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Somewhat related question, how do people find good web games anymore? In the old days you would peruse the highest-rated stuff on websites with Flash game colle

by ajkjk 3y ago

Somewhat related question, how do people find good web games anymore? In the old days you would peruse the highest-rated stuff on websites with Flash game collections (Miniclip, I think EbaumsWorld?) These days I'm aware of itch.io, but most of the games are... small and not very good? I would love to have a curated list of good ones instead of sifting through piles of hobby projects. My ability to find "good" games on Steam, as opposed to just... games, is really bad also. I don't know if it's Steam's fault or my fault. But I just want to play good games and I just want to be able to find games that are good in the same way another game is.. Basically how do I find more lovingly-crafted top-down RPGs where you get stats and level up and stuff? I literally don't know?

basseq 3y ago
Or perhaps: are there good web games anymore? Whether it's consumer trends or technical accessibility, it seems to be more of a "wasteland" than it was 10 years ago. [Old man shakes fist at clouds.] Meaning more "small and not very good games" or a focus on simpler concepts à la Wordle. Did developers move to mobile? Was there something about Flash that reduced the barrier to entry that we have lost? Did consumer preferences change? Is this all anecdote and the indie game scene is thriving?
- fidotron 3y ago
  I spent many years in mobile and then recently decided to try the web stuff. I believe the web is now Wordle or bust, by which I mean you need a wordle type sharing mechanic or you will not get repeat players. Players of webgames seem overwhelmingly to jump from one to the next, and while it is easier to get that first play session than from mobile app stores it is much harder to get them back. This is not helped by monetization on the web being awful. An exception to that is the crypto space, which seems to not generate too much money either and suffers from the related phenomenon of players involved mainly to acquire things to express themselves. Some form of UGC seems a necessity moving forward. Flash represented a very fixed target that was easy for everyone to reason about. (On mobile this is one reason iOS is much easier than Android). Typically the game itself wouldn’t even resize, it was just hosted on a page that did. It got a understandably bad name with tech people but as an art tool with programming embedded it was actually very good, just not a secure delivery platform. The result is the web has barriers of entry low enough to keep competition insane while being complicated enough to deliver premium experiences on that it is practically impossible. Not a winning situation.
axus 3y ago
On Reddit (and similar) you can search for the question, then when you find games you like, join their Discords and look for a #games channel where people post their similar interests. Roblox has lots of custom games, but they mostly prove that polish matters.
- ajkjk 3y ago
  That's so much work though! And I still have to sift through lots of stuff that I don't think is any good. I feel like there is a very open niche for a game-review site that takes strong opinions on this stuff and just tells me what the highest-rated games are by people who also like the games I like.

by ajkjk 3y ago

basseq 3y ago

Or perhaps: are there good web games anymore? Whether it's consumer trends or technical accessibility, it seems to be more of a "wasteland" than it was 10 years ago. [Old man shakes fist at clouds.] Meaning more "small and not very good games" or a focus on simpler concepts à la Wordle. Did developers move to mobile? Was there something about Flash that reduced the barrier to entry that we have lost? Did consumer preferences change? Is this all anecdote and the indie game scene is thriving?

fidotron 3y ago
I spent many years in mobile and then recently decided to try the web stuff. I believe the web is now Wordle or bust, by which I mean you need a wordle type sharing mechanic or you will not get repeat players. Players of webgames seem overwhelmingly to jump from one to the next, and while it is easier to get that first play session than from mobile app stores it is much harder to get them back. This is not helped by monetization on the web being awful. An exception to that is the crypto space, which seems to not generate too much money either and suffers from the related phenomenon of players involved mainly to acquire things to express themselves. Some form of UGC seems a necessity moving forward. Flash represented a very fixed target that was easy for everyone to reason about. (On mobile this is one reason iOS is much easier than Android). Typically the game itself wouldn’t even resize, it was just hosted on a page that did. It got a understandably bad name with tech people but as an art tool with programming embedded it was actually very good, just not a secure delivery platform. The result is the web has barriers of entry low enough to keep competition insane while being complicated enough to deliver premium experiences on that it is practically impossible. Not a winning situation.

axus 3y ago

On Reddit (and similar) you can search for the question, then when you find games you like, join their Discords and look for a #games channel where people post their similar interests. Roblox has lots of custom games, but they mostly prove that polish matters.

ajkjk 3y ago
That's so much work though! And I still have to sift through lots of stuff that I don't think is any good. I feel like there is a very open niche for a game-review site that takes strong opinions on this stuff and just tells me what the highest-rated games are by people who also like the games I like.