Questions about Runescape: Browser Usability in 2020?

Greetings,

I used to be a huge fan of RuneScape back in the day (early 2000s). I haven't played in 15 years, but always had an itch to build a game like this someday as a hobby. A few days ago, I decided to scratch that itch. I am a complete noob at game making, never made any game before. However, I live and breath PHP/MySQL/HTML. I also have experience with JavaScript/Node.js/Socket.io and building chat rooms and private messaging (friends list) for a small social networking site that I built. I know Linux/Apache and the server end type stuff, and run the server that my websites are running on. So I'm not a complete noob when it comes to programming in general. So I had some basic questions about building a game:

I believe the original RuneScape game I played (in 2005) was based on RuneTek 3 engine, developed in Java. I remember being able to play it in a browser window, and seen half of college students play it in the university computer lab back in the 2005-2006 days (nostalgia).

Can a game like that still be played in a browser?

What did Runescape use back in the day to be able to play this in a browser?

Was this running on a browser Java Applet, Flash, or something, and is that still possible today with modern browsers like Chrome/Edge?

What would be the new and best way to develop a free browser-based RuneScape type game like this today? Is it done in HTML5? Is the whole game downloaded into the browser's memory? How was that done in 2005 vs how it is done today?

I think the new RuneScape game can only be downloaded and installed on the computer like a normal game, with the exception of IE browser... I like the idea of just being able to login to a website and play the MMORPG on any browser, anywhere and at any time.

Any reading materials for further details on this topic would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

 

Yes.

Java.

Completely impossible. Modern browsers no longer have the system (NLAPI) in place that allowed applets and similar extensions to function due to the numerous security flaws that came with it, and due to the discontinuation of the system the actual extensions have died off too.

HTML5.

Modern RuneScape is HTML5. I downloaded and ran the executable from their website, and based on the way it behaved it appears to be nothing more than an application with an embedded browser window.

https://runescape.wiki/w/RuneTek

 

Like @Ryiah said, these day you can write unity or even unreal project that will run in a browser through HTML5/Javascript/WebGL. The capabilities are arguably better than those of a java applet. Here's an old demo:
https://files.unity3d.com/jonas/AngryBots/

This is running in a browser.

Deprecation of NPAPI/Applets did broke some things, to be honest. Ken Perlin had an amazing collection of samples on his homepage, now getting any of them to work is very difficult.
https://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/

 

As far as developing in Unity I'd start with the WebGL platform target documentation.
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/webgl-gettingstarted.html

Building a game you download and install on your computer which still runs in a browser is a pointless exercise in Unity, as you maintain an additional point of failure (the browser which is out of your control) for no actual gain, when you can just produce a standalone build of the same game with relatively little extra work.

 

Unity using WebGL 2.0.

See a Unity WebGL example page I have from ages ago. You can do better graphics than current Runescape.

 

I expected Half-Life 3 to be VR though

 

Haha, no, it will be a browser game made in Unity...

 

You can even do virtual reality.

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/02/create-vr-on-the-web-using-unity3d/
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/webvr-assets-109152