HTML5 gaming is a fast mover, and Tylted knows firsthand [Interview]

If you were to ask us what we thought of HTML5 gaming (games playable in a mobile web browser through the tech of the same name) a year ago, we would have told you that we weren't impressed. Aside from companion apps like FarmVille Express a few role-playing games, HTML5 just wasn't up to snuff. Just 12 months later, we've seen games come dangerously close to rivaling native gaming apps on iOS and Android.

HTML5 game developer Tylted, since its founding in 2005 as Cellufun, has helped move the development technology forward with releases like match-3 puzzler Cubugs and Punch-Out!-style fighter CamPAIN2012. Company CEO Lon Otremba knows the highs and lows of working with HTML5 all too well, most recently with its more than topical fighting game.

"I remember when we were sort of kicking the game around internally," Otremba recollects. "I sat in on one of the development meetings and one of the guys said, 'I really want to be able to have this game function such that when you connect with a punch, I want your phone to vibrate,' and I thought 'Wow, that is a brilliant idea. That's really cool.' Instantly, two of the developers in the room said, 'It's not possible with HTML5,' and I said, 'Come on, guys, let's see if we can figure this out,' and nearly a week later, they came back and they said, 'We figured it out.'"

But with the developer discovering new new things about HTML5 in its own games, Tylted is clearly bullish on the technology. Recently, Tylted signed on 10 social gaming partners to use its HTML5 game development and distribution platform, including Tiny Monsters maker TinyCo and Slingo (the creators of the casino game hit of the same name). Slingo Ricochet is already up and running on Tylted, and TinyCo's first game is slated for a January or February 2013 release, we're told.

So, what's next for the developer? Otremba tells us that Tylted has two pieces of patent pending technology that will allow the company to take its games and redistribute them in unique ways. One of which, known as Game Drop, has already been announced and has interesting implications for where we might find our games next.

"For example, you can push a game into Pandora, and you as a Pandora user can actually see the game, open up a version of the game within the Pandora app without interrupting your Pandora experience," Otremba says. "And that's the methodology for distributing HTML 5 game content in that way is very unique and innovative and it's patent pending and it's a big deal for us."

Tylted's next patented tech will land in a few weeks, Otremba teases. But what's next in games? The CEO says that Tylted is very much interested in more casino games, claiming that that "play great in HTML5" and that they're "something that everybody is familiar with." Tylted is also interested in "social casual games," or games in which players decorate avatars and chat for a generally "stickier" experience. But ultimately, Otremba and co. seem interested in chasing the next leap forward in HTML5.

"This is technology that literally every day, somebody's pushing the envelope and discovering a little bit more and a little bit more," Otremba gushes. "So, even the state of the art today, which is light years beyond what I think it was twelve months ago, will be nothing compared to what I think will be possible even six or eight or nine or ten months from now."

Are you digging any HTML5 games currently? What do you think of mobile games in the browser? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.