On: Show HN: Mini Metroidvania in 13KB of JavaScript

[johnfn]

If it's really 13kb, how can there be a loading screen?!? Checkmate!

In seriousness though, this is awesome! I love little metroidvanias. :) And the interactions, like the jump and swipe, feel remarkably satisfying. Great stuff.

[arikgalactic → johnfn]

1. The WebAudio api requires user interaction to allow playing audio. The main menu saying "press any key" is intended to trigger that. 2. One WebAudio is ready to use, I build all the sound effects procedurally. There's 13 SFX and 3.5 minutes of music that need to be generated! This takes about 5-6 seconds total to churn through all the math used to build the audio buffers.

[Narishma → arikgalactic]

Why aren't they generated while waiting for the player to press a key?

[lioeters → Narishma]

I'm guessing it's because WebAudio won't let you create audio buffers until a user gesture like a click allows audio context to be started ("resumed").

[nonethewiser → johnfn]

But seriously, why is that?

[solumunus → nonethewiser]

I assume the code is 13kb but loads external assets like image/audio.

[filleduchaos → solumunus]

That is not permitted in JS13K, no.