JavaScript or C# impl / wrapper

[dougajmcdonald]

This project looks really interesting. Me and a colleague are interested in something which can send and receive UDP in the browser from either a JS or C# backend for game development.

I will have a look over the code and concepts to see if we can make use / fork this and add our work to help the project,

[gafferongames]

I'm afraid we're going to have to convince browser manufacturers to allow this spec to be implemented in-browser, as browsers do not allow sending and receiving of UDP packets directly, which would be required to implement this in a browser.

I'm working on it.

[gafferongames]

My advice is to focus on Mozilla and Brave browsers first.

[dougajmcdonald]

Thanks for the swift reply, interestingly I did see this:

https://developer.chrome.com/apps/sockets_udp

But chrome only of course.

[gafferongames]

You could of course prototype with that, but I don't think JavaScript in a web browser is allowed to call it, only plug-ins.

[dougajmcdonald]

You're probably right! I feel like browser UDP is close but not quite there at this second, interested to see how it could be pushed along. I often hear the argument against webRTC being 'its complicated' but if the alternative is nothing I don't see a sensible way round it. Hence why your project is interesting, implementing some like this in the browser might be tricky but would be widely appreciated. Will keep you posted

[gafferongames]

Agreed. Thanks for your help!

[gafferongames]

ps. There is already an early set of C# bindings here: https://github.com/RedpointGames/netcode.io, but I think they are a bit out of date relative to the current C implementation in this repository. -- cheers

[tobeorla]

If you want UDP for the browser using js:
https://nodejs.org/api/dgram.html
https://github.com/alexstrat/simudp

[gafferongames]

I like the proxy idea for a proof of concept, but moving it beyond that, we'd want to be able to run with zero cost install on all browser platforms, eg. get the browsers updated to support netcode.io

[benaadams]

Should be able to expose to javascript via:

npm package -> node/Electron which gives access to desktop install, and Steam via greenworks; may give angle for Brave

C# client lib (max .NET Standard 1.4) -> UWP (HTML+JS) which gives access to Win10 + XBox

At which point it would be running in Chrome (Electron) and Edge (UWP); though not the actual browsers themselves - but it gives a concrete use/example via the browser engines; as well as several gaming platforms.

[benaadams]

Additionally may be able to add chrome extension; using sockets_udp; then do support detection; so a game could do multipath networking io based on whether is available; or gate on extension (though poor for game adoption)

[gafferongames]

Sounds pretty good. Prove it out first, the rest will follow.

[gafferongames]

Looks like this issue is solved: https://github.com/RedpointGames/netcode.io-browser

[benaadams]

Nice 👍