Building HTML5 Games with ImpactJS: An Introduction On HTML5 Game Development

by Jesse Freeman

Create a real 2D game from start to finish with ImpactJS, the JavaScript game framework that works with the HTML5's Canvas element. Making video games is hard work that requires technical skills, a lot of planning, and—most critically—a commitment to completing the project. With this hands-on guide, you’ll learn how to use Impact with other technologies step-by-step.

You’ll pick up important tips about game design, and discover how to publish Impact games to the Web, desktop, and mobile—including a method to package your game as a native iOS app. Packed with screen shots and sample code, this book is ideal for game developers of all levels.

Set up your development environment and discover Impact’s advantagesBuild a complete game with core logic, collision detection, and player and monster behaviorLearn why a game design document is critical before you start buildingDisplay and animate game artwork with sprite sheetsAdd sound effects, background music, and textCreate screens to display stats and in-game statusPrepare to publish by baking your game files into a single file

Genres: Technology, Programming, Nonfiction

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Fabian Scherschel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very solid little book. The title is somewhat misleading as it is actually a guide to use specifically the Impact engine for HTML5 game programming. The book does deliver on that topic, though. It is a bit short and I would have enjoyed a more thorough look at the topics covered, but maybe that is for another book. The chapter on using Google Analytics with your game was actually the most interesting to me as doing that sort of thing would have never occurred to me on my own. There were some very good ideas in there.

All in all a nice introduction to the Impact engine and I'm hoping for a longer sequel (from the same author or even someone else) which would go into more details and maybe some other type of games as well.

[Craig Maloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting approach, though I would add Impact.js to the title. Looking forward to playing more with this.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent examples, but not a ton of information that you couldn't pick up digging through the ImpactJS doc a little bit. Useful to have as a desk reference, though.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard stuff, and doesn't often explain his choices, but still helpful.