Play AGS games directly via web ?

[daemon]

Hi all,

I'm sure this is a silly (or completely wrong) question for the experts of this section, but I was wondering if is possible to make an existing compiled AGS game playable directly via web (i.e. like flash games).
First of all, is technically feasible ?
I suppose a specific AGS plugin for the browser should be created, do you know if someone ever tried to work on a thing like this ?

Thanks for replies!

Daemon

[Crimson Wizard]

This is not directly possible, unless there is some service that can run compiled Windows (or Linux, etc) executable in the browser.

AGS plugin cannot help, because plugin is supposed to be in the same format as the compiled game; that would be, metaphorically speaking, like trying to lift yourself by pulling your own hair. You need either to have an actual engine in web-compatible format (HTML5, or else) that could run games in browser, or any kind of web-based emulator of desktop programs.

[monkey0506]

As a technical note, this probably won't become feasible until the Allegro backend can be updated/replaced, which would essentially require a rewrite of the entire engine. I believe that Allegro 5 and SDL 2 both support HTML5 canvas, but I could be wrong about that. In any case, like CW said, it's not really possible ATM.

[Snarky]

There was an engine in development called XAGE that could convert AGS games to a format that could be played on the web. There were a couple of games released with it, but it was never completed or officially released AFAIK, and it seems to have been abandoned. (https://clarvalon.blogspot.com/)

I think it relied on Silverlight, which has more or less fallen out of use as well.

[Clarvalon]

XAGE is still quietly in active development but Silverlight has been dropped from the list of supported platforms.  It required a lot of work to keep in sync with the others and when Microsoft dropped support a few years back there seemed little point continuing.  There is potential for HTML5 support in future using JSIL but this is hypothetical.

[tzachs]

Note that WebAssembly is going strong now and expected to be supported on all major browsers. When it is officially released, it will open the floodgates for all languages (including c++) to run on the web. Hopefully it will happen in our lifetime.