Electron (HTML5) Executables Helper For Windows / Linux / Mac

adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

If you need a Linux or Windows executable (or you need the flexibility of extending your game with the HTML5 delegate API), then we have a new project for you!

https://github.com/gamesalad/gs-electron-forge

I threw this together a few weeks ago on a weekend, but wasn't able to get it tested in a Windows environment until now.

I'm not 100% sure how to use this to generate a full installable package yet, but it does startup a window / mac EXE when you run the right commands.

Enjoy!

Comments

  • adriangomezadriangomez Member, PRO Posts: 440

    Awesome. I'll pull this and try to merge my parallel work to it.

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

    Feel free to contribute a pull request! Just note the MIT license, which is why the GameSalad engine isn't in the codebase.

    Be sure not to add anything proprietary or if you're using a 3rd party library, try to do it via package.json

    I'll look forward to your pull request!

  • adam36021adam36021 Member, PRO Posts: 45

    Hey, just wanted to chime in -- this works well, bundled my HTML5 project without any issues or big performance problems. I've tried other HTML5 wrappers and I usually get big frame rate drops -- this project is very CPU heavy and runs through loops of tables constantly. I've only tested the OSX binary, but I'll try a windows binary soon as well.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,365

    I'm not able to get this to make a Windows exe.

    An unhandled rejection has occurred inside Forge:
    Error: Could not find any make targets configured for the "darwin" platform.
    

    All I did was change the "darwin" to "win32" but I'm guessing there's more needed, or I somehow managed to screw up a 1 step process!

    Any help would be much appreciated, some awards thing is wanting an exe for judges. Thanks!

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

    @Armelline, could you DM me your package.json so I can take a look?

    We'll try bake this into a publishing target sometime in the next couple of months, but I see if I can help right away.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,365

    Sure thing, thanks! I just used the provided one with the change mentioned in the instuctions. If more changes were needed, I lacked the expertise to know or make them :D

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

    While you're waiting for me to answer, take a look here: https://www.electronforge.io/config/makers/squirrel.windows

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,365

    Thanks. This is all going way over my head but trying to understand it!

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,365

    I got things working using the method described in this thread: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/89397/a-long-way-home-released-on-steam

    Good enough for my fairly limited needs!

  • mullerJmullerJ Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2023

    I'll definitely take a closer look at the repository and explore the functionalities it offers. If I have any questions or need assistance with generating a full installable package, I'll reach out to you for guidance.

    Once again, thank you for sharing this resource, and I look forward to exploring its potential for my game development projects.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,365

    This app is the only one I could get to work. The github points to an alternative called Electrify but I couldn't get that to work.

    Process was super simple with Web2Exe though. Then hardest part ended up being fixing the assets.js file to remove all the m4a references.

  • mullerJmullerJ Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2023

    I'll definitely take a closer look at the repository and explore the functionalities it offers. If I have any questions or need assistance with generating a full installable package, I'll reach out to you for guidance.

    Once again, thank you for sharing this resource, and I look forward to exploring its potential for my game development projects.

  • CasualEvolutionCasualEvolution Member, PRO Posts: 537

    Hi @adent42 I think this is something that should be read, I did it and although I do not master the subject, it seems quite promising and from what I understand it can mean an alternative with a future compared to the tools that have been used.

    https://www.construct.net/en/blogs/construct-official-blog-1/new-architecture-publishing-1864

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

    I need to read in detail, but for the types of things they're trying to solve, having a native GameSalad player would be better.

    The electron layers was more for expediency for users who can't wait for us.

    Construct is making it's own considerations because they are an HTML5 only engine AFAIK.

  • CasualEvolutionCasualEvolution Member, PRO Posts: 537

    Thanks for your answer... reading I thought that this could be used to package the html5 in an exe in a more efficient and modern way than with electron or nw... and with maintenance at the hands of Microsoft... it sounds very interesting how quickly it allowed them to integrate with Steam and Epic.

    But as I said, I fall short on these topics, so I thought it was good to pass it on to you who are more involved in this... for now, it sounds interesting :)

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,172

    For the short term HTML5 engine integration, I might take a look at Tauri though, that does look interesting if it's faster than electron.

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