There are several steps involved in creating games with JavaScript. This guide will provide an overview of what are the steps you will generally follow, assuming you have some basic understanding of JavaScript:
1. Planning: Decide what type of game you want to create. This includes deciding on the story, characters, gameplay mechanics, and overall design of your game.
1. Learning Necessary Skills: Before starting to create a game, you should have a working knowledge of JavaScript, and especially the canvas feature. You should also know how to work with images, sounds, and user input in JavaScript. There are numerous sources online (like Mozilla Developer Network, w3schools) from where you can learn these things.
1. Setting Up Development Environment: Set up your JavaScript development environment. This usually involves setting up a text editor (Like Sublime text, VS Code, Atom), a web browser for testing (like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox), and optionally, a version control system (like Git).
1. Game Loop: One of the core functionalities of any game is the game loop. It’s a loop that keeps running every frame of the game, updating the game state and re-rendering the game.
1. Rendering: Use the HTML5 Canvas API to render graphics in your game. Use `requestAnimationFrame` to call your game loop for smooth animation.
1. Handling User Input: Use JavaScript event listeners to handle user inputs like mouse clicks and keyboard presses.
1. Physics and Collisions: Depending on your game, you may need to simulate physics. This can be as simple as making a character move when the player presses a button, or as complex as simulating gravity and collision between game objects.
1. Implementing Game Logic: Use JavaScript to implement your game’s logic. This could involve moving players around, keeping track of score, creating and moving enemies, or anything else that your game requires.
1. Adding Audio: You can use the `Audio()` class in JavaScript to add sound effects and music to your game.
1. Testing and Debugging: Always test your game frequently to catch bugs and errors early. Use your browser’s developer tools to help with debugging.
1. Deployment: Once your game is complete, you can deploy it to the web so that others can play it. You might use a service like GitHub Pages, Netlify or Vercel for this.
There are also libraries and game engines for JavaScript, such as Phaser.js, that can help you to create games more easily. These provide pre-built functionalities (e.g. physics engine, collision detection, sound, etc.) that you can use to speed up your game development process.
Remember, building a game can be a complex task, but also a rewarding one. Start small, and gradually move on to bigger projects as you get more comfortable with coding.
To dive deeper you can refer to different books and online tutorials offered by websites like Coursera, YouTube, Udemy, etc.
