The world of video games development is growing extremely fast. It is common, for a beginner, to feel overwhelmed by the huge amount of game engines / frameworks / tools available (both free and paid).
Therefore, here's a list of 5 reasons to choose HTML5 for developing your first game:
1 - Fast setup
You only need a text editor and a browser! Nothing more than that.
2 - Quick and easy deployment
What is a game useful for if nobody can play it? Using HTML5 you only have to upload your game on a website like itch.io and send the link to your friends.
Furthermore, your game can even be embedded inside a website (since a game, at the end of the day, is nothing more than a .html and a bunch of javascript files).
3- Excellent frameworks available
A framework is a collection of utilities that highly accelerate your development. While realizing a game entirely from scratch is a great learning experience, using a game framework becomes necessary to avoid re-writing all the core functionalities that your future game will have.
Here is an updated list of HTML5 frameworks. I highly recommend to start from Phaser, which is free, easy and has a large community of users.
4 - An ocean of examples to learn from
Every developer knows it: to read a programming book is great, but learning from the others works is even better! Just google for open source HTML5 games and you're ready to learn.
Phaser website features an extremely useful and updated list of examples ready to be plugged in your game.
5 - Cross platform development
Creating a HTML5 game means that every person in this world having a browser installed on any (not extremely old!) device can play it! That means, that it can be played either on Linux / Windows / MacOS or on a mobile device (do you notice the great thing, don't ya?). Furthermore, using software like Crosswalk you will be even able to publish your game on the Play or on the Apple stores!
Making HTML5 might even be a good way to raise some money, even though I personally believe everyone should be driven from passion first.
So, that's it! I can guarantee that gamedev is even funnier than playing games. I look forward to read your comments and your thoughts :)
Will you develop the Angry Birds of the future?
