The Rise Of HTML5 Games

What is HTML5 And Why It Allows To Develop A Brand-new Generation Of Online Games

HTML5 is a markup language used to structure and display graphical and textual content over the internet. It is the fifth version of the HTML norm.

HTML5 created a revolution when it was introduced on 22 January 2008, because it was clearly emphasized over allowing increasing multimedia for browsers.

In order to provide native support for multimedia and graphical content, some new <video>, <audio> and <canvas> elements were added. Additionally, HTML5 also provided support for scalable vector graphics (SVG) content as well as support for Math ML (mathematical formulas).

HTML5 appeared immediately as a rival of Flash, the plugin developed and distributed by Adobe.  Over the years HTML5 clearly won and the combination HTML5+JavaScript+CSS became far more popular for creating interactive multimedia content over the web.

As per the end of 2020, the Flash plugin will be totally discontinued therefore the standard for producing online games through the browser has become HTML5.

HTML5 allows a new generation of games that do not require the loading of an external plugin and the eventual security issues that comes with it therefore the gameplay is more fluid and natural.

Since HTML5 is a standard that works for all compliant browsers regardless of the operating system, HTML5 games can be played in a lot of different devices and environments without the need to develop each time a specific version.

Some Good Examples Of “Classical” HTML5 Games

More Complex HTML5 Games

HTML5 games have created a new genre of games where the action can be quite complex. A good example is Gods Will Be Watching.

In that type of puzzle game, the player leads a crew that has to survive for 40 days in total isolation. There are different crew members who can be as various as a robot, a dog, or a psychiatrist and the goal is to define the right strategy for the team to survive.

Most of the gaming genres have been revisited in HTML5: pong games, Tetris, race games, Pac-Man games,  etc when used with WebGL they can simply be amazing!

HTML5 Games Engines

Many dedicated game engines or game frameworks have been developed in order  to build 2D and 3D HTML5 games, for example:

There is as well a lot of frameworks or libraries which provide routines for:

Phaser

Phaser is the biggest platform for building HTML5 games.  This is a free framework for making 2D HTML5 games both for desktop and mobile. Phaser is developed by Photon Storm and is based on both Canvas and WebGL.

Three.js

Three.js is a JavaScript platform exposing an API that can be used to create and display 3D  animated computer graphics in a web browser. Three.js is based on WebGL and is compliant as well with HTML5. It is also open-source.

Pixi.js

Pixi.js is an open-source JavaScript library for rendering 2D graphics which allows developers to create interactive graphics in HTML5. It is not a very popular library yet may still be quite useful.

Babylon.js

Babylon.js is a very impressive ‘ real-time’ 3D engine based on a JavaScript library for rendering 3D graphics in a web browser using HTML5.t It was initially released in 2013 by two Microsoft employees. The 3D modeling process is based on polygon modeling using triangular faces which are represented by shell models.

PhysicsJS

PhysicsJS is “A modular, extendable, and easy-to-use physics engine for JavaScript” which can emulate gravity, collision, etc.  It also works with HTML5 to produce maximal effects.

Playcanvas

PlayCanvas is a 3D HTML5 and JavaScript game engine also used for interactive 3D application which is open-source. It features a cloud-based system for the collaborative editing of the projects.

The engine is able to simulate rigid-body physics, dealing with three-dimensional audio and rendering 3D animations.

What Is The Future Of HTML5 Games?

During the conference of GDC 2014, Unity Technology, a company that develops popular engines for 3D and 2D games presented the new version of Unity 5.

In that version, the Unity Player plugin allowing running in-browser games developed in that engine was replaced by the HTML5 exporter featuring WebGL. This clearly demonstrated the strategic choice of the game company toward HTML5.

Epic Games has been working intensively on the migration of their Unreal Engine to HTML5.

Many game developers and game companies are considering that HTML5 will sooner or later become a very mature platform and will allow the creation of exciting, innovative games that could be played immediately and directly using the browser.

HTML5 games may be more suitable for mobile games which are clearly appearing as a future market with billions of Android users.

HTML5 And IOS/Android Games

HTML5 is an outstanding technology for mobile gaming. HTML5 is cross-platform so it can be immediately used as well for IOS and Android and there is no need to build two versions of the game using two very different native libraries.

HTML5 games can be very easily packaged as applications for IOS or Android and this reduces the cost of development and allows faster development of exciting and innovative mobile gaming!

Conclusion

We are still at a crossroads where HTML5 games are becoming more and more dominant, especially in the mobile gaming world but native gaming development still has Lion’s share. The evolution of the further standards of HTML (HTML6 etc.) will probably decide if HTML-based games are going to be the future of gaming or not.

Acodez is one of the best mobile app development company in India which houses a team of dedicated app developers to develop a feature rich app keeping in mind the latest design trends. Over the course of 6 years, we have worked on a number of native and hybrid apps based on the suggestions and requirements of the business. During the course of time, we have been able to bag several national and international awards and have been featured as the best web design company in India by many leading industry magazines and rating sites.