I just finished reading The Essential Guide to HTML5 – Using Games to Learn HTML5 and JavaScript. The book walks you through the creation of several HTML5 and JavaScript games like:
- Dice Game
- Bouncing Ball Game
- Cannonball and Slingshot Game
- Memory (aka Concentration) Game
- Quiz Game
- Mazes Game
- Rock, Paper Scissors Game
- Hangman Game
- Blackjack Game
A neat feature about the book is that it literally takes you through the purpose of every line of JavaScript to create each game using a two-column table format that shows the code on the left and the reason for the code on the right. This is very useful for those learning JavaScript. As you create the game you are introduced to new JavaScript types, operators, functions, and conventions along the way. You are also introduced to some features in HTML5 used as part of the game, particulary the Canvas API, LocalStorage, and a few others. Many of the same JavaScript and HTMl5 features are used over and over in the games and the coverage can get a little repetitive. However, if you are a beginner, this continuous reinforcement is probably just what you need.
Because no game engine or libraries are used in the book, you are of course learning to create a basic game loop, detect collisions, detect user input, and mimic physics ( gravity ) in some cases using JavaScript and simple mathematics. It is obviously not a book on game development and theory, but it was interesting to understand the logic behind the decisions and hacks used to build the game to keep it useful and not overly complicated.
This book is good for JavaScript beginners that want to learn and use JavaScript and some features in HTML5 in a more interesting way. It is not an exhaustive reference on those subjects, but a more playful introduction that will get you away from the usual web design and development topics that fill the Internet. In our case, the book has inspired my daughter and I to build games on our own. In some cases we are using various 3rd party game engines and in other cases we are building our own basic game engine for kicks.
If you are a total beginner to JavaScript or just want a break from the typical JavaScript development books for DOM manipulation, it is pretty refreshing to build a few basic games. For more information on The Essential Guide to HTML5 – Using Games to Learn HTML5 and JavaScript, check out the reviews and description on Amazon