Seven features of the HTML5 platform from the developer's perspective

At first glance, HTML5 seems to bring a lot of benefits to online and mobile game developers. This is a pure web platform. game developers can create their own games based on HTML5, and then release content on any compatible devices, from mobile phones to PC platforms. But is it really that simple?

However, there is no uniform standard for the platform, so there is still uncertainty in its performance. This platform clearly has great potential. Mainstream developers such as Zynga have begun to apply it to the mobile phone field, but engine vendor Unity says "HTML5 is still not ideal in terms of running conditions ".

Developers have different opinions on the development direction of this platform. Therefore, we decided to thoroughly analyze the views of several HTML5 technology creators and explore the main advantages and disadvantages of the platform and its future development direction.

The following are some key points about the current HTML5 status:

1. cross-platform running Features

HTML5 is suitable for many platforms, from PC browsers to mobile phones, tablets, and even Smart TVs. As long as the device browser supports HTML5, HTML5 games are feasible on this platform.

This brings the advantages that native applications do not have (game state Note: Native applications usually need to be re-designed before they can be delivered to another target operating system ). If developers want to port their iOS games to the Android platform, they need to make fundamental adjustments to the game. With HTML5 technology, this process will be much simpler.

Peter Driessen, CEO of Spil Games, a large online gaming company, said, "We have been using HTML5 Technology for more than a year and are well aware of the importance of promoting web Games based on various devices. This is becoming more and more important as gamers experience more frequently and diversified devices ."

Paul Bakaus from Zynga's German studio, who helped the company implant the technology into the company's various web pages and mobile games, said, "There are many reasons to promote HTML5 technology ."

"One advantage is that we can easily promote it to mobile browsers," he said. For example, you do not need to install it-this is a major advantage. The next step is content update and cross-platform development. If you create a native application, you need to create content on the Android and iOS platforms in most cases, and maybe the desktop platform. Based on HTML5 technology, you only need to make it once to promote it to various platforms ."

In addition to making it easier for developers to implant games on a variety of platforms, HTML5 also provides convenient cross-platform communication and supports many cloud functions, from social mechanisms to a lasting gaming world.

Spil Driessen said, "We hope to get real cloud Games through HTML5. We support a large number of online communities. Obviously, our players and other players share the same idea and are increasingly eager to play games on their mobile phones. HTML5 laid the foundation for us to create a seamless gaming experience that includes social functions, whether on-the-go or at home ."

2. HTML5 operations are hard to predict

Although HTML5 was originally designed to serve various devices, we still cannot ensure that it can adapt smoothly to various hardware standards.

Richard Hilleman, EA's creative director, recently shared his setbacks on the New Game Conference in San Francisco. He said the team's experimental 3D animation worked well on the MacBook Air, however, more powerful devices face obstacles.

"On my computer, the processor is i7, and I can only get several frames in one second," said Hilleman ." He went on to explain: "High-Performance JavaScript is usually very dull," so it's hard to predict how applications work on established hardware devices.

"I don't know how to explain it to the customer," he added. This is a big problem ."

HTML5 developers targeting mobile platforms are prone to these problems because their games need to run on a variety of smartphones and other mobile devices.

Senior HTML5 developers and former CEO of recently closed Moblyng studio Stewart Putney said the company will test its work on a large number of devices. "For iOS systems, we only need to target iPhone 3gs, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, and iPad 2, which is very simple," he said. Android is more dispersed than Android. mobile phone manufacturers usually make minor adjustments to mobile browsers. This is no big deal for native Android applications. But for HTML5 applications, this means that the application will be difficult to run ."

He continued: "to ensure high-quality content, we have to test applications on multiple devices-only in this way can we ensure the smooth operation of applications. I believe that we will see more testing tools and better standards in the future, but Android QA is still a pain point in HTML5 development ."

3. This is an option other than Flash.

From a traditional perspective, Flash and web games always go hand in hand. However, since Adobe recently decided to suspend Flash Support for mobile browsers, developers have begun to explore other options in the smartphone market? But what does HTML5 do compared to Flash?

According to Zynga executive Paul Bakaus, both have their own markets, each of which has its own merits.

He explained: "Flash has a new Stage 3D API, while web platform has WebGL. Both use native OpenGL to capture content in the bottom layer. In this way, they are comparable in speed. I think HTML5 is better than Flash in terms of software rendering, because it is very close to the actual browser, so that they can be optimized on the hardware acceleration layer. But Flash also has several obvious advantages ."

"I think Flash and Stage 3D applications are great, while HTML5 is a channel for cross-platform operations. There is also a native application that can effectively integrate the features of the mobile operating system. I don't know if they will win in the future-so I won't separate them. I think this is more like a professional division of labor ."

Google Seth Ladd added that he felt that HTML5 would eventually coexist with Flash and each platform would have its own unique advantages.

He said, "What you will see in the future is that the platforms that contribute to a larger network will have to move forward, because there is a certain degree of competition. I hope Flash can find a way to optimize the experience. The open network platform will continue to optimize its experience. Finally, you will see that all these have become a reality and end users will benefit a lot from this ."

Webpage developer Dominic Szablewski (game state Note: He is the creator of the JavaScript Impact engine) said that Flash is more suitable for artists, while HTML5 is a better programming environment.

"Flash has always been very suitable for creative people. It is very convenient to create an animation or a simple game based on Flash IDE. You only need to click it several times. This type of tool is not HTML5; you usually need to write code ."

"But HTML5 is completely free. In the beginning, you only need a browser and a text editor, without buying expensive applications ."

Szablewski added that because Flash no longer supports mobile platforms, he thinks HTML5 is the future of web development. As he said: "If you want to create content suitable for mobile browsers, if you don't care about IE6/7/8 users, and if you don't want to use the technology that is about to die, you should adopt HTML5."

Regardless of the comparison between HTML5 and Flash, developers who want to take the cross-platform route can only switch to HTML5 technology, at least in the opinion of the old Moblyng designer Stewart Putney, this is the case.

"Because the mobile phone platform does not support Flash technology, I think HTML5 will become a cross-platform standard in the mobile phone field. For now, it seems that this is gradually becoming a reality ."

4. Sound is a big problem

Voice clearly plays an important role in game development. Unfortunately, this is a major defect of HTML5. The available APIs of the platform are slightly inferior to those of the native application environment.

Paul Bakaus from Zynga's German studio mentioned this shortcoming in particular. "The first challenge facing HTML5 is sound, which needs to be fixed. This is a simple principle. We cannot solve this problem, right? Voice is an essential element of outstanding works. This is the biggest challenge for the moment, but I won't say that I want to stop making such games ."

He explained that in his view, Web developers will fix these voice problems in the future, but to turn this into reality, there are still several necessary conditions.

"There are two main points to solve the voice problem," he said. One thing is that we, as I mentioned earlier, need to make suppliers aware of this problem, so we need to make a game, and we need to tell them the disadvantages of the game ."

"On the other hand, we need suppliers to acknowledge that this is a problem and find a solution. I have seen that the image problem of this technology is more important than the voice problem. This is my biggest concern. As a technology supplier, You won't really think about the problem from the perspective of the game field, right? You will not find that sound is an essential element for making outstanding games. We need to make them aware of this problem ."

Richard Hilleman, EA's creative director, agreed with Bakaus, as he said in his speech at 2011 New Game Conference: "A major obstacle we encounter is our voice. HTML5 sound production has a big problem. We need to solve this problem. I hope the next generation of browsers can solve this problem, but this is another big problem ."

5. Inconsistent browser compatibility

If gamers use newer browsers (such as Chrome or Firefox), they will be able to experience your HTML5 game. But what about the players who still use Internet Explorer 6 or old Safari and Opera versions? If users do not update their browsers, they will not be able to access all HTML5 content.

Sometimes these browser compatibility issues eliminate the biggest advantage of the Platform: ubiquitous. If users still use outdated browsers, they will not be able to experience HTML5 games.

Some developers believe that, for example, Zynga's Bakaus, the best way to solve this problem is to continue to develop, even if it is limited to newer browsers. He said that by creating high-quality games that cannot run on obsolete software, we can motivate users to update the software.

"Developers are afraid of losing users who use browsers earlier than Internet Explorer 9," he said. However, sometimes it is not the most appropriate way to meet user needs, because the problem will always remain the same. Try to create new content that is only suitable for modern browsers, which will prompt users to update their own software ."

But if all users adopt HTML5-compatible browsers, does this mean that Web applications can adapt to all browsers? Not necessarily.

Even browsers that support html5. older HTML5 browsers may only support a limited number of functions or APIs, this means that some game functions are only available in the latest versions.

Of course, if the budget is limited, you may not have enough resources to create a game suitable for all browsers. At the San Francisco New Game Conference, Bocoup Darius Kazemi recalled that he encountered this problem when porting Subatomic Studios's turret defense to HTML5.

Kazemi explained that this was due to time and budget constraints. He and his team chose to create a game based on Google Chrome and Chrome Web Store.

Kazemi said, "This is a dilemma. Do I need to cover users to the maximum extent or create high-quality games? Can I take both of them into consideration ?"

"In the end, do we need to port it to other browsers, or just create a high-quality experience on one browser? We finally chose the latter ."

Kazemi added that the game benefited a lot from Chrome 14's API. If you plan to use HTML5 games to cover all platforms, you need to use resources with caution.

6. No specialized HTML5 App Store

HTML5 apps are different from mobile native apps because they do not have a unified app store. This has its advantages and disadvantages. We need to grasp it in advance.

Obviously, the main advantage of joining the network platform is that the content to be released and updated does not need to be approved. Unlike Apple iTunes, HTML5 allows developers to update or release games at any time without waiting for responses from platform owners.

Although this freedom attracts aggressive developers, it is accompanied by a certain cost. Without a standard promotion platform, it is quite challenging to present applications to users.

Putney said, "Currently we do not have HTML5 core app stores to help increase application exposure ."

Putney said that HTML5 applications do not have a specific target location, making it difficult for players to learn information about new works. But Facebook plays a secondary role in this regard.

He said, "Facebook has made great progress in making HTML5 apps socially accessible on mobile platforms ."

On the other hand, Google regards HTML5's openness as a major advantage. The company's executive Seth Ladd explained, "it is more convenient to issue and promote applications now because there are no managers and no pre-approval is required. All developers are free to generate revenue in the desired way, get users in the desired way, and then release content in the desired way. This is a major advantage of the open network platform ."

7. Still in development

After grasping all the advantages and disadvantages of HTML5, you can determine whether the platform is suitable for you. Currently, there are no unified standards for HTML5, but Web developers are constantly entering this platform, so no one knows what will happen in the future.

Google Seth Ladd has high expectations for HTML5. He said that the rapid development of the platform has become faster thanks to the rapid innovation of network developers.

He said, "The current situation we see in Chrome, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer is that development teams are growing much faster than before ."

More and more developers are switching to this platform. Some HTML5 developers say this will only make the platform increasingly powerful. HTML5 developer Dominic Szablewski added: "This is the biggest advantage of html5. Competition is fierce here. After the advent of IE6 and Flash for many years, the web page technology has finally experienced significant development. This is just the beginning. Many other technologies are emerging: WebGL, full screen mode, mouse locking, and APIs for new audio/video modes. It's really exciting ."

Zynga and other companies admit that HTML5 still has a long way to go until it can eventually rival native application development, but if the platform can maintain its development momentum, the experience space will eventually be able to keep pace.

Zynga Bakaus said, "We are still in the initial stage, and Native applications have dominated game development for a long time, so they have a development momentum that HTML5 does not currently have ."

Despite the optimistic performance of HTML5 developers, there are still great challenges to focus on the platform as the platform continues to change. Putney said, "we are dealing with cars in progress." He said that the ever-changing technical standards will bring many obstacles to development.

He said, "But if we do it right, we will be able to capture a large number of users with an application-so we think it is worthwhile ."