Javascript Based Games

Lately more and more javascript, DHTML based games are emerging on the web. Prime examples of this new trend are the Javascript Mario and DHTML Lemmings. Both of these were mentioned on boinbboing this week, here and here.

I'm actually amazed how well these things are done. I'm in awe of the amount of work that had to be done to make these work both in IE and Mozilla.

It also shows the sheer power of Javascript. You can make it do almost anything if you put your mind to it. For now, these little games are simply display of someone's formidable javascript hacking skills. But I can imagine more of these things popping up all over the place.

My question is, will Javascript hackers give the smug and stuck up Flash animators run for their money? Sure, there is allot that you can't do in dhtml - but if can do Mario and you can do Lemmings, you can probably also do every single tetris, arkanoid and other classic arcade game.

Allot of the simple flash games out there are just that - old ideas wrapped in a flash implementation. These dhtml games prove that for this type of games, a chunky, slow loading Flash can be reliably replaced by some javascript magic. Maybe this will cause some healthy competition in the little stagnant flash world?

I'm not saying DHTML could ever replace Flash. I don't think that would be possible. There will always be place for beautiful animations, and high paced flash games. But if the simple mario or tetris clones could be done without the proprietary Flash technology then someone will eventually put together a toolkit that will make this easy and affordable.

Or maybe this is just a passing fad, and making dhtml games is to freaking complex and annoying to ever catch on.

Tags: javascript, dhtml, javascript mario, javascript super mario, javascript super mario world, javascript mario world, dhtml lemmings, javascript lemmings, mario, super mario, super mario world, lemmings, flash, flash games, javascript games, dhtml games, javascript vs flash