Newsletter โ Issue 002
This is the second issue of the Web Game Dev Newsletter! ๐
๐ฅ Headlines
2 node-based shader graph editors got released: NodeToy (opens in a new tab), a platform to create, fork, share, and export shader effects to GLSL, or to Three.js (opens in a new tab) and React Three Fiber (opens in a new tab) via a NodeToy URL in your components. If NodeToy is a little too platform-y for you, you will like Alma (opens in a new tab) by Emil Widlund (opens in a new tab), a similar tool to create GLSL shaders via a neat UI that lets you jump right into a graph playground without any account.
It looks like we may be getting WebGPU in Chrome
desktop (opens in a new tab) sometime around May 2022!
SvelteKit hit version 1.0 (opens in a new tab), which
is the perfect opportunity to bring your attention to Threlte (opens in a new tab), the
equivalent of React Three Fiber in the Svelte (opens in a new tab) world. Thanks to the way
Svelte works, you can animate Threlte objects directly instead of manipulating the underlying
Three.js object via refs like you would do in R3F. The version 5 of Threlte got released recently
with some major changes (opens in a new tab), including an API that's closer to
R3F, but the docs are still transitioning to the new paradigm. Note that Threlte has
built-in (opens in a new tab) support for the Rapier (opens in a new tab)
physics engine!
Anderson Mancini (opens in a new tab) hosted a Three.js
event (opens in a new tab) on Twitter Spaces with Bruno
Simon (opens in a new tab), N8 (opens in a new tab), and Nicolas
Carvajal (opens in a new tab).
There is now an experimental API to bring up a WebXR System
Keyboard (opens in a new tab) on Meta Quest.
โ๏ธ Content
- ๐ฌ
An introduction to Threlte (opens in a new tab) (v4) by Joy of Code (opens in a new tab). Available in text version (opens in a new tab).
- โ๏ธ ๐ A visual explanation of shaders (opens in a new tab) by Dan Hollick (opens in a new tab).
โจ Games & Demos
- ๐ฎ
Venge (opens in a new tab) by OnRush Studio (opens in a new tab). Probably the most impressive full-fledged web game I have seen so far.
- ๐ฎ
Arcade Machine (opens in a new tab) by Grischa Erbe (opens in a new tab) to showcase Threlte.
- ๐ฎ
A Christmas game (opens in a new tab) by Sรฉbastien Lempens (opens in a new tab) (press Space or click the glove icon to switch to digging).
- ๐ฎ
(WIP) A fantasy card game (opens in a new tab) by Stephen Haney (opens in a new tab).
See more on the โจ Games & Demos (opens in a new tab) page or ๐ฎ WebGamer.io (opens in a new tab).
As a bonus, Blender (opens in a new tab) published Charge (opens in a new tab), a beautiful 4-minutes open movie.
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