Tracking the Best Games On the Web

Web games began back in October 1995 when Macromedia introduced a Netscape browser plug-in called Shockwave. This was simply a playback engine for interactive animations created with a program called Director.

Director had already been in use for years, and was used by many developers to create simple games. A few developers put some games on Web pages and the Web game was born.

At about the same time, Sun introduced Java, a universal application development environment that was also built into the Netscape browser. Java also began to be used to make games that played in Web browsers.

After a few years, many sites sprang up with interesting and creative games.

In 1999, another browser plug-in, Flash, began to be used for simple games as well.

Both Flash and Shockwave added improvements to allow developers make better games. Shockwave added a 3D environment. Flash added advanced scripting and speed.