Why Online Games?
Online games created with HTML5 are easily marketed because of their reach. These games are playable and have a widespread appeal. Both serious and casual gamers, even those who do not think of themselves as gamers at all, have likely stumbled upon an online game that’s hooked them.
These games often pose a simple concept. The initial learning curve is easy, drawing in hordes of players. As the games advance, their difficulty continues to ratchet up. With their repetitive and simplistic structure, these games quickly become addicting.
In addition, these games often require very little though, allowing users to play in them in their downtime or to blow off some steam. Easily accessible both on the computer and on the phone.
What Does Their Popularity Mean For You?
As a front end game designer, you automatically gain a skill that looks impressive on your resume. While HTML5 is not exceedingly more difficult than HTML, the follow-through needed to complete a game and the marketability of these games is likely to impress.
In fact, creating a game with HTML5 is easier than one might think. There are a few steps necessary for creating a game such as this.
Stick With What You Know
It’s likely you won’t know where to start unless you’ve already played a wide variety of these games yourself. While you’ll gain a wide variety of experience and ideas from playing these games, the ideal game to emulate is one that is widely popular.
Take a look at some of the most popular games on the market and analyze them for trends. What makes them stand out compared to the others? Look at the trends between the games and take some notes.
- What do you enjoy about the games?
- What do they have in common?
- What makes them addictive?
These are all important factors that big game development teams take the time to analyze, and your experience game designing should be no different.
Prepare to Wear Many Hats
As with analyzing the competition, you’re going to have to handle a lot of tasks that would normally be doled out between a larger game development team. It is likely you’re going to exercise your vision exclusively.
You’re going to have to have an opinion, or a vision, about everything related to the product. From visual design, game mechanics, character art, and music, you’re going to have to consider everything.
Even if you plan on hiring contractors to take care of certain aspects, such as freelance musicians for the background music, you’ll still need to form an opinion as to what music will work best for your project.
Many online games choose soothing background music for good reason. This music is unlikely to turn anyone off from your game. The soothing music will keep them playing your game for longer and keep them thinking about your game even after they stop playing.
If you’re unsure of what choices to make in any aspect, you’re going to have to do some additional market research. This means you’ll not only be the developer, but the researcher, marketing team, web developer, and more, all at once.
Choose the Route You’ll Want to Take
While many online games focus purely on the addictive game mechanics popular in the genre, some of these games take the time to develop a storyline that will keep players interested.
There’s nothing wrong with either approach, but you’ll need to plan this out before you even begin designing, otherwise, you won’t know what to design.
After completing your initial research and obtaining some ideas, you’ll want to be sure to sit down and make some plans regarding your game. Write out any basic plot points or game mechanics and sit down and make some blueprints.
The visual aspect of your game is going to be one of the most important aspects of the planning phase. You’re going to need detailed plans to reference once you begin designing the game. Be sure to have detailed plans on hand and you’ll save yourself the headache of attempting to create the game in your mind as you go.
