Is HTML5 and Canvas good for rapid prototyping of games?

Question

Are there frameworks and processes for HTMl5 that can be used for the rapid prototyping of 2D games?

Answer 1

I built http://gamejs.org partly for this purpose. It follows the PyGame API which I know is sometimes used for prototyping.

I would argue that JavaScript lends itself very well to writing game code quickly; for a more elaborate argument to this effect see Capitalizing on JavaScript's prototypal inheritance

Other advantages if you stay with simple technologies, like html5 & js:

• every computer has an interpreter and a debugger for JS installed (even mobile devices)
• easy to pickup for newcomers
• well documented language, still evolving
• open technologies through & through

Whether html5 is more suitable than, say, Flash or even pen&paper depends on your game and how evolved your concept is.

Answer 2

I've been using PixieEngine. It's a web based game development IDE that lets you develop and publish games without having to download or set up a development environment.

The advantages over plain HTML Canvas and JavaScript are that CoffeeScript is a very syntax light language, and the built in libraries optimize specifically for the prototyping of games.

For example in HTML Canvas when you want to fill a circle you need to call:

context.fillStyle = color
context.beginPath()
context.arc(x, y, radius, 0, Math.TAU, true)
context.closePath()
context.fill()

But the PixieEngine canvas wrapper provides a simple method

canvas.fillCircle(x, y, radius, color)

HTML Canvas and JavaScript are good for rapid game prototyping, but PixieEngine is much better.

Answer 3

Yes! I'm part of the 2 man team that builds Construct 2, the HTML5 game creator.

Our tool is popular for building full games and also amongst an audience who wish to rapidly prototype games and ideas.

When creating a prototype anything that can save you time is beneficial and we've worked hard to make Construct 2 a powerful time saving device as well. Results can be created in minutes.

Answer 4

Well, a cursory Google search produces several results:

• Isogenic Engine
• Akihabara
• Impact
• LimeJS

I don't know anything about them specifically, but I would think that in general HTML5 is probably a decent way to prototype games even without a framework or engine: quick, direct, low overhead and easy to iterate on.

Answer 5

Hey I wrote an html5 game engine that focuses on isometric games and open sourced it here: https://github.com/j03m/trafficcone

Docs are still a little rough, but there are some usable/runnable examples.