HTML5 basics - practical tutorial for game development(part 1)

HTML5 is a markup language of the internet used for structuring and presenting content for the WWW and bla bla. You can read all the detailed explanations for what HTML5 is from Wikipedia. This tutorial is not for that as I am trying to be more practical and provide you with fast start.

First you need an editor. You can work with notepad or something more fancy. I prefer to use something with code completion and some other useful features. Good choice for this is Netbeans. There are some lightweight editors but I haven't tried any of them as Netbeans is doing good work for me.

Good HTML5 game engines

Recently HTML5 games became very popular and this is not without a reason. Most of the time HTML5 game can be played both on mobile and desktop. But it is not that easy to make a game that will work the same way on all systems. HTML5 game engines greatly shorten the time for development a game, and you don't have to write different code for different browsers. Here is a list of some of the most popular engines. The arrangement is according to my own preferences.

1. Phaser - most of my games use Phaser because its simplicity, nice documentation and short learning curve. I recommend this engine to every novice. Use it if you want to start fast.
2. Quintus - another simple and easy to use engine. Nice documentation and fun to use. The reason I don't use it now is that for some reason its not always working with IE 11. I like this engine very much and I don't know why this is happening.
3. melonJS - It says lightweight but don't belive it. But its nice engine.
4. pixi.js - Pixi is very fast on mobile and easy to learn. One of the best choices. Also there are many code samples available so you will find it piece of cake to start.
5. Construct 2 - its more like html5 game maker. And its not free. Not my choice.
6. Crafty - It has some good parts and some bad. For now I won't use it
7. LimeJS - Easy to start and lightweight.
8. GameMaker - its not free, somewhat expensive. If you are not a programmer, it can be a good choice for you.

There are many more engines, maybe there are some even better. But I had to start from somewhere so my obvious choice was Phaser. Its a bit slow on old desktop systems but players of html5 games are using mostly mobile and I like the way it behaves there. You can check my games - Touch Copter and Sky Blocks on my HTML5 games page, both games are made with Phaser.

About to start an Indiegogo campaign

Our campaign

We are making the final touches of our first Indiegogo campaign. The goal is to get enough funds to finish great strategy tower defense game with lots of fun stuff in it. Our team - we are two persons team - me - developer and my friend - an artist. We've made a lot of things already but we need some time and funds to finish it. We need funds for licenses, resources, music, hosting and to support our selves. It will be great if we can reach and pass the goal and if we do I'll make big party to celebrate it.

About the game

It is flash tower defense game set in space. Countless war machines, robots and ships are invading your base and you must use some turrets to destroy them and alter their path.

About the developer

I like to play all kind of games but strategies are my favorites! You can try some of my other games at the flash game section of this site.





Edit: We will launch the campaign later this year as we have some other work to do.

Most of the games on my site won't be available for download or embed temporary

Three months ago the biggest flash distribution company closed its service. Most of the games available for share on my site were hosted there so now they are not available. I'll move them on some place and I'll update the links but for now they won't be available for download or embed.