Hero Fighter X (released)

[Bupkis]

oh i see lots of stuff is going on nice yeah this is great news

[A-Man]

Are you sure they're still using Flash? It's been considered deprecated for a while now. I thought they'd be using JS + HTML (or as they call it, "HTML5") now.

[MangaD]

Who's "they"?

Anyway, yeah, still flash. Would be a pain to rewrite the whole game. HFX is just the continuation of HF v0.7, adapted for Android. I don't know about flash being deprecated. HTML5 game development is still relatively new and may not work as expected in all browsers. Plus the source code being more exposed, despite any eventual code obfuscations, and anyone could modify the game, rendering its income to 0. But eh, what do I know?

[A-Man]

Who's "they"?

err, Mr. Marti I mean of course.

Flash is no longer supported in most of popular browsers by default for similar issues Java applets had (security holes). I know HTML5 android apps are really just built-in web-views that run the javascript-html code, so browser support is no issue (and regardless, almost all browsers do now anyway). There is also Apache Cardova along other choices now too, which makes porting web applications to mobile platforms a piece of cake.

I've never worked with Flash, but from what I've read, porting Flash apps to HTML5 has been made very easy. A quick google search yielded this: https://developers.google.com/swiffy/

Plus the source code being more exposed, despite any eventual code obfuscations, and anyone could modify the game, rendering its income to 0. But eh, what do I know?

lol, minification is scary enough to keep 99% of people away. But yes, there's no way Marti can prevent modification completely, unless he considers running the whole thing on a server for everyone which is highly inefficient.

If he's to price the game on steam though, it shouldn't lower his income if he's to make the game moddable (if not vice versa) since all of those modding are those who bought the game.

[Gespenst]

I ask you, why do you want to modify the game? Just to spend your time on something that will never be completed? To try "HQ sprites"? To use it while making more naruto mods?

[A-Man]

What do you mean "something that will never be completed"? What "HQ sprites", I am just saying the game may become modifiable which is generally a good thing. That makes the game extensible and its communities become stronger.

[Silverthorn]

I ask you, why do you want to modify the game? Just to spend your time on something that will never be completed? To try "HQ sprites"? To use it while making more naruto mods?

Experience has shown that games that allow customizability typically live longer than those that aren't. Modifying keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting, potentially even adding novel features and aspects to it. Some developers embrace that and offer some sort of editor (for example, the scenario/map editor in AoE) while others try to keep it all closed off. If people like the game a lot, they will think of ways to circumvent the lock and modify it nevertheless (look at LF2).

Yes, there will be creations that will be sub-par, not liked by certain people, and whatnot, but there is also the chance that something great will come out. Some LF2-mods have set new standards and sparked the interest of many, thus keeping the spirit alive.

Seeing that HF's target group is nearly the same as LF2's it is not surprising that many miss the modding-options. HF's game engine is much more sophisticated than LF2's will ever be, so imagine what could have been done with that.

On one hand, it's unfortunate that it is unlikely that the HF modding scene will thrive, on the other, it seems perfectly reasonable. After all, I understand Marti's point of view, and allowing (un)limited modifications of his game can be a huge risk on gaining any profit at all.



Oh, by the way, to hop on the Flash-is-out-bandwagon: blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2015/11/flash-html5-and-open-web-standards.html
tl;dr: Adobe sees that Flash is slowly dying and they begin to switch to HTML5 as well.



Just my personal opinions.

[Som1Lse]

On one hand, it's unfortunate that it is unlikely that the HF modding scene will thrive, on the other, it seems perfectly reasonable. After all, I understand Marti's point of view, and allowing (un)limited modifications of his game can be a huge risk on gaining any profit at all.

How would it? If people pay for the game, and are then able to modify it, then it is a rather big incentive for people to buy the game. Arguably it is what made Amnesia: The Dark Descent such a big success. If the game is on Steam and without mod support I will probably buy it solely out of all the joy I have had with LF2, but with mod support I might still be playing it after a few years. Most people are not like me though, they have not played LF2 and would want to support Marti solely because of that.

[Silverthorn]

On one hand, it's unfortunate that it is unlikely that the HF modding scene will thrive, on the other, it seems perfectly reasonable. After all, I understand Marti's point of view, and allowing (un)limited modifications of his game can be a huge risk on gaining any profit at all.

How would it? If people pay for the game, and are then able to modify it, then it is a rather big incentive for people to buy the game.

That is why I put emphasize on the risk-part. It can pay off (Amnesia) but could also backfire badly (time, and thus money, needed to implement proper modding support vs. reward from it). Keeping in mind that Marti might not have enough financial reserves to attempt such endeavor, it seems natural to think twice whether this should be at the top of the priority-list. Also, personal attitudes of the developer; after all, he did not quite approve of LF2-modding, so it's unlikely that he would change his mind. ALSO, isn't the game still being in active development? Speaks against modding as well...

[A-Man]

ALSO, isn't the game still being in active development? Speaks against modding as well...

Ah, good point. I wouldn't want people to start modifying my game and maybe even design a final level before I do so myself. But it's very close to completion it seems. I still have hope!