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What is the limitation for HTML5 games?


przemoo83
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Hi
I am wondering why most of HTML5 games are pretty basic and dont't really look impresive when compared to Flash games published by for example Armorgames or others. I of course understand the performace issue but is this the only limitation? If we wouldn't have to worry about the performance could we achieve as complex and graphically attractive games as Flash games? Or are there some other reasons why it would be impossible?

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Hi,

 

There's no technical reason why an HTML5 game might look worse than a Flash game.

Technically, they're equal: if you can make a game in Flash, you can make it in HTML5 and it will look and perform the same. 

Whether an HTML5 game is better or worse than a Flash game is just dependent on the skill of the developer.

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From what you say there shouldn't be any differences. However, when I look at games such as "crush the castle" or "kingdom rush" I see so much difference. These games can capture you for several days. I've never found any HTML5 game that would be so entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I'm HTML5 through and through (probably beacuse JS is the only language that I 'more or less' know:P) but I get a feeling that there's something missing. I guess I'll just settle with what d13 wrote:

 

game is just dependent on the skill of the developer.

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I don't believe the quality of a game is dependent just on the skill of the developer. From my perspective the limitation is three fold:

 

Technology limits.  Making Flash games for desktop means consistently implemented API and bags of spare resource (processor, memory, bandwidth).   Making games for mobile HTML5 means inconsistently implemented lowest-common-denominator API, limited resource and inferior game controller.  It's not an equal playing field (in the way the technologies are often compared). 

 

Market limits.  Kingdom Rush et-al were made at the peak of the Flash market, they were justifiable commitments to manpower and financial investment and created compelling player experiences.  Whereas HTML5 markets (via mobile web) are still finding their feet, with footholds that typically favor experimental or minimalist games rather than long-play experiences.

 

Skill limits.  At the height of Flash there were few mainstream frameworks or drag-n-drop game specific IDEs - so great games were made by masters of the art.  In recent times (and generally during the growth of mobile and HTML5) that trend has moved away from granular mastery towards Game Developer Toolkits, pre-baked resources, genres, and expediency.

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Skill limits.  At the height of Flash there were few mainstream frameworks or drag-n-drop game specific IDEs - so great games were made by masters of the art.

 

Yes, in general you had to be a better coder to make a game with Flash, because you had to build your own game engines.

It was harder to make games, so the survivors tended to be the cream of the crop.

Flash developers derided one of the first Flash game engines when it came out (Flixel - what Phaser was based on) because all the game mechanics were hard-coded into the engine.

So, you couldn't code them yourself (the fun part!) and developers who used it ended up with games that seemed similar.

 

If you're perceiving Flash games to be better, in general, than HTML5 games it might just be because they made by very experienced developers.

Anyone working in Flash today has probably been doing it for 10 years or more - so they're probably pretty good at their work.

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