Play and create little retro games at Smolpxl

September 25, 2020 [Games, JavaScript, Programming, Tech]

I love simple games: playing them and writing them.

But, it can be overwhelming getting started in the complex ecosystems of modern technology.

So, I am writing the Smolpxl library, which is some JavaScript code that makes it quite simple to write simple, pixellated games. It gives you a fixed-size screen to draw on, and it handles your game loop and frames-per-second, so you can focus on two things: updating your game "model" - the world containing all the things that exist in your game, and drawing onto the screen.

I am also writing some games with this library, and publishing them at smolpxl.artificialworlds.net:

I am hoping this site will gradually gain more and more Free and Open Source games, and start to rival some of the advertising-supported sites for the attention of casual gamers, especially kids.

Smolpxl is done for fun, and for its educational value, so it should be a safer place for kids than a world of advertising, loot boxes and site-wide currencies.

As I write games, I want to show how easy and fun it can be, so I will be streaming myself live doing it on twitch.tv/andybalaam, and putting the recordings up on peertube.mastodon.host/accounts/andybalaam and youtube.com/user/ajbalaam.

I am hoping these videos will serve as tutorials that help other people get into writing simple games.

Would you like to help? If so: