- HTML stands for “hypertext markup language.” With it you can format the appearance of text and images in a Web browser, as well as create hyperlinks to other Web pages. HTML has been around for almost as long as the public Internet, and in that time people have written many computer games using nothing more than HTML.
- When you write HTML you are not writing “code.” You are writing “markup,” a series of formatting instructions that tell a Web browser how to display the contents of a Web page. Unlike programming languages and scripting languages, HTML does not utilize conditional statements. Thus, except for the functionality of hyperlinks, HTML by itself cannot offer the user an interactive experience. This imposes a definitive restriction on the nature of all HTML-based computer games.
- Computer games that utilize only HTML take one of two forms. Some games utilize HTML’s functionality, and others exist independently thereof. The latter games tend to be non-interactive, at least from the perspective of computer inputs such as the mouse and keyboard. Some examples of these types of games include spotting the differences between two otherwise identical pictures, looking at an optical illusion to uncover the trick, and reading a riddle and then trying to solve it.
- Interactive games based in HTML usually focus on the hyperlink function. When you click a hyperlink, you travel from one Web page to another, or from one part of a Web page to another part of that same page. Games can use this to present the player with choices. Click on this link to make the hero fight the monster, or click on that link to make the hero run away. This kind of gameplay calls to mind the old choose-your-own-adventure books. HTML has a trick up its sleeve in this regard: Images can be hyperlinks too, permitting an interactive visual component.
HTML
Interactivity
Non-Interactive Games
Interactive Games
SHARE
