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Ask HN: I'm building one HTML5 game per week, need feedback

73 points by lessmilk ↗ HN
Hello,

As a developer and a gamer I always wanted to make games, but I never actually did it. To change that I threw myself a public challenge: build a new game every week in html5 using Phaser (a javascript framework).

The games are quite simple for now, but that's because I'm still learning. Let me know if you have any feedback on the games or the website.

Link: www.lessmilk.com

Thanks!

59 comments

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iterationx
Game 1 might be fun as multiplayer
paugay
Exactly, Game 1 with multplayer, real time, start together, and the one who stays the last gets a point, the first who get 10 points wins :)
mrfusion
How did you decide on Phaser? Would you recommend it?

How hard would you say it is to get started for someone with some JS experience and some pyGame experience?

lessmilk
I spent a lot of time trying multiple javascript 2D framework, and Phaser [0] was the best for my needs: it works well on all modern browser, it's simple, and powerful.

I never tried pyGame, so I don't know.

[0] - http://www.phaser.io/

didsomeonesay
Based on pixi.js, should have good rendering performance.

Great, just the thing i was looking for!

jrs99
which frameworks did you try for JS? and what were your needs?
joebo
It would be neat for someone to take one of the games and show how to build it without any frameworks.
lessmilk
I plan to write tutorials on how I build some of my games with Phaser. But without any framework, I don't know how to do it.
sideproject
Very awesome. Played each one of them for like... 5 minutes!
vezzy-fnord
I'd recommend you go for quality over quantity. Make a decent game every month or some longer period of time, rather than a generic arcade game every week.

But, whatever keeps you motivated. Keep going.

aymeric
Seconding that, but it really depends on your objective with this.
blainesch
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay." Art and Fear
jlees
A lot of the advice given to beginning game developers is exactly to put out a few generic arcade games at first. It's a great way to learn a stack and actually ship something, plus the end product is instantly recognizable, and the barrier to entry in terms of graphics can be quite low. Once you're comfortable in your output and skills, doing more original artistic work is a great next step, but many aspiring devs get hung up on doing something awesome and never finishing it at all. (I know, because I made the same mistake, despite knowing all this!)
lessmilk
I find it easier to learn on small projects than on bigger ones. But as my skills improve, I may increase my release cycle from one week to a few weeks in order to make more sophisticated games.
sauravt
Awesome, keep at it. :D
nashashmi
You must be a terrific game artist to combine tech and games like that.
mrkipling
I enjoyed them! I've been thinking about getting into HTML5 game development recently but couldn't think of a good place to start. Creating lots of little games like this (simple arcade games) seems like as good a place as any - perhaps I'll attempt something similar. Thanks for the idea!
gargarplex
i enjoyed the square jump game. it could benefit from a leaderboard.
maxbrown
Great project and fun games! How many are you planning to do? Do you have an end-goal in mind?
lessmilk
Thanks! I don't have any specific goal in mind, I'll try to do it for as long as I can.
blackdogie
really liked game number #3 , not so much a fan of the background music, but definitely it was a cool game to pass away 4 or 5 minutes. Thanks.
aaronetz
Nice games. I like the simple visuals. Played game #2 for a bit. One specific comment: Holding "up" fires at the maximum rate (pressing up repeatedly doesn't fire any faster). Also, there is no downside to constantly holding up. So you probably should either (1) eliminate the up button and just auto-fire all the time, (2) have a fuel mechanic that will force the player to conserve shots, or (3) make it worthwhile to press up faster. And if doing so, move the fire button to space or something similar, because it is hard to repeatedly press up while moving with the side arrows.
lessmilk
That's some great feedback, thanks!

I don't want to edit my previous game to be true to the challenge, but I'll definitely keep this in mind for my next games.

aaronetz
Just finished game #3, died 83 times (wasn't too hard after playing Super Meat Boy :)). Some ideas: add two more controls for increasing vertical and horizontal velocity (i.e. holding "shift" will make to box go faster and jump farther, and holding jump longer will make it jump higher. And then add more levels that exploit those controls!
bonobo
Oh boy, these are awesome! :D

I'm especially fond of game #1. It reminded me of an old html game I played in which I had to use the mouse to drag a rectagle around, avoiding collisions with other rectangles that bounced around. I remember receiving this in an email that said if I were able to stand for X seconds (I can't remember how many) then it meant that my reflexes were above the threshold required for jet pilots — and obviously, as every boy, I wanted to fly a jet.

The only critique I have for you is to have posted it during my work hours.

[dead] nahlyee
Could you perhaps show some of your code or screencast so others can learn along with?
japhyr
These are great! I love simple games like this.

They are fun, but it feels like they'd be a lot more fun with a bigger playing field. Have you considered making a larger playing area?

japhyr
Inspired by your sharing of simple games, I'll share the one html5 game I made a couple years ago for fun:

http://tapawaygame.com

It's meant for mobile devices, and it's unpolished, but it was fun and satisfying to make. I was inspired to make it after I had an eye exam. I'm always scared of "failing" that test where you have to tell the optometrist every time you see a flash on a screen.

notlisted
Game 3 is my fave... Awesome... brings back memories of my Commodore 64 days where my favorite game was Galaga, crude pixels, smooth movement, great action.

One small refinement suggestion: perhaps a few "tick marks" on the horizontal axis so people can time it right (if not for all, at least for initial levels, would lure players in a little more), eg see http://imgur.com/kDEgbTo

Edit: here's a longplay video of that Galaga game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSqk8t0Pxww

pacofvf
who much time did you spend doing these games?

I actually worked doing some physics stuff in C for a game, never got to see the finished product but I've always wanted to do a whole game.

d0m
Only played game #3. Really like it. Two suggestions: - I'd put a small countdown (2-1 go) or something when we die because otherwise you die and already miss the right timing to do this level. So sometimes I had to voluntary let it die 2-3 times to have a good start.

- Would be way cooler to be able to jump on top of the boxes.. but you have to land perfectly on it.

drhayes9
Great games! Great start!

Here's a talk you might be interested in from one of the guys who made "Ridiculous Fishing" on the Art of Screenshake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdEqssNZ-U

Basically, it's a bunch of interesting points on how to make action games feel more responsive and fun.

lessmilk
Thanks for the video, it looks super interesting!
d0m
I like how you created real games instead of just demos. The third one is really addictive, I've played one very similar on the iphone. (I think it was called Impossible game or something similar). Maybe as a next game it could be similar to the #3 but with this gameplay "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPgotLzzb-Q", i.e. one key to move higher but gravity then brings you down. You rock keep it up.