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App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

rogueengine.io

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Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#2
I disagree. The problem is more nuanced.

A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site.

The problem is poorly implemented apps which are just UI wrappers hitting dumb APIs or embedding entire web stacks which hit dumb APIs. A well implemented web app isn't much better than that. They don't work offline, they use way more resources than anything native and they leak data like a sieve generally.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#3
post #2

I disagree. The problem is more nuanced. A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site. The problem is poorly implemented apps which are just UI wrappers hitting dumb APIs or embedding entire web stacks which hit dumb APIs. A well implemented web app isn't much better than that. They don't work offline, they use way more resources than anything native and they leak data like a siev…

> at Rogue Engine, we’re committed to being the go-to game engine for Three.js and the web

and there you go, author has a vested interest in you making web apps.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#4
I sympathise, but talking to my sister I've come to appreciate a different point of view. I have an "app", a PWA, that she says she cannot find because it's not in the App Store. Despite telling her it's available as a website, this seems too much... she just doesn't use — or is comfortable using — Safari.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#5
post #2

I disagree. The problem is more nuanced. A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site. The problem is poorly implemented apps which are just UI wrappers hitting dumb APIs or embedding entire web stacks which hit dumb APIs. A well implemented web app isn't much better than that. They don't work offline, they use way more resources than anything native and they leak data like a siev…

> at Rogue Engine, we’re committed to being the go-to game engine for Three.js and the web and there you go, author has a vested interest in you making web apps.

well the article is well reasoned enough. what I gave up on was finding actual pricing information for this engine. all it say is free if you earn less than 80k... so what's the price please?

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#7
post #2

I disagree. The problem is more nuanced. A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site. The problem is poorly implemented apps which are just UI wrappers hitting dumb APIs or embedding entire web stacks which hit dumb APIs. A well implemented web app isn't much better than that. They don't work offline, they use way more resources than anything native and they leak data like a siev…

From the article: "[…] web apps have caught up. They’re faster […]" Especially how can this be true?

Maybe this doesn't matter because it's already fast enough but the difference in look and feel will be noticeable.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#8
post #4

I sympathise, but talking to my sister I've come to appreciate a different point of view. I have an "app", a PWA, that she says she cannot find because it's not in the App Store. Despite telling her it's available as a website, this seems too much... she just doesn't use — or is comfortable using — Safari.

Never call a PWA an app, people will get confused.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#9
post #2

I disagree. The problem is more nuanced. A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site. The problem is poorly implemented apps which are just UI wrappers hitting dumb APIs or embedding entire web stacks which hit dumb APIs. A well implemented web app isn't much better than that. They don't work offline, they use way more resources than anything native and they leak data like a siev…

> A well implemented (native) app is always better than a well implemented web site.

Dunno, native app doesn't have URLs nor deep links. I can't link you to a page in my native app that you can click on.

In my iOS HN app I'd have to click "Copy website link" to share a submission. If there were no website, I couldn't share it at all. Same with Reddit.

For most apps, that's a lot to give up when you app is basically just a website without a url bar.

Re: App Should Have Been a Website (and Probably Your Game Too)

#10
> Platforms like Poki and CrazyGames, with a combined 95 million players a month, are leading the charge in, what I like to call, the Browser Games Renaissance.

I'm probably not the target market, but my first impression of Poki is that it's absolute trash; it looks like a shopfront for the lowest quality mobile games I can imagine. The first thing I tried was a block-puzzler that involved drag-and-drop to move pieces, but the drag didn't track the mouse cursor properly.

If someone asked me "which site is leading the charge in the Browser Games Renaissance?", I would say itch.io, hands down.

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