How Crazy Web Game Jam with Unity is a creative and business opportunity for web game developers

Game jams have always brought people from different disciplines and experiences to collaborate and design, develop, test and make a new game, whether that sows the seeds for a full game, a new partnership, or to simply develop creatively. The Crazy Web Game Jam, sponsored by Unity, is an online event that won’t just be a creative opportunity for developers from around the world but one that unlocks the potential of making games for the web.

Organised by CrazyGames, the week-long jam runs from November 1 to 8. While the event will require participants to create their projects using Unity, the latest features in the recently released Unity 6 make it perfect for developing web games and any idea developers can come up with based on the theme, which will be revealed at the start of the game jam.

"Unity 6 is the first version where we have a new graphics backend, WebGPU, the next-generation standard for rendering on the web," explains Ben Craven, staff technical product manager at Unity. "It's still experimental, but it is really exciting for us because it allows folks to do really high-end modern rendering techniques in a browser, for example, Compute Shaders. To really showcase how powerful the web is, we’ve partnered with CrazyGames to do this game jam to focus on web."

"[WebGPU in Unity 6] is really exciting for us because it allows folks to do really high-end modern rendering techniques in a browser"

Ben Craven, Unity

"We’re at an interesting point in the industry where, with all this advancement Unity is making, we’re seeing the quality is much higher for web games," says Rafael Morgan, VP Marketing and Partnerships at CrazyGames. "I personally think that in the next year or two, we will start seeing more of these graphically intense games."

As a taste of that future, last month’s Unite 2024 keynote in Barcelona teased the next generation of web graphics with Project Prismatic, a sci-fi first-person shooter all shown running with in-browser footage, the visual quality looking indistinguishable from a Unity game created to run on native hardware.

"We want a feature where you can just take any Unity project and port it to the web without any effort," says Craven. "Right now there are some feature gaps between web and other platforms, mostly to do with more advanced rendering techniques like GPU Resident Drawer, a new feature in Unity 6. But even as it is, if you’re coming from the old days of Flash, you’ll be pretty surprised what can run on a browser."

To that extent, jammers should feel like making a jam game for the web is no different from making any jam game, while a limit for final game submissions not to exceed 250MB will certainly not trouble web load times. Unity will also be supporting participants with resources such as an Asset Store pack, webinars, and other web-focused content.

Another major feature of Unity 6 is that it supports bringing web games to mobile, which can be in a browser or even embedded in other applications like Facebook or Discord. It’s an important area as users playing via a mobile browser are also growing, a trend CrazyGames has also seen on its cross-platform service. "Most folks, especially in the more casual segments, are mostly playing games on their phones anyway, so there’s a really big opportunity to have super low-friction engagement that web games bring," says Craven. "You don't need to install anything onto a device, you just click a link or scan a QR code and you're immediately brought into the experience."

So what else should participants know about web games before signing up for the Crazy Web Game Jam? Multiplayer has certainly seen a lot of success on the web, especially considering how it became an accessible go-to for people to stay connected with one another during the pandemic. "Matchmaking can sometimes be very hard for a developer to populate their servers, but with the web, it’s very easy because you can just send a link and then you’re playing, and you don’t have to install anything," says Morgan.

Popular web games such as the artful story-driven Kasama: The Awakening, and the cross-platform multiplayer kart arena battler Smash Karts demonstrate that the types of games can be pretty broad too. "Our goal is really just to get the word out, get people to experience what you can do on web games these days, learn about the tools, and have fun."

Of course, jammers are free to make whatever kind of game they want during the event, provided it sticks to the theme, which will be announced on November 1. But it will certainly be helpful to consider the commercial potential of their projects if they’re hoping to be among the winners who will be awarded a cash prize pool worth $50,000 and a publishing deal with CrazyGames. That’s just the start, as CrazyGames will also be inviting winners of selected projects to participate in a three-month incubation period from December 2024 to February 2025.

While the incubation is optional, it will prove valuable for developers to have their projects given tailored feedback and support to refine their games so that they have the best chance of success on the web. "This is a bit of coaching, especially for people that are beginning with or don't know the web, so it's important that they have these masterclasses with us," Morgan explains.

"CrazyGames is a free-to-play platform and we monetise with ads but also with in-app purchases, which you can implement in your game and sell directly to the user. So we’ll be explaining best practices for in-app purchases, or they can have support from high quality experts on web optimisation, or an expert in analytics. We're bringing this expertise to the incubation. That's the way we kind of work with everybody that works on CrazyGames. They will have a really good chance to have a great start on the web."

"With all this advancement Unity is making, we’re seeing the quality is much higher for web games"

Rafael Morgan, CrazyGames

More importantly, winners retain the IP rights to their games, so while CrazyGames has exclusivity for the web version, developers are free to release the game on Steam, mobile or any other platform. That said, the shifting landscape of platforms and technical advances means more developers are actually bringing their titles over to the web, as with side-scrolling team-based shooter SquadBlast and mobile party royale Stumble Guys.

Incentives to convert users to spend in-app purchases directly also circumvents the huge cuts taken from platforms like Steam or the App Store. "I think web is going to be really important as we move into a future where you don't have to publish to app stores to get your games out there and be played by folks," says Craven. "I know there's an appetite for that on the developer side and we’re starting to see those walled gardens come down."

Morgan understands that each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses - there will always be PC and console for the premium time sinks, after all. But CrazyGames’ goal, as is with the Crazy Web Game Jam is about getting games that are perfect for the web. Whatever the result of the game jam, developers should simply view the web as an additional platform that they can consider publishing on, while winners have the option for success elsewhere, bolstered by incubation support as well as exposure from having their games played during a live streaming event. "We just want to get those promising ideas and turn them into business potential."

Sign up for the Crazy Web Game Jam now before the event begins on November 1, 2024, and be sure to upgrade to Unity 6 to take advantage of the latest features for Unity Web.