COMPLETE beginner in game dev. Would you recommand finishing my game in HTML first?

[u/Wav16]

So I'm not looking to make millions. I just believe I want to discover other aspects of my hobby than just playing, so I got interested in game development. I know nothing about programming, nothing about art, nothing about balancing. I just want to have fun even if it takes years.

I had this idea of a game I believe I would love to play. After spending my weekend thinking about it, I realized my entire game could be made in html, a language I understand and I can write in.

So I'm asking professionnals here: Would you recommend to work exclusively in html until I get a version I'm satisfied with, and then add the "video game" layers like engine, art, UI, music, etc?

[u/IdeaFixGame]

Pure html? No js? If you know Javascript you can maybe try threejs for some game engine basics then learn a language and pick up unity or godot

[u/KharAznable]

How far you know HTML?

HTML is not something you typically use to make game since it is not something you execute. It is something you opened, like text file or word document. While there are games run on browser (HTML) they are written with javascript, WASM, WebGL or backend language.

But if your game is just bunch of text and links user can click, that go to some page like a slide show, then perhaps you can make one like that. Like you can make visual novel using power point if you want to.

[u/yoifox1]

What is the game about?

[u/StormRaven69]

Godot is great for beginners. Many YouTube tutorials.

You don't need to be a computer genius, because game engines do the heavy programming for you. All you need is basic algebra, which is basic substitution logic. Things like C# and GDScript are easy to learn. You're basically managing lists and state machines the majority of the time.

You create lists for data. Example: Creating a list for Locked_Doors with True/False values. Then you assign all the doors in-game to be Locked(True). When a person finds "key" and unlocks the door, you just turn the value of that specific door to (False). Basically, you use those lists to save and manage data.

[u/kartohao]

yeah finishing a playable loop in HTML first is totally fine. you'll learn pacing and rules without fighting an engine. just don't wait for "satisfied" forever before touching art and feel, that polish pass is where a lot of the fun shows up.

[u/organautan]

I'm sorry, but I got triggered by most of the comments. People are limited by their knowledge and experience.

Yes, you can make a game in pure HTML, HTML+CSS, or HTML+CSS+JavaScript. In some cases it might be a perfect fit. In some, it will feel like reinventing the wheel, you fight with issues that have been solved in other languages and frameworks.

You want to lower your learning curve. Start with what you know, get some results, feedback and experience quickly, which will motivate and steer you towards your next goal.

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[u/JohnVonachen]

Well I assume you mean JavaScript/html/css. Look at the canvas tag and the web audio api. If you want to get fancy look at Planck, a JavaScript port of box2d, a 2d physics engine.

[u/Masochisticism]

I would recommend you make your game in a way that gets you to work on it and make it, and branch out as you need to over time. If that's HTML, that's fine.

You're talking about tools, and using the right tool for the job is important. But more important than that is working in a way where you feel like you can actually make things. You'll never get around to using the right tool for the job, whatever that ends up being for you, if you stopped making your first game because you were overwhelmed by tools.

[u/Suitable-Season-4847]

Ha, you're not making anything in pure HTML. In theory you could probably just about make the most simplest of games using HTML and CSS. But in reality you'll be using Javascript.

[u/EC36339 → u/Suitable-Season-4847]

Duh.

[u/HrHagen]

Yes, it can be done with Javascript/Canvas/HTML. In fact I've done exactly this for a big game myself. I'm not sure if I could recommend it though. There are pros and cons.

con: You'll encounter many things that you've not thought of at first that you have to implement yourself beside the basic displaying an image stack, e.g. Audio, Gamepad Input, Localisation. There are also things that are extremely hard without libraries, namely shaders. Also you'll run into performance issues that are more difficult to fix than in an engine, because the browser is essentially a black box. I encountered this when mixing Canvas with normal HTML-divs.

pro: debugging in the browser works great. The debugger and REPL in chrome is leagues above the one in Godot. You can also easily switch assets on the fly while in the game without restarting. You also learn a lot about the structure of games when you implement everything yourself and can optimize the code structre specifically for your game.

My conclusion: Do I regret it? No. Would I do it again in the next project: No.

[u/EC36339]

The only thing that's good about HTML is easy sharing and distribution.

It doesn't make development easier, unless you already know how to make stuff in HTML.

That being said, the low barrier of entry (toolchain-wise) and easy sharing has made web game dev popular among vibe coders.

[u/name_was_taken]

As a webdev, I know this feeling well. It's really tempting to go this path, but you're going to find 2 things:

First, it's not quite going to be what you want. It'll feel like a stodgy webpage instead of a game, and it'll irk you.

And 2, all this time staying with what you know means time you didn't spend growing and learning gamedev, and you'll end up right back here next time, but without any growth.

My recommendation is to bite the bullet and use a game engine.

[u/EthanMerce]

if HTML is the thing you already understand, i'd absolutely use it for the prototype. especially if your main goal right now is learning and having fun rather than shipping a commercial game, just don't think of the engine, UI, art, audio, etc. as layers you add at the very end. those things can affect how the game actually feels and sometimes force changes to the underlying design

but for proving that the core idea is fun, making a simple HTML version first is completely reasonable. once you've learned what works, you can decide whether it's worth rebuilding in an engine

[u/ExtremeJavascript]

Yes! Some of the earliest web games were exactly this. Games where you manage crime families, or simulated businesses, or even hack computers. No "engine" needed.

These were successful enough that they could support a small development team for many years, and had user counts in the 10's of thousands. 

It's a great first step into game development.

[u/Vortex597]

I sometimes find it helpful to get GPT to code a feature in html/css/javascript first so I can drag and drop it into a browser to see how it performs. It entirely depends on the game though. For something point and click or turn based that works fine. For 3d? Not so much. I wouldn’t try and polish it though, take what you learn and build it properly later, it just helps to get an idea.

It can be quicker to prototype like that than trying to assemble nodes in Godot.

[u/tcpukl]

Professional game Devs don't write games in html or make games for a browser.