HTML5 Game Development, From a Dev Building One
Phaser · Web · Monetization. Every guide is backed by real code from a game in development.
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Responsive HTML5 Game Scaling: The 1.2 Ratio Rule
Responsive scaling for HTML5 games: Phaser Scale Manager FIT vs EXPAND vs RESIZE, the 1.2 ratio rule, pixel-perfect upscaling, and the settings that survive phones, tablets, and ultrawide.
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Pixel Art Tutorial: Art That Moves in Games
Pixel art for games: canvas size and resolution, palette discipline, outlines and shading, animation frames, tools, and how AI-generated pixel art fits (or doesn't) — an honest pipeline.
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Phaser + Vite Setup: A Real Project Structure (2026)
A working Phaser + Vite project setup from a real game: config for a tiny build, code-split Phaser, relative asset paths, and a scene structure that scales. Plus how to add TypeScript if you want it.
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Phaser Particle Effects: A Practical Intro
Phaser 3 particle effects: creating an emitter, the config fields that matter (speed, scale, alpha, tint, frequency), three effect recipes (explosion, merge flash, win burst), and the performance caps.
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Phaser 3.90: What Changed and Should You Upgrade?
Phaser 3.90 'Tsugumi' (May 2025) reviewed: setRounded rectangles, angle helpers, Firefox audio fallback, EXPAND clamp — what actually changed and the honest upgrade advice for an existing game.
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Phaser 3 Game Tutorial: Your First Playable in a Day
A Phaser 3 beginner tutorial with a working game: the config, one scene, sprites, input, tweens, and score — built in the order you'd actually build it, with the honest gotchas.
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Phaser 3 Arcade Physics Tutorial: When You Need It (and When You Don't)
A practical Phaser 3 arcade physics tutorial — what it does, how to enable it, and the honest truth: many casual games (match-3, merge, puzzles) never need physics at all. Plus a real physics-free alternative.
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Offline HTML5 Game with PWA: A Working Recipe
Making an HTML5 game work offline with PWA: the manifest, a cache-first service worker, asset precaching, update handling, and why PWA matters (and doesn't) for portal-hosted games.
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HTML5 Game Engine for Beginners: Pick the Right One (2026)
How a beginner picks an HTML5 game engine in 2026: a 4-question decision framework, the real cost of visual editors vs code-first engines, the packaging trap I hit, and a starting path for two kinds of beginners.
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Indie Game Social Media Promotion: 30 Minutes a Day
Social media promotion for indie game developers: the 30-minutes-a-day routine, which platforms fit game dev, clip-first content, DevLogs that build audience before launch, and the honest expectations for a pre-launch account.
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HTML5 Game FPS Boost: 9 Tips That Actually Help
Nine practical FPS tips for HTML5 games: profile first, texture atlases, culling, object pools, tween limits, particle caps, GC hygiene, fixed timestep choices, and the WebGL settings that matter.
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HTML5 Game Memory Leaks: Find and Fix Them
Memory leaks in HTML5 games: the causes (retained references, closures, event listeners, textures, timers), how to find them with DevTools Heap Snapshot, and how to fix the four real leak patterns.
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HTML5 Game 60fps Optimization: What Actually Costs Frames
What actually drops an HTML5 game below 60fps — draw calls, per-frame allocations, GC pauses, oversized textures — and the real fixes, from a Phaser project structured for performance from day one.
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HTML5 Game eCPM Benchmarks: What's Normal in 2026
HTML5 game eCPM benchmarks for 2026: rewarded video vs interstitial vs banner ranges, regional differences, opt-in and fill rates, and how to read your own numbers without fooling yourself.
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Custom Godot WebGL Template: Loading Screen, JS Bridge, and the HTML Shell
Customizing the Godot web export template: the HTML shell (godot.template.html), custom loading screens, JavaScriptBridge to call JS from GDScript, and iframe embedding for portals.
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Godot Touch Input for Mobile Web: Events, Emulation, and UI Scaling
Godot touch input for mobile web games: InputEventScreenTouch/Drag, emulate_mouse_from_touch, ui_ actions, viewport scaling for touch targets, and the desktop-to-mobile gotchas.
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HTML5 Game Marketing: From Build to Players (2026 Channel Map)
How to market an HTML5 game in 2026: portal submission requirements, itch.io launch checklist, YouTube Playables and Discord Activities reality checks, and a distribution strategy for an indie with zero audience.
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Godot Web Export Warnings: The Black-Screen Checklist (2026)
Every common Godot web export failure explained: the 'SharedArrayBuffer is not defined' black screen, COOP/COEP headers, HTTPS secure context, audio samples since 4.3, MIME types, and the fix checklist.
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Godot Web Performance: What Actually Costs You in the Browser
Godot web performance in 2026: the 40MB first-load problem, single vs multi-thread, SharedArrayBuffer and COOP/COEP, texture compression, and the load-time budget for a browser game.
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From AI Prototype to Production: The Bridge Nobody Shows You
AI can prototype a game in an hour — the hard part is the bridge to production. Prototype vs production code, when to rewrite vs reuse, technical debt from AI loops, and the engineering discipline that makes the handoff clean.
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AI in Your Indie Game Dev Workflow: What Works in 2026 (My Real Pipeline)
How indie developers actually use AI in game development in 2026: adoption data, what AI is good and bad at, a real end-to-end AI-assisted pipeline from an indie who built two game prototypes with it.
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GDevelop vs Godot for HTML5 Games: The Honest 2026 Comparison
GDevelop vs Godot for HTML5 games in 2026: no-code events vs scene+script, export sizes, browser limits, threading reality, and which engine fits which developer.
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Game Icon Size Requirements 2026: Every Platform in One Table
Game cover and icon size requirements for CrazyGames, itch.io, Google Play and Steam in 2026 — one table, plus the design rules that keep your art from getting cropped or rejected.
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The Game Loop in HTML5: requestAnimationFrame, Delta Time, and 60fps
The HTML5 game loop explained: requestAnimationFrame, delta time for frame-rate independence, fixed vs variable steps, and how a Phaser game actually spends its 16.7ms budget.
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Free HTML5 Game Assets 2026: The Honest Source List
Where to get free HTML5 game assets in 2026 — sprites, sound effects, music — with honest license notes. CC0 vs CC-BY vs CC-BY-NC matters, and here's what each means for a commercial game.
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Game Analytics with GA4: A Setup That Actually Tells You Something
Setting up GA4 for an HTML5 game: the events that matter (level start/complete, tutorial, ad views), custom event schema, portal-embed caveats, and consent-mode reality for European players.
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How Much Money Do HTML5 Games Actually Make? (Real 2026 Numbers)
Real data on how much money HTML5 games make in 2026: rewarded-video eCPMs, portal revenue shares, public developer earnings cases, and a copyable formula to estimate your own game's income.
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EU Cookie Consent for Game Sites: What 2026 Enforcement Actually Requires
EU cookie consent for HTML5 game websites in 2026: ePrivacy + GDPR rules, the EDPB Cookie Banner Taskforce's design requirements (reject must equal accept), CNIL's 2025 enforcement, and the cookieless path for small game sites.
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CrazyGames Submission Checklist: What I Learned Before Submitting
A practical CrazyGames submission checklist from a developer who integrated the SDK early: technical gates, SDK lifecycle signals, the non-ad alternative rule, and what reviewers actually test.
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Cocos Creator HTML5 Game Tutorial: Build and Export Your First Web Game
A beginner Cocos Creator HTML5 tutorial: the editor panels that matter, the node-component model, your first TypeScript script, building a playable scene, and exporting to web — the path from zero to a browser URL.
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Copyright for Game Assets: The License Rules Every Developer Needs
Game asset copyright for indie developers: CC0 vs CC-BY vs NC licenses, public domain, commercial asset packs, trademarks, fair use traps, and the CREDITS discipline that keeps your game legal.
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Best HTML5 Game Engine 2026: Tested Side by Side (Real Numbers from My Godot → Phaser Move)
Which HTML5 game engine is best in 2026? Real build-size measurements, publishing workflows, and ad SDK integration from an indie developer who built the same 2048-style game in Godot 4.7 and Phaser 3.90 before switching.
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ChatGPT Game Development Prompts: 12 That Actually Work
12 tested ChatGPT prompts for HTML5 game development — from scaffolding a Phaser scene to debugging frame drops and writing platform docs — with the exact phrasing that gets usable output.
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AI Prototyping for HTML5 Games: From Prompt to Playable Fast
How AI tools turned game prototyping from weeks into hours: what a prototype should test, the AI-assisted loop that works, and where AI ends and game design begins — from a developer using it daily.
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AI-Generated Sprites Copyright: What the 2026 Ruling Means for Your Game
The US Supreme Court settled it in March 2026: pure AI-generated art can't be copyrighted. What that means for game developers using AI sprites — protection you don't have, protection you can earn, and how to build a defensible asset pipeline.
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Phaser Asset Pipeline Automation: From AI Art to Game-Ready Sprites
How I automated the Phaser asset pipeline: a Python script that downloads AI art, removes backgrounds with a gradient threshold, adds button text, crops particles, and standardizes sizes.
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Phaser Tweens: Making a 2048 Merge Feel Juicy
Use Phaser 3 tweens for merge animations, button feedback, and screen transitions. Patterns from our in-development 2048-style game with 30+ tween call sites.
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Game Privacy Policy Template: COPPA & GDPR Ready (2026)
A game privacy policy template that covers COPPA and GDPR, built from a real data inventory of an in-development Phaser game. Copy-ready sections included.
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HTML5 Game Monetization Without Ads: 6 Routes That Pay
How to make money from an HTML5 game without ads: licensing, itch.io sales, in-app purchases on the web, sponsorships, and more — with 2026 numbers, from a developer planning an ads-plus-sales mix.
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Interstitial Ads in HTML5 Games: Timing, Rules, and Real Integration
Interstitial ads for HTML5 games in 2026: when to show them (and when not to), portal rules for frequency and timing, and a real integration pattern from a game with rewarded ads.
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Web Game File Size: Limits and How to Stay Under Them
Platform file size limits for HTML5 games (20MB is common), why 1-2MB gzipped is a better target, and the Vite/Phaser build tweaks that got our game to 1.8MB gzipped.
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Godot Web Build Size: Why It's Big and How to Optimize It
Measured Godot 4 web export sizes (40.5 MB raw, 12.3 MB gzipped), why the engine binary dominates, and the real optimization paths — custom export templates, headless builds, and when to switch stacks.
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LocalStorage Game Save in Phaser: A Working Example
Save Phaser game progress with localStorage the way we do it in our in-development game: one Storage module, typed keys, JSON serialization, and a settings pattern that survives reloads.
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How to Get Your Game on Poki (2026): The Real Requirements
What it actually takes to publish on Poki in 2026: the SDK events that matter, the Web Exclusive model (7 years), the 100%/50% revenue split, and the curation pipeline — from official Poki docs.
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Game Terms of Service Template: Copy-Ready Sections for Your Web Game
A game terms of service template built for a real in-development HTML5 game: license grant, IP, disclaimers, age rules, termination, and the sections that actually matter for a casual web game.
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HTML5 Game Ad SDKs Compared (2026): CrazyGames, Poki, Playgama
How HTML5 game ad SDKs actually differ in 2026: integration model, mode detection, graceful degradation, and a real RewardManager that works with and without an SDK.
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HTML5 Game Monetization: The 2026 Guide
How to monetize HTML5 games in 2026: rewarded video CPMs, portal revenue shares, SDK requirements, and real integration code from a game in development.
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Phaser Scene Management: How We Structure 9 Scenes
Structure a real Phaser 3 game across 9 scenes: boot, menu, gameplay, game over, level select, aquarium, rank, help, settings. With the wiring that keeps it maintainable.
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Construct 3 vs Phaser: Which Fits Your Casual Web Game?
Construct 3 vs Phaser for HTML5 casual games in 2026: no-code visual events vs code-first, cost, web export, AI assistance, and the honest decision framework from a developer who chose code.
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COPPA Compliance for Online Games: The 2026 Rules, Explained
COPPA for indie game developers in 2026: the amended Rule is now fully enforced (April 22, 2026), what counts as personal information, verifiable parental consent, penalties, and what a $0-budget casual game actually has to do.
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Phaser Swipe Input: Touch Controls for Mobile Games
Build reliable swipe controls in Phaser 3 with a pointerdown/pointerup threshold approach. Includes real code from our in-development H5 game.
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Cocos vs Godot for Web Games: An Honest 2026 Comparison
Cocos Creator vs Godot for HTML5 web games in 2026: editor, web export size, packaging pipeline, licensing, and AI-friendliness — from a developer who measured one of them directly.
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AI Game Asset Generation: A Working Pipeline (Sprites to UI)
How I build game-ready assets from AI generations: a real post-processing pipeline that removes white backgrounds without destroying art, adds text, and standardizes sizes. With working code.