Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Why should you care about open web games?
Open web games are by nature games created with open web technologies; as of today, these
technologies are HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. In this chapter, I will be referring to these technologies
under the umbrella term “open web games,” as I feel it sums up the importance of the technologies quite
well while also being easier to write multiple times—rather than listing every single individual technology,
which I think we'll both appreciate in the long run.
The beauty of the technologies behind open web games is that they are the same ones that countless
developers are already using to create web sites and web apps (arguably the same thing, but in this case
it is worth defining them separately). These are technologies that have evolved since the dawn of the
internet and have been proven as reliable and stable while other technologies rise and fall beside them.
Easy to get started
There is also an almost non-existent barrier to entry to develop games or anything else with these
technologies. First off, they are completely free to use in all senses of the word. Secondly, the tools
needed to develop and host games with these technologies can also be found for free or extremely low
cost. In short, very little investment needs to be made to begin developing games using open web
technologies. This is a massive plus point for indie developers who might be used to more restrictive
environments like Flash, where you are required to buy into the proprietary technology and related
development tools.
Excellent documentation
On top of the low barrier to entry is the well-written and free documentation that exists to help developers
learn about every minor detail of these technologies. Web sites like the Mozilla Developer Network
(
https://developer.mozilla.org
)
have provided services like this for many years, with numerous other
web sites and personal blogs doing the same.
Large and friendly community
Complimenting the documentation effort is a thriving community of developers and designers who care for
nothing more but to further the web and share their experience with others. This is a community that can
be found nearly everywhere you look; from the HTML5 group on Facebook, to Twitter, to dedicated forums
like SitePoint, all the way to real-time chatrooms on IRC. For example, there is a growing community of
open web game developers hanging out in the
#bbg
channel on
irc.freenode.net
—and we would love for
you to come along and take part.
Write once, use anywhere
On a more technical level, the beauty of developing games with open web technologies is that it's very
much a “write once, use anywhere” kind of approach. Now this isn't entirely true, as there are always
nuances and exceptions to the rule; however, what is true is that this approach is inherently cross-platform
