Posted on August 30, 2007 - Filed Under Editorial, Flash |
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting, keep it casual!
Casual games come in many different forms, but two of the most popular are the online flash games and the downloadable games for the PC or Mac. Flash games and the downloadable games each have their positive and negative points.
The flash games are usually very easy to play and don’t require much time to complete a “level”. Many of the flash games are free. You get to play them as long as you like, but they are not as in depth as downloadable games. They may not be as in depth, but many of the flash games will contain a lot of levels before you complete the game. Normally, those levels are not accompanied by a story line.
Another positive about flash games, is they run on any type of system because you use a web browser to play them. It doesn’t matter if you own a Mac or a PC you can still play the flash games. All you need is a browser
On the other hand, downloadable games normally contain a lot of substance. They are bigger games that take longer to play through and longer to download. Downloadable games have many different types of genres as well. Flash games seem to stick to the same genre, for the most part.
Downloadable games are not always cross platform. Some developers will release their games for both the PC and the Mac, but by nature they are not cross platform like flash games are. Mac games are starting to be released more and more, but most of the games exist for the PC.
The last negative about the downloadable games is they are not free. The games take longer to program and design than flash games. Some one needs to be compensated for their time and effort. Most downloadable games have a demo version though. You can play the game for an hour to determine if you like the game. If you decide you like the game, you can purchase it and continue to play.
All and all I think that both types of games are great. The flash games are great for instances when you have ten minutes to spare like at the end of a lunch break. The downloadable games are great for more in depth longer games that still don’t require much time to beat a level, but usually require a bit more time than five minutes.
One Response to “Flash Games vs Downloadable Games”
Leave a Reply
RSS
[...] Stephen Downes, stephen@downes.ca wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptCasual games come in many different forms, but two of the most popular are the online flash games and the downloadable games for the PC or Mac. Flash games and the downloadable games each have their positive and negative points. … [...]