3 ms·

My favorite resource for news about HTML5 and gaming is http://www.html5gamedevs.com/ http://www.html5gamedevs.com/. You should also check out itch.io and filte

My favorite resource for news about HTML5 and gaming is http://www.html5gamedevs.com/ http://www.html5gamedevs.com/. You should also check out itch.io and filter for browser games: https://itch.io/games/platform-web https://itch.io/games/platform-web The "biggest" WebGL game I'm tracking these days is Wild Terra: http://www.playwildterra.com/ http://www.playwildterra.com/ But https://www.starbreak.com/ https://www.starbreak.com/ is also a pretty fun MMO in its own right. But there are hosts of others hiding within non-traditional gaming sites, like the BBC. I think browser-tech games haven't figured out the marketing/monetization paths. I think the rational response to the loads of risk found in making money on games is to produce lots of smaller games to see what sticks rather than investing tons of time into single, larger titles. That doesn't mean that larger projects aren't out there, I just think the risk/reward curves of game development don't lend themselves to experimenting with weird technologies as well without morphing the gaming experiences beyond what we'd normally call games.

leereeves 11y ago
From a purely technical standpoint, both Wild Terra and Starbreak look like games from 20 years ago. Good examples of HTML 5 instead of Flash, but not great examples of the web as a serious games platform.
- drhayes9 11y ago
  When you say "technical standpoint", do you mean the graphics? 'Cuz I think the accessibility provided by browser-based MMOs is the best feature: no download, no install, available anywhere there's a browser. AFAIK there wasn't something like that available in 1996 and is the key technical differentiator that makes me so excited about the web as a games platform. I think if we're talking about the web as a serious games platform we have to widen the scope of the discussion from graphics/sounds and include both the network effects of online players and the true multimedia approach the games can have, especially when paired with social media. Here are some features web games can use because they run on the web platform that the authors don't have to write themselves: * Speech recognition * Peer-to-peer communication * WebVR * getUserMedia I agree, though, that not enough web games do any of this. The ones I've played keep trying to ape the old platform without using all the benefits of the new one.
  - leereeves 11y ago
    In every way that I could see, save being naturally cross-platform: graphics, sound, controls, game design, user interface, and even the multiplayer features. Wild Terra is a lot like Ultima Online, 1997 (even more like Lineage 1, 1998), and Starbreak is a simple platformer (like, for example, Maple Story, 2003). They're a step up from Flash, but 15 to 20 years behind game consoles and native PC gaming.

leereeves 11y ago

From a purely technical standpoint, both Wild Terra and Starbreak look like games from 20 years ago. Good examples of HTML 5 instead of Flash, but not great examples of the web as a serious games platform.

drhayes9 11y ago
When you say "technical standpoint", do you mean the graphics? 'Cuz I think the accessibility provided by browser-based MMOs is the best feature: no download, no install, available anywhere there's a browser. AFAIK there wasn't something like that available in 1996 and is the key technical differentiator that makes me so excited about the web as a games platform. I think if we're talking about the web as a serious games platform we have to widen the scope of the discussion from graphics/sounds and include both the network effects of online players and the true multimedia approach the games can have, especially when paired with social media. Here are some features web games can use because they run on the web platform that the authors don't have to write themselves: * Speech recognition * Peer-to-peer communication * WebVR * getUserMedia I agree, though, that not enough web games do any of this. The ones I've played keep trying to ape the old platform without using all the benefits of the new one.
- leereeves 11y ago
  In every way that I could see, save being naturally cross-platform: graphics, sound, controls, game design, user interface, and even the multiplayer features. Wild Terra is a lot like Ultima Online, 1997 (even more like Lineage 1, 1998), and Starbreak is a simple platformer (like, for example, Maple Story, 2003). They're a step up from Flash, but 15 to 20 years behind game consoles and native PC gaming.