Flash Games

[Sabra Kusabana]

Throwing out a fun one for gamers everywhere:

Flash (If you don't know... Where have you been?) Games, are they undermining the 'Real' (Pay/Store) Games, or are they a great steping stone for up and coming programmers and designers?

After all there is the theory that if you can get something free, even if it's not quite as good, then why pay for it? Then again there are alot of limits to a flash based program, but I've seen some that are really impressive, actually paying quality. It takes alot of talent to pull that off, and showing talent means you might be able to use such an example to get a job.

So helpful to the gaming industry as a whole, or hurtful?

Now I ask no one link to a host sight for flash games as there's often risk of not so kid friendly material within some such sites, but if someone truely doesn't not know what I mean, simply search flash games.

Flash is a program that is often used for video as well, most of you will have the software already uploaded if you wish to try playing a game before you make an opinion on the matter.

[ihazcetsup]

Really hard to say what, if any, impact flash games have other than to offer a cheap to free medium for would be game designers to showcase their abilities. Flash being such a limited medium compared to the more powerful and usually proprietary engines used by strictly for profit companies, I don't see there being a real sense of competition. Obviously the flash game will be what users who cannot afford a big budget game will go to, but that isn't much of a profit loss as that segment couldn't afford the games anyhow.

The FPS crowd isn't going to switch to flash games any time soon. Just about the only genre that flash games can compete with in any meaningful way is the early final fantasy throwback style games. I've seen a couple MMORPG attempts, but that is all they could ever really be considered. They are well done for the most part, but they are simply too limited by their medium. As for sim style games, flash can work to a point, but can never hope to match the level of complexity many of the players of these genres expect.

[Spartacus]

Castle Crashers is a Flash game that is sold on the Xbox Live Marketplace made by the creator of the website called Newgrounds so not all flash games are free And Castle Crashers is actually a pretty fun Flash game indeed If you want to find some Free Flash games the best place to look is Newgrounds for sure

[zebrakiller]

no...short and simple...the console gaming market generates billions of dollars every year all around the world...the industry is huge

[Sunagakure]

Originally Posted by Sabra Kusabana

Throwing out a fun one for gamers everywhere:

Flash (If you don't know... Where have you been?) Games, are they undermining the 'Real' (Pay/Store) Games, or are they a great steping stone for up and coming programmers and designers?

After all there is the theory that if you can get something free, even if it's not quite as good, then why pay for it? Then again there are alot of limits to a flash based program, but I've seen some that are really impressive, actually paying quality. It takes alot of talent to pull that off, and showing talent means you might be able to use such an example to get a job.

So helpful to the gaming industry as a whole, or hurtful?

Now I ask no one link to a host sight for flash games as there's often risk of not so kid friendly material within some such sites, but if someone truely doesn't not know what I mean, simply search flash games.

Flash is a program that is often used for video as well, most of you will have the software already uploaded if you wish to try playing a game before you make an opinion on the matter.

It is funny you would make this thread as I have been seriously considering getting back into Flash design again XD

To me, it all depends on the nature of the game one is playing as to whether or not Flash is a viable medium.

Most Flash-based games I have tried take a few minutes to a few hours to play, and I play them to de-stress or just have some gaming fun that doesn't require mastering extended and complex game play. I also like the social aspect of these casual Flash games as typically they don't require download, and almost anyone you know online has Flash player installed and can join you without much hassle. As well, many people that might not go out and buy a game console/game CD will try Flash games, thus opening a whole new market of users to the gaming industry.

That said, I do also think that some games need to be console/game cd. There are some excellent game franchises like "Tomb Raider", "Resident Evil", "Devil May Cry", "Final Fantasy",etc. that I could never imagine working in Flash. The intricacies of their storylines, gameplay, and environments could not, I believe, be done justice with Flash.

Overall, I think Flash is very helpful for the gaming industry in that most Flash games tend to fall into the "casual gaming" niche that is becoming quite popular and is a way to bring new gamers into the fold, but I also believe that some games would not be best designed in this medium.

[Sabra Kusabana]

Originally Posted by Sunagakure

It is funny you would make this thread as I have been seriously considering getting back into Flash design again XD

Overall, I think Flash is very helpful for the gaming industry in that most Flash games tend to fall into the "casual gaming" niche that is becoming quite popular and is a way to bring new gamers into the fold, but I also believe that some games would not be best designed in this medium.

You do Flash design? Awesome! I played with it in high school, but don't have access to the program anymore. What are you thinking about making?

And would you quit reading my mind, again, some more?

No one seems to think Flash does any harm for the industry, which I agree with, but what about the way it's changed the idea of gaming? If anything Flash has completely changed the industry, for the better! It's changed the way games are thought about as a whole, but is it enough? Is it even 'normal' what it has done to the industy?

Bring new gamers into the fold? Oh yeah, there's tons of them, too many to count. Looking at sites all over with these kinds of games, they've broken the mold of what a gamers was in some ways. Sites that cater to literally anyone and everyone exist now, just for gaming, and other social activities. Hundreds or more that you can find at the click of a button.

The question is what this has done to the opinion of gaming.

Some of the people who play flash games I doubt think of it as gaming, they're just passing time. I know one person who critizises her grandson for his PS2 games, yet hops on the net every night and plays on pogo, and facebook, and other sites with flash systems. She doesn't for some reason think of the games she plays there as gaming. She says she doesn't get as engrossed in them, and that makes them different... Yet, every night, consistantly and absolutely, she's on playing just as obsessively or worse then her grandson.

So have Flash games done anything to change the opinion of gaming?

Gaming has off and on for years gotten a bad wrap. Be it in table top, arcade, or console. Perticularly FPS style games get grief. When the media gets ahold of a game story, over half the time it's a bad thing, or painted as one. Arcades used to be considered the places where gangs gathered, don't get me started on the hype that surrounded table tops, and the console games get demonized just as often it seems. Yet Flash games get little of this grief, and I'm trying to figure out why.

Is it because they don't compete with the industry? Are they not seen as part of a bussiness, and thus are given some kind of leniency, that makes no sense? What makes them seem so different? There's just as much gore and cussing, if not more, in Flash stuff as there is in any other kind of gaming. Don't get me wrong I don't mind the Flash stuff getting a pass, but I'm confused as to why it does. Flash contains some genres of games that you don't see on consoles, things that ring back to an older time in gaming sometimes, engines that use math and strategy to create whole new gaming experiences, and even things that if you tried to market them would get sued in a heartbeat.

Is this why they get overlooked? Is there just so much variety to the games on Flash that you can't possibly process it all, and that's why it's yet to be jumped on as a bad thing? I remember the stories from not that long ago when people were all ready to blame any game on children's bad behavior. Now I see thousands of sites, and perticularly it seems social based sites hosting games. I see some of these same people who griefed games before playing them, lots of them. What happened? Did someone flip a switch and suddenly everyone forgets what was said before?

Not that it's a bad thing, it's just weird. What is it about society that allows it to change it's mind that fast? There's almost no one now, at least in this country, who hasn't played a flash game of some kind. Yet we're not doing all the bad things that were said to be caused by any kind of gaming. Have Flash games been the reason why so many people have suddenly clamed up about gaming? Are they responcible? If they are I only love them more now.

It's one of those transformations of society that makes me go, huh... When something strangely becomes popular it's suddenly good, reguardless of what it is. How weird. Really it is weird. Does that mean that if someone found a cute and easy way to distribute say... Drugs? That they'd suddenly become popular? Probly. We saw the same thing that's happening with gaming now happen with music a few decades back. Same change, new medium. Why? Because of distribution, in a new way.

So what part of this 'change' have Flash games played? It was pretty sudden all things considered. I'm still trying to figure out how they became so popular, and how that translates to the 'normal' gaming.

It's like the face of gaming has changed. For the better probly, but changed in a way that feels weird to me personally. I like seeing that games are no longer refered to as evil or bad influences as often, but it seems so strange to see how quickly the public opinion has swayed. Does that maybe point to how much power the net has over our society?

Flash games are great, they're fun, simple, enjoyable, and easy to play at almost anytime! But the change that they seem to have played such a big role in concerns me. Is society that easy to shape? That can't be a good thing. Even if it has changed the opinion on gaming, which is good, what happens when the same thing happens with something that is dangerious?

It will one of these days, the question is with what, and that's the worrying thing. People don't stick to their opinions anymore, and while being open minded is okay, I even encourage it, there is a certain amount of sticking up for your beliefs that this world is loosing. You show them one example of something good about something and all the bad things disappear. I like the change to gaming as weird as it might feel, and in music, but what happens next time? What will 'change' like this next?

[ihazcetsup]

Kind of hard for mom and pop to blame games for their kids' behavior when they play flash games on the job... As for the whole society changing it's mind thing, people don't have to make sense. They usually don't. It is much more satisfying enjoying the chaos that is the public mind. If you sit back and watch the toys running around and being pulled this way and that based on which senator said what yesterday, you will see some funny sights.

[JAFL ScrappY-Doo]

Originally Posted by Sabra Kusabana

You do Flash design? Awesome! I played with it in high school, but don't have access to the program anymore. What are you thinking about making?

And would you quit reading my mind, again, some more?

No one seems to think Flash does any harm for the industry, which I agree with, but what about the way it's changed the idea of gaming? If anything Flash has completely changed the industry, for the better! It's changed the way games are thought about as a whole, but is it enough? Is it even 'normal' what it has done to the industy?

Bring new gamers into the fold? Oh yeah, there's tons of them, too many to count. Looking at sites all over with these kinds of games, they've broken the mold of what a gamers was in some ways. Sites that cater to literally anyone and everyone exist now, just for gaming, and other social activities. Hundreds or more that you can find at the click of a button.

The question is what this has done to the opinion of gaming.

Some of the people who play flash games I doubt think of it as gaming, they're just passing time. I know one person who critizises her grandson for his PS2 games, yet hops on the net every night and plays on pogo, and facebook, and other sites with flash systems. She doesn't for some reason think of the games she plays there as gaming. She says she doesn't get as engrossed in them, and that makes them different... Yet, every night, consistantly and absolutely, she's on playing just as obsessively or worse then her grandson.

So have Flash games done anything to change the opinion of gaming?

Gaming has off and on for years gotten a bad wrap. Be it in table top, arcade, or console. Perticularly FPS style games get grief. When the media gets ahold of a game story, over half the time it's a bad thing, or painted as one. Arcades used to be considered the places where gangs gathered, don't get me started on the hype that surrounded table tops, and the console games get demonized just as often it seems. Yet Flash games get little of this grief, and I'm trying to figure out why.

Is it because they don't compete with the industry? Are they not seen as part of a bussiness, and thus are given some kind of leniency, that makes no sense? What makes them seem so different? There's just as much gore and cussing, if not more, in Flash stuff as there is in any other kind of gaming. Don't get me wrong I don't mind the Flash stuff getting a pass, but I'm confused as to why it does. Flash contains some genres of games that you don't see on consoles, things that ring back to an older time in gaming sometimes, engines that use math and strategy to create whole new gaming experiences, and even things that if you tried to market them would get sued in a heartbeat.

Is this why they get overlooked? Is there just so much variety to the games on Flash that you can't possibly process it all, and that's why it's yet to be jumped on as a bad thing? I remember the stories from not that long ago when people were all ready to blame any game on children's bad behavior. Now I see thousands of sites, and perticularly it seems social based sites hosting games. I see some of these same people who griefed games before playing them, lots of them. What happened? Did someone flip a switch and suddenly everyone forgets what was said before?

Not that it's a bad thing, it's just weird. What is it about society that allows it to change it's mind that fast? There's almost no one now, at least in this country, who hasn't played a flash game of some kind. Yet we're not doing all the bad things that were said to be caused by any kind of gaming. Have Flash games been the reason why so many people have suddenly clamed up about gaming? Are they responcible? If they are I only love them more now.

It's one of those transformations of society that makes me go, huh... When something strangely becomes popular it's suddenly good, reguardless of what it is. How weird. Really it is weird. Does that mean that if someone found a cute and easy way to distribute say... Drugs? That they'd suddenly become popular? Probly. We saw the same thing that's happening with gaming now happen with music a few decades back. Same change, new medium. Why? Because of distribution, in a new way.

So what part of this 'change' have Flash games played? It was pretty sudden all things considered. I'm still trying to figure out how they became so popular, and how that translates to the 'normal' gaming.

It's like the face of gaming has changed. For the better probly, but changed in a way that feels weird to me personally. I like seeing that games are no longer refered to as evil or bad influences as often, but it seems so strange to see how quickly the public opinion has swayed. Does that maybe point to how much power the net has over our society?

Flash games are great, they're fun, simple, enjoyable, and easy to play at almost anytime! But the change that they seem to have played such a big role in concerns me. Is society that easy to shape? That can't be a good thing. Even if it has changed the opinion on gaming, which is good, what happens when the same thing happens with something that is dangerious?

It will one of these days, the question is with what, and that's the worrying thing. People don't stick to their opinions anymore, and while being open minded is okay, I even encourage it, there is a certain amount of sticking up for your beliefs that this world is loosing. You show them one example of something good about something and all the bad things disappear. I like the change to gaming as weird as it might feel, and in music, but what happens next time? What will 'change' like this next?

Whoa what a mouthful

[JAFL ScrappY-Doo]

Flash Games are cool.