

Ask HN: Any javascript game libraries? - SingAlong

I'm trying to develop a browser based 2D game with top view. I've been trying out javascript game libraries.<p>I found a jquery plugin called gameQuery but doesn't have adequate docs and the only tutorial is lengthy and doesn't explain much.<p>There was an old library called gamelib but that's obsolete. jsGameSoup isn't in-development.<p>I've started writing a tile based javascript game engine already (no canvas or svg). Wondering is there are already some that exist.
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Magneus
You state that you're building a tile based game without canvas/svg already,
but is it a requirement to not use either canvas or svg?

If a canvas-based library is acceptable, I recommend Akihabara:
<http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/>

~~~
SingAlong
No it's not a requirement that I use canvas or svg. But does svg have
javascript functions to make elements drawn interactive, like keyboard
movements etc? (under the assumption that svg/canvas is one way. like only
draw and not refer to the elements and edit props)

Teamonkey and Akihabara. Thanks for the links.

CakeJS and Akihabara are both good enough for me. Also, CakeJS's Google Code
page says that the author is looking for a maintainer.

<http://github.com/kesiev/akihabara>

Somehow, these days I feel like if an opensource project is on Github it seems
to be active and the maintainer responsible enough. Don't know why I have this
feeling, maybe it's just easier to look at the last commit date or fork it or
just find another forker who's been working on it actively.

And if anyone's interested, I'm using the graphics from
[http://www.lostgarden.com/search/label/free%20game%20graphic...](http://www.lostgarden.com/search/label/free%20game%20graphics)
to prototype the game. This guy has some cool graphics to make prototypes look
neat :)

P.S: Just tried Akihabara's demo game Legend of Sadness here:
<http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/demo/game-tlol.html> and it's super awesome.
Suits my needs.

~~~
_delirium
> But does svg have javascript functions to make elements drawn interactive,
> like keyboard movements etc? (under the assumption that svg/canvas is one
> way. like only draw and not refer to the elements and edit props)

Not sure about svg, but you're right that canvas doesn't support that sort of
thing natively. It's one of the main things canvas-based game engines
encapsulate, though. While the canvas loses all your higher-level object
information once you write it (it's just a bunch of pixels), the engines keep
track of object locations separately, and then map clicks on canvas (x,y)
coordinates to the objects that were clicked on, which can then trigger a
callback (sometimes with some additional features supported beyond the direct
click-to-object mapping).

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alttab
Library:

Check this out:
[http://www.sean.co.uk/a/webdesign/javascript_gamelib/javascr...](http://www.sean.co.uk/a/webdesign/javascript_gamelib/javascript_gamelib.shtm)

Forum:

Also check out
[http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/forum.asp?forum_id=5...](http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/forum.asp?forum_id=59)

which is a great place to start for web game development. This crowd has
historically come from desktop C++ gaming with DirectX and OpenGL but have
great niches for technical aspects, technology, and open forum.

~~~
SingAlong
That's the library I was referring to as "gamelib" in the thread's text. The
last update it got was in 13/04/04 (by Brent Silby) as per the docs in the
download :)

Thanks for the link to the forum on the gamedev.net site. That sounds useful.

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bts
Check out the Effect engine: <http://www.effectgames.com/effect>. It's been
discussed here on HN previously: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=986196>

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kilian
Here's a slightly older one that looks very interesting as well, and has been
on my list of things to try: <http://tommysmind.com/>

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dstein
The HTML5 canvas and audio API's are fairly simple and easy to coordinate. You
probably do not need a library unless you require complex collision detection,
or physics math.

~~~
bni
I Agree. A library you use might not align 100% with the type of game that you
are developing, slowing you down, especially if you target mobile.

The game I have built with web technology, Orbium (<http://jsway.se/m/>), I
choose to use no libraries, the HTML5 stuff that already exist in the browser
is already very powerful and easy to use.

