For at least a decade, interactive games online were mostly made using Macromedia Flash, or JavaScript. Both would allow for code portability and-reuse across devices – so that developers need only write code once to run on various devices.
JavaScript works on all devices – with no downloads or installation required- whereas Macromedia’s Flash software required downloadable plugins in order to work in web-browsers, and to run Flash apps on computers via “Flash player”.
Both solutions meant games developers would not need to spend time, money and resources effectively reinventing the wheel – making the same game for different operating systems (such as MacOS, Android and so on)
Online casino games were also mostly made from Flash in the 1990’s and early 2000’s (and of course there were downloadable casino apps you could download to your PC too- but those suffered from the issue of platform portability).
Flash was the norm for interactive web-based gaming for years – until the inevitable “death of Flash” was announced,
In 2017, Adobe stated that Flash would soon be phased out and this finally happened in December 2020. Modern web-browsers no longer support Flash- and the gaming industry had to find new technological solutions.
Enter HTML5 Technology
With the discontinuation of Flash, online operators and game developers have turned their attention to HTML5 technology. Open source, and built into modern every browser and mobile device – HTML5 was a ‘magic bullet’ solution for game developers offering tons of benefits:
HTML5 was released in October 2014 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
HTML5 Vs Flash for Online Casino Games
- HTML5 uses pure code to generate interactive content. Elements are not pre-made in the exact form and then stored, but their traits are coded, and then the browser renders the actual content once the page is loaded. Thus a web page designed using HTML5 can behave and look differently on different web browsers.
- HTML5 also specifies scripting APIs that can be used along with JavaScript.
- HTML5 is lightweight, fast and takes less CPU time to render web pages, whereas Flash is CPU intensive and not as lightweight as compared to HTML5. Audio and Video support with HTML5 is not in-built, whereas Flash has nice support for Audio and video formats.
- HTML5 standalone cannot provide animations within a web page. It takes JavaScript or CSS3 for animating HTML elements. The latest version of browsers such as Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera all support many HTML5 features. Mobile web browsers that are pre-installed on iPhones, pads, and Android phones all have great support for HTML5,
“Not all computer users have the required administrator privileges to install third party software on their devices , so HTML5 offers peace of mind to players that the game will work 100% of the time on their chosen device, without having access to local files and documents on the computer / phone games are being played on.” – James Nielsen, CEO of casino games website CasinoDepositBonus.com.
In 2021, virtually all of the top new casinos and games studios (NetEnt, MicroGaming) are utilizing HTML5 for their games – offering more convenience to players who know they can enjoy their favorite slots and poker games on whatever device they want to play on.