Browser Game
A browser game is a game that is played over the Internet using a Web browser on a computer. A browser game is created to run using standard web technologies or with a browser plug-in. A browser game is normally constructed in HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript, collectively termed dynamic HTML. Dynamic HTML or DHTML is an umbrella term for a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites. These technologies allow games to run in all standard browsers.
A browser game is often free to play or have an optional premium fee. Download or installation is usually not required in a web browser game.
Browser games include many video game genres and can be either single-player or multiplayer. A browser game is also portable in the way that they can be played at any computer or other device with an Internet connection. Most of the newer game consoles like the PSP, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii can access the Internet and can therefore run browser games.
In a massively multiplayer browser game the focus is on social interaction on a massive scale. Servers can be capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players in the same world and the same game round may well last for several months. After a game round has ended, winners are often announced before a new round starts again.
The browser game Aloriah is a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), which is one of many browser game genres.
Types of browser games
There are different types of browser games and some of these are:
Massively multiplayer browser game (MMOG)
A massively multiplayer browser game is a game where more than one player can play at the same time. Players are set in the same environment where they play together or against each other. Games in general are often single-player where the player plays against preprogrammed challenges, but while internet grows more and more Multiplayer browser games increase on the game market.
Massively Multiplayer browser games allow a gamer to interact with other persons, in form of friendship or competition in a social community. In a single-player games this types of communications does not exist.
The variety of different massively multiplayer games types is large; players can choose to race independently against two or more human contestants or work together to accomplish a common goal. Massively multiplayer browser games may include gametypes like MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) with a form of PvP (Player versus player) and Team PvE (Player Versus Environment) or competition over control of resources.
These game systems require a network technology that allows gamers to play together worldwide and some kind of internet connections is needed to participate in these types of games.
MMORPG
MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is a browser game genre where a huge number of players interact within the same game world.
In a MMORPG the players get the role of a character and control the actions of this character. Often these types of games are set in fantasy worlds, which are usually hosted by the publisher of the game.
The game continues even if the player is away from the game, often referred to be offline. When the player returns into the game it notice what have happened during offline mode and therefore the player can follow up and continue to play.
Almost all MMORPGs have a Social Interaction where players can communicate with each other. Often a kind of teamplay is needed in a game and Social Interaction is then important for these players to communicate.
Strategy browser game
A strategy browser game is a game where decision and movement-making skills are important to be a successful player. In a browser-based strategy game all players start with equal settings and from there the players have to make their own decisions how to play. In a browser game like Aloriah there are huge numbers of combinations to make and each move has to be considered.
Strategy games are not only seen online, in real-life there are strategy games like Chess, Monopoly and Risk. Even these games are now available on the internet.
Adventure browser game
An adventure browser game is a browser game where an interactive exploration story and puzzle-solving takes part. From other games view, an adventure game normally don΄t have a physical challenge and almost every adventure game is designed with a single-play mode.
Adventure games contain different types of puzzles, like open locked doors, find and use items, decode messages or find and explore new locations. Normally when a player has solved a puzzle a new area opens in the game world and more of the game story gets revealed.
There are adventure games that are playable directly in the Web browser, and some of these require a download or installation for a more powerful graphic.
First-person shooter browser game
First-person shooter browser game or FPS game is a browser game genre where the player controls a character, which center the gameplay on gun- and weapon-based combat. The player experiences the action through the eyes of the character and controls it with a computer keyboard and mouse.
A first-person shooter browser game normally has an advanced 3D graphics and the standard web browser technologies do not support these games, therefore a download or installation is needed to play, also called browser plug-in.
The player can normally shoos to play single-play or multiplayer, some games have both single-play and multiplayer mode. A multiplayer game is played over the Internet or LAN against or with other worldwide players.
Sport browser game
A sport browser game is another browser game genre that includes traditional sports. Sports like football and tennis have been recreated into browser games, as well team sports and extreme sports like snowboard.
Some of these games require a download or installation to be able to play, there are also games made in flash that are available directly in the web browser.
Business browser game
A business browser game (business simulation game) is a game genre that is normally used as an educational tool for learning business. A business browser game can involve teaching about finance, general management, organizational behavior and more.
These games are sometimes used as a teaching method in Universities and business schools. There is also games surrounding criminality business and these browser games are normally not included in teaching methods.
Settings
Even if two browser games have the same genre they could have different types of settings like:
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Humorous
Board Game
Empire Building
Hotel Building
Country Building
Game flow
All browser games have a time flow in the gameplay. Depending on which game; the time flow could be Real-time or Turn-based.
Real-time is the time when a game round can last for several days or months.
Turn-based is when the game round last for a short time, after each turn the players start a new game round.
How a browser game works
Aloriah is an online web browser game developed by the newly founded Swedish company Devillusion Entertainment. It is developed using PHP for the server backend and Javascript/HTML/CSS for the client frontend. The storage tier is powered by different MySQL servers.
The server handles requests from all the clients and at the same time it is also running its own planned server scripts and updates of the world. The whole game has been programmed using an object-oriented approach and many well-known design patterns are used to keep the integrity of the game consistent.
The server is the only one holding the correct copy of the world, while all the clients are showing a visual estimation that they have most recently received from the server. AJAX is heavily used on the client to make it feel and act more like a desktop software where individual pieces in the application works separated from each other without the need to always modify the whole interface.
The infrastructure of Aloriah browser game is divided into realms and game servers. A realm is everything that is located under one domain, for example aloriah.com is the aloriah com realm. Each realm has its own set of accounts and players. The realm can then spawn game servers that are needed in order to give all the registered players a spot to play on. The number of game servers can vary depending on the number of registered players.
Each browser game server is an isolated instance of a world hosted on its own virtual machine and is not connected to other game servers. The realm handles the account information for all the players and is also responsible for keeping the results of all players. When a world ends all the players leave the server and can then choose to join a new server. This way they can keep adding on their results and they never have to register a new account.
Backups of the system are done on a regular basis to make sure that it is possible to rollback to a relatively recent version of a particular game world if problems arise. Some information is also purged at certain intervals to keep the databases clean and not flooded.
Aloriah browser game
Aloriah browser game is an online strategy game that is played directly in a web browser and as a massively multiplayer browser game there are hundreds or even thousands of players interact in the same game world. Here the players can fight against or with each other and with a social interaction the players can communicate with others.
Aloriah making good use of Web 2.0 possibilities and the browser game is no longer limited to just text fields or a basic illustration of the game world. Like other browser games Aloriah only use CSS and PHP, therefore no download or installation is needed, here the player only have to register a free player account to be able to play. The game also has an optional premium service, the players that buy the premium package gets:
Extended Build Queue
Lets you queue 4 additional buildings in your Build Queue.
Wait Command
This command lets you wait for a wished amount of time on a cell before moving on or attacking.
Extended Train Queue
Queue one additional unit inside your buildings.
Pinpoint Locations
Add pinpoints on your mini map.
Extended Command Queue
Increases the amount of actions you can queue in your Command Queue
Notes
Keep notes that are important to you in-game.
The browser game also has a Boost Effect service, to buy these boosts the player does not need to have a premium account. The player can choose to buy:
Improved Wood Income
Improved Stone Income
Improved Iron Income
Improved Gold Income
Improved Diamond Income
Improved Line Of Sight
Improved Train Speed
Improved Movement Speed
Improved Build Speed
Improved Life
Improved Damage
The world of Aloriah browser game
The world of Aloriah brings the players back in time where the Gods of ancient mythology rule the world. Here the players have to fight their way up with a Viking civilization to take over the World. It all begins with one village in the beginners area, where the challenge is easy and from there player will upgrade the village, get together an army to discover the world and in time settle new villages in other climate zones. On the travels they will find themselves fighting, searching treasure chests and ruins, claiming mines or finding magical items that can be stored in the pockets of the heroes or any of the villages.
The common goal of the browser game is to take on the Mother Dragon slumbering on her own lava island in the middle of the World.
Interface of the browser game Aloriah. From here the player control and manages the game, all the villages the player has are listed to the left and its armies underneath. In the middle the player control its armies over the world map. The browser game is built to manage thousands of players in the same game round.
A village of the browser game Aloriah. In Aloriah the player can have up to five villages; each village has a unique look that fits into climate zone. The browser game also has five different climate zones witch increase the difficulty for each zone.
