LudumData

Game platforms

[raw] LD30LD #30 29. Aug 2014 · 19:15 UTC · 7 days after compo start by grayhaze · 2

As I’m working my way through the entries for LD 30 I’m noticing that fewer games are being made in a format which is playable on the web these days. As I’m often short on time and dip in and out of rating entries, taking the time to download, virus check and run an unknown executable file isn’t really viable for me. I also alternate between working on a Windows machine and a Mac, so it’s not always possible to play the majority of Windows-only games. I therefore tend to gravitate toward those entries that have a web version and ignore those that don’t.

What are other people’s opinions on this? Are you turned off by games in a particular format? What holds you back from creating web-based versions along with executables?

Having said this, I have personally started uploading Windows versions of my entries to go along with the web versions, as I know there are likely to be people who feel the opposite way. If you’re looking for a good 2D game framework which compiles to the full range of platforms (Flash, HTML5, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and more) I’d recommend taking a look at HaxeFlixel, a popular port and improvement of the original Flixel for Flash written in Haxe and using the OpenFL framework. You can develop your games on Windows, Mac or Linux and usually create versions for other platforms with little to no changes.

Comments

WiErD0
29. Aug 2014 · 19:27 UTC
I guess I agree with that feeling when I am playing other people’s games, but for the process of making it, it isn’t so easy. Making a JAR file is so tempting because you can do it with just the click of a button on alot of programs, and there are rarely any problems. However, if you try to make an applet instead, you run into the thousands of problems with what is and isn’t allowed on certain websites.
WiErD0
29. Aug 2014 · 19:28 UTC
I do have to say, though, I don’t find JARs any more annoying than the (like 40% of) games that run through unity web player, because that takes a good 10 minutes to boot up every time.
grayhaze
29. Aug 2014 · 19:35 UTC
I’m a hobby game developer too primarily, which is why I only use free, open source tools for my development. My primary goal in choosing a language and game framework was to find something which was designed from the ground up to be cross-platform, which is how I came across the tools mentioned in my post.
30. Aug 2014 · 06:39 UTC
I’ve been playing pretty much the same as you. Quite often I’ll come across an entry I’m really interested in playing, but there is no web link. I think I’ve only downloaded two EXE. games so far out of all the ones I’ve played!