20 free JavaScript game engines

HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript can help object-oriented developers develop games with various features, such as 3D animation effects, Canvas, mathematics, color, sound, and WebGL. The most obvious advantage is that HTML5-developed games can run on any modern and popular device.

Some game engines are just abstract layers. They simply process some or more complex game development tasks. Others only focus on asset loading, input, physical effects, audio, sprite maps and animations, and quite diverse. There are also some engine architectures that are extremely simple, including only a 2D horizontal editor and debugging tool.

Most game engines can improve the efficiency of game development, even when creating a full-featured game. However, some developers prefer to create from the beginning to better understand every component of the game. There are also a lot of game engines based on Javascript-HTML5, this is a good thing, but also a bad thing, because in fact most of the developed products are not maintained, or is about to stop maintenance. Therefore, to choose a game engine, you need to carefully consider whether the engine will continue to be maintained, updated, and function enhanced in the next few years.

In this article, we have collected 20 free JavaScript game engines dedicated to developers through various data searches, tests, and practical applications. Enjoy!

1. Crafty

CraftyJS is a lightweight, modular JavaScript game engine that includes many components: animation, event management, re-division of areas, collision detection, sprite, and so on. It supports all types of browsers, such as IE9. Dom operations and custom plotting programs are not required.

2. Quintus

The Quintus engine is an HTML5 game engine that is modular, lightweight, and comes with concise Javascript-friendly syntax. Quintus is an easy-to-learn and interesting JavaScript HTML5 game engine that supports mobile and desktop development. A Modular Engine allows you to easily develop games and run multiple instances on the same page.

3. Gamequery

GameQuery is an easy-to-use jQuery plug-in that can help develop Javascript games by adding related game classes. Since it uses DOM operations instead of Canvas gameQuery, it is now compatible with a large number of browsers, even older versions: Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Safari for iOS, mobile versions of Webkit and Opera.

4. GMP

GMP is an outstanding sprite-based, 2D game engine. It can easily design the most retro-style arcade games, and it is also a good tool for making games (such as sudoku and gogopop ). Online Demo

5. lycheeJS

LycheeJS is a JavaScript game library that provides a complete prototype solution and HTML5 Canvas deployment. It can be used in Web browsers or native environments for WebGL or games based on native OpenGL (ES. The development process of this project optimizes Google Chrome and its own development tools.

6. Enchant. js

Enchant. js is a simple JavaScript framework that can be used to develop simple games and applications using HTML5 and JavaScript. It is now developed and maintained by the Akihabara Research Center of UEI. Online Demo

7. Starlingjs

Starling is an ActionScript 3 2D framework developed on the basis of Stage3D APIs (for the desktop of Flash Player 11 and Adobe AIR 3 ). Starling is designed for game development, but you can apply it to many other applications. Without the need to involve low-level Stage3D APIs, Starling makes it possible to write applications with fast GPU acceleration.

8. The Render Engine

The Render Engine is a cross-browser open-source game Engine that is fully written in JavaScript. It has an extended API and uses the latest modern browser features. This engine is designed to help users use basic tools to develop games and accelerate the process of gaming concepts to finished products.

9. Akihabara

Akihabara is a series of libraries and tools that can be preset to create pixelated indie-style 8/16-bit era games, using JavaScript, HTML5 canvas labels and some standard hooks for development.

10. JsGameSoup

Js Gamesoup is an open-source free software framework that uses JavaScript and other open web technologies to develop games:

• Modular-JavaScript file components that can work independently

• Use open web technologies: Canvas and HTML5.

• Supports Firefox (Gecko), Safari/Chrome (WebKit), Internet Explorer 6 +, Android and iOS

11. Gamejs

GameJs is a browser-based 2D game development framework that uses JavaScript and Canvas. Using GameJS, a cool Canvas game library, you can write excellent Canvas-based games.

12. CSS Game Engine

CSS game engine uses JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to decorate pages. They work very reliably together. You can use this engine to create your own games. This project is intended for beginners who want to learn how to compile audio games. It is better for a user to be a web designer with a little CSS Foundation.

13. Clanfx

Clanfx is a 2D, tiled JavaScript game engine developed using JavaScript and CSS. Currently, Firefox, Epiphany, and Opera browsers are supported. Main features include many dynamic sprites, spell effects, buildings, tile textures and basic game AI.

14. gTile

GTile is a browser-based game engine fully developed by Javascript and DHTML. It uses 2D views to ensure simplicity and accessibility. The success of this game is strong interactivity and game object behavior, rather than fancy images and animations. Online Demo. Supported browsers include IE6 +, Firefox 2.0 +, Safari 2.0 +, and Opera 9.5 +. You do not need to download any components or plug-ins.

15. J5g3

J5g3 is an open-source Javascript Image Engine with easy syntax and can be quickly developed and expanded.

16. Jaws

Jaws is an HTML5-driven 2D game library, which can only be used to create a canvas when it was just developed. Currently, it supports using the same API to create common DOM-based sprites. Supported: Chrome 9 +, Firefox 3.6 +, Safari 5 + & IE9.

17. Cocos2D

Cocos2D JavaScript is the HTML5 port of Cocos2D for iPhone. It is a 2D image engine that allows rapid development of 2D games and image applications. It can run in any modern browser without third-party plug-ins, such as Adobe Flash.

18. CopperLicht

CopperLicht is a WebGL library and a JavaScript 3D engine that allows you to create 3D games and Web applications. It uses WebGL canvas and supports mainstream modern browsers. It supports hardware-accelerated 3D rendering without any plug-ins.

19. Aves

Afes is an html and javascript game engine. It reminds people of oldieworldie RPGs (except for more image functions). All rendering effects are developed by html and javascript without any plug-ins!

20. LimeJS

LimeJS is an HTML5 game framework used to build games. It looks like native on modern touch screen devices and desktop browsers and runs fast. LimeJS uses Google and related functions/classes to create a Closure library and control the timeline, time, shape, and animation effect. At the same time, this framework fully supports sprite tables (users can collect all images from a single file ).

Source: codegeekz.com