Then, we will check if it is possible to connect two browsers without worrying about the server side scripts. We will also learn how to implement multiplayer gameplay in our games.
Week 3 assignment: “Add multiplayer support to your game.”

Week 4: Deploying your game

Last but not least – we will explore the power of JavaScript, CSS3 & HTML5 outside the desktop browser. We will add native features of your mobile phone like accelerometer or vibrations and publish your game in the app stores.
Week 4 assignement: “Create package with your game for mobile devices using described frameworks or publish it as a desktop application for different operating systems.”

Terms and conditions

The training course is offered subject to the following terms and conditions.

  • W3C will deliver the course in line with the published description for the advertised fee.
  • Payment must be made, in full, at the time of registration.
  • Payment is processed using either a credit card or a PayPal account.
  • Participants may withdraw from the course at any time after registration.
  • Refunds will only be made if the participant withdraws within the first week of the online course.
  • W3C intends to continue to make the course material available to registered participants for at least 2 months after the course has ended.
  • All material, including that produced by participants, in assignments and correspondence is copyrighted property and cannot be copied, duplicated, posted on another Web site, or otherwise used without the original author’s consent. Conversations and posted messages are private and cannot be copied, duplicated, forwarded, or conveyed to anyone else without the original author’s permission.

Questions?

Please write to training@w3.org . Thx.

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New training course on HTML5 Audio & Video

September 27, 2011

We are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new W3C online training course dedicated to “HTML5 Audio and Video”. The objective of this course is to make students familiar enough with HTML5 media so that they can use and manipulate it in their Web pages and applications.

Students will learn:

  • about the current state of HTML5 audio and video
  • how to integrate HTML5 media into their Web pages
  • how to encode media to make it suitable for the Web
  • how to build and customize their own media players
  • how to integrate HTML5 media with other HTML5 elements
  • how to use HTML5 media in games and other richer experiences
  • about the integration with mobile platforms

A snapshot of the course content is available in the course description below.

Taught by Mark Boas, the course will last 5 weeks, from 17 October to 20 November 2011.

To ensure your place on the course, do enroll now! The full price of the course is €225 but we have a limited number of seats available at the early bird rate of €145, open until 12 October 2011. Enroll now and benefit from the early bird rate!

Who should attend?

People who want to learn about the potential of HTML5 Rich Media and who have an interest in using HTML5 audio and video APIs to create rich media Web solutions.

Prerequisites

Web developers and designers with a fair to good working knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

How does this work?

The online course is delivered as a series of 5 modules, one per week. Each module presents information as one or more lectures and includes an assignment and some other activity. The material for the week is made available on each Monday morning (at the latest). You should aim to complete the week’s work by the following weekend although assignments will be accepted up until the end of the course.

You can participate in the course from any time zone. When you choose to work on the material and assignments is entirely up to you. It is anticipated that you will need to spend around 2-3 hours per week on the course (as an average).

Interaction between participants is strongly encouraged through the discussion forum. The discussion forum is open at all times and the teachers will usually respond in good time, especially during (European) office hours.

All course material is presented in English. Assignments must also be submitted in English. Participants may post messages to the discussion forum in any language.

How Do I get a Certificate of Completion?

The course includes 5 practical tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) that all need to be completed satisfactorily if you are to receive a certificate of completion.

What do I need?

All material is delivered via the Web and so is accessible on any browser. The course is hosted by a Moodle platform. Participants are allocated an account on the training system and this grants access to course materials and the a dedicated discussion forum. Register now!

About the trainer: Mark Boas

Mark Boas photoMark Boas is a Web developer with over 12 years experience of developing sites and applications for the Web. Active in the community he speaks at international and local events and blogs when time permits. Mark divides his day between research and development and is project co-ordinator of jPlayer, the successful JavaScript media library with a growing community of over 1500 developers. Mark creates projects demonstrating the potential of jPlayer and helps out on the community forum. In addition Mark is involved with the W3C audio group. Recently Mark has been experimenting with a new and interesting technology dubbed hyperaudio. More details of Mark’s work can be found at http://happyworm.com

Course description: “HTML5 Audio & Video”

Using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, students will learn as they build increasingly comprehensive media players and solutions. By learning about the underlying technology, the aim is that the student will understand the full potential of the media, the tools and the tricks of the trade. Armed with this sound knowledge of HTML5 audio and video and its potential, students will be able to confidently create cross-browser HTML5 based audio/video solutions.

Each week ends with a practical assignment.

Week 1: Introduction to HTML5 Media

We look at the back-story of media on the Web and where we are and then launch into creating our very own media player using HTML5. We’ll start with the basics and take you the various capabilities of the <audio> and <video> tags and the API, while keeping a firm grasp of the pragmatic issues that a developer will need to tackle to create cross browser solutions.
Week 1 assignment: “Creating your first basic audio and video player”

Week 2: Tools of the trade

HTML5 media must be correctly encoded to ensure maximum compatibility throughout the various target platforms. We explore the various tools and services available to encode and host our media and then delve deeper into the extensive HTML5 media API to take our player to the next level.
Week 2 assignment: “Encode your own media”

Week 3: Media player controls

We take a look at the various controls and feedback that we need to create to provide a comprehensive media player and explore the mechanisms that lie behind them.
Week 3 assignment: “Add a functional progress bar to your audio and video players”

Week 4: Playlists

One of the most desired functions for audio and sometimes video players is the ability to have playlists. Playlists allow you to order a number of pieces of media for sequential playback.
Week 4 assignment: “Add a playlist to your audio player and add subtitles to your video player”

Week 5: Integrating Video with other HTML5 Elements

One of the great advantages of HTML5 media is that it can interact with other HTML elements, we can have a lot of fun with this.
Week 5 assignment: “Integrate canvas or WebGL with video, and create audio spot effects”

Terms and conditions

The training course is offered subject to the following terms and conditions.

  • W3C will deliver the course in line with the published description for the advertised fee.
  • Payment must be made, in full, at the time of registration.
  • Payment is processed using either a credit card or a PayPal account.
  • Participants may withdraw from the course at any time after registration.
  • Refunds will only be made if the participant withdraws within the first week of the online course.
  • W3C intends to continue to make the course material available to registered participants for at least 2 months after the course has ended.
  • All material, including that produced by participants, in assignments and correspondence is copyrighted property and cannot be copied, duplicated, posted on another Web site, or otherwise used without the original author’s consent. Conversations and posted messages are private and cannot be copied, duplicated, forwarded, or conveyed to anyone else without the original author’s permission.

Questions?

Please write to training@w3.org . Thx.

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Workshop on HTML.next for gaming

September 14, 2011

The Open Media Web project team is proud to organize a: W3C HTML5 logo

Workshop on HTML.next for gaming
Saturday 24 September 2011 — 09:00 – 13:00

Warsaw, Poland
co-located with OnGameStart

The workshop will explore game developers needs and gather inputs for HTML.next, the next version of HTML, that would enable the development of fully immersive games using regular Web technologies. Main topics of discussion (see below for more detailed topics of interest) will be about:

  • New standards for cooler games?
  • New features for better performances?
  • New ideas for HTML.next?

Come to discuss and share your ideas about the next cool things to happen. And expect HTML5 goodies!
Participation is free!

Background

HTML5 enables the development of richer and ever more interactive applications. As far as gaming is concerned, the situation evolved from a world of hacks and plug-ins to a situation where one can envision the production of a multi-player first-person-shooter game using canvas, Web Workers, Web Sockets, on-going standardization efforts on audio, real-time communications and various other Web and device APIs.

However rich this new Web platform may become, games require precise control over:

  • devices used for interaction (keyboard, mouse, joystick, touch screens, gestures, cameras, etc.)
  • rendering surfaces (ability to go fullscreen, to take screenshots, 3D APIs, audio synthesis, etc.)
  • processing power (multi-threading, memory management, use of hardware acceleration, etc.)

Precise control is tough, either because the right API is missing, or because the specification does not address all needs, or simply because the API is not precise enough to prevent interoperability issues.

Goal and Scope

The goal of this workshop is to meet and engage in discussions with developers of the games community, and gather inputs for HTML.next, the next version of HTML, that would enable the development of fully immersive games using regular Web technologies.

Topics of interest include suggestions for new APIs, as well as scenarios and requirements to improve existing functionalities. For example:

  • Going fullscreen
  • Access and control of viewport settings (e.g. pixel density)
  • Possible improvements to multi-threading execution
  • Hit-testing API
  • 3D or pseudo-3D rendering (WebGL, declarative 3D, depth control)
  • Specific needs for animations, movements
  • Performance measurement (number of frames per second?)
  • Web application packaging for offline Web apps (HTML5 AppCache, W3C widgets)
  • Caching resources, pre-loading (e.g. for sprites and sound)
  • Taking screenshots
  • Joystick and mouse control
  • Multi-player games, peer-to-peer connections
  • More efficient DOM tree operations.

The outcome of the discussions will be fed into existing W3C working groups where appropriate (HTML, Device APIs, Web Applications, Web Real-Time Communications, Audio, etc.), as well as into the list of ideas for HTML.next where appropriate. Depending on the level of interest at the workshop, the creation of a Games Community Group could be envisioned to pursue discussions.

Agenda

The workshop will be run as a barcamp to encourage live discussions among participants.

09:00 – 10:00 Francois Daoust: “W3C, HTML5, HTML.next”

  • How W3C Web standards come to life
  • HTML5 specs progress report
  • What is HTML.next?
  • How to ensure the next Open Web Platform is the right one for you

10:00 – 12:30 Barcamp Session

Actual content for this session should be provided by participants. What we’re typically looking at is to repeat the following pattern to multiple technical topics:

  • One or more specific game scenarios that cannot be done today with regular Web technologies, or that cannot be done efficiently enough today.
  • An analysis of what is missing
  • What a possible solution could look like
  • Areas that could affect the design of the solution and that would need to be investigated (security, privacy, accessibility, complexity, portability, integration with other APIs, etc.)
  • Relevant group(s) in W3C for this work, if any

Please prepare accordingly. To help organize the event, please get in touch with Francois Daoust with topics you’d like to present or hear about in particular.

Topics on the agenda for this session so far:

  • Accurate sound triggering – Darius Kazemi (Bocoup)
  • Mouse lock for 3D games – Seth Ladd (Google), Darius Kazemi (Bocoup)
  • An asset loading and smart caching solution – Darius Kazemi (Bocoup)
  • Real-time communications for multi-player games – Francois Daoust (W3C)
  • […]

12:30 – 13:00 Wrap-up Session

  • Summary of discussions
  • Inputs identified
  • Next steps?

Expression of Interest

Planning to attend the workshop? Great! Please let Francois Daoust know about it!

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Convergence of Web and TV at NEM Summit 2011

July 28, 2011

For the second year in a row, I — where I stands for François Daoust, part of the OMWeb team — will be pleased to attend and present at the NEM Summit, 27-29 September 2011, in Torino, Italy. Last year, I focused on the HTML5 <video> tag, showing that it is a useful first step to integrate video on the Web, even though challenges remain. The slides Towards Video on the Web with HTML5 I presented back then, as well as the underlying paper are available online.

Thanks to a series of workshops on the convergence of Web and TV (a third workshop is to take place in Hollywood!) and the creation of the Web and TV Interest Group, W3C has been exploring challenges and potential solutions to ensure a successful convergence between Web and TV. The paper I submitted to NEM Summit this year, Adopting HTML5 for Television: Next Steps (PDF), presents key topics discussed in W3C (e.g. home networking scenarii, extensions to HTML5, etc.) and likely next steps from a standardization perspective.

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Proceedings of the Second Web and TV Workshop in Berlin

July 27, 2011

While preparing for the third Web and TV Workshop, in Hollywood, California, USA, 19-20 September 2011, you may want to review the discussions of the second workshop held in Berlin in February 2011. The materials of this second workshop have long been publicly available online but note that the proceedings of the Berlin Workshop are now available as a single ready-to-print document (PDF, 20.6MB) which includes the workshop report, minutes, as well as a copy of presented papers and slides.

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W3C Web&TV workshop in Hollywood (CfP)

July 11, 2011

The third W3C Web and TV Workshop will take place in Hollywood, California, USA, 19-20 September 2011. Hosted by Comcast Cable, this will continue the previous workshops (Tokyo Workshop and Berlin Workshop) efforts, with a particular focus on the needs of content creators and distributors. Anyone may participate in this workshop. A position paper is required from a presenter while a statement of interest is required from an observer. Both position papers and statements of interest are due 15 August 2011. Please see the Call for Participation for further details.

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Call for Trainers: “HTML5 for Rich Media”

June 30, 2011

HTML5 logoW3C is looking for trainers to create and teach courses on HTML5-based “rich-media” Web content including:

  • Video/audio sites based on HTML5
  • Design and development of HTML5-based games
  • Graphics in HTML5 (SVG, canvas)

The trainers will have to develop and deliver (before the end of year 2011) a new HTML5 online training course, aimed at existing Web developers and designers who need to get up to speed with the new and more complex media features available within HTML. The course will include extensive hands-on practical work, lectures, assignments, and such. Assignments would be based on examples related to application domains such as games, movies, online audio CD packaging, etc.

Please real the full details of this call for HTML5 trainers and send your application to Marie-Claire Forgue, W3C training manager.

This course is expanding W3C’s existing training program as part of the Open Media Web project funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme.

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Supporting commercial service provider requirements in HTML

June 23, 2011

As part of its exploration of requirements and potential solutions to ensure that the Web will function well with TV, the Web and TV Interest Group has launched a Media Pipeline Task Force, set to discuss requirements placed on the HTML5 video, audio and media interfaces by media formats that will be used for Web and TV.

While HTML5 already goes some way to bringing audio and video to the Web, there remain a few areas to address for commercial video service provider to propose high-quality services using the Open Web Platform. A few example use cases that could come to mind:

  • Enabling access to parameters controlling the adaptive bitrate algorithm (when such an algorithm is used) and more generically exposing statistics and metrics on media streaming performance.
  • Content splicing to link together media content in a continuous stream
  • Browser handling of dynamic tracks, for instance when the media stream is of indefinite duration, as happens on a TV channel.
  • Enhancements to media elements to augment the video experience with metadata sent in sync with the media stream

The Media Pipeline Task Force is to discuss and propose extensions to the <video> and <audio> elements to support these additional requirements and enable a quality of experience for videos on the Web similar to the one that exists in the traditional TV world.

This Task Force is the second task force of the Web and TV Interest Group. The on-going Home Network Task Force is actively working on a use cases and requirements document to enable home networking scenarios, such as using the Web browser on a mobile device to interact with the TV set.

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New levels of support for Cascading Style Sheets

June 8, 2011

W3C today released an update to the core CSS standard (2.1) to reflect the current state of support for CSS features, and to serve as the stable foundation for future extensions.

CSS has been in widespread use as an Open Web technology for more than a decade, but it took many years for implementations and the specification to converge. The collective efforts of the CSS Working Group, implementers, contributors to the CSS Test Suite, and the W3C CSS community have made interoperable CSS a reality for the Open Web. More than 9000 CSS tests have made it easier for designers to create style sheets that work across browsers, and across devices.

“This publication provides me with an opportunity to congratulate and thank the CSS Working Group, and all of the developers that have made CSS a success,” said Bert Bos, co-inventor of CSS and Editor of CSS 2.1. “This publication crowns a long effort to achieve very broad interoperability. Now we can turn our attention to the cool features we’ve been itching to bring to the Web.”

A Stable Platform for Innovation

This year we celebrate the 15th anniversary of CSS, the powerful toolkit that makes it easy to create visually engaging pages and applications, to deploy experimental features safely, to maintain style independently of content, and to adapt pages to new devices.

CSS interoperability plays an important role in the rapid adoption of W3C’s Open Web Platform, which also includes HTML5, SVG, WOFF, APIs for geolocation and offline storage, real-time communications, and a host of other technologies for building rich, interactive applications.

Read the press release and testimonials (from Adobe, Antenna House, Disruptive Innovations, HP, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera Software, University of Oviedo) , and learn more about Cascading Style Sheets.

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