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How Web games are distributed?

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6 comments, last by AdoreGames 8 years, 2 months ago
I heard that web games are one of the best options for indies.but how the browser games normally are played?Facebook?Developer create own website?Specific site for Web games?
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I tend to believe you misheard, web games are relatively may be easier to make but no way best all the time. It actually depends on what kind of game you intend to make.

Browser games are quite limiting in features atm, if your game demands more better consider mobile apps.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

I tend to believe you misheard, web games are relatively may be easier to make but no way best all the time. It actually depends on what kind of game you intend to make.

Browser games are quite limiting in features atm, if your game demands more better consider mobile apps.

However the mobile market are crowded so AFAIK it would be difficult to make my app visible

I tend to believe you misheard, web games are relatively may be easier to make but no way best all the time. It actually depends on what kind of game you intend to make.

Browser games are quite limiting in features atm, if your game demands more better consider mobile apps.

However the mobile market are crowded so AFAIK it would be difficult to make my app visible

Well, it will most probably not be much better with web games. PC/Consoles sound like the best Eco-System for Indies at the moment... which is ironic, because up until recently, it was the other way around (mobile and web being much better for Indies than particularly the consoles)... but this is my own very subjective opinion of it, of course.

AFAIK the popularity of web games has peaked some time ago, and many of the old portals are struggling or have already died. Mobile did basically replace them as the #1 platform for free casual games.

If you are hellbent on webgames, maybe check out Kongregate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongregate

Every market has benefits and drawbacks.

Developing for the web means portability. Done well, your web application can be viewed on any operating system, including smart phones. This is its biggest strength. The web browser abstracts away the platform, you are no longer a Windows program, or a MacOS, program, or Linux or iOS or Android or Blackberry or whatever. Your platform is the web browser.

In that regard developing a web-based game is a good thing for those struggling to gain market share. It removes one of the barriers -- the target platform -- from the long list of potential barriers to entry.

If you want to target a market other than the open web, perhaps you only want to target the Facebook market, then you can use Facebook's tools in your web application. This means many pieces of functionality are written for you, but you still have the difficulty of designing, implementing, testing and debugging, marketing, and maintaining the game.

The games are typically "distributed" by servers you control, unless you are paying someone else to run those servers. For small programs with limited use you might be able to find free hosting. Otherwise, you pay to host it.

I tend to believe you misheard, web games are relatively may be easier to make but no way best all the time. It actually depends on what kind of game you intend to make.

Browser games are quite limiting in features atm, if your game demands more better consider mobile apps.

However the mobile market are crowded so AFAIK it would be difficult to make my app visible

Well, apparently my bad. I refer to Unity (which is highly cross platform beside web) when mentioning mobile apps. Mobile market has high CPA and crowded as you stated but without being aware of game details , can't say exactly if mobile is a bad idea. (In fact, when you mention web games, I had thought more of multiplayer RPG ones rather than single player ones)

I agree with Gian-Reto about PC games are a good option for indies nowadays. So, if you intend to replace good old Flash games with HTML5 ones , this might be a path but other than that most you can receive is quite limiting, even webGL 2 implementation is at infancy atm if you consider 3D, for 2D a framework like Phaser might work though.

Other than that Unity is a good choice (though having a learning curve) imo for both mobile and desktop.

mostates by moson?e | Embrace your burden

Running your own servers can be prohibitively expensive.

There are various services that service to be "distribution platforms" for Web games. Kongregate for example is an old one from the Flash days that is also open to the HTML5 games market. These platforms not only provide hosting, but also some core services (accounts, etc.) that are one of the _other_ barriers for games: the player ecosystem. Using an existing service makes it easier for players to try your game (they don't have to create a new account) and spend money on microtransactions (they know that if they spend $X on Y coins and they end up not liking your game, they can use those coins on other games too).

I'm not necessarily endorsing Kongregate, as I've never used it and don't play games on it; just using it as an example. Facebook is a similar case - unified account system, unified currency system, etc. There are similar platforms from Google and so on, too.

Remember, though, the "advertising" on these platforms is all but useless. Sure, you'll be in their list of games, and maybe even be a "featured new game" if you're lucky, but it's up to you to make sure everyone knows about your game and knows it apart from the clones that will inevitably arise if it's popular. Most commercially successful games end up spending far more on advertising than they do on actual development, and the rest are just ****ing lucky. If you're new and lack the millions of dollars to invest, you're going to have a much higher chance of being lucky if you concentrate on making many small games rather than making a few big games.

Sean Middleditch – Game Systems Engineer – Join my team!

hello there!

Well, web version of your game is definitely an option. There're plenty of webgame distributors and platform nowadays. For examply, kongregate, armorgames, addictinggames, newgrounds etc.(these are platform to sumbit your game to) They still have some decent amount of traffic.

Another option is webgame distributors, which for example are Softgames.de, Spilgames, Playtomax, Gamepix, Famobu and many others. You may want to contact them directly and know the details about distrubution of your web games.

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