Browser Games

Why make games in the browser? Well, browser games have become incredibly important and accessible in recent years. Modern web browsers are powerful – they can handle 3D graphics, real-time multiplayer connections, and even physics simulations without breaking a sweat. This means we can create rich, interactive games that run right in a web page, no installation needed. By simply sharing a link, anyone can play our game instantly on their laptop, tablet, or phone. This ease of access is a big reason browser games are popular: players can jump in and out quickly, and developers can reach a wide audience. The rise of HTML5 (which replaced old technologies like Flash) changed the web-based gaming landscape, allowing developers to create interactive and convincing experiences without additional plugins. In 2025, web technologies are mature – frameworks and game engines for the web have grown robust, and browsers themselves have improved performance for games. Even major game studios are paying attention: we see complex games and even cloud-streamed AAA titles running in browser windows, which shows how far browser gaming has come. We now have social media platforms and app stores that host browser games, integrating them into social experiences. In short, making games in the browser combines the reach of the web (anyone, anywhere can access) with increasingly powerful capabilities. It’s a great time to be exploring browser game development. Now, to understand how all this is possible, let’s go over some browser basics that power these games.

Let’s demystify what’s happening under the hood when we run a game in a browser. First, we have the JavaScript engine. Every browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) has a built-in engine (like Chrome’s V8 or Firefox’s SpiderMonkey) that executes JavaScript code. This engine is super optimized, turning our code into fast machine instructions so the game logic runs smoothly. We often write in TypeScript (a superset of JavaScript with type safety) because it helps catch errors early, but ultimately that compiles down to JavaScript for the browser to run. Next, for graphics, browsers provide WebGL and the newer WebGPU. WebGL is a JavaScript API that lets us draw 2D and 3D graphics using the computer’s GPU, and it’s what made modern browser games possible by enabling rich visuals in-browser. WebGPU, introduced more recently, is even more powerful – it’s a leap forward that offers superior performance compared to WebGL, lower-level access to graphics hardware, and even capabilities for general computations on the GPU. In 2025, WebGPU support is growing in major browsers, meaning web games can push more impressive graphics and effects than ever before. Aside from graphics, there are many Web APIs available. Web APIs are the browser’s built-in interfaces for doing all sorts of things – from playing sounds, to saving files, to getting user input. For example, there’s the Web Audio API for sound, the Gamepad API for controller input, and APIs for networking (like WebSockets for multiplayer). All browsers have a set of built-in Web APIs to support complex operations, so we can tap into these for game features. In summary, the browser provides us with a robust engine to run game code, and specialized APIs to handle graphics, sound, input, and more. With these basics covered, let’s see what specific technology stack we can use to build our browser game.