HTML What puts people off HTML games?

[Eoin]

Title asks it all, really.

I want to know why people tend to 'put down' (so-to-say) games made in HTML or TWINE.

I also would like to know why more people don't use that platform as a valid way of making games. Is it because of browser issues? Is it because people think one needs fluency in JavaScript?

Or is it something more?

Eoin.

 

[Burt]

For me its not security or browser issues.
Its rare if I find one that has enough content to make it playable
There are some but I have rarely found ones that have more than an hour play-time
Also they on the whole reek of amateurism
One of my personal favourite games opposes all my views but it stands alone in my opinion Brads Erotic Week

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[polywog]

In the history of adult games there are many cases where html games were played online, which made it difficult to just download and play them at your leisure, which is what 9 out of 10 consumers want.

 

[Humlebien]

Story content. Or lack of same. If you can't write at least have a interesting setting. No amount of pictures can save a lousy setting and story. And the less flashy the engine, the more important this will be.

 

[Eoin]

Thanks @Burt, @polywog, and @Humlebien for the replies so far.

When there are games that are have as much quality content/are that well made such as:
{
A Spell for All =

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Free Cities =

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The Allure of Wanton Cove =

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}
You would think people would be spoiled for choice, would you not? These games are quite well done, in my opinion. And I'm sure there are plenty more games out there that have as much quality content as these. I could list more...

 

[Humlebien]

Thanks @Burt, @polywog, and @Humlebien for the replies so far.

When there are games that are have as much quality content/are that well made such as:
{
A Spell for All =

You must be registered to see the links

Free Cities =

You must be registered to see the links

The Allure of Wanton Cove =

You must be registered to see the links

}
You would think people would be spoiled for choice, would you not? These games are quite well done, in my opinion. And I'm sure there are plenty more games out there that have as much quality content as these. I could list more...

Free Cities have a huge following. Personally I prefer some imagry, so haven't delved into it.
A Spell For All, have a very good setting and writing is quite decent. Images are well done, and fit. Can be a headscrather at times.
The Allure of Wanton Cove. Haven't played it, didn't "catch" me I guess.
I know we have a few on the site that are worth at least a look. But as for depth, replayability and game time.... not sure there is many others besides the mentioned and Psycic Detective or whatever it's called.

 

[Gomly1980]

They are quite popular depending where you look.

Your average dweller here is looking for fap material and words don't quite do it for them.

This may insult some people but, ah well, others just don't have the imagination for it. The scene is set in words, the imagination fills in the rest. Some people can't fill it in, the words are there but the mind is blank. You take games like TiTS, CoC, Wanton Cove and Lillith's Throne and the scene is played out in words leaving your mind to create the picture but there are people out there that can't create that picture.

There are also a lot of really bad ones. When you rely on words you need to be a good writer. It doesn't need to be flawlessly perfect but it does need to be good and it needs proof reading.

There are people here that don't have English as a first language and the games they make have less than stellar writing. Some are passable and some are downright awful to read. They could not make a text based game, it would be painful.

A lot of developers can create a story but with visuals, it takes a lot of talent to do a good text based game that will keep people playing.

I love them personally but, unlike a VN, not everyone can make them. They are also pretty niche.

 

[KapitanDupa]

I think it is mostly the matter of content presentation. TWINE uses whole screen for text rendering and in many cases I'm often bored because I don't like reading on computer screen: books are edited for easy reading by professionals (i.e. limited chars per line), wall of text on screen is just wall of text. The notable exception is 'The Therapist', but mostly because paragraphs are interlaced with images which changes text structure.

On the other hand TiTS/CoC and many flash/unity text based games have fixed width which makes reading much easier because author can edit text and make it display-independent. Corrupting the Priestess is example of text only game where content is decently edited into small paragraphs (it could have been done better but I like this anyway).


Side note: everything more complex, as "free cities" or "strive for power 1" (this game stared as browser game in twine) suffers from huge performance drop. I presume this is rather twine limitation but writing own engine is pointless.

 

[User_10739]

For me it is the small gaming window on a giant page coupled with the fact that they are very hard to cheat or win without cheating.

 

[Eoin]

For me it is the small gaming window on a giant page coupled with the fact that they are very hard to cheat or win without cheating.

Hmm.

First point I'm okay with. I understand your plight there. Some games are bastards when it comes to that.

But second? It's not really that hard to cheat on html games at all:

1. If the save file is not encrypted, edit the save file. (Most are though, so figuring out what the encryption is can be a pain).
2. Edit the html file itself.
3. If it imports javascript files, edit them -if necessary- to suit your needs.
4. If the game uses twine, use TwineHacker (Or the console).

Games shouldn't have to be cheated to win, in my opinion. Cheats can give an advantage to the player (make the game easier, especially early on), like money cheats or health cheats. One shouldn't have to cheat in a game to win, and that's the beauty of HTML games. They are all beatable without cheats, compared to some QSP games, like Girl Life or Family Life, or even some Unity games, such as BB.

Java games, now they can be a pain to cheat/mod/edit.

 

[VNON]

i love html games :FeelsGoodMan:
most of all in TFgamessite :FeelsBadMan:

i don't like it when they are using random images that can be found in google

 

[gunderson]

My biggest problem with twine/HTML games actually has to do with my expectations. Anybody's who's been on tfgamessite, for example, knows that people make shitloads of Twine games all the time, and occasionally a few Twine games show up on other sites as well.

As a game engine, I think Twine (for example) is totally acceptable. I'm not the biggest fan of using my mouse for a text game rather than a keyboard, and picking out the particular colored word in a wall of text that may or may not be worth reading gets to be a bit of a chore, but I don't think it's really the gameplay that's the issue.

For me the problem is the writing, and I don't just mean grammar and spelling errors. For some reason, it seems like 50% of all twine games are about forced sexual reassignment surgery/magic/whatever and then misogyny against the guy with the mutilated genitals. Most of those games are very basic, some have a lot of complex systems, and a few are in between, but unless I know otherwise I fully expect that in any particular adult twine game at least one dude is getting his dick and balls pulped and then getting raped.

On the other hand, there are ALSO a lot of games (maybe 30-40%?) about completely normal dudes (or ladies) dating other completely normal ladies with some fairly tame exhibitionism scenes and vanilla sex scenes along the way. These don't interest me for the opposite reason, where there's no narrative tension because I don't give a shit whether the protagonist and his/her intended lady end up boinking.

As for the rest, they range from terrible to amazing. I happen to be a big fan of A Spell for All, for example, and have played a few really good HTML-based games otherwise, but in my experience to find the really good HTML games you end up wading through a LOT of garbage.

 

[mladko]

html games are all right, some gamers are spoiled

 

[muttdoggy]

It's the lack of offline option, pictures, etc.
I should know.. I've got 28 gigs worth

 

[vitkren]

they are very hard to cheat or win without cheating.

This. When "Date Ariane" was in HTML I had a lot of trouble finding some of the more obscure date paths. When it came out in Ren'py it was really easy to find the required parameters and edit them in the console menu.

 

[Darkaura]

Ren'py is FAR, FAR superior, and it would be super easy for HTML devs to port to it.

 

[Eoin]

It's the lack of offline option, pictures, etc.
I should know.. I've got 28 gigs worth

And I have 180GB worth of html files, javascript files and pictures. We all have our grievances. :closedeyesmile:

 

[DaScoot]

As a Dev, I've looked at Twine, and my god is it the worst development environment I've ever tried to make something in. I wouldn't do anything more complex than a CYOA story in it, and when I look at something as complex as Free Cities...if I wasn't already working on a game project I'd be tempted to try and remake it in a better engine.

For my game, I have a WebGL version so I can put it up on Newgrounds/itch.io as a trial, as some people may not want to download anything to try it out. But I'll always recommend people try the downloadable version for a better experience.

 

[mladko]

For me it is the small gaming window on a giant page coupled with the fact that they are very hard to cheat or win without cheating.

cheating is no game

 

[Ragnar]

I like HTML games more than QSP, RAGS or most rpgmaker ones.