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Why HTML5 is the best for 2D Game Development.
HTML5 is the easiest way in developing 2D game development. Game programming offers a wealth of creative and business opportunities, and it has never been more accessible. HTML5 offers many JavaScript game engines and frameworks for developing 2D games. Developing 2D games using HTML5 is very easy and it allows the developer to build in HTML5 while leveraging the advanced multimedia elements of HTML5. Today is the time for developers to start taking advantage of the widely available graphic demos available on the Internet and ready to be used for the development of your HTML5 2D game.re plenty of valid ways to create an HTML5 game, and quite a bit of material on the technical aspect of each, so for this article I’ll be giving more of a broad overview of HTML5 game development. How “HTML5” can be better than native.
HTML
HTML means Hypertext Markup Language. It is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a website browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript.
HTML5
HTML5 I is a software solution stack that defines the properties and behavior of website page content by implementing a markup based pattern to it. HTML 2 is the fifth and current major version of HTML and subsumes XHTML. XHTML is eXtensible Hyper Text Markup Language. It is part of the family of XML markup languages.
The current standard, the HTML Living Standard is developed by WHATWG, which is made up of the major browser vendors such as Apple, Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft), with the Living Standard also existing in an abridged version.
Release of HTML5
HTML5 was first released in public-facing form on 22nd January, 2008, with a major update and “W3C Recommendation” status in October 2014. Its goals were to improve the language with support for the latest multimedia and other new features. It is also meant to keep the language both easily readable by humans and consistently understood by computers and devices such as website browsers, parsers, etc. without XHTML’s rigidity. Another purpose of HTML5 is to remain backward-compatible with other software.
HTML5 is intended to subsume not only HTML4, but also XHTML1 and DOM Level 2 HTML. DOM means Document Object Model. It is a cross-platform and language-independent interface that treats an XML or HTML document as a tree structure wherein each node as an object representing a part of the document.
Most of the audience here already sees the value in HTML5, but I want to re-iterate why you should be building an HTML5 game. If you are just targeting iOS for your game, write the game in Objective-C, the cons outweigh the benefits in that scenario… but if you want to build a game that works on a multitude of platforms, HTML5 is the way to go.
Advantages of HTML5
One of the more obvious advantages of HTML5 for games is that the games will work on any modern device. Yes, you will have to put extra thought into how your game will respond to various screen sizes and input types, and yes, you might have to do a bit of ‘personalization’ in the code per platform (the main inhibitor being audio); but it’s far better than the alternative of completely porting the game each time.
I see too many games that don’t work on mobile and tablets, and in most instances that really is a huge mistake to make when developing your game – keep mobile in mind when developing your HTML5 game!
Marketplace of 2D Game Development by HTML5
Distribution for HTML5 games is often thought of as a weakness, but that’s just because we’ve been looking at it in the same sense as native mobile games, where a marketplace is the only way to find games. With HTML5 games you have the incredible powerful hyperlink. Links can so easily be distributed across the web and mobile devices (think of how many links you click in the Facebook and Twitter apps), and it certainly should not just be limited to the main page for the game. The technology is there to be able to link to your game and do more interesting things like jump to a specific point in a game, try to beat a friend’s score, or play real-time against that friend – use it to your advantage!
HTML 5 provides the advantage access to all of this free technology, unlike developing games in Flash which often is not free for developers. Moreover, the process of making 2D games is not tedious at all in HTML 5 as it renders the ease to the developing process. The coding and HTML texts are very simple and comprehensive. It saves money as one time coding is enough for the use on every platform, PC, tablet, or mobile. So, it is very budget oriented. These things add up quickly for the independent developer working on a tight budget with no extras for tools.
The rich multimedia elements like audio and visuals are the main characteristics and fluidity of the animations is the prominent feature when developing games using HTML 5. In addition, 2D games embed seamlessly in HTLM 5. The extensive access to media to inculcate the advanced multimedia elements in 2D games makes HTML 5 the first preference to the game developers.
The main aim
The main aim of HTML is universal compatibility and HTML5 achieves this by being device agnostic and having a code once, deploy everywhere attitude! Whether it’s a desktop, tablets or the mobile platform, HTML5 2D games work. The graphics and animations remain the same whether it’s played on PC, tablet or mobile device. The HTML 5 2D games are also compatible with most modern browsers. That is why developers give preference to work in HTML 5 because it keeps the modern technology abreast and is very futuristic.
The use of sophisticated coding is associated with HTML 5. The coding is easier for the developers. The tags are more precise and comprehensive. A lot of div coding can be avoided in HTML 5 and through neater and improved code the results are also improved. There is no need for the separate coding for the PC and mobile devices however there are several different mobile browser optimization techniques that can be applied, otherwise there remains no need to code again and differently whether developing for the PC or mobile device. This way a developer can save a lot of valuable time and get rid of tedious coding to develop 2D games.
A very advanced feature that HTML 5 has to offer is that any update in the program or coding is automatically configured in all the particular application online. As soon as the alteration is made it gets applied to every user and platform where the game is played. Thus, this advanced feature makes HTML 5 very distinctive from the previous versions of HTML.
Another revolutionary feature of HTML 5 is that it can be operational offline. Thus, the games developed in HTML 5 can be played offline through HTML 5 specifications when there is no web connectivity. This can be done through the ‘Cache Manifest’. It is up to the developer how much information he wants stored in the user cache without being worried about the size of the file.
The easiest
HTML 5 is the easiest for the users because the users do not have to install and download different plug-ins to play the 2D games in their browsers or to download and install the game at all. All the user needs is to open the game in the compatible browser and most of the modern browsers support Html 5 .Most of the time the hassle of adding the extensions and downloading the plug ins demotivate the players to play the game. That is the reason that the search engines show the decline of the Flash Player Games by the internet users and the obvious increase in HTML 5 games searches in the last three years. This explicitly shows the popularity and demand of the HTML 5 2D “ER” games and the changing trend of the game players.
HTML 5 will not be fully functional until 2022 but it has already bestowed a revolution to the online and offline browsing and gaming. The availability of HTML5 2D games on the app stores are increasing because of its liquidity. The interactive interface of HTML5 is making it more famous among the game developers and the game players of all ages.