ImpactJS – HTML5 game engine and licenses giveaway!

There’s a lot of HTML5 game engines in the wild, most of them created in the last couple of months. Everyone can find something to suit their needs, doesn’t matter if they have strong programming skills or just want to drag some pictures on the scene and “make first game”. Despite huge choice options, it’s not that easy to find the perfect one. Let’s see why I think you should check out ImpactJS, as it’s for sure one of the best HTML5 game engines you can find.

Impact.js game engine

ImpactJS is a JavaScript framework dedicated for HTML5 game development in 2D Canvas. With Impact you can manage input (touch for mobile is supported), sprite animation, sound and many more in your game, see API reference for more details. You can of course deploy it on both desktop and mobile devices, it’s also a part of the AppMobi XDK, which can help you if you’re focusing on mobile development and need integrated HTML5 game deployment environment.

You can follow ImpactJS on Twitter for news and updates, or buy the license directly.

Competition

As I said before, you can find a lot of engines and frameworks for HTML5 game development, so why bother with another? Why this one deserves the attention, even if you have to pay to use it? Well, it’s only my personal opinion, but I think that Impact brings game development to another level, gives you good quality, professional tools, stability of working, software updates and support from the author. Of course you can check the other engines and find for yourself which one suits you best, but I think ImpactJS is at least worth checking.

Documentation

You can find a lot of helpful docs in the official documentation section, watch some video tutorials there to know how to start with the engine or the Weltmeister level editor, or even look at the example code to quickly jump in and start experimenting.

Level editor

The game engine itself is great, but the best part of the ImpactJS is the Weltmeister – advanced and powerful game level editor. Here you can find the needed tools to easy forge your awesome idea into the working game. Using Weltmeister is very easy for new users, but it also gives advanced options to control your code and work on it with ease.

Community

The strength of the project is in its community. You can join the forums if you need any help, feel the urge to talk with somebody about your game ideas or just want to let everybody know what an awesome game you managed to make. It’s a place where you can learn from others and of course give back to the community by helping, if you feel good enough. The other website worth visiting is definitely the Point of Impact, where you can find everything you need: games, articles and tutorials, plugin collection and even some demos with example source code.

Games and demos

The most popular and recognizable games made with the ImpactJS are Biolab Disaster, Z-Type (both by Dominic, engine author), Creatures and Castles, Steamclash and Private Joe, but of course you can find many more if you’re interested.

Workshops

If you live near New York or Toronto, you can take part in the workshops focused on ImpactJS and led by Jesse Freeman. Visit New York on March 5th or Toronto on April 22nd to attend the workshop and learn cool stuff.

Price

Most of the HTML5 game engines are free, but if you spend so much time to really tinker with your tool so it becomes almost perfect, it’s ok to take money for it. I think the license is totally worth spending $99, it’s the best way to thank the author – Dominic Szablewski – for his awesome work and give him extra motivation, so he can work on the issues and new ideas. For that price you get a truly professional game engine with great level editor, with which you can develop your games quickly and easily.

Giveaway!

Win one of the five licenses worth 99$ each! To get the chance of winning one of the licenses for ImpactJS game engine, tweet the following:

Hey HTML5 game devs! Tweet and leave a comment to win 1 of 5 licenses for @ImpactJS game engine! http://dev.end3r.com/2012/02/impactjs-html5-game-engine-and-licenses-giveaway/

AND post the comment below with the link to your tweet (Facebook, Google+ or other social networks posts are also accepted). Make sure to enter a valid email address (so that I can contact you) and provide working link to your tweet in the comments (to validate your entry). Contest will last for one week from now, entries will be accepted until Monday, February 27, 2012 at 08:00 PM, CET. One comment per person, the winners will be selected randomly. I’ll update this post with the names of the lucky winners and will contact them directly.

Good luck to everyone! There’s already another contest planned, so stay tuned!

Update: Winners!

There were over 70 entries! Here’s the list of the lucky winners:

• Igor
• Travis Johnson
• Gustaff Weldon
• István Maczkó
• Sebastien P.

Congratulations! E-mails with the details were sent to you, so check your inboxes!

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