ID:1454904
 
A couple years ago, if you told me PC gaming was going to fall behind as much as it did, I would've laughed, but the direction the world is moving in right now is going to leave a lot of websites like BYOND in the dust, especially when the site is struggling right now with the lack of new games being made.

I haven't been on BYOND in a few years, and i've come back seeing the same games, but with the player count for the games down dramatically. For BYOND to survive, I feel like the site needs to expand and adapt like GameMaker did. GameMaker started out as just PC games, but then they started partnering up with other platforms, like mobile, etc, and they've seen nothing but progress ever since. If any of the owners read this, I think it's time to take BYOND gaming to the mobile market. That's where all the money and traffic is, and it might just be the big break that BYOND needs to become a major name in the gaming world.

I don't really get on this site anymore because I, as well as most of my generation, have really grown out of PC gaming. Mobile gaming is where the world is at right now, and I feel that as a business, BYOND does need to evolve and rebirth, because I would hate to see the place where I spent most of my childhood cease to exist anymore.

Any thoughts?
Only that we've had this conversation once a month for a while, I'm afraid.

BYOND is essentially a legacy platform at this point, very good for some particular kinds of games, and quite good as a place to whet one's appetite for developing games and programming. Credit definitely where it is due, it does this quite well, and it's part of the reason I am here doing moderatory things 10 years on and I am happy to do so. I've gotten to see people go from writing some of their very first code here, to going to college, to working in industry, and I imagine it must be quite something for Tom also to see this and understand the part BYOND played in that.

Support for mobile platforms has been acknowledged, along with a more web-oriented style of access to BYOND games. However as a legacy platform, with 15 years of code backing it, and relatively little resources (or motivation, I wouldn't doubt) I wouldn't expect support for mobile platforms to just 'turn up', as it were.

It's not that BYOND and it's staff hasn't thought of these things you're suggesting, it's more that the project isn't in a position to pursue that with much gusto. I don't particularly imagine that BYOND will simply "cease to exist" for some time to come, but it is worth noting that BYOND isn't quite in a position to throw out major updates at the moment, that'd take much time, assuming Tom doesn't want to try other things instead. It's on the list, as it were, just a very big big list. :P
Besides, as I understand it BYOND is not very portable at all. I mean the flash client is JUST the client - porting the entire software suite, allowing people to play single-player games on their ipad or whatever, would be a huge undertaking.

I thought that at least with the flash client we will be able to get some tablet users on board, and that's good enough for me at the moment...
I'd just like to point something out.

There are more "PC Gamers" and PCs capable of playing video games than every other platform out there combined, then tripled.

More PCs capable of playing games are sold in a month than most consoles sell in their entire life.

There are more PC games released every year than games on all other platforms combined.

If you consider hours played, games like LoL, Starcraft, Warcraft and DotA 2 top the charts by massive margins. And they are all PC games.

If you consider esports, those above mentioned games are the biggest in the scene.

The only people who think "PC gaming has been left behind" are those uneducated people who've never even tried exploring what PC gaming has to offer.
That's all true, but mobile gaming is getting bigger and bigger. I think part of the point is that on a mobile platform people might be a bit more accepting of low-fi and 2D games. I've seen decent 3d graphics on a mobile game but nothing to compare to high-end PC or console games.
I don't get why some people use the term "PC Gamer", do you consider yourself a gamer for playing a single game? Perhaps for wasting $20 for a new game like DayZ and playing it 2 hours per month? I don't either get your point on mobile phone games, the most played games are boring games that could've been made many years ago, Candy Crush, Angry Birds, they're really simple, and only played because those are the best games you can get on that device.

Not to mention some of the newest mobile phones have awful controls for games, playing a BYOND Game with it would be a pain, select to move? Press your screen 4 times just to say Hi? I'm sorry, but I disagree. BYOND should only focus on the flash client at the moment.
In response to Magicsofa
Have you ever seen what mobile gaming looks like now?

If not then this is an actual screenshot from a mobile game.
http://files.byondhome.com/TheMagicMan/ Deus-Ex-The-Fall-3.jpg

Mobile gaming long ago surpassed what BYOND is graphically capable of.
In response to Eternal_Memories
I own over 200 games on Steam alone, and have completed at least 30% of them (many of them cannot be completed mind you) and have hundreds of hours in many of them. I think there is less than 10 games I own I have played for less than 2 hours.
I do think PC Gaming is still far ahead of any other gaming and i think it's likely to stay that way, mobile gaming has gone extremely far recently and as magic man said it can nearly rival that of pc graphics, but i still see it as just a convenience and, It would be great if Byond could branch out to it, but it'll be a long ways off before something like that happens with Byond.

Thouh i'm not very good at playing games myself lol.

I do very bad at completing games, Hell it seems i'm bad at even starting them. (364 games not even been touched)
In response to The Magic Man
The Magic Man wrote:
Have you ever seen what mobile gaming looks like now?

If not then this is an actual screenshot from a mobile game.
http://files.byondhome.com/TheMagicMan/ Deus-Ex-The-Fall-3.jpg

Mobile gaming long ago surpassed what BYOND is graphically capable of.

I was saying that while mobile games are capable of DECENT 3d graphics, they have not surpassed what PC and Console games are capable of

Sorry but I just can't see mobile gaming as being the reason for people to "outgrow" PC gaming. Unless of course, said reason(s) are because of one's unfortunate(bad back?) physique, in which case mobile gaming may be the perfect replacement. But on a more serious note, mobile gaming will never be as efficacious as console gaming or PC gaming because it will never be able to surpass them. Each medium has its own niche: mobile games are a quick way to appease one's boredom, console games essentially do the same thing but on a more 'challenging' level, and PC gaming are for those who need every bit of performance.

BYOND's underlying problem may very will be because of its lack of quality games and ambitious developers. The engine has been active for 17 years(correct me if I'm wrong) now and it has only gained one success thus far; our community is clearly doing something wrong.
Mobile gaming really isn't a big deal and it will never replace PC gaming. There are various reasons but most of all mobiles don't have enough inputs, screen is too small, internet connection is poor if playing online, and hell, those things are made for facebook, instagram, etc. It's just not worth spending time on it/focusing on playing games there.

I, as well as most of my generation, have really grown out of PC gaming. Mobile gaming is where the world is at right now
You can't be serious.

BYOND lacks games and devs because it's not very good for multi-player games. And not even single-player nor any games at all, in my opinion. It's good to learn how things work and to understnad basics of programming, but if I really wanted to make a serious game, I wouldn't do it here, in BYOND.
Personally, I don't intend to publish games here, and this might be reason why neither do others, because BYOND community is lacking players.

Another thing is that BYOND makes it hard to program clean games. It's because it is dirty without having you to help it.

Sorry for english and don't cry too much.
In response to Balborg
I'm sorry that someone so new to the community already has such a view about the program.

I've been here for 5 years, and I am still making projects. I just haven't completed many. I don't have any problems with the games I make - BYOND has it's limitations, but I don't see that as a crutch. I see that as a challenge. I'm here programming because its a fun hobby for me, and I have no problem making a "clean" game.
I have no problem making a "clean" game.
Ok?

There are lots of things, I don't know even how they work, for example loop checks, that I don't need it. I know I can turn it off, but the point is there are many things that slow games down. Poor connection and server-only sided processing are things that prevents from creating good games. They run well at 60 fps locally but you can't make a smooth multiplayer game.
Cloud Magic wrote:
Balborg wrote:
I have no problem making a "clean" game.
Ok?

There are lots of things, I don't know even how they work, for example loop checks, that I don't need it. I know I can turn it off, but the point is there are many things that slow games down. Poor connection and server-only sided processing are things that prevents from creating good games. They run well at 60 fps locally but you can't make a smooth multiplayer game.

Again, if you put all of that hatred and energy into a product you might surprise yourself as to what you can do.

Especially with client-sided animate().
I wonder if it would help for clients to do some more client-side interpolation between frames to get as high and smooth a framerate as possible instead of only updating when the server says to, which is usually lower than world.fps.

The only client-sided animations currently are animated icons, tile gliding, and animate(), which leaves out pixel movement. And even then, the frame rate is capped at world.fps, the speed of the game logic, which isn't what modern games do.
IT'S THIS THREAD AGAIN!
I really dislike mobile gaming. I just see mobile games as the money hungry games.
In response to Kumorii
Kumorii wrote:
I really dislike mobile gaming. I just see mobile games as the money hungry games.

+1

Only games like FaceBook's are "decent" on mobile phones, because you just have to click some buttons and wait... You wouldn't be able to play many BYOND Games if they were available for mobile phones, how would you move? By pressing the turf? Seems lame... I'm not saying it wouldn't help BYOND, but from my point of view mobile gaming can only improve it's graphics, because the gameplay will always be bad due to the small screen, if you want a good game you need a PC to have a big screen.
The mobile gaming market is strong because it's so cheap and addicting. Remember Popcap games? It's basically an extension of that you can carry everywhere.
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