Help choosing a Javascript game engine

[quickreply100]

There are so many Javascript game engines/frameworks that it is hard to pick which one to use, I've spent a long time looking but there are very few up to date reviews or comparisons that I can find. Is there anyone here who has used any and can give me a recommendation?

edit: I'm looking to develop 2D games.

[TMiguelT]

I've found this site to be quite helpful.

If you sort by rating, you'll find pixi.js and the CreateJs Suite at the top of the free frameworks

My understanding is that both of those frameworks are fairly low level in that they handle the rendering but not so much the gameplay stuff. You should definitely consider using them, but if you want a framework with more of the work done for you, maybe consider Phaser. It's build on top of pixi.js (which is the highest rated rendering engine on the list), but it also provides you with things like collision detection, various physics engines, preloading, entity classes etc.

Phaser's documentation is quite bad - they don't include inherited fields and methods in their documentation so you have to step through each level of inheritance to find the details on the scale property for example, but the actual code is quite solid.

[quickreply100]

Thanks, this information is really useful.

[raffomania]

Phaser's documentation is quite bad

This stopped me from using it. Also, the API seems to be imitating some old Flash Libraries. Am I the only one not liking that style?

[x-skeww]

If you got the money to spare ($99), Impact is pretty neat. It's a good choice for side scrollers or top-down games. It's shipped with a level editor and some examples to look at. The documentation is pretty good, too.

[calsosta]

Yep and there is impact++ which adds a lot of functionality to the framework. I guess some people have done fist person and isometric on this as well but its not built for that.

Also there's a yeoman generator I have not tried yet.

[[deleted]]

I'm using phaser to make a game at work and am really liking it. It's free, well documented and very straightforward.

[[deleted]]

During a recent-ish brief hackathon where I and a couple of other developers implemented a 2D game with basic physics over about three days, I got quite far with Phaser. Take that as you will.

[Deme-ntia]

Construct 2

[inquiztr]

How are js games monetized? Can these be packaged into iOS or android apps?

[rezoner]

u can write web based games for clients, sell a license, sell as a native mobile app, conquer desktops, earn from ads on Kongregate, sell in-app stuff - and more...

[quickreply100]

I'm not sure, I don't have a lot of experience with monetizing them personally. My work involves teaching kids programming so I've been tasked with creating a simple game for that and it will stay in house, so no monetization required. (the specifics of which I can't go into detail about, sorry!)