Browser Tech Smackdown - Casual Connect

A panel that I did not attend but am listening to it now:
http://casualconnect.org/content/Seattle/2010/browsertechsmackdownseattle10.html


The web game industry has changed tremendously in the last 5 years. Unfortunately the technology behind it has not evolved as quickly.
Will the next 5 years be different? Will Flash continue to dominate, or will there be a changing of the guard? Is 3D the killer feature, or is there something else that could disrupt the status quo.

Executive Summary:
Not sure if they really answered these questions - there was no clear winner of the smackdown, other than Kongregate being open to the open community of games delivered with all these browser techs.
Unity comes across as being one of the tech engines that makes the most sense, after watching this panel.
Moderated by Jim Greer, Kongregate
Nice intro - "I'm not an expert, but I know some experts."
In intro, ask each panelist to throw out one controversial opinion to get the panel started.
He also asked on Rededit to get questions for the panel! Nice!

Crossplatform desktop/mobile - Unity can do this, David Helgasson points out.

Business model/commerce features - Mark De Loura mentions the Web store for Chrome.

Danielle of Adobe points out that Flash does support controllers. David points out that Unity does too.

What about a Flash App Store?
Offer commerce services or cloud-based services?
No - we don't want to compete with our users - companies using Flash are already delivering this.

Q: Why is it so much more complicated to make Unity games than Flash? (another questioner expressed the opposite opinion, asking what kind of cake the engineer wants who developed the scripting system for Unity).
Jim Greer calls out the visual style of Flash as a benefit.
David H points out that a lot of people actually find Unity easier to use than Flash. Laying out the game in a 3D space can be more intuitive.

Also, many high end web games are developed in 3D and then baked down... (that's true for Willows!)
So it's easier to use Unity if you are authoring in 3D in the first place.
(Danielle never got to respond from Adobe...)

Questioner asks Paul from Microsoft about how to optimize large Javascript applications
Basically his answer was, we will work with the developer community and the standards bodies to evolve the standards.

Flash player question - being able to turn off sound globally should be a feature
Asked Danielle - she said it never came up at a developer event she went to.
Jim Greer says that on Kongregate you go down half a point if you don't have a mute button in your game.
It sounds like the whole panel thinks that the browser should have a mute button!
Much discussion about watching or doing something in the browser and having to re-find the mute button in each app or tab.

But there's so many layers - the OS, the game, the tab, the panel basically thinks this must be why it's not a browser feature yet.

Q from Audience:
Why would I want to develop in HTML 5 if anyone can just click "view source" and steal my code?
Mark De Loura says - you have to use obfuscators now if you are coding in Javascript to hide it from those who use "View Source" but if you're a crafty engineer there are ways to figure it out...that's true of DRM in general, people can always figure it out.
Then again, the web always has meant openness and being able to view source, but if you spend millions of dollars on a game or app, certainly don't want someone else to view it.
(Note that "View Source" is how I learned how to code in HTML 1.0 back in 1994, along with Stanford's web tutorials.)

Q on Business Model
Kongregate is 50%/50% virtual goods and ads now, Jim Greer says.
Q: What are you going to do about the fact that hardcore gamers hate virtual goods?
They don't care about cosmetic upgrades, they hate paid players having advantages, and they don't respond to ads because they block them.

A: Unity says, we don't have a specific feature for the business model, you can implement whatever you want...
Do people not buy things in the web browser because you can't? Or because you don't want to?

Kongregate does upgradable single-player experience and
natively social MMO type experience.
The natively social game gets more traction in virtual goods and making more money...

But a lot of people don't want to play games online! They want to play alone. The panel seems concerned to leave behind the single player immersive experience.

Mark De Loura points out the different ways of paying for content:
Example - Watching 24. You can buy the DVD, you can watch it online, you can watch it on hulu with ads.
He doesn't want games to be delivered in only one way.

Jim Greer - fear that we are cannibalizing some of the great gaming experiences.
It's hard to justify building a high budget game if you are also throwing the content out for free with virtual goods.

David H of Unity says - this might change as the companies get better at delivering this content for free and properly monetizing their users. (ie, there is hope for free to play).

Q: What's the role of a portal in the next 5 years?
Jim Greer: We see ourselves as being all about a community of players.
They come to us because they like great games, we deliver them great games.
We deliver achievements, their progress is tracked.
"All my friends are going to play with me."
Pogo, WoW, and Kongregate all have succeeded this way.
We succeed best in an open environment.
He is very excited to see C++, Unity, fast streaming html 5 games, all on our service.
In the wrapup I realize that this panel was a great idea as positioning for Kongregate as one of the big customers for all these games.