Tino Zijdel, programmer Tweakers.net, held a keynote at the HTML5 GameJam. The big question: how suitable is html 5 for the development of web-based games?
Much has already been written about html 5, and especially about the new video element, the video playback in browsers without the need of plug-ins as Adobe Flash player. Or html 5 really a Flashkiller in the field of video will be, the time will have to learn. As long as browserbouwers still divided over the question of which codec is ultimately the most convenient is to use – h.264, Ogg Theora, or the new WebM format from Google – seems to Flash with its high penetration rate, it is not yet really threatened to be. Since Flash offers support for the format that most contentuitgevers already used, namely h.264.
But html 5 is more than just native video. It offers, among others, in the form of the canvas element and its 2d api, also possibilities to develop graphic and animated applications. Along with a bunch of other new technology is the browserplatform becoming more and more advanced. Is html 5 may be a Flashkiller on another area where Adobe’s product now is the lord and master: onlinespelletjes? The Netherlands-based company Spil Games thinks so, and set all before the $ 50,000 available for developers of html 5-based games.
Html 5 seems to be an advantage to have on smartphones and tablets on Android or iOS to run; these offer little to no support for Flash, but usually with a browser on the WebKit engine is based. That engine is currently quite advanced in the implementation of html 5 and other new technology.
The capabilities of html5 to explore, loved to Spil Games in the past weekend, in collaboration with Google, a 2-day Game Jam in which developers in a friendly competition with and against each other with the new techniques going to the best html 5 game building. Also, the undersigned was present, not as a participant but on special invitation from Google to on Saturday night the keynote presentation.
Last zatermiddag I got, after a number of times in my presentation to have practiced on the bike to get the but preferably more than two kilometres from my house to the headquarters of Spil Games in Hilversum, where I warmly was welcomed by Gregory Kukolj of Spil Games and Michael Mahemoff from Google’s Chrome Developer Relations team. That last approached me five years ago for more background information on the use of so-called sprites in the by me created DHTML Lemmings for his website and book on (web)designpatterns. Mahemoff was also the one that I had asked for the keynote that evening.
It is therefore not surprising that a part of my presentation about DHTML Lemmings went, as part of a story on the technical development of browsers in the past ten years and where we currently stand with respect to all of the new technology. The presentation itself can be found on http://www.xs4all.nl/~crisp/html5gamejam; javascript support and html 5-capable browser are required 😉 Hopefully soon have video of the presentation itself.
On Sunday afternoon it was time for the awards ceremonies and I had the honor to be a member of the jury, but first gave all the teams time to make their creations to everyone to show, and there were some gems. A number of games got a ‘honorable mention’ including duotris – a two-player version of Tetris for the iPad created by GoTters SchizoDuckie and Clay, it is instructive .Atome, made by @hexapode (Pierre-Loic Doulcet) and the funny Cats, Dogs ‘n Explosions! created by Tomasz & Wytzaaa.
Two games made good use of social media; thus, there was a word-guessing called twit-twat-twet, that using Twitter could be played, but also the tweets on Twitter used as a database, and a beurssimulatiespel called Pulsi, that the ‘market value’ of companies partly based on the amount of times the company name in messages from various social-media websites occurs.
Finally it was the third place for the game called Enterprise, the second for a two-player version of the game Snakes and the first place for MonkeyFortress. These creations were according to the jury, the most promising, creative and visually appealing, with the winner on his own a completely new concept has been able to develop that can really compete with current Flash-based games.
The question remains as to whether html 5 is now really a Flashkiller. I think that many of you have already experienced that not all of the games listed above really (good) work. In most cases, it is still, at least the latest version of Google Chrome required, and some games are made for (multi)touch tablets such as the iPad. There was, however, not heavy lifted to specific browserafhankelijkheid, since the expectation is that most html 5 features and other new technology, will still be available in the most mainstreambrowsers. Html 5 is still in its infancy, it is clear, however. What html 5 is still the most miss, compared to Flash, is a good development platform and the right tools, and in addition, is performance, especially on mobile devices, is still a problem.
Still, I see great possibilities with html 5 and all of its and other new technology. The web is in my eyes a new direction to go; so we went all of ‘static’, using ‘dhtml’ to ‘web2.0 and ajax, and now with a temporary decline to the ‘native apps’ steaming through to a full, dynamic web’. The pioneering is started again, but now the possibilities are almost unlimited.
Game On!