In a previous post, I mentioned having strange performance issues regarding a tiny RPG I was secretly working on.
The crux of the matter was that the game (built using web technologies) would run noticeably less smoothly when wrapped as a desktop app on my machine than when running in Firefox.
I initially shared the project’s executables on the KAPLAY Discord server (KAPLAY being the library I used to make the game in JavaScript) and none reported the performance issues I had.
Seeing this, I decided to make a Substack post inviting my wider audience to try the game out and report its performance. This led to someone sharing the post on Hacker News which resulted in a large influx of views and feedback.
In this post, I would like to explain what went wrong (as best as I understood it myself).
First of all, I have mostly fixed the performance of my game. It now runs much more smoothly and I have updated the executables on itch. I would still greatly appreciate feedback regarding how these run on your machines. (Download the ones tagged with -v2) Here’s the link : https://jslegend.itch.io/small-rpg-performance-playtest
Context : How is My Game Packaged as a Desktop App
To build executables for Windows, Mac and Linux, I use either NW.js or GemShell.
NW.js
Similar to Electron but easier to set up. It packages a Chromium instance for rendering. Results in bloated executables but the same rendering engine is used across platforms.
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