2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

Since downloadable game budgets are not usually large enough to support the development of custom 

technology, many casual game developers use higher level middleware such as Macromedia's Director 

or Flash to develop their games. With these environments, developers can produce both web and 

downloadable versions of their games from a single source. It should be noted that reliance on 

middleware does mean working within the limitations of the latest version of the software. These 

technologies are discussed in greater detail in the Technology section of this White Paper.  

4. 

Demographic 

The demographic for casual/downloadable games brings its own set of constraints to game projects of 

this kind. They include players with a wide range of computer skills, most of whom are not familiar with 

game genres or interface conventions from the traditional retail market. Their play patterns present a 

whole set of constraints, which we'll discuss below.  

5. 

Deadlines 

Since original web and downloadable games are usually self funded, and the downloadable market is 

less sensitive to seasonal purchasing patterns, they are typically under less date pressure than a retail 

title might be. While this creates an opportunity to make the games highly polished before they are 

released, developers should be careful not to invest so much in the polish cycle that the games become 

unprofitable. Games that are created for a client, such as advergames, typically have a much more rigidly 

defined schedule, especially if they are tied to an external event, such as a movie launch or product 

rollout.  

6. 

Special Skill Game Constraints 

Skill games, that pay a cash award to the winning player, have some special requirements such as 

cheating detection and avoidance. Some of these issues are addressed in Steve Meretzky's case study 

below.  

7. 

Summary 

Clearly there is no shortage of constraints for the developer producing downloadable games. However, 

these constraints can also be viewed as potentially useful design parameters that can help focus the 

development team (and ultimately the player) on the essence of the game experience they are creating.  

D. 

Process Differences 

In this section, we'll discuss the production differences between web games and downloadable games, as 

well as how both of them differ from the production of other types of games (console, PC, etc).  

1. 

Smaller Projects 

Due to the reduced production layer in web and downloadable games, it is critical that the game be highly 

polished, tuned, and balanced. Since web games are relatively simple and the development 

environments for coding them often require few or no custom tools, it is possible to quickly create a 

working prototype of a game.  

2. 

Smaller Teams 

The smaller project size of web and downloadable games usually means smaller development teams in 

which each team member must wear multiple hats. The game designer or programmer may double as 

producer; the concept artist, lead artist, and art director may actually be the same person; and everyone 

on the team will put in time as a QA tester. As a result, management overhead may be reduced 

considerably and breakdowns in team communication can be less of a risk. However, projects may be 

more complicated to plan and budget when a single person is doing multiple tasks. 

While the smaller scope of online and downloadable game projects would seem to make the project 

management simpler, in reality this simplicity is offset by the fact that most developers of such games 

need to produce several games concurrently in order to meet their cash flow requirements. 

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