HTML5 and Games

HTML5 and Games

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HTML5 and Games

Today we will talk a little about future of HTML5 in the gaming industry. As you know, HTML5 continues to have a dramatic impact on the web world during few last years. At current time, HTML5 still under development, but I sure that you have already seen many really great examples of it. Many people and companies (like Spil Games, Mochimedia) have already started learn and use html5.


Lets look at advantages of HTML5:

  • Possibility to play multimedia (audio and video) without extra plugins.
  • Code Maintenance. This is very convenient to work with code, improve it, perform in-time fixes. You can develop code anywhere, not only at single computer.
  • Multi-platform. HTML5 is already supported in most of new browsers and mobile devices (not like Flash). So you can have bigger popularity of your result.
  • You don’t need to have any special environment to start develop for html5, You can have just Notepad and Browser.
  • Convenience to work with text and basic browser’s features (like links, fonts, screen resolution)
  • Search engines can easy index your HTML5 pages, but not pages of flash website.

Interesting, what will the future of Flash? Can HTML5 replace Flash? Yes, at the moment most games are based on Flash. However, we can see that to truly take advantage of the opportunity of mobile gaming (and eventually all browser-based games), developers and publishers need to focus on HTML5. This will ensure that gamers have the best gaming experience no matter where they are or what platform they want to play games on.

Now game developers have been frustrated by Flash and the impossibility to work across all major platforms. While game developers are testing the limits of HTML5 and struggling with early tools, they are clearly excited about the potential. The biggest challenge (as I see) will be the ability to render 3D environment on the fly and to manage the large memory in games.

And, I have prepared for you several most interesting HTML5/WebGL games and game demos:

1. Coppercube Backyard

This demo shows a scene with many textures (>80), character animation and camera flight.
Coppercube Backyard

2. 3D Social game (WebGL)

This is a WebGL demo featuring the way next-gen 3D social games can look like. Stunning 3D quality, social game mechanics, splendid availability and no plugins.
3D Social game (WebGL)

3. X-Wing

Fly and dodge the constructions on the way.
X-Wing

4. Canvas Rider

Funny bicycle simulator. Need to keep the balance to not fall off.
Canvas Rider

5. Barfight!

You are on the set of an old-fashioned Western movie, and the objective is to fight in the bar so the director can get a good scene in his movie.
Barfight

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9 COMMENTS

  1. I wish HTML5 was the “Flash Killer” it’s touted to be. Unfortunately it is not. And if history repeats itself, it never will be.

    Support: A farce. HTML5 is very poorly supported by browsers. There is a ton of inconsistency. And as we’ve seen with HTML for the last 17 years, this will likely continue. The user experience will be horrible. By contrast, Flash is supported in every major browser, and on every platform EXCEPT Apple iOS. So I think this is blown a bit out of proportion. Adobe has recently relented and ditched the mobile browser, which is sad.

    Performance: Go ahead, try it for yourself. On Android phones or tablets, you will get about 5 (yes, FIVE) frames per second in a game. WebGL is not HTML5 — it’s a separate spec and library that utilizes Canvas underneath. Not everything is 3D, and for 2D animations that should just require the CPU… HTML5 currently sucks badly on Android. I believe Chrome on the macbook is similarly bad in performance. And this is all WebKit! There’s inconsistency even when given the same rendering engine.

    Battery Life: Go ahead and try this too. Push as many pixels in HTML5 Canvas as you did in Flash, and watch your battery life drain just as quickly. You will be surprised, saddened and wonder where Flash is to save you.

    As a developer: Working with HTML5 is like stepping back in time 10 years. JavaScript is 16 years old, and yet it still has a feeling like it’s not ready for primetime. AS3/EcmaScript4 can do everything that JavaScript can do, and more. In addition, the APIs for HTML5 are horrible. All you have to look at is the video tag’s canPlayType() method. It returns 3 possible values: [“”, “maybe”, “probably”] …. are you kidding me? Where’s the YES or NO!? This is out of control. This is what is touted as better than Flash/AS3? The necessity to have to encode all audio and video at least TWICE to support various browsers? Wow.

    It’s a sad state of things really. I would happily support HTML5 if it was done with any common sense, intelligence and reality… unfortunately it looks like it was designed and implemented by monkeys.

    I challenge ANYONE to do ANYTHING in HTML5 that has cleaner code, better performance and better battery life than an equivalent app run in Flash. Go for it. It’s all FUD and hype.

    HTML5 will not succeed. Unfortunately Adobe has already given up. What this means is that NATIVE APPS will win. Which is probably what Apple fully intended in the first place. Microsoft likely won’t mind either — despite IE9 having the fastest canvas implementation of any browser currently (don’t take my word for it, go ahead and try that too).

    • Thanks for your informative answer, anyway, lets wait and we will see what will happen. So about me – I will try (and have already started) to do something interactive with HTML, possible it will some game, I will keep you informed.

  2. We are thinking about developing using HTML5. Now I did check one of those games above, and it told that I need to install OpenGL even though its says that my version of Firefox is supported. Any idea?

  3. These games are very interesting, each representing a different display, it seems HTML5 powerful has become more and more realistic.

  4. That is great.

    See My ‘Flyer Game’ re-coded in 8 different game frameworks with HTML5!

    http://www.rivellomultimediaconsulting.com/flyergame-for-html5/

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