The market for casual games has grown over the years to become dominated by many big business companies yet still remains a viable option for independent small game developers. First what makes or comprises a casual game exactly? Casual games are defined as a game that has a simplified or easily accessible game mechanics and the overall difficulty of the game is much lower than a traditional game. Players should be able to able to pick up and play the game within a few minutes of introduction to the product. This simple aspect of casual games has helped grow the industry into what we see today.

The industry was fairly new starting in 2002 but now to the market to date has grown to over 2 billion dollars in yearly revenue. This is a remarkable statistic despite the fact that many of the companies involved have very little brick-and-mortar representation. Most of these games cannot be found at your local shops. You might ask how this is possible without having products for sale on store shelves but the key lies in the ability of these games to spread through the use of game portals on the Internet. The success of casual games can be attributed to the use of many varying business models. The types of business models used in this industry can include the following:

Try and Buy

In lieu of my normal review routine I’ve decided to give you, my few but faithful readers, a staple of videogame journalism… The list. That’s right, Folks! With Halloween right around the corner I’m bringing you my favorite horror games of all time to help get you in the candy-seeking, costume-wearing spirit. So, without further ado, let’s begin!

10.) Splatterhouse (TG16-1990): The side-scrolling gorefest offered gallons of blood courtesy of the weapon-wielding, mask-wearing boyfriend of a kidnapped girl. Although the game is 18-years-old, it’s still mentioned as a prime example of early horror and a reason to dust off your TurboGrafx-16.

9.) Maniac Mansion (NES-1987): A group of kids stumble upon a creepy mansion which leads to one of the most innovative adventure games of the late ’80s. The use of multiple endings, creative scripting, and selectable characters with unique abilities made this the NES game to have if you were looking for a scare and a challenge.

8.) Manhunt (PS2, Xbox-2003): Sneaking in the shadows and finding creative and disgusting ways to execute crazy gang members is fun. Dispatching your victims while a creepy voice whispers words of homicidal encouragement in your ear makes this a memorable piece of horror history.

7.) Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES, Gen-1993): The game was cartoony and offered weapons like six-packs and squirt guns, but the screams of fallen victims and chainsaw wielding maniacs still send shivers up my spine. Scare factor aside, ZAMN offers solid gameplay that’s still relevant in today’s market.  Read more... (529 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

In order to find the most fun and addictive flash games, there are many places to browse. The most useful sites have flash games, categorize them, organize them, and allow each user to casts his vote which will later on be used to calculate the game’s popularity and rating. You can then see the most popular games, sorted by their ratings, the number of play, or the style of the game. This rating system really helps to narrow down the type of game you are looking for or you like to play. If you are like most players then some days you will like to play something fast like a war or action game other days you might be feeling like a hot shot and decide to take on Poker games. Literally, all styles of games exist, it’s just a matter of taking your time and finding them.

One of the most popular games in the action section is called “Alien Galaxion X” as you can imagine this game is aimed at those who like fast paced space wars, specially to those who love films and games such as Star Wars. Alien Galaxion X is about the battle between the human race and aliens from the far regions of the universe. Human space ships are white while alien space ships have a cool green color; so many will prefer to play as an alien because the weapons are a lot better (because of how rare they are) but if you feel the need to serve under your human flag then you can choose among four different space battle ships to take on the aliens.  Read more... (560 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Browser based games have come a long way. Basically, a Browser based game is one played on a web browser. The difference between a browser based game and other computer and video games is that there is no need to install client side software and only a web browser is required. Web browser plug-­ins is required for a plug-in based web browser game. Among the web browser plug-ins are Flash Player, Unity, Java and Shockwave. Most browsers these days give you the option to install this plug-ins if you havenâ??t already installed them.
The Advent of DHTML
Towards the end of the 1990â??s, Document Object Model Level 2 technology was developed. This enabled the production of games that could be run in a browser without necessitating the installation of third party plug ins. The Document Object Model, CSS, and JavaScript were used in a combination to write these browser games. This combination is referred to as Dynamic HTML (DHTML).
DHTML and its Uses
DHTML is usually required for use in drop down menuâ??s and image roll overâ??s. DHTML can also be used for the production of animation effects for action games that are sprite-based. These games can be developed further with Ajax programming techniques.
Server Side Scripting
These days, server-side scripting is being used for the creation of more and more games. These include scripting languages such as Java, Python, Perl, ASP, Ruby and PHP. Basically, the userâ??s browser HTML code is sent to be interpreted. Ajax is included by some of them, thereby permitting the user to detect instant responses to the action taking place online. This also serves to increase the visual appeal of the game and hold the users attention indefinitely. Every day new innovations are taking place in web based browser games as they are constantly being developed and updated.