Which framework best supports nodejs/browserify?

[MattMcFarland]

Hi all,

 

While I have made a few games in the past, mostly as a hobby project, I've extensive experience with Javascript (es5 and es6) and use it professionally for web application development.  (Mostly SPAs or single page applications, etc) 

 

Given my experience with Javascript, I figure I could catch on to js related gamedev pretty quickly.  Not to mention I've already made games (and got sponsored etc) for flash.  But I really don't want to use an html5 game dev framework that is built for the "as3 developer" - nope, I want to use one that is made for the javascript developer.  Silly to say, but it was a big turnoff to see "MovieClip()" in pixi.  Maybe I'm beeing too opinionated, I'm willing to admit, but I'd rather move forward and not backwards.

 

Another weird thing I'm seeing with these gamedev frameworks is "asset loaders" - I'd rather use nodejs (require, etc) to load in assets and assign them as I see fit, rather than using some different type of definition that is framework specific.  

 

However I don't want to create my own js game dev framework, but rather I'd like to find one that is compatible with nodejs.  More importantly one where different parts of the engine could be "required" in.  

 

Then I could simply bundle/obfuscate using browserify.  

 

Instead right now I'm seeing game dev frameworks that appear to be taking steps back, trying to be as close to flash as possible, and honestly I am looking for a framework that is not trying to do that at all.

 

Anything out there?? or should I just bite the bullet?

 

Thanks!!!

 

[rich]

I've never seen a framework tightly integrated with node.js (equally I can't think of a sensible reason for one to be either), but there's probably one out there somewhere. Using modules and packages from npm, then sure, plenty of them do that. Probably best to start with Panda.

[MattMcFarland]

Thanks for the reply. Well,  it doesnt have to be using npm specifically, but more modular I guess is a better way to put it.

 

Right now I'm looking closely at phaser and melonjs.  Both seem to be up to date and have a nice sized following and some good examples.

 

I like phaser because of the online sandbox, it really makes tinkering with it really fast!

 

As for melonjs, I really like using DevOps and melonJS has DevOps included with its boilerplate (using grunt tasks to build the game) - but I would rather use gulp.

 

I prefer using a modular approach, so in reality I would like my game objects and everything in separate files, rather than one large monolothic file, I also dont like using a bunch of script tags. Instead I would have an src dir of my game, then when I build it, it would use browserify and gulp to bundle the file and uglify it as well into one main.js file that would be the game (pretty much)

 

So in a perfect world (for me) I would be using require (or import with es6 and babel) to pull in various parts of a game framework, like which physics I want to use etc. 

 

This is very close to what we already see with C#, where you see  Using some.part.of.the.framework;

 

Instead it would be using require (or import) to grab various parts of the framework and then use only those.

 

I just am a huge fan of the single responsibility principal, to the point to where I can be too fanatical, but really I keep my mind open and I may just bite the bullet as using a framework with good documentation, strong history and is up to date is going to win out.  So that puts me back at square one so far... Your help is appreciated and advice is welcome.

 

It's a catch 22, I like phaser's API but I like melonJS environment better.  I'm not convinced either way, but I am still very much out of the loop as far as html5 game frameworks go.

[MattMcFarland]

Hey, Sorry if my ranting isn't making any sense here.  I'm really excited about html5 game dev and I have a lot on my mind..

 

I am really liking Phaser more and more.  It's very intuitive.

 

The only thing I see missing from the docs is what I called "DevOps" - but to be more Specific, it's about logically splitting up the codebase into smaller files that scales well.  It's about game development architecture.  I am actually very well seasoned with best practices and architectures for web applications, but with game development some of the best practices and architecture patterns are really framework dependent, short of the good ole single responsibility principal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle