Games, Web Apps, Business Intelligence

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to HackWorks, a website whose sole purpose is to offer a meeting place for like-minded programmers and web developers.

There are some admissions that I must make before we begin: This blog will focus primarily on browser-based game design. I develop business applications on a freelance basis and I enjoy building enterprise systems for the web, but that cannot compare to my love of online games.

Secondly, one of my hobbies is to learn new programming languages, but my absolute favorite is PHP and that will be the language of choice in this blog.

This site is a work in progress. I have the blog and forum active which I felt was the bare minimum for a useable website. In the coming weeks, I will be adding user profiles, a user project area, RSS subscription to the blog, polls, and much more. Your suggestions are welcomed and encouraged.

I hope you will register on this site and become a valued contributor to our forum. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact me.

Why develop a browser-based game? There are so many reasons it would be difficult to list them all here, but let me give it a try.

The main reason for me is because it can be played from any computer with an internet connection and a web browser. This is a huge advantage for someone like me who plays on my home desktop, my work computer, and my laptop whether it's in the living room or at a coffee shop.

Let me digress for a moment. The games that I develop are primarily for me. Of course, I would love to release a game that thousands of people around the world could enjoy, but I really do it because I simply love to design games. Having said that, let's get back to the topic at hand.

Another major reason for browser-based games is that there is no software to install which means it does not care what operating system you have or what hardware is installed on your machine. I play the same games from my Windows laptop and my Linux boxes.

Being a huge fan of free programs, I can tell you that most browser-based games are free. When was the last time you went to Best Buy and they just handed you a free copy of World of Warcraft. Part of the reason is that web games cost almost nothing to distribute - because nothing is actually being distributed.

My preference is for persistent browser-based games (PBBG's). I like the idea of building things, whether it's character stats or a national military. Quick single-play games have their uses, but I doubt you'll read much about them here.

My current PBBG, and one that I will discuss in depth in this blog, is Legends of Dhashar. It is a standard fantasy RPG based on the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. I am using a hexagonal movement system to give the players maximum flexibility when navigating.

I have included a screenshot of one of the regions in the game as it currently appears. I openly admit that I have no talent for graphics as the screenshot will show. My specialty is in programming - creating functionality and playability.