The downward trend of online flash games

[EveSerene]

I write to you today to ask the question what has become of online flash sports games?

Our society has once again fallen into the quantity over quality scenario where putting out games every day that can be played for about the same quantity of time, is more of a priority than putting out good quality games that have been seriously thought out and taken the feedback of gamers into account in the process.

Clicking our way through portals of ongoing advertising and thousands of games that all seem to be the same, learning nothing in the process. It's shocking really since the evolution in Flash technology has been taken to never before seen heights with endless possibilities.

Have you guys seen anything lately worth checking out?

[tomsamson]

hello there, i like that: Someone signs up to start an interesting discussion, so yeah, welcome

Regarding the topic itself i feel like there are 3 different major trends for flash games these days:
-the ultra quick casual games: quick to make, quick to get into ones,often also quick to forget.
Often seen on portals which release many new games regularly, the less likable version usually shows it was made for a quick buck without much put into it, the more likable version is often still around a simple core premise but with more attention to detail put into the presentation and/or fun and/or interesting gameplay.

-the micro transaction based game types:
sure, any game could have micro transactions implemented and more and more do, still there is something certainly a bit different about it when it was a center piece of the game design process to think about how one could implement micro transactions into every bit of the game as much as possible. They usually have a good bit of replay value but often coupled with the side that one would have to invest more money or way more time to progress nicer or get the nicer stuff (quicker). Its kinda like the paid subscription based grind circle mmo of yesteryear just that the subscription fee to reduce the tedium is spread out over tiny bits

-The classic core games genre type games:
games which would have been great on snes or in the arcades or as adventure on pc back in the nineties. Usually takes longest to create since its about doing more involved and varied gameplay, game world and/or storylines.


So yeah, we´re getting more and more of each of those main trend games and some other types, too, so not all is going all bad regarding overall game quality.
Actually there surely are way more high quality flash games out there than 5 years ago.

Though of course the quick cash in stuff is what leads to more content way quicker, hence why there´s so much more of that then of the more in depth stuff.
So that can easily give one the impression its all going downhill: Although there is also more quality content, there just is a way bigger amount of shovelware.

So the main critical side i see about all this is that there are just SO much more games to play than when i was small. I mean back then one would have one console or one pc, his own games, then maybe some borrowed ones and some (backup ) copied ones from friends and that was it.
Without internet connection at everyone´s home which allows to download any game, without consoles and pcs capable to emulate older devices and all their games, without games sold via download services or downloadable via torrents.
You´d at best have a two figure number of games over several years and that was it really.

Now in comparison there are so many ways to get games and so many more games which already exist(ed) and are available pretty much instantly and way way more games coming out daily around the world accessible to everyone right away, that is what i think affects things most.

The audience usually gives content a try for a way shorter timespan before deciding whether its for them or not.
People, not just with games but all media types have so much more available for checking out, so as someone creating something, well, yours somehow has to stand out and that side gets more difficult the more content is easily readily available, cause otherwise it will never get noticed among the thousands of other things.
Due to that many try to make something simple but with interesting mechanic to stand out or well, forget about trying to stand out and instead go the assembly line way of churning out a lot of content quickly to make money with the pile.

I think meanwhile when using flash one can at least when one deploys to highend pcs and macs do all sorts of 2d games in nice manner, but the distribution options available on the internet website published free to play game portal way mostly seem to fit better to the more quick 5 minute a time gameplay, hence that´s why, next to the average budgets for many games being very low, why there are so many more of these.

I´ve played a bunch of nice flash games recently, nothing i sticked with too lengthy though, only had the more sticked to kinda experience in the past few months with iPhone, iPad and some console games.

As game developer when looking at myself i also come to the conclusion that i´d like to do more in depth games, too but then i´d probably not release them on the web because i see no ideal way to get the dev costs back then.

[EveSerene]

Well, thank you for that. It's good to see other people as passionate about video gaming as I am.

For me it started with a nintendo, where you learned that blowing into a cartridge and giving it a good whack from time to time will actually make the game work again.

Then my brother and I got the SUPER nintendo which brought hours of fun, some of which less fun when we were fighting over who's turn it was - new rule - you play until the next level or you die - lol simple but it worked.

We never had a computer at home, but when I moved out on my own, the Dreamcast was my console of choice - they had a bass fishing game that was simply amazing "There's a big one close by" lol

I think I was about 19 when I got my first computer, my landlord at the time was, in the nicest way possible, a true geek. We built my first computer piece by piece, and needless to say he was my tech support when I "broke" it again. I learned a lot along the way, like most situations in life, sometimes things need to be broken before we can learn. And learn I did, computers just always made sense to me, as logical as Dr. Spock.

Anyway, gaming has always been a big part of my life, even now at 30 I still love my xbox 360 and PC games such as Red Alert 2, Guild Wars & Dragon Age.

I think my first online game love affair started with Ultima Online, oh the hours I spent looking through the woods for a place to put my house deed only to be ganked by a bunch of monsters, watching from afar as my corpse slowly disappeared into thin air, taking it with it my house deed in the process.

I appreciate your breakdown of the 3 topics you discussed and I agree. The underlying factor is the industry has given into mass production instead of personalized touches with the "How would I make that game" mentality in play during the development process.

Flash games are coming around, I have to agree. I just think the companies should take the time first on proper flash technology training to exploit fully it's full potential, then applying the well thought out game principles after a full comprehension of the software itself.

I liked the term you used "Shovelware" lol couldn't have said it better myself

We have fallen into the age of instant information, our attention spans for such things has decreased dramatically since if you wanted a new sweater, your mom would have to order it by mail through the catalog and wait for it to come which, was not that very long ago.

We are living in a very key timeframe. I myself was born before the Internet, so I know and appreciate nature and everything it provides, but the newer generation of kids these days, around 14-18, have been launched into an entirely different world than the one we grew up in.

I don't mind adapting, I love it actually, I think it's amazing how far we've come and where we are headed, it's certainly been a wild ride to date.

The companies have been forced to adapt to the instant demands of quantity from the users, but have gone too far in one direction and now we are paying for it.

I remain positive in what I have seen lately, I think it's coming around.

[EveSerene]

As of late, I had almost given up hope in finding just such a game…I believe I have stumbled upon something worth mentioning. The graphics (which are hand drawn) are stunning and the gameplay, seamless. I like the mountain biking courses the best.

I like that you can customize your Virtuo (your virtual athlete) and use the points gained during the challenges and quiz questions to advance up until level 20 just like a role playing game! You can also compete with other players across the globe to acheive the best times in the realtime leaderboard and win real prizes.

Check it out and let me know what you think http://www.virtuosport.com

You have to sign up to play, but it's free for the first 3 levels, I paid the 4.99 (one time for life) to have access to the rest because I know it's a game i'll play over & over again. Take the 2 minutes to try out the games, I'd really like to know what you think!

[Squize]

EveSerene, by "stumbled upon something worth mentioning" do you really mean "Connected with it's development" ?

If it's your game / site / project / whatever then be upfront about it, it gets everyone off on the right foot straight away.

Squize.

[EveSerene]

Thanks for being frank, and it's not my game, although I have agreed to help them spread the word non-invasiveley. I am truly interested in video games and have been since I was a kid. It really is a good game and a good site, and that is coming from me, not something I'm supposed to say - it always helps when you believe in what it is you're talking about.

I truly am interested to see what your thoughts on on the topic, and not just a passerby posting a link.

[redjag]

It was a pretty good setup, the focus on Flash sports games is what made it smell fishy.

[Alluvian]

See, if you had newly signed up and said up front that your friends/associates had made a cool trials type flash game I probably would have checked it out.

When you sign up and say "oh woe is me, why are there no good flash sports games! Is society about to fail?"

And then 3 hours later say "WOW! Look at this new awesome game I found, it gives me hope for a brighter future!".

No. Not clicking the linky.

[EveSerene]

Fair enough, sorry for seeming intrusive. I will visit the forums and participate in more discussions and take a different, more transparent approach from now on. The thing is, I truly believe in this company, this is their first big project and they're located in my home town. I certainly do not want to do anything to tarnish their reputation or my own for that matter and the game is actually good, it was just my approach that needs tweaking.

Thank you for giving me a chance to rectify the situation.

[Ray Beez]

That kind of game has been done to death. 'nuff said.

[Son of Bryce]

Have you guys seen anything lately worth checking out?

I randomly play games every once in a while. Last week I played Pico's Ludo Vengeance on Newgrounds and thought it was great. It's a super simple scavenger hunt type adventure game but I found it very appealing. Fun artwork and story, good music. It made me think twice about how complicated and epic I try to make my games, you don't always need to work so hard to make something that's enjoyable.

I think it's important for games to have a distinct style for me. I can ignore sacrifices in gameplay if I feel the game has a unique style.

The game it's inspired by, Magic Pink Man 2, is pretty good as well. It has more thought put into the puzzles.

[EveSerene]

I think it's important for games to have a distinct style for me. I can ignore sacrifices in gameplay if I feel the game has a unique style.

I somewhat agree, I certainly would enjoy a game more when you can tell that they put their own personal touches and ideas into the game, but i'm more technical and when the gameplay is flawed or inconsistent, I tend to lose interest easily.

Feel free to post some more of your favs!