Starting a Game

[Paulo Kaedo]

Hey Guys!

I start to study HTML5 and Canvas, to create web games, but i have a doubt now...

Html5 is the future of games in web? Really worth study it for hours and hours ?

My dream is be a game developer, and web games is a good way to start a portfolio xD

[Noid]

There is no "true future of the web". Technologies change constantly. Right now HTML5 is growing strong today but anything may change in a few years. Flash is on the way out but that doesn't mean those flash developers have wasted many years studying it. Languages and tools may change but there's a lot of general knowledge you'll get from your experience. A good programmer should be able to adapt to new technologies. Besides programming there is also game design, which doesn't depend on any tool or technology. 

 

I think web games is a great way to start a portfolio. There are many good frameworks and people can play your games without downloading them or depending on any plugin. 

[lightest]

I've been working for a software dev company for 4.5 years now, 2.5 of which in web dev. I remember asking myself the very same questions. Game dev process consists form a several parts like level design, programming, art etc. But since you're asking about future of the web and HTML5 here is some programming gotchas:

 

1) One of the most important things to understand while creating a game is the principles behind the game system. What actually makes your game tick? I think programming in genereal boils down to data manipulations. It's what you do with information you have and how you can transform one type of information into another. So HTML5 and canvas are a great way to start making games because in JavaScript you can manipulate the data as easy as clicking your fingers.

 

2) There is no such thing as unworthy spent hours in case you're developing something. If you dedicate yourself to development of any type of system on 100% what you will actually achieve is the more improved, experienced and tough version of yourself. Just like Noid said it doesn't mean you wasted your time if some tech isn't popular anymore. You gained experience and understood principles that you can apply while learning next thing.

 

3) There is no point where you can say "okay I'm learned enough". There will always be a new engine a new framework a new tech that you don't know yet so make the process of learning and moving forward your lifestyle.

 

If you only starting in game dev (or software dev in general) I would suggest to pick any tech/engine/framework you PERSONALLY interested in and fully commit yourself to it. Learn as much as possible, you'll see it is worth it.

I hope that helps! Here is some article in addition: http://jlongster.com/Making-Sprite-based-Games-with-Canvas it helped me a lot when I started poking around gamedev. Good luck!

[JUL]

Coming from AS3 flash, I can tell you one thing: I'll never go back to it.

Not because of performances or because "flash is baaaaad" hype.

Just because with JS, I only need a web browser and a text editor, no need for heavy bloated software a la flash or eclipse, no need for proprietary solution.

To me, that simplicity, that ease of use/sense of freedom, is worth the countless hours I've spent learning it, and overall, it wasn't hard to learn, tons of examples/tutorials/stackoverflow help available.