Game developers have dropped Flash for its competitor, HTML5, which, along with some help from a Javascript plugin, makes smaller and more interesting online games for browsers or game apps for mobile. The mobile platforms are the most important reason why Javascript and HTML5 games are gaining this much popularity. Along with the rise of the smartphone market, the HTML5 and Javascript games have risen too.
If you want to create a game like the ones you have on your phones, you don’t necessarily have to build it from scratch, reinventing the wheel. You can use a Javascript game engine library and there are a lot to choose from. Each of them has various functions that can be attractive to you, depending on what type of game you want to make. You can even find a tutorial for them, or even comprehensive documentation which will make your work easier.
At first when I thought of doing this article, I never could have imagined that I would find so many HTML5 & Javascript game libraries. I was expecting only a few, but I would never have thought that I would make an article with 51 plugins.
EaselJS: A Javascript library that makes working with the HTML5 Canvas element easy
EaselJS provides straight forward solutions for working with rich graphics and interactivity with HTML5 Canvas. It provides an API that is familiar to Flash developers, but embraces Javascript sensibilities. It consists of a full, hierarchical display list, a core interaction model, and helper classes to make working with Canvas much easier.
Isogenic Engine
The Isogenic Game Engine allows you to create games in both 2d and isometric and has built-in isometric depth-sorting, path-finding and even supports Box2d in isometric!
Turbulenz
The engine libraries are implemented in optimized JavaScript supporting rapid iteration of game code and data. The engine executes directly in the browser and includes several interesting features.
Crafty
Crafty is a JavaScript game library that can help you create games in a structured way
melonJS
melonJS is the result of our enthusiasm and past experiments with Javascript, and came from the feeling that no simple, free and standalone library was available to develop games. And although still a work in progress, melonJS already allows to easily create some nice games
RPG JS
Cocos2d-javascript
Cocos2d-javascript is a 2D game/graphics engine based on cocos2d-iphone but designed to run in the web browser. It uses the latest features available in HTML 5 allowing real-time rendering of 2D graphics without the need for plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.
While HTML 5 is still new and not fully supported across all browsers it won’t be long before the vast majority of web users are able to enjoy all that it offers. When this time comes cocos2d-javascript will be an excellent way to develop games and applications.
LimeJS
LimeJS is a HTML5 game framework for building fast, native-experience games for all modern touchscreens and desktop browsers.
gameQuery
gameQuery is an easy to use jQuery plug-in to help make javascript game development easier by adding some simple game-related classes. If you know how to use jQuery you almost know how to use gameQuery
QuarkJS – A HTML5 Game Framework
Sprite.js framework
gamecore.js
enchant.js
enchant.js is an HTML5 + JavaScript based game engine. It is a standalone library that enables cross-platform application development for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android from just 30 KB of source code.
Doodle-js
Jaws HTML5 javascript game lib
Jaws is a 2D game lib powered by HTML5. It started out only doing canvas but is now also supporting ordinary DOM based sprites through the same API.
GameJs
GameJs is a thin library on top of the HTML canvas element. In addition to the drawing functions it has a set of generally helpful modules for game development.
Akihabara
It is a set of libraries, tools and presets to create pixelated indie-style 8/16-bit era games in Javascript that runs in your browser without any Flash plugin, making use of a small small small subset of the HTML5 features, that are actually available on many modern browsers.
Write AS code into HTML
FlashJS is JavaScript graphics and game development engine with API similar to Flash one. It`s HTML5 game development tool, based on verified for years Flash methodology. Just write ActionScript 3 code inside of < actionscript > tag.
Entity
Entity is an awesome all new javascript game engine. It focuses on flexibility, reusability and robustness. To make this happen Entity utilizies the entity-component design where all logic is implemented in components and entities are created from adding or removing components. Its supported on all major browsers and will be coming to mobile devices soon.
TheRenderEngine
Flambe
FlixelJS
Gamma
Gamma is a new Javascript library which can be used to create 2.5D platform games for a web browser using the power of HTML, JavaScript, CSS and WebGL.
Hydrax
Hydrax/PBE is a game engine. It helps you write robust, maintainable, flexible games both big and small, having solved many problems that you will encounter if you don’t use this or a similar library.
Pulse: 2d JavaScript Game and Graphics Engine
Pulse is an open source JavaScript graphics engine built by the Modulus team. It offers developers a simple framework to build HTML5 games, requiring only a few lines of JavaScript and a bit of HTML. It even has a simple to use plugin architecture allowing you to easily extend the core functionality.
jest
ChesterGL
ChesterGL (Chester Game Library) is a WebGL/canvas 2d game library that focuses on ease of use and performance. It supports a simple scene graph and provides a minimal interface for you to create games, and extend the library if you need. Current features: time based actions, simple scene graph, Tiled (tmx) map support, different shaders (webgl only), batched sprites.
Gladius
Traffic Cone
Traffic Cone is a 2d and 2.5d (isometric) tile based game engine written for HTML5. It makes complex animations of sprites and tiles based worlds fairly simple.
Propulsion
Frozen: an open source HTML5 game engine
atom
Red Locomotive
Red Locomotive is an open source JavaScript game engine designed for complex 2d and/or isometric games. It give developers the tractive effort they need by abstracting complex systems like game loops, pixel/cursor based events, frame rate management, sprite rendering, animation, and much more.
Badly Designed Game Engine
BDGE is a game engine written in Javascript that uses HTML5 Canvas and Audio to create in-browser games.
Steppe: HTML5 Canvas 2½D Landscape Renderer
Steppe is a custom HTML5 canvas 2.5D landscape renderer and compositor. The JavaScript source code for Steppe is unobfuscated and can be used free of charge in your own projects (MIT license).
UtimateJS
UtimateJS is comprehensive HTML5 powered technology designed specifically to satisfy your cross-platform and cross-device game development needs.
UltimateJS is aiming to be the best HTML5 game engine as well for beginner as for professional programmers.
Rosewood
lycheeJS
lycheeJS is a JavaScript Game library that offers a complete environment for prototyping and deployment of HTML5 Canvas or WebGL based games inside the Web Browser.
Its architecture is independent of the environment which means it will run on any JavaScript environment, such as V8, Node, Spidermonkey etc. The only requirement for such a platform is a lychee.Preloader.
j5g3
Collie
Collie is a Javascript library that helps to create highly optimized animations and games using HTML 5. Collie runs on both PC and mobile using HTML 5 canvas and DOM.
Collie can stably process multiple objects using rendering pipelines and supports useful features including sprite animation and user events. Stably supports iOS and Android, and renders with an optimized method for each platform. Also easily responds to retina display.
Irenic
Irenic is an HTML5 game engine that can also aid server-side development, either for simulations or for game servers.
Squarepig
Squarepig is intended to be simple; as comfortable for novice developers making their first Web games as for experienced coders building demos and prototypes.
jsGameSoup
PlayN
Clay.io
The ClanFX Javascript Game Engine
clanfx is a 2D, tile-based Javascript game engine developed using Javascript and CSS. It currently works in Firefox, Epiphany and Opera browsers. Features include many animated sprites, spell effects, buildings, tiles/textures and basic game AI.
Construct 2
Construct 2 is a ground breaking HTML5 game engine. It lets anyone make games – without any programming experience.
Tom’s Halls – A JavaScript Platform Game Engine
jGen
Playcraft
The Playcraft Engine equips you with a complete HTML5 game engine toolset that gives you everything you need to build your game and take it directly to market. The Playcraft Engine is unique – once you write your game you can easily convert it to many different platforms, including Facebook, plain old websites, and as a native Android or iOS application.
Impact
Impact is a JavaScript Game Engine that allows you to develop stunning HTML5 Games for desktop and mobile browsers.
The GMP Javascript Game Engine
GMP is great for making sprite-based, 2-D games, and it can easily power most retro-style arcade game designs. It is also well suited to making puzzles such as sudoku or gogopop. Check out the games on this site to see what it can do.
Professional game developers will find GMP useful for making rapid prototypes during their game development cycle. Set up is quick, and changes can be viewed by anyone with a browser.
Game hobbyists will find GMP easy to learn and hack. It’s simple enough to use as a learning tool, and powerful enough to run the back-end of production-quality games.
