I don't want to fuss with a feature filled game engine. Does anyone have any suggestions of a code-based game engine that waaaay simplifies and restricts you in some way?
I really want to make a game based on strict limitations but to write it in code and not some graphical editor.
I'm two hours in witu phaserjs and I've just done boilerplate with cameras and scenes. It looks great but it's overkill for me.
This might be the opposite of what you're looking for, but p5.js[0] is a decent candidate if you want to build a barebones game (physics) engine yourself. It may sound like a lot but you may be surprised to see how far you can get depending on what your end goal is, and you may just create something novel as a result. See here[1] and here[2] for a rudimentary example.
And P5.play is an expansion library for P5.js that gives you sprites, collision detection and a virtual camera, while still being unminified and reasonably easy to read. https://molleindustria.github.io/p5.play/
I did have to pin p5.js to v0.5.4 as apparently p5.play hasn't been updated and didn't play nicely with newer versions of p5.
Pico-8 (or one of its knock-offs like Tic-80) is a great choice for just concentrating on making something. Built-in gfx, map, and audio editors: 8x8px sprites. Very limiting, but very fun. I prototype everything in Pico-8 now.
"Bitsy is a little editor for little games or worlds. The goal is to make it easy to make games where you can walk around and talk to people and be somewhere."
It's got similar functions to PICO-8, but instead of lua you write it in Nim, and instead of an integrated editor, you use whatever editor you want.
Perhaps most of all though, the author also wrote some pretty cool games with it, which are also open source, so it's proven tech and you can learn from them.
> I'm two hours in witu phaserjs and I've just done boilerplate with cameras and scenes.
I feel like Phaser is interesting as their samples/demos feel very "single page"[1] but can be inverted into something with scenes like you mention. It's often the first thing I reach for if I want to hack something in 2D, but often those hacks become larger things so quickly!
I'm trying. Really fighting with the coordinate system. I want to spawn things into a world where the coords aren't screen coords. So on a smaller screen everything shrinks rather than gets hidden.
But you're probably right. I just like being able to make toy games in a weekend without dealing with the plumbing a lot.
I really want to make a game based on strict limitations but to write it in code and not some graphical editor.
I'm two hours in witu phaserjs and I've just done boilerplate with cameras and scenes. It looks great but it's overkill for me.
Edit: thank you all. So many great leads here.