InstantAction streams full games to any web browser, gives indie developers a business model (video)
By Darren Murph 
posted March 12th 2010 7:00AM
posted March 12th 2010 7:00AM
Oh, and speaking of operating systems -- games will only be played back if they're supported on a given OS, so you won't be able to play a Windows only title within a browser on OS X or Linux. Rather than taking the typical streaming approach, these guys are highlighting "chunking." In essence, a fraction of the game's total file size has to be downloaded locally onto your machine, and once that occurs, you can begin playing. As an example, we were playing The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition -- which is the sole title announced for the platform so far, though Assassin's Creed was demoed -- within minutes, and since you're curious, that's a 2.5GB game, and we were on a connection that wasn't much faster than a typical broadband line.
More after the break...
At least initially, InstantAction will be pushing games via Facebook and its own website, the latter of which is still under construction and will launch in earnest "soon." The goal here is threefold: for starters, it's hoping to nab support from a wide variety of game publishers in order to bring existing and future titles into its distribution method. LucasArts is the first to sign on, but we get the impression that many, many more will be revealed in the coming months. Second, it's hoping to provide independent game developers (read: you) a way to get their games in the faces of the people (read: everyone else). As it stands, game devs are forced to self-publish into the abyss or fight the good fight in a (typically futile) attempt to get the attention of the big publishers. IA will be based around a split revenue model that pays the company between "30 and 50 percent" (a figure that could definitely vary based on a variety of circumstances to be revealed in the future) to host your title in the cloud and possibly even put you in contact with portals or developers that would gain value from featuring your title. In case you're wondering -- yes, this truly is life-changing for struggling game builders, and the third aspect here makes it even more so.
The final kicker in all of this is that these IA games are completely embeddable via HTML, and the embed code is shorter than what you're currently using to embed YouTube videos into your Tumblr. In other words, you could embed a fully playable game (yes, even a major title like The Secret of Monkey Island) into your personal blog, a forum, or any other web property where embedding is allowed. If you were to start a game in a forum, you can pick it up later from Facebook, and the cloud knows exactly where to resume the file download. You can even pick up games from different machines, though obviously the locally stored files from rig A won't be on rig B without the same amount of downloading. Once you're into the game, you can toggle in and out of full-screen mode, and all of the available options that would be in a "conventional game" would be here, including graphics and sound options. For an overview of the gameplay process, have a look at the video below.
In anticipation of your questions, we hit these guys up for more details, and while lots of things are still being formed, here's what we do know: there's no DRM involved yet, because you have to be online to play. We asked if these games could eventually be played offline if they were purchased and downloaded in full, and they said that's totally a publisher's call. That said, they're extremely mindful of the recent damage that DRM has caused in the gaming world, and they're in no way, shape or form eager to dabble in that darkness. In other words, you can bet these guys will be fighting against the implementation of DRM. On the gameplay front, there will be a variety of ways to enjoy -- for starters, devs will be able to set a time limit for users to trial their titles, and aside from enabling users to purchase it outright, they can also purchase bits and pieces as they progress.
When the topic of actually getting a game into "InstantAction form" came about, we were told that IA will provide an SDK to clients that enables them to "chunk" their games for optimal playback. That's a responsibility that lies on the developer, not InstantAction, but we don't suspect it'll be a huge burden; far less than porting a title to another console platform or OS, as an example.
All in all, we're confident in saying that this has the possibility to completely shift the way casual gaming is viewed, and it could seriously open up worlds of possibilities for indie developers that weren't open yesterday. We've still got loads of questions (mostly surrounding the possibility for DRM-free offline playback and if a dedicated, non-browser client will eventually be released), but we were assured that many of those inquiries would be answered in the months to come. You can bet we'll be keeping an ear to ground, and we'll be passing along every last morsel that we get.
The following link features InstantAction CEO Louis Castle discussing the benefits and features of the InstantAction platform.
http://vimeo.com/instantaction.com
Browser-based gaming innovator InstantAction today announced the immediate availability of a new direct-to-consumer online video game distribution platform that enables game creators to embed any video game anywhere on the web, including blogs, email, and social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Using a hybrid combination of in-browser, thin-client, and progressive downloading technologies, InstantAction makes embedding premium video games as easy as uploading a standard video or photo, and at equivalent speeds. As a result, game creators can dramatically expand distribution by putting games where consumers are online and in settings where friends' recommendations and invitations are most powerful.
LucasArts announced last night at GDC they are using the InstantAction platform for online distribution of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, which is launching soon.
Benefits of InstantAction for consumers:
1. Browse and sample the actual game for free, or consume content in a pay-as-you-go method. No more paying large sums up front, sight unseen.
2. Instant access. You don't have to wait hours to have access to the game... you're literally playing in just a couple of minutes.
3. Better than ownership of a game... InstantAction is an entitlement-based platform. Once you've paid for the game, whether it was incrementally or in one chunk, you own it. You can play it on your computer, on your friend's computer, on a hundred computers. As long as you're logged in as yourself, you can play it. Additionally, all saved games are stored on InstantAction servers and backed up regularly.
Benefits of InstantAction for game creators:
1. Free trials & rent-to-own capabilities put games instantly in front of more potential consumers.
2. "Sample as you go" models produce more revenue and more loyal customers.
3. The ability to embed a game anywhere means consumers can play a game inside the review site, on a fan site, and inside their Facebook or MySpace pages. Embed a game in the same way you'd embed a YouTube video... send an html email with a game just like you would a picture. Invite friends in your social network to play in same way you'd share pictures or movies. InstantAction is the only platform that offers this capability.
GAMES!!
@n0ne
... brought to you by: chunking.
@n0ne i don't get it , i've played instant action for some time now , this ain't new
What's the use of this? Seriously???
Are people really THAT annoyed by the load time or install size of their games, that they want to run them in their friggin' browser? And probably even have to pay to do so???
Just when you though OnLive is a stupid idea from both the commercial as well as the end-user perspective, an even more stupid idea comes along...
@drange
Also, this article almost reads like an advertisement. What's going on here?
@drange The Use?..for at work. Of course.
@genomecop
Well, where I work all the PC's have crappy Intel GPU's, and installing anything (including browser plugins) to your machine is also a no-no. So I guess that won't fly for me either ;-)
@drange
The use? No need for top shelf hardware. The hardware rendering/physics etc. is done on their top shelf equipement and just needs your basic equipment (even integrated graphics) to display the streamed video on your machine.
@MacBandit Hey dude did you FUCKING read the GODDAMN article?
It says you still need a computer capable of running the game to play it!
The technology your talking right now is what OnLive is.
That one, provides all the rendering from their servers and serves you the video.
This one just caches parts of the game and plays in your browser!
It's kind of like Steam just on your browser!
That was the whole point of it being compared to OnLive!
Read the article before you start saying something like that.
Unless the games are gonna be cheap as hell to buy or have a really cheap subscription, what is the point of this? I guess it is good for Indie developers to get their games out there..... but it still smells of FAIL.
@SNESimon
$9 for the original monkey island is a scam, you can buy the collection for a penny.
Anyways, i miss the part that say what is the share (x sale) for put a game in our blogs.
@magallanes It's not the original though. This is the remake/HD version with voice acting and high res visuals added onto the original, with the ability to switch between the two versions on the fly at any point. And with MI2 getting the same treatment, I know I'm getting that one too.
@SNESimon
It's a whole lot cheaper to play the latest games on your 5 year old hardware then it is to upgrade every couple years just to play the latest games.
I for one think this is great, if you're someone who needs money from your games. Putting games in the cloud will prevent illegal copying.
It's something I would consider myself. Making money from offline-downloaded games is not easy. The only option, as of now, is putting ads inside your game. Ads don't pay the bills.
@mininwocollapse "Ads don't pay the bills."
tell that to google
@mininwocollapse
I welcome this aswell...but to say it will stop pirating is absurd.
That's what they said about the gamecube and dreamcast too (Ripping games).
What did people do? Find a way to use an exploit thru another game, "listen" to the output given thru the modem and engineer a program that could rip.
If it all fails though, there is no way something is uncrackable...as long as humans make it, it's crackable :)
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I support this idea though :) Shame it isn't cross platform though :(
I know it's a far fetched comparison but you get the idea.
IE: Setting up a link between your computer and this that "listens" to the input, that will rip it as it's streaming for example
@mrqs google? You mean that massive search engine that has millions of users? That's totally comparable to an indi game. Nice one
check out following the tech by turbulenz too.. its similar but download is not required.. looks interesting..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjLaNjkYnrI
@DarkGrimoire According to the video, the download required is reduced by 50%, but you still need to download.
But can it stream Crysis?
I don't like the idea of being dependent on a small company I've never heard of for my games. What if they go out of business? The money you've paid for all your games is gone and you have no physical backup nor even a digital copy on your hard drive. Too risky.
would be nice to have a benchmark comparing the same game played normally and with this (with different resolution taken in to account)
I've been playing on this website for a long while now and I can say the games look and feel great. Some of the guys who worked on Tribes are over there and they have a similar game (they should also be porting on the OG Tribes) and it's very fast and fluid, showing off a decently complex game quickly and without lag.
...so it doesn't improve requirements...and it doesn't improve OS compatibility...sigh
addictinggames 2.0 I guess
The Secret of Monkey Island!!! One of my all time favorite games!
It's an interesting idea but I think OnLive has the advantage as it can run independent of hardware specs. Making games platform dependent goes entirely against the reason people develop for flash. I can see the draw of reselling games through as many different ways possible this way included but I wouldn't bank on serious gamers using this. As for the casual games they will have to compete with the trillion of flash games already here. It doesn't look so good when you really think about it does it?
You guys a real late on this one. Been playing Instant Action since end of Feb 2008. They tried the ads only thing and that apparently didn't go so well. Then they tried subscription and that killed the player count for the games that tried that. I guess now they are porting full games over instead. Hope it works out for them.
Wonder what Legions looks like these days.
Yea, I have been playing InstantAction from about January of 2008. Pretty good games.
How appropriate. You fight like a cow.
@Yoshi
You make me want to puke.
You make me think somebody already did.
just like OnLive, except it streams to a browser. And Instant Action requires the client to be on the same OS as the game is intended for. And, you still need the performance of the client to be up to the requirements of the game. And, it's on a PC.
Yes, just like Onlive.
when i was seven i got a multi pack for $20, it had monkey island 1 and 2, THE DIG, full throttle, and a star wars game. Good times.
yeah,while InstantAction has been out for quite some time, the streaming part is new (and they have partnered with gaikai for the streaming part) - they have shut down their servers and will relaunch with the new tech sometime after GDC.
as far as I know all (public) development on Legions stopped last summer to refocus on whatever game Castle wants to make....also, PlayTribes was supposed to come out a year ago, but still hasn't (the original Tribes in a web browser)
@gothaggis
Actually the streaming part has always been part their core business model. They've been developing game engines for streaming games forever and the games that people could play were just to test their platforms. They recently hired a new CEO and the company split with a division going to Portland and a division going to Las Vegas. One division is going to continue developing platforms and the other is focusing on the streaming which will now include porting 3rd part games to their platform.