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Ask HN: What's the most beautiful web game you've seen?

by calflegal on 10/18/23, 5:22 PM with 60 comments

I'm looking for examples of web games with slick animations and / or an elegant aesthetic. Think 'Two Dots' or 'Monument Valley'. Bonus points if your example performs well on mobile as well.

  • by naet on 10/18/23, 6:29 PM

    In the days of flash it was far and away the collection of games on Orisinal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orisinal

    Unfortunately the site is no longer up with flash having been sunsetted, but you can still find the collection on the internet archive or other places. It takes a little more effort to set up than it used to but they are still playable if you're dedicated.

    https://archive.org/details/orisinal-morning-sunshine

    --

    I have an unfinished personal project of a game built with the Rough.js library for a hand drawn feel (everything is drawn programatically, there are no sprites or images) and I think it looks not bad. Since I had a baby it's kinda on hold indefinitely, but it is playable on desktop and mobile, and I almost finished a decent level editor for custom courses:

    https://squigglegolf.com/

  • by fidotron on 10/18/23, 6:00 PM

    Doubt this is what you mean but I recently did an excessively polished Reversi implementation: https://luduxia.com/reversi/

    This is a mobile friendly custom renderer, with FXAA, depth of field, subsurface scattering etc. and I still got more headaches from CSS than anything else. (The other game https://luduxia.com/whichwayround/ is the same engine).

    The whole thing was a proof of concept to understand the current challenges with the space.

  • by hi on 10/18/23, 5:46 PM

    Universal Paperclips[0] - no slick animations, but elegant and thought provoking.

    Inside[1] - slick animations and very elegant.

    [0] https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/

    [1] https://playdead.com/games/inside/

  • by simonsarris on 10/18/23, 5:29 PM

    Not quite a game, but I've always loved the art of Short Trip: https://alexanderperrin.com.au/paper/shorttrip/

  • by Osmose on 10/18/23, 5:58 PM

    I dunno that it fits under "elegant" but visually https://corru.observer/ is one of the most striking web games I've ever played, and it's entirely built using vanilla JS and CSS techniques.

  • by ajkjk on 10/18/23, 6:35 PM

    Somewhat related question, how do people find good web games anymore? In the old days you would peruse the highest-rated stuff on websites with Flash game collections (Miniclip, I think EbaumsWorld?) These days I'm aware of itch.io, but most of the games are... small and not very good? I would love to have a curated list of good ones instead of sifting through piles of hobby projects.

    My ability to find "good" games on Steam, as opposed to just... games, is really bad also. I don't know if it's Steam's fault or my fault. But I just want to play good games and I just want to be able to find games that are good in the same way another game is..

    Basically how do I find more lovingly-crafted top-down RPGs where you get stats and level up and stuff? I literally don't know?

  • by INTPenis on 10/18/23, 5:57 PM

    I don't know about beautiful but one I keep coming back to when I want to waste a few minutes is sandtrix.[1]

    1. https://mslivo.itch.io/sandtrix

  • by Willamin on 10/18/23, 6:17 PM

    A Dark Room is pretty high up on my list. While it's a very bare bones interface, its visual design is intentional and consistent through different stages of gameplay.

  • by nidnogg on 10/18/23, 5:42 PM

    I'm a huge fan of A WAY TO GO [1], which is not exactly a game but I find it very mesmerizing. [1] http://a-way-to-go.com

  • by bluepoint on 10/18/23, 6:02 PM

    I don't really play games, but I spent a fair amount of time on sandspiel (I saw it on hackernews a few times).

    https://sandspiel.club/

  • by ttepasse on 10/18/23, 7:58 PM

    It may not me the most slick and elegant, but it had a very nice, minimalist design, and I deeply enjoyed the gameplay.

    Continuity was a small platformer, in which you needed to rearrange the levels in the form of a sliding puzzle. It was programmed by some Swedish students and published as a Flash game on Kongreate. In 2010, the same year, in which Steve Jobs published Thoughts on Flash.

    Thankfully the guys programmed a sequel for iOS, Continuity 2: The Continuation. It was even better than the original, using the iPhones rotation sensor for additional gameplay options. With iOS 11 Apple removed support for 32-Bit-Apps, book burning a huge part of iOS's early legacy of creative games, including Continuity 2.

    Lesson: Never trust Apple with games or with history.

    Some Screenshots and a game trailer of Continuity in this article: http://devmag.org.za/2011/05/02/how-are-puzzle-games-designe...

  • by opyate on 10/18/23, 9:35 PM

    I like cywall by Kenta Cho. The one-button approach is refreshing to explore as a gamedev who tries to cram everything in.

    https://abagames.github.io/crisp-game-lib-games/?cywall

    He wrote a lot of words on small game development:

    https://abagames.github.io/joys-of-small-game-development-en...

    (PS I liked cywall so much, I'm made a clone: https://opyate.itch.io/paddles (audio not working yet, sorry))

    And hopefully this doesn't suffer from HN hug 'o death, but here's some more of his games, implemented with all sorts (HaXe, Flash, JS, etc):

    http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/

  • by _neil on 10/18/23, 5:46 PM

    Light on game mechanics, but I'd say Bellwoods[0] is elegant. Wayfinder[1] has a similar vibe/mechanic (same author).

    [0] https://bellwoods.xyz/ [1] https://wayfinder.nfb.ca/

  • by personalityson on 10/18/23, 6:10 PM

  • by topherjaynes on 10/18/23, 6:35 PM

    Beautiful from a simplistic and deep philosophical understanding, but Everyday the Same Dream(2009?) by Molleindustria Games was the first video game I saw that was like, whoa, that's deep, and helped me understand it more as an art form. The ending is very dark as well. https://www.molleindustria.org/everydaythesamedream/everyday...

  • by haunter on 10/18/23, 6:12 PM

    Slowroads, I play it once a week for a half an hour or so. It's very zen and incredibly well done https://slowroads.io/ (bottom left you can change scenery, car etc.)

    The technical writeup was posted here once afaik https://anslo.medium.com/slow-roads-tl-dr-a664ac6bce40

  • by mgdlbp on 10/19/23, 12:56 AM

    Solarmax 2 made the strongest aesthetic impression among the flash games I can recall - abstract, well-eased animations (including map transitions), strong lighting to avoid the Flash sprite look, and a soundtrack of piano and strings. The creator's site is still around and has a video:

    http://nicotuason.com/solarmax2.html

    The sound design also stood out to me even among proper RTSs: in particular, the appropriately distant explosions that aren't irritating when repeated. Stereo panning was an interesting touch.

    That was the tail end of Flash, so it was cross-platform (Adobe Air) and doesn't run in Ruffle.

    The mentioned Monument Valley reminds me of Wonderputt. There was a whole genre of those 'elegant orthographic' Flash games.

  • by Davertron on 10/20/23, 2:08 PM

    Maybe a bit of a stretch as a game, but Townscaper is absolutely gorgeous: https://oskarstalberg.com/Townscaper/

  • by samanbb on 10/18/23, 5:50 PM

    This game is 100% HTML, CSS, and JS (no canvas or web GL): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769640/Wilderplace/

  • by mortallywounded on 10/18/23, 6:00 PM

    https://thedangercrew.com/

    It was built with HTML/CSS/JS (React). It uses divs for everything and doesn't render everything into a canvas.

  • by gwnywg on 10/18/23, 6:45 PM

  • by cacois on 10/18/23, 6:12 PM

    Honestly, Z-Type blew me away the first time I saw it: https://zty.pe/

  • by lylejantzi3rd on 10/18/23, 11:26 PM

  • by DonnyV on 10/18/23, 7:26 PM

    Blitt TD - tower defense game. It very well done. https://shotty.itch.io/blitt-td

  • by samlinnfer on 10/18/23, 5:54 PM

  • by mediumdeviation on 10/18/23, 6:45 PM

    CrossCode runs on HTML5 canvas and nw.js. Not only is the pixel art really good, the game runs incredibly well even on low speced PCs given its unique stack, even though it is fairly demanding since both combat and puzzles requires fairly strict timing.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/368340/CrossCode/

  • by kdamica on 10/18/23, 6:04 PM

    I'll posit Every Day the Same Dream, more for the music than the visuals: https://www.molleindustria.org/flash/index.html?file=/swf/ed...

    Back in the day I would keep this game open so the music would keep looping while I worked.

  • by bitwize on 10/18/23, 6:01 PM

    Bastion had a Chromebook version.

  • by taoufix on 10/20/23, 2:52 PM

    Fantastic Contraption. The original flash game.

    http://fantasticcontraption.com/original/

  • by moritonal on 10/18/23, 6:31 PM

    The tradegy is that most of the games I world suggest were in Flash. A generation of art lost due to bad standards. A time where the demo scene sat alongside the web creating these constricted dedications to tiny bandwidths.

  • by tropsis on 10/18/23, 7:37 PM

    There was a beautiful game like the ones you mention that I found once on /r/webgames . However, I am unable to find it again. It was about roaming around a forest, and it was changing with the seasons.

  • by flarion on 10/18/23, 6:44 PM

    Achievement Unlocked, 2008

    Simplistic Elegant.

    https://armorgames.com/play/2893/achievement-unlocked

  • by tombert on 10/18/23, 6:07 PM

    As part of a Humble Bundle promo about 9 years ago, they released DustForce using asm.js, running fine in a browser. That game has really nice animation and, in my opinion, very pleasing color choices.

  • by reidjs on 10/18/23, 6:48 PM

    Shameless self plug, but if you like minimal/retro aesthetic check out Van Life Game

    https://vanlifegame.com

  • by factorialboy on 10/18/23, 5:53 PM

    Airmash was amazing. Does it still exist?

  • by RockRobotRock on 10/18/23, 6:01 PM

    I really like that game where you just drive. Don't remember the name but pretty sure I found it on HN.

  • by faxmeyourcode on 10/18/23, 6:46 PM

    Toss the turtle doesn't fit your aesthetic but the mechanics were unique and so fun to play as a kid

  • by velcrovan on 10/19/23, 1:56 AM

    Super Press Space to Win Action RPG

  • by theflyestpilot on 10/18/23, 5:46 PM

    Look for things on threejs.org