


Instead, these technologies found use by programmers to create small browser games among other unexpected uses such as general animation tools. These technologies were initially intended to provide web page developers tools to create fully immersive, interactive websites, though this use fell out of favor as it was considered elitism and broke expected browsing behavior. Among other browser extensions, these new plug-ins allowed uses to run applets made in the Java language and interactive animations created in Macromedia Flash. More advanced browser interactions, unbounded by the restrictions of HTML and that used client-side processing were possible.

īrowser technology quickly began to mature in the mid-1990s with support for browser plug-ins and the introduction of JavaScript. It featured only text but allowed players to interact and form alliances with other players of the game. One of the first known examples of a browser game was Earth 2025, first released in 1995. When the Internet first became widely available and initial web browsers with basic HTML support were released, the earliest browser games were similar to text-based Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs), minimizing interactions to what implemented through simple browser controls but supporting online interactions with other players through a basic client–server model. Thousands of these games have been preserved by the Flashpoint project. In the past, many games were created with Adobe Flash, but they can no longer be played in the major browsers, such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox due to Adobe Flash being shut down on December 31, 2020.

On the back end, numerous server technologies can be used. In addition, WebGL enables more sophisticated graphics. It is implemented with the standard web technologies of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WebAssembly. The front end of a browser game is what runs in the user's browser. However, the browser version may have fewer features or inferior graphics compared to the others, which are usually native apps. For users, the advantage of the browser version is not having to install the game the browser automatically downloads the necessary content from the game's website. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on consoles. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser.
