HTML5 Game Development Insights

by Colt McAnlis, Peter Lubbers, Brandon Jones, Andrzej Mazur, Sean Bennett

Overview

HTML5 Game Development Insights is a from-the-trenches collection of tips, tricks, hacks, and advice straight from professional HTML5 game developers. The 24 chapters here include unique, cutting edge, and essential techniques for creating and optimizing modern HTML5 games. You will learn things such as using the Gamepad API, real-time networking, getting 60fps full screen HTML5 games on mobile, using languages such as Dart and TypeScript, and tips for streamlining and automating your workflow. Game development is a complex topic, but you don't need to reinvent the wheel. HTML5 Game Development Insights will teach you how the pros do it.

The book is comprised of six main sections: Performance; Game Media: Sound and Rendering; Networking, Load Times, and Assets; Mobile Techniques and Advice; Cross-Language JavaScript; Tools and Useful Libraries. Within each of these sections, you will find tips that will help you work faster and more efficiently and achieve better results.

Presented as a series of short chapters from various professionals in the HTML5 gaming industry, all of the source code for each article is included and can be used by advanced programmers immediately.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781430266976
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	04/14/2014
Edition description:	1st ed.
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

Colt McAnlis is a Developer Advocate at Google focusing on Games and Performance; Before that, he was a systems & graphics programmer in the games industry working at Blizzard, Microsoft (Ensemble), and Petroglyph. He’s a UDACITY course professor for HTML5 games, and also spent 4 years as an Adjunct Professor at SMU Guildhall's school for game development. When he's not working with developers, Colt spends his time preparing for an invasion of giant ants from outer space.

Table of Contents

PART 1

1. JavaScript is Not the Language You Think it is

2. Optimal Asset Loading

3. Performance JavaScript

4. Efficient JavaScript Data Structures

PART 2

5. Faster Canvas Picking

6. Autotiles

7. Leveraging Flash for HTML5

8. Applying Performance Improvement Techniques Used in Old-School Videogames

9. Optimizing WebGL Usage

10. Playing Around with the Gamepad API

PART 3

11. Introduction to WebSockets

12. Multiplayer Real-time Networking

PART 4

13. Responsive Game Design: Letting Game Mechanics and Controller Inputs Flow with Your Layout

14. Making a Game That Works on Both Mobile and Desktop

15. Better Than Native: 60fps Fullscreen on Mobile

16. Creating Mobile Web Games with Canvas 2D API

17. Faster Map Rendering

PART 5

18. Writing C++ on the Web with Emscripten

19. Making HTML5 Games with TypeScript

20. Best Practices When Implementing the Main Loop

PART 6

21. Using Crunch for Super-compressed WebGL Textures

22. Building a 2D Map Editor in HTML5

23. Building Automated Workflows With NodeJS and Grunt

24. Build a Game with Cocos2d-html5 Library