You can get quite a few options at Itch.io if you filter for games that have an HTML5 version, and click through - much faster than installing options from Steam Next Fest. Unity and other small game engines have been perfect for that.
Porting two existing titles is hardly what I would consider a new golden age.
Browser games peaked in the 00s-10s as the most accessible place to publish a simple indie project. It was simple and easy for beginner developers to just make something and put it out there, and for those that took off there was a decent pipeline to monetize a hit by licensing it to sites that would share a cut of ad revenue.
But now, mobile and Steam have replaced that as the go-to target for developers. They've gotten to a point where they're just as accessible to develop for, and if you want to make a living off your work you'll have a much better shot that way.
Plenty of great tools still exist for HTML5 development, if developers wanted to they could, and some do. Itch.io has a good amount of new browser games, they exist.
But there's never going to be anything as big as Newgrounds or Kongregate. Those days are gone for good.
Browser games will never come back outside of proof of concept “hacking”. Even the exemplars the article listed, Celeste and Terrarria, are ports.
And a large part of that is because there is no longer a strong need for them. People wanting a quick way to kill time already have their phones in their pocket. Similarly, Steam et al make releasing even games at this scale borderline trivial. And the same tools that are used to make a “browser game” are used to make a “desktop game” and so forth.
It is similar to why we don’t see anywhere near the same amount of game mods we used to and most of the biggies are legacy projects that have been in development since the early 00s or are spiritual successors (think: Skyblivion and the like). The effort to make a TC/browser game is basically the same as making a “real” game… and using the same tools.
And that doesn’t go into The Internet being a very different place. Back in the 00s? Executing random code with a five year old version of flash would just mean you get porn pop-ups and need to reformat. Now? Viruses are specifically designed to encrypt all your personal data for ransomware or to silently wait until the next time you access your bank account and so forth. Let alone just stealing a steam account to buy a bunch of fifa bucks or whatever.
Generally agree, but your idea that native games are safer than websites is backwards. Browsers are basically hardened sandboxes for running untrusted code. Even though steam does a good job of detecting and taking down malware it’s still downloading executables that run with full access to your system (unless you run steam in a sandbox of some kind). Playing games in a browser is no less safe than loading any other website.
So browser games are games that run in a browser. The browser is the app.
Are you saying you want some silly 3rd party wrapper “application” that simply loads a page in whatever browser without the typical URL controls like so many android and apple “apps” are? because that’s just silly.
If you want to click an icon to open, create a hyperlink shortcut and click that to launch it… you could even create a separate profile that launches JUST for games, so that it doesn’t show up in your normal profile or interact with other cached files or cookies or even have the same addons.
Yes that’s what I would like to see. No, that’s not silly. It would make it easier to browse the library and launch them without a mouse, which requires a desk.
it doesn’t make any sense to have a centralized distributor acting as a middleman. The current implementation requires bringing your own game files either manually or via a steam connection. There’s only two games, the minecraft clone mentioned is just a web browser game and not actually minecraft.
Since most browser games simply “just work” when you go to the website i’d just create a profile launcher firefox link, and then in that profile build out each game you want as one of your homepage links, which would just be a grid of bookmarks basically. It’s entirely overkill for exactly two games imo, and if you’re on a desktop that can run these games you’re better off running them natively.
If you’re on mobile you’re currently SOL it looks.
I think they’re referring to the Flash Games Archive or something similar that doesn’t have compatibility with modern browsers. Definitely use an ordinary browser for things like HTML files though.
It would be cool if there was a law mandating that companies release the source code of a product after they stop distributing it, or maybe something like 15 years after its initial release.
Decompilation is definitely the path forward. Not only does it preserve games and allow you to play enhanced native versions, they're totally legal and won't get you into hot water. I played Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time at 60fps and it was glorious.
Wait, what? Distributing decompiled code from a proprietary source is completely legal? Is that actually correct?
I was under the impression that the source code is copyrighted, as is the compiled build of the game, and that decompiling the game is a violation of the Terms of Service, which would make distributing it still illegal. I’d love to be wrong about this though.
The ORIGINAL source code is copyrighted, but decompiling does not give you the original source code. Decomp tools give you generic variable names like unsigned_int_4 and then it’s up to you to decipher what the purpose of the variable even is and give it a relevant name. So it’s virtually impossible you’ll get a character-for-character match to the original.
Also, decomps have different levels of accuracy. You may get something that is a perfect behavioral match, even though there’s differences in the instructions being run. You may get an instruction-perfect match but not a byte-perfect match between the binaries.
IANAL but this is what I’ve learned from following decomp projects on YouTube
I believe that’s to get the assets (i.e. the textures, character models, etc) which are still covered by copyright and so can’t be included in the decomp projects
Yes, reverse engineering is totally legal. The big asterisk here is that you can't distribute any assets the company owns, so you need the original game files regardless to play the decompiled version.
I’m familiar with reveng from a malware and security testing point of view, using tools like IDA, Binja, Ghidra, etc., so I was aware that decompilers are taking the compiled assembly instructions, then recreating Intermediate Language and pseudo-C stuff without debugging info or original function names and stuff, but I was missing the key point of game assets not being distributable.
A better statement would be that there hasn’t really been a major court case regarding decompiling source for hobby use and most cases where it is used for profit or piracy are no nos for existing reasons. But for education purposes or to develop and interface, it is a grey area. In large part because said education makes you toxic as hell in industry and said interfaces are usually for things that violate the license agreement and TOS because the software didn’t provide an interface for a reason.
And then you run into cases where the act of bypassing protections to get the binaries in the first place put you in further hot water. Sort of like how the (way over simplified) argument that you are legally allowed to have a backup of your video games but the act of making said backup gets REALLY sketchy in a lot of cases.
I would probably phrase it more as “decompiling source code is not illegal. How you use it might be”
Its also always worth remembering that law comes from precedent. And it is rarely in anyone’s interest for stuff like this to go to trial. So there will be a few landmark cases that cover VERY specific use cases and a LOT of cases of big lawyers saying “Do you really wanna fuck with us?” and getting a C&D and a settlement.
Always appreciate updated and current videos on the process, even if I can’t mimic on Linux.
Something that has always frustrated me about the editing process is that every program has its own unique features
Some you get wavlets
Some you get stacking and aligning
Some you get level adjustments and curves
All while most of the programs are deprecated and/or abandonware
I think currently I have Registax, Auto Stakkar, Siril, PiPP, and Gimp installed for processing just because some programs perform features better than others.
Look. If most “productivity trackers” are only tracking active window and mouse clicks / cpm … it more than counts - it should be granted extra points.
Fuck me look at how how hard Johnson is working. Been typing like a madman all day.
As cool as this is, to me this just screams security issues. If scripting in PDF can run doom, it can be (and is) used for nefarious purposes. Wasn’t eg. LTT’s channel compromized because of a PDF with some nasty stuff in it?
Just because you can render a game using scripting doesn’t mean your script can escape the PDF reader.
You can build a fully working Turing machine inside PowerPoint, but without an exploit you are still not going to run code outside the PowerPoint environment
hackaday.com
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