HTML game or download?

In the halloween jam thread we are suddenly talking about HTML5 game (aka browser games) vs downloadable games.

I realize that as a player, your look on this question might be different than as a dev. For this poll, I'll like your P.O.V. as a dev. In the comments, you can also give your opinion as a player.

Do you prefer to make and distribute HTML games or downloadable games? And why?

personally on my own, downloadable.

some like HTML, but if they offer both, its a win win for everyone I say.

I followed the discussion, and I must say you've raised an interesting point. As a developer, I try to follow the trend by focusing more on mobile and browser game development. However, as a player, if a game piques my interest, it doesn’t make a difference whether it's web-based or downloadable. But I had never considered what happened to you, I’m quite naive about this. For me, the fun of creating games lies in designing and making them. The thought of someone stealing my mechanics makes me laugh because I usually create scripts that even I don’t always understand XD. Jokes aside, it’s really awful to copy someone else’s work and claim it as your own.

You reminded me of that unfortunate situation with Yanfly and his plugins. I remember I couldn’t believe someone would do something like that to someone who had contributed so much to the RPG Maker community. So, if you prefer creating browser games to better protect your creations, I completely agree with you.

I think being able to keep a downloaded game on your drive would be better. Since there can be times people could really like an in-development project, but the creator could stop making it for whatever problem that arises for them, at least you can keep a playable memory of it.

another way I prefer downloadable if the ethernet connection got lost,
so you cannot play either, but still have the download version to play.

as mentioned in the other thread, if you set remove cookies per session or
once a week, you lose your progress too, this is what I do too to load
browser pages faster :)

there are more, some offer online full version, downloadable demo and
a paid demo if they want to download to support the developer.

there are many reasons for the developer to choose this or not too.
but using code or steal mechanic from a game should be ban as well
if they showcase what isn't their, or developer need to go a bit more advanced
in coding to let out a error if they remove something or change something so
simple copy paste wont work (what most wont do).

for me it's just easier so I can also make screenshot or it gives a black screen if I try
show the bug visually as some browsers block screenshots or dont show it.

As a player or as a dev? As a player I understand, but if this is an answer as a dev, can you tell me why?

Mobile? I mean, if you can easily pull it off, then go for it. But I feel like the only reason why people would want to make a mobile game is in game stores and adds.

If your game doesn't have either of those, than that is a great selling point. You should totally advertise that wherever you talk about your games. :p

If you do have in-game sales or add, I am really eager to learn how you do that. An in-game shop might work for my card game, which would be packs of cards, which can also be unlocked just by playing the game.

If I would learn how to do this, I would limit sales to 1 pack per week or so, for maybe a buck per pack.

Yeah, this happened once and I was able to stop it before it started its own life. But then again, I've spoken to hundreds of RPG maker users over so many years... I've had so many different people obtaining a copy of my games for various reasons... And there was only one case (as far as I know) where someone opened my project in their editor to copy my system.

And it was about something stupid too: How to pass opened doors and make it look slick. Systems I made since then were much, much more complicated, and often months or even years of work. Think about board games, card games, chess and stuff like that. That is something I now protect as good as I can. I like to show what I can do, but I won't give people the chance to copy all my work.

I would be more likely to take that risk when I sell my games and make decent money. My browser games are free, downloads? That I will charge for. :p

Yeah, but this wasn't as big. This was stopped before it even started. It was in a relative small group with a few hundred members (compared to other FB groups about RPG maker I was in, that is small) and I posted updated about my game there regularly back then. So when he started boasting in that group, it wasn't long before everyone realized I was telling the truth. Screenshots helped a lot too. :p

Well, that is one of the reasons I like browser games... Other reasons are:
- They are playable on pretty much everything. (unfortunately not including raspberry pi)
- They can be embedded on my personal website, which would generate traffic to my website
- They get more random players, who might check out your other stuff if they like what they see

But yeah, protection is indeed one of the largest reasons.

That is true. From a players POV, this is an excellent point.

kind of both, I personally have no experience on setting a game online at this point,
as I could put a prototype of my sidegame there.

but only download, as I know browser games can have pro's on games, but I also
have 2 plugins that doesn't work on browser, and bypass can give trouble unless
I can use an alternate plugin for this part, and I might have a way for it.

I have no clue how the other plugins handle browsers, and I use SRD HUDMaker and
I do know this one doesn't work nicely on HTML browser.

Yeah, I noticed HUDmaker too. Long time ago, though.

Look how different we are in this:

You: "HUDmaker doesn't work well in browsers, so I won't develop for browsers"
Me: "HUDmaker doesn't work well in browsers, so I won't use HUDmaker"

I must say, by far most plugins I tried work in a browser. Even the once I made myself... :p (And do you know who's tutorials I used to make my very first plugin, when I knew absolutely no JavaScript? SumRndmDde! :p It's a plugin I still use, which auto-saves on transfer. Didn't exist yet back then, so I learned how to make one.)

I know there is an image pre-loader which I once tried, because it would be perfect for my card game, but that one doesn't work in the browser. Other than the pre-loader and SRD's HUDmaker, I never saw a plugin that didn't work in a browser. Well... A plugin that calls for Full Screen, but it makes sense that this one doesn't work in a browser. :p

(That doesn't mean they are not there, though. I've tried many different plugins by many different authors, but by far I didn't try them all. And for MZ, I even tried none, other than my own. Even though that is the only thing I ever did with MZ, testing my own plugins.) :p

Full game online and a downloadable demo? Uhm... I think the other way around, right? Demo as a browser game, and full game as a download. That is how I always thought I'd do it when I finally finish something. :p

Edit: Sorry double post. I meant to put this in an edit...

there was one, download version is more to support the developer :)
it's the developer choice.

SRD_HUDMaker can work online though with some modification,
auto-saves plugin does not, unless you alter the code to do so, but still, this won't
work if you remove cookies and cache :)

if I can download, I play, report feedback/bugs if needed, else I just remove it with
a button press.

also to just game offline, so no worries that you play on browser and tell "connection lost".

Most of plugins that don't work on a browser are because they use node.js or nw.js apis, most of them can be fixed but maybe the authors don't want to do that. Also there are limitations on a real web browser like storage size, processor speed and network connection.
Personally I don't usually play online unless I have no access to my pc. And playing on a phone hurts my eyes (I was not short-sighted until I began to read novels using my phone).

Hi there, just felt that I should point out that uploading a project as HTML on itch offers no source code protection. Absolutely NONE.

Both the JavaScript content as well as the data files are readily accessible on itch.

Wanted to point that out because I don't want Devs to get the impression that their project is "safe from theft" by doing an HTML upload. If you want any kind of serious deterrent, you really should consider encryption and packaging IMO.

My take on this is that it's just further removing ownership of things. I suppose the line is far more grey when the item in question is at the low-low cost of free, but given that it is hosted by a person on a website, this means:
If I don't have internet, I can't play.
If I don't have an account, I can't play.
If the user deletes their game, I can't play it ever again.
If the user deletes their account (or gets their account banned), I can't play it ever again.
If the website goes defunct, I can't ever play it again.
If browser changes happen that no longer accept the code to run the game, I can't ever play it again.

For free POS game jam games that people play once and forget, I am sure all of these things are not very important...but it could be someone's favorite game somewhere.
I'd rather let folks own their favorite things, instead of - like all things in this dystopian future we live in - just being a service with an unknown but still finite expiry date.

My autosave plugin works in a browser.

However, deleting the cookies, deletes the save. That isn't changed by the plugin. However, I do believe there are plugins that can make a local save for browser games. I am not even sure about that...

Sure hacker can get to it anyway, but it is a lot easier when it is a download. 95% of the players would have no idea how to download it illegally.

So, I have a couple of things to say about this. First, 99.9% of players wouldn't consider stealing your ideas in the first place. Your concern is with the 0.1% that does. Second, you do not need to be a hacker at all. I just tried it on a few random itch.io browser games, and could access both their JS as well as their JSON data with surprising ease. And last time I checked I do not have "hacker" in my resume.

So I would like to urge anyone NOT to opt for browser deployment for reasons of securing your code. It provides ZERO protection.

Again, anyone looking to secure their code should look at encryption and packaging solutions. Maybe there exists an embedding mechanism that makes the data inaccessible, but itch.io certainly isn't.

If there is sensitive data handling, I would prefer HTML5, as it offers more security. (for example micro transactions or logins)

For anything else, downloadable would be the best thing, because once deployed there is no maintenance.


Edit (after reading above post) :
Online deployment offers much more security, but only on a server you own.
Itch is not really designed to secure anything.

download, 100%.
think about this: games have been standalone for longer than they've been HTML, first because the internet itself, from which to download the games, has existed for a shorter period of time than gaming itself; and second, because the niche of HTML games comes as a result of the existence of the internet.
it's a commodity, not the norm.

*on top of that*, everything mentioned above: availability, safety, performance, compatibility, etc.


assuming the deployed product itself, *needs* no maintenance.
because you can always be Activision, Ubisoft or Bethesda, and find the problem to the solution.

But your server does.

yeah, doubly so.
all the more reason to deploy a finished product and be done with it.
I mean, how can somebody NOT see that, who is tasked with managing exactly that? XD

download can protect assets of JS and images (with some tools) and require
more knowledge to decode them.

Cooktool Deluxe is a nice way to protect JS files.
some has a nice way to encrypt images/sounds etc.

so it become much harder for standard users to steal.
project on it's own isn't but some has a work around to throw an error
or unable to open from deployed version so this makes its also harder.

100% is impossible, but you can make it harder for normal/average peoples.