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If I have my game working on the Web, where people can play it without having to trust me, why would I want to replace it with a native desktop version where pe

If I have my game working on the Web, where people can play it without having to trust me, why would I want to replace it with a native desktop version where people do have to trust me to play it?

nassimsoftware 4y ago
One use case : You have a web version up that is low friction and gives people a taste of the game and you have a desktop version with additional content + ability to have saves that you put behind a paywall. I think the famous vampire survivor game did this. FNF which is another game went viral with its web version and they're now working on a full release.
ksaj 4y ago
Why are there HN apps? Why is there an app for everything Google provides on the web? Why is there .... etc I could really go on forever because your question is not very well thought out. I know you're asking this question from an extraordinarily narrow point of view, but it isn't hard to see that doing this is really quite common and in demand.
- Waterluvian 4y ago
  So why all those things? Why do people use an HN app? I never knew they existed because, to me, the website is almost perfect.
  - ksaj 4y ago
    I don't disagree, because I prefer web things on the web myself, and the idea that app updates might be two steps away from the web version really irks me. But everyone has their routines. Some people like the self-contained feeling of everything being an app on the phone. Others prefer the self-contained feeling of everything being in the browser. There is no general answer other than "choice," and given a choice, there will almost never be an option everyone agrees on. One of the laziest apps I ever saw was a MOTD that literally only had 365 quotes that occasionally got updated. Is that a real app? It's not even a real web app. To someone, it's the bee's knees I guess. Not I. But kudos to whomever made coin on such a thing. I thought it would have been brilliantly underhanded to write a horoscope app that way.
    - Waterluvian 4y ago
      That’s true. I find that “save to Home Screen” gets me quite far. I think the answer is too often, “so we can control and milk our users more easily.” The Reddit website doesn’t have to be garbage.
      - ksaj 4y ago
        There's a perfect example of why an app might be better than the web page.
V__ 4y ago
One good reason would be the ability to play it offline.
- josephcsible 4y ago
  Isn't that what service workers are for?
Vanit 4y ago
Probably to put it on Steam or other online stores. There are users on there that won't leave that ecosystem and have no way of discovering your game otherwise.

If I have my game working on the Web, where people can play it without having to trust me, why would I want to replace it with a native desktop version where people do have to trust me to play it?

nassimsoftware 4y ago

One use case : You have a web version up that is low friction and gives people a taste of the game and you have a desktop version with additional content + ability to have saves that you put behind a paywall. I think the famous vampire survivor game did this. FNF which is another game went viral with its web version and they're now working on a full release.

ksaj 4y ago

Why are there HN apps? Why is there an app for everything Google provides on the web? Why is there .... etc I could really go on forever because your question is not very well thought out. I know you're asking this question from an extraordinarily narrow point of view, but it isn't hard to see that doing this is really quite common and in demand.

Waterluvian 4y ago
So why all those things? Why do people use an HN app? I never knew they existed because, to me, the website is almost perfect.
- ksaj 4y ago
  I don't disagree, because I prefer web things on the web myself, and the idea that app updates might be two steps away from the web version really irks me. But everyone has their routines. Some people like the self-contained feeling of everything being an app on the phone. Others prefer the self-contained feeling of everything being in the browser. There is no general answer other than "choice," and given a choice, there will almost never be an option everyone agrees on. One of the laziest apps I ever saw was a MOTD that literally only had 365 quotes that occasionally got updated. Is that a real app? It's not even a real web app. To someone, it's the bee's knees I guess. Not I. But kudos to whomever made coin on such a thing. I thought it would have been brilliantly underhanded to write a horoscope app that way.
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    That’s true. I find that “save to Home Screen” gets me quite far. I think the answer is too often, “so we can control and milk our users more easily.” The Reddit website doesn’t have to be garbage.
    - ksaj 4y ago
      There's a perfect example of why an app might be better than the web page.

V__ 4y ago

One good reason would be the ability to play it offline.

josephcsible 4y ago
Isn't that what service workers are for?

Vanit 4y ago

Probably to put it on Steam or other online stores. There are users on there that won't leave that ecosystem and have no way of discovering your game otherwise.