The Introduction to HTML5 Game Development has been one of the most easygoing readings I’ve had in the recent times. Written by Jesse Freeman (@jessefreeman), the book has language which is simple and crisp, without being over-the-top technical. It comes with well written examples and steps to take you through the process of game development.
When I first read the introduction, I was curious to know more about the contents. The book was small with just over a 100 pages, so I was sure that reading it would not take me more than a day or two to complete it.
The book takes you through all the steps that are typically followed in a game development cycle. The good part is that it covers the entire cycle with a single game giving more emphasis on learning techniques rather than writing game logic. Infact I was very glad to learn about the process of creating sprite sheets in Adobe Photoshop using scripts (something I had never attempted before).
The book speaks extensively about the Impact JavaScript Engine for HTML5. The Impact engine has many pluses including running on almost all HTML5 capable desktop and mobile browsers. The only minus is, the engine is not open source and there is no trial version available. The engine is priced at $99.
Personally, I have never been a fan of any engine or framework that is not community driven, but some of the games created by Impact are very impressive. Developers who want to invest in writing high quality games across browsers should consider it. There is information in the book on setting up the development environment to get you started.
Overall, the book is well written but more suitable for developers who have some knowledge of writing games. The book can be downloaded from the link below –
Introduction to HTML5 Game Development published by O’Reilly
Some other useful links –
appMobi Game XDX
Point of Impact – Resources relating to the Impact Game Engine
Mariam
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