Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1-5.
Screenshot from Brandon Jones's TF2 WebGL demo
Distribution and monetization options already exist
Something that I touched on earlier in this chapter is the ability to distribute your games and make money
from them, something that is necessary for the web to become a viable platform for games. The good
news is that there are plenty of services and platforms around to do this, with even more coming in the
near future. I'd like to highlight a few of the available options.
Mozilla Labs Apps project
Currently, most app platforms are closed ecosystems that prevent apps and games from being used on all
platforms and devices, which threatens the freedom of your users. Mozilla believes that the current app
platforms can be improved upon through the creation of an open ecosystem, one that gives developers the
ability to distribute their apps and games with as much freedom and choice as possible. Right now this
project is called the Mozilla Labs Apps project and much more information can be found out about it online
For the Mozilla app marketplace, the payment provider of choice is PayPal. All you need do is set a price on
the store and the rest will happen automatically; as people start paying for your game, you'll start receiving
money in your PayPal account. In the future, you'll be able to provide your game on your own web site or
another store and charge for it there, too. This means you'll be able to use your own payment provider.
Chrome Web Store
Google's vision of an app platform is the Chrome Web Store. Although closed, the applications on the
Chrome Web Store are likely to work on browsers other than Google Chrome; however, they currently
can't be installed in those other browsers directly from the store. You can find out more online at
