Pro HTML5 Games Paperback – January 1, 2012

When I found out that this book was by the author of the now famous Command and Conquer HTML5 recreation, I got excited. But I have been burnt in these types of situations before. So X author created the really impressive Y on his own website and released Z book. But then you get Z book only to find out that the end-of-book project is a low-tech version of Asteroids, which is a whole alphabet away from the very impressive Y. That is not the case here at all.I am sure you have heard that the book is centered around 2 different projects: first, a game that unapologetically clones Angry Birds, and then an RTS second. There are serious reasons why these two projects have a ton of appeal. The Angry Birds clone is obviously of the "physics game" genre, a genre that really could not be more hot right now and in the foreseeable future. Content creation is much simplified compared to other popular types of games, although really good physics level design can take some deep thinking and foresight. Box2D takes care of the heavy lifting and lets you focus on gameplay mechanics and other aspects. Big kudos to the author for choosing this as the lead-in.The RTS project is where things are ratcheted-up a few levels. But it is oh-so worth it. Beyond almost any PC gamer's dreams of making their own deep, imaginative RTS, and the fact that an RTS from beginning to end has never been detailed in any book I am aware of, there are just so many great parts here. With a bit of connecting the dots, this project could give a developer a great head-start on building many other types of complex games, such as an MMORPG. It has networking, AI, pathfinding, player versus player combat, etc. Reading some additional tutorials and articles online on how to reduce bandwidth in massively multiplayer games could get you set and on your way to building almost any kind of online game with this project and what you learn. And then of course there is the original concept of simply extending it further to make your own RTS.I gave this book 5 stars because I enjoy the style, and also largely because of how well the 2 game projects are treated, and the choice of the projects as well. Very few game development books can say that all of the games presented within could potentially allow the reader to make a true commercial game with a following and possibly even some extra cash in their pocket. My two very minor issues are first, the scope of the game projects force the author to get started on the projects fast. As you have gathered already, there are no "toy game" projects to be found here. So you really should have made a toy game or two before picking up this book, but if this is not your first game development book, you have probably made many considering how common they are in books today. I am really not complaining about this one. This book offers something different from the piles of books before it, and that is great, but it is something a potential buyer should be aware of. Second, the author uses jQuery, and I am not sure if the uses really warrant it. It is mostly used to move around some UI elements built in the DOM, toggle some classes and attributes and to get the needed references on the page. Really, these things could have been done in vanilla JS and kept the initial download a little more lean. However, I am not counting anything off for this, and it is really just a slight bother due to the fact that CDN jQuery linking can essentially negate the download since so many users have a popular CDN jQuery download cached. Plus, anyone versed in Javascript that meets the requirements in the book's preface can pretty easily convert jQuery calls to vanilla JS if they so desire. But again, it is not a huge issue even if you do go jQuery.I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to make "real" games in HTML5. I have at least thumbed through basically every HTML5 game development book available today, and none can offer the skills this one does. This book will likely be your bible as you work through your first major project.

Aditya has written a much needed book. Even if your Javascript is not very strong, the book holds your hand through two complete games so there is no reason to not learn as you go. The author's line by line explanation of the programs, progressive addition of complex features and sharing the motivation behind every particular approach make the reader feel like she is actually part of the game development process rather than just reading a book.I'm still working my way through creating the RTS game but can't wait to setup my own node server and host multiple players. This is a very commendable effort and hope the author expands into mobile web games in any possible future extensions.

Son enjoyed

I am very much enjoying "walking through the code" for the Froot Wars now and looking forward to the RPS game that follows. This book is directed at the new comer to game development so if you already have experience working with HTML5, the canvas and physics engines (Box2DJS is used for Froot Wars) then you might find it the code samples a bit repetitive. I am new to all three so I found it refreshing to be able to follow along by typing the code and reading his explanations of why/how things work, and then running in the browsers that support HTML5 and the canvas object. I am also very happy that Mr. Shankar uses jQuery. I have also purchased Core HTML5 Canvas: Graphics, Animation, and Game Development (Core Series) by David Geary (May 14, 2012) but Mr. Geary employs JavaScript only (so far, I'm only in the beginning chapters) which seems to be considered one of, if not the, best HTML5 Canvas book.I find Mr. Shankar's book much easier and more fun to work through as a beginner and highly recommend for developers wanting to begin games development with HTML5.

This is a wonderful book to read for a platform-agnostic look at using JavaScript to build web games. The only external library used is Box2D, which means the other coding patterns are basic JavaScript. Great read.

I really enjoy this book because it covers how to make an RTS in HTML5 in a very clear manner. There is really not that many game books out there that try to cover something that advanced. One of my favorites now and I would highly recommend it!

I go this book because I needed to find out more about HTML5, particularly for gaming applications. I found this book extremely helpful. The examples were very clear and went from simple to more complicated (but never too complicated) in a reasonable manner.

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