BUILD | WEB DEVELOPMENT
Powered by Scirra’s HTML5 engine Construct 2, platformers Magi (left) and Monster Daddy (right) show some of the capabilities available to devs to create games
becomes the norm. He also says that despite the criticisms aimed at JavaScript, it has become one of the most common development languages in use.
UNTAPPED POTENTIAL “Being prepared for the imminent change is an important reason for developers to start adopting the technology gradually in their projects,” he says. “Recently, JavaScript has become the most popular development language on GitHub, surpassing Python and Java. HTML5 can be a great option to develop some projects in and developers should not overlook it. “The first step is to understand the features
and results that HTML5 has to offer and then decide which technology is the best option. In terms of user base, we believe that HTML5 adoption is inevitable and will be only a matter of time when its userbase will be as big as where Flash is now.” As well as its inevitable adoption by the
masses, whether welcomed or forced upon them, there are still many benefits from using HTML5 that are often looked over in the face of its more serious problems. Driessen believes that not having to take on as much work developing for various different platforms means that the cost effectiveness of using it outweights its issues. “Browser-based gaming, and thus HTML5,
saves developers time and money which they otherwise lose when having to modify games for different mobile platforms,” he says. “Thanks to HTML5’s open standard, devs
only have to develop a game once, and it can be easily deployed on all devices with browsers supporting HTML5 such as PCs, iPads, iPhones and Google phones.”
AN INDUSTRY STANDARD He adds that as well as making games available on multiple devices, it allows users to instantly play their games, rather than have to deal with installation hassles and the delays in having to download them from app stores. Ludei’s creative director, Martin Darby, agrees that the ability to run a game in a
44| APRIL 2012
browser without plug-ins is a huge boon for HTML5, and even allows developers to bypass Apple’s own store and its approval processes. “Clearly Apple’s reluctance to support
Flash and now Microsoft following suit with its Windows 8 devices is giving HTML5 a lot of momentum at the moment. Because it falls under the remit of the WC3 it will be a lot more difficult for major platform providers to drop support for it,” says Darby. “The upshot of this is that anything running on the open web effectively allows you to side-step the app store and all of Apple’s terms and approval processes that go with it.”
Flash is very old proprietary
technology. It’s had its moment and now it’s time to move over.
Tom Gullen, Scirra
Goodwin believes that another of HTML5’s benefits is being able to make use of a wider range of tools, such as his own SGX Engine, than was available under Flash, helping make development easier. This, he says, is something that will only continue to improve. “The main benefit is being able to use a wider range of development tools. And they’re usually free,” he says. “Both Chrome and Firefox have good debuggers, and provide the most important functionality of IDEs such as Flex builder. Consequently, the turnaround time from implementing a change, to testing it live, are very short making it ideal for rapid prototypes, and game balancing. “Also, because JavaScript has been around
for ages, there’s a large talent pool available who are used to the problems – and solutions – of the language, and can handle the client-server communications necessary in service-oriented games.” And, despite the company’s obvious
allegiance to the use of Flash, at least in part,
Adobe has also begun to join the HTML5 trend, creating tools to help developers leverage its capabilities. Adobe group product manager Deepa Subramaniam says, though, that developers should ultimately choose the platform that is right for them, and that matches their needs. “HTML capabilities around graphics,
audio/video, data management and application-development, will improve in time – but it does take longer for consistent implementation to be reached across popular browsers and platforms,” she says. “It’s important for developers to analyse
the requirements of the content they are aiming to build and choose the appropriate technology based on those needs.”
THE FUTURE It seems that despite all of the criticisms HTML5 faces, and its big issues with problematic features such as audio integration, developers are keen to keep on supporting the platform and see it through to the end, in the hope of creating a single standard that can allow their games to be deployed across multiple devices with ease. Gullen believes that this will happen sooner rather than later, and it could take just a couple of years to become the most popular platform integrated into modern media devices. “I do believe, however, that in less than five
years – maybe only one or two – HTML5 will be the standard for browser games and yes, this will be a good thing,” he states. “Flash is very old proprietary technology.
It’s had its moment and now it’s time to move over. Adobe knows this as well and is shuffling over to HTML5. Within five years I expect and hope that just about every modern media device will support HTML5 in some capacity. It’s an exciting technology with an exciting future ahead of it.” It seems then, whether developers like it or
not, HTML5 is here to stay. So they’ll have to adapt, even if that means they are dragged kicking and screaming all the way through untill its potential is fully realised.
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