Choosing your web game engine
One of the first decisions you have to make when making a game is the tech. For web, there are tons of options to choose from. HTML5 technology is much stronger for web games and many of the following engines are purpose built for web compared to Unity whose web export needs work. There are frameworks which are for more experienced developers but can provide amazing results both visually and technically. We have games from all different engines on Grid, so we want to share some info to help you choose which engine fits you best for web!
There's a lot of different things to factor in when choosing an engine, but we wanted to keep the focus on web specifically. The following are some of the most important things to keep in mind when choosing an engine for web!
(Mobile) web tech fit
Some engines are optimised for web, others support it in some way or another. File size is important; for a good web game the initial download should not exceed 5MB and 8MB in total. Knowing that, we compared the compressed size of an empty project. Second comes the support for touch on mobile. Without that you automatically miss out on a large proportion of players given the popularity of mobile gaming.
What you need in an engine
This means the capabilities you need for the type of games you create. Basically, can you do what you want to do with this engine? The main differentiators we took are 2D/3D and multiplayer support. We haven't included all capabilities so use these first to create your shortlist and then you can follow up with more in-depth info!
Developer (team) fit
If you work in a team, you're probably working together on the same project. The game engine you choose needs to support working together on the same project file. Having more people in a team also is a multiplier for costs which is why we included licensing fees.
The web game engines discussed in this article
Defold is a web focused game engine with 2D and 3D capabilities. It features an extensive editor, complete with a Lua code editor, GUI editor and animation tools. Defold's documentation is very detailed and contains tons of useful example projects and tutorials. Mixed with the passionate community, this is a great choice for any dev!
File size
An empty Defold project is 1.03MB in size. This is very small for what it offers!
Mobile support
Defold has great touch support for mobile, and a lot of ways to make your game responsive. With built-in scaling options and flexible layouts, your game can look great on any device.
2D/3D capabilities
While Defold is primarily focused on 2D game development, it has capabilities for 3D as well. It supports .gLTF models and has a 3D particle system.
Multiplayer
Defold has built-in integrations for multiplayer services, making it a suitable choice for multiplayer game development.
Team collaboration
Defold comes out of the box with a Git version control system, making it easy to integrate your GitHub repositories and work together. All project files also use a merge-friendly text format.
Licensing
Defold is completely open source. Licenses are given out for free and allow you to fully commercialise your games without having to worry about licensing fees or royalties.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Defold is capable of:
- Car Parking Jam by Refold
- Monkey Mart by TinyDobbins
- Pixel Realms by Yury Grigoryev
Construct 3 is a game engine focused on 2D games and fast prototyping. It has an event sheet based visual scripting language, and lets you use Javascript and Typescript if you prefer. It has many built in tools, like an animation editor, flowcharts, timelines, data and code editors. The engine has a modular addon system that makes iterating on the game really fast, and keeps export size small. With very extensive documentation, tutorials and courses in many languages, almost 400 examples and a very active community, Construct is one of the most accessible engines out there.
File size
File size of an empty Construct project is 730KB in size unzipped, and 342KB zipped.
Mobile support
Construct 3 works very well on mobile. It has full support for mobile features, viewport scaling, and automatically handles safe area insets like notches. C3 also comes with a remote preview option to preview the game on any device and stream the screen to the editor. All C3 games are PWAs which means they can all be installed as apps on mobile devices.
2D capabilities
Construct is built for 2D. It has Sprites, 9 patches, tiled textures, tilemaps, particle system, mesh distortion, BBCode text, SVG, Spritefonts, HTML based UI and 2D lights. Construct's effect system lets you easily combine prebuilt shaders on any object or layer, or even do post processing on the entire scene.
3D capabilities
Construct can do basic 3D. It has a 3D camera, and support for basic 3D shapes and 3D mesh distortion meant to add some perspective to 2D scenes. 3rd party developers have added gLTF support and are working on 3D physics, 3D lighting, and 3D Particles with Effekseer.
Multiplayer
Construct 3 comes with a WebRTC Peer to Peer Multiplayer system with a dedicated signaling server for matchmaking. There is also 3rd party support for Colyseus, Firebase, Photon and PlayFab.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Construct 3 is capable of:
- Blumgi Slime by Blumgi
- OvO Dimensions by Dedra Games x Venturous
- Idle Ants by Madbox
Unity is a 2D and 3D capable engine that can export to almost any platform and is of the most-used engines for game development. Its large community and Asset Library make this engine easy to learn and useful for any size project. Due to its large initial file size, Unity games are overall less well-suited for the web.
File size
Without optimisation applied, a Unity build is around 11MB in size.
Mobile support
Unity offers built-in support for touch controls and layouts for both Landscape and Portrait modes, which is especially useful when developing games for the mobile web. While Unity web builds can be quite large initially, applying the right optimisation methods can make them much more suitable for web.
2D capabilities
Unity features suitable tools for 2D game development. Built into the engine is support for 2D sprites, bone animations, lights and shaders. It also has apt support for 2D physics and animations.
3D capabilities
3D development is what Unity is more known for. Its 3D features are considered to be very good, having the capability of rendering photo-realistic scenes. A particle system, 3D animations and 3D physics also come packed with the Unity editor.
Multiplayer
Unity has a lot of multiplayer features available through their Asset Store. For almost all often-used back-end services, there are plug-ins available to make connection to your game easier.
Team collaboration
The Unity editor is easily customisable or extendable to fit your project. The editor has a scene layout module, that makes it easy for the graphical part of your team to work together in the same editor. If you are new to Unity, there are a lot of tutorials and examples available online for this engine that can help you get started.
Licensing
Unity has two tiers of licenses. The first tier is free and applies for developers who earn under 100,000 euros from their products. If you earn more than that, you are in the Paid tier. The costs within the Paid can vary based on your needs and the size of your company.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Unity is capable of:
- Stunt Bike Extreme by Hyperkani
- Apple Knight by Limitless
- Repuls.io by Docksi
Godot is a 2D and 3D capable game engine, often compared to Unity given the similarities. With the release of its latest version, Godot 4.0, this engine has seen a lot of interest and new users. It's community is growing fast and the quality of games made with this engine is getting better with each release!
File size
A Godot web export is relatively small compared to other engines. With proper optimization, the initial download size can be kept well within the recommended limits for web games.
Mobile support
Godot has built-in support for touch controls and responsive design. The engine makes it relatively straightforward to create games that work well across different screen sizes and orientations.
2D capabilities
Godot has excellent 2D capabilities with its own dedicated 2D engine. It offers advanced features like 2D lighting, particle systems, skeletal animations, and an intuitive node-based structure that makes 2D game development particularly efficient.
3D capabilities
While primarily focused on 3D, Godot's capabilities have been significantly improved. It now features a more advanced rendering engine with support for global illumination, physically-based rendering, and improved particle systems. While not as powerful as some specialized 3D engines, it's more than capable for most game development needs.
Multiplayer
Godot includes built-in networking capabilities for creating multiplayer games. It supports high-level and low-level networking APIs, with features like remote procedure calls (RPCs) and state synchronization.
Team collaboration
Godot uses a scene-based approach that makes team collaboration easier. Different team members can work on separate scenes simultaneously with minimal merge conflicts. Godot's resource system is also designed to work well with version control systems like Git.
Licensing
Godot is completely free and open-source under the MIT license. This means there are no royalties, subscription fees, or purchase costs regardless of how successful your game becomes. You can use it for any project, commercial or non-commercial, with no restrictions.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Godot is capable of:
- Super Liquid Soccer by Punyrobot
- Chicky Farm by PT New Game Plus
- Rooftop Snipers by NewEichGames
PlayCanvas is a dynamic game engine designed for the web, capable of rendering 2D and 3D projects alike. With a robust editor, extensive documentation and collaborative features, PlayCanvas provides a comprehensive solution for game development on the web.
File size
PlayCanvas projects are optimized for web deployment with efficient file size management. The engine uses dynamic loading and asset optimization to keep initial download sizes minimal.
Mobile support
Games made with PlayCanvas are very well suited to run on mobile devices. It has built-in options for responsive scaling for Portrait and Landscape orientations and a small initial file size.
2D capabilities
PlayCanvas has a set of 2D development features natively available. Tilemaps, sprites, text options, particle effects and GUI scenes are provided out of the box.
3D capabilities
Supporting models in .gLTF format with animations, the engine dynamically creates meshes during runtime, ensuring a compact initial file size. PlayCanvas also has a 3D particle system, customizable materials, and GLSL shaders available for use.
Multiplayer
PlayCanvas supports integration with multiple different back-end systems. Tutorials and examples for making connections are further detailed in the documentation.
Team collaboration
PlayCanvas offers real-time collaborative editing features in its web-based editor. Multiple team members can work on the same project simultaneously, with changes syncing in real-time. The platform also integrates well with version control systems.
Licensing
PlayCanvas offers both free and paid licensing options. The free version includes core features with PlayCanvas branding, while paid plans remove branding and add advanced features like private projects and increased storage.
Have a look at some of the games to see what PlayCanvas is capable of:
- Venge.io by OnRush Studios
- Crazy Cars by No Pressure Studios
- Sword Masters by emolingo games
PixiJS is a lightweight 2D rendering engine that excels in fast graphics rendering using WebGL and WebGPU, with fallback to HTML5 canvas. Known for its simplicity and performance, it's perfect for 2D games and interactive graphics.
File size
PixiJS is extremely lightweight, with the core library being around 1MB minified. The modular architecture allows developers to include only the features they need, further reducing the file size.
Mobile support
Excellent mobile support with touch events handling and responsive scaling. The engine automatically handles device pixel ratio and provides smooth performance on mobile browsers.
2D capabilities
PixiJS specializes in 2D rendering with powerful features including sprite batching, texture atlases, filters, and advanced graphics primitives. It supports both WebGL and WebGPU for optimal performance.
Animation and Physics
While PixiJS does not include built-in physics or animation systems, it can be easily integrated with popular libraries like Matter.js for physics and GSAP for animations. This modular approach allows developers to choose the best tools for their specific needs.
Performance
PixiJS is highly optimized for performance with features like sprite batching, WebGL rendering, and efficient memory management. It can handle thousands of sprites while maintaining smooth framerates.
Development ecosystem
The engine has a large ecosystem of plugins and extensions. It integrates well with modern development tools and frameworks, including TypeScript support and various build tools.
Licensing
PixiJS is open source and released under the MIT license, making it free to use in both commercial and non-commercial projects. The project is actively maintained by the community and Goodboy Digital.
Have a look at some of the games to see what PixiJS is capable of:
- Subway Surfers by SYBO Games
- Stickman Hook by Madbox
- Anycolor by Madbox
Focused entirely on the web, Phaser is an HTML Games Framework that uses JavaScript or TypeScript as its scripting language. Games made with Phaser are highly performant and easily scalable to any screen size.
File size
A completely empty project made with Phaser is 290KB in size, making it very lightweight and suitable for web deployment.
Mobile support
Phaser is a good pick for mobile web games. It has native support for responsive scaling and touch controls. It's file size is relatively small and it has mobile specific rendering pipelines. The combination of all these features will make sure your project is easily distributed on mobile web and can run well on older and newer devices alike, regardless of internet speed.
2D capabilities
Packed in with Phaser are a lot of features to support developers making a 2D game. For example, Phaser has scene graphs, mesh and text rendering, multitouch support, extensive accessibility features (such as screen reader compatibility) and more. On the animation front, Phaser can use sprite-based animations, tween motions and Spine 3 and 4.
3D capabilities
Natively, 3D is not supported by Phaser. There are third party plug-ins available that can help you set up a 3D game in Phaser however.
Multiplayer
Phaser is able to connect with back-ends from popular services such as Colyseus, Firebase, Socket.io and Nakama.
Team collaboration
Since Phaser is a framework, it has no custom editor. This means you can work with the IDE of your choice, but there is no integrated setup for version control or a dedicated graphical environment.
Licensing
Phaser is distributed under the MIT license, meaning usage of the engine and commercialisation of works made with Phaser is completely free.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Phaser is capable of:
- Stick Merge by TinyDobbins
- Murder by Studio Seufz
- Raft Wars by Martijn Kunst
Cocos Creator enables the creation of cross-platform 2D and 3D games. The engine provides a visual editor for designing game scenes, a powerful scripting language (JavaScript or TypeScript), and a comprehensive set of tools for animation, physics, and UI development. Cocos Creator is known for its ease of use and efficiency in developing both casual and more complex games.
File size
The file size of an empty Cocos project is 709kb, making it efficient for web deployment.
Mobile support
With small export file sizes, support for touch controls and options to responsively scale your games, Cocos Creator is a good fit for games on the (mobile) web.
2D capabilities
Cocos Creator supports both 2D and 3D games. For 2D games, it features built-in components for UI, animations, tilemaps, particle system and more. Box2D is used for 2D physics.
3D capabilities
For 3D games, Cocos Creator has options for glTF 2.0 and FBX support, material system, PBR rendering, image based lighting, light maps, different render pipelines (Forward, Deferred, Custom), post processing, Animation Graph, particle effects, terrain, localization and more. Cocos can use Bullet Physics and PhysX physics.
Team collaboration
Cocos Creator has an extendable editor with in-engine animation, terrain and particle editors. The Cocos store has a lot of tutorials, extensions and other helpful options available to help you on your way with the engine. On top of this, its possible to integrate Git or other version tracking programs into your Cocos project to work together with your team.
Licensing
Cocos Creator is free to use. No license fee or royalty payments are required to release games made with this engine.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Cocos Creator is capable of:
- Merge Arena by Easycats
- Kawaii Fruits 3D by Okashi Games
- TinyTownRacing by Vkrishna
Based on the Haxe scripting language, Stencyl is a editor and engine supporting mostly 2D games. Its visual coding setup and graphical Scene Designer makes working with Stencyl more a process of clicking your game together, rather than typing scripts.
File size
A small initial file size combined with touch control support and the built-in option to scale your game to landscape makes Stencyl a good choice for mobile (web) games.
Mobile support
Currently limited functionality for portrait orientation but being improved on. The engine provides good support for landscape mode and touch controls.
2D capabilities
Stencyl supports 2D games in sidescrolling and isometric layouts. Natively, Stencyl supports Box2D for physics, but if needed this system can be swapped out for a more simple system. It also supports tweens and classic frame-based animations.
3D capabilities
Stencyl has no 3D capabilities.
Multiplayer
Stencyl does not support online multiplayer.
Team collaboration
Stencyl games can be made entirely without code in the Stencyl editor. Instead, a graphical editor is used to click different types of behavior together. This more visual approach to programming can make it easier for team members to get into the development. The built-in Scene Designer is also quite close to Photoshop, sharing a similar layout and selection of tools. Team members that are already familiar with visual editing software should be able to find their way in the Stencyl editor quite easily. Integration with a versioning control system is possible, but not natively supported in Stencyl.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Stencyl is capable of:
- Level Devil by Unept
- Jumping Shell by Robert Alvarez
- Poor Bunny by Adventure Islands
GameMaker is an engine that works with GML (GameMaker Language) as its scripting language. Its extensive editor contains a lot of tools and features that help developers realise their 2D game concepts.
File size
An empty project made with GameMaker will have a compressed export size of 450-550kb.
Mobile support
With support for touch controls, responsive scaling and a small initial file size, games made with GameMaker are perfect to be played on mobile and desktop devices of any kind with any type of internet speed.
2D capabilities
If you're working on a 2D project, GameMaker is a great engine to consider. Being primarily focused on 2D development, this engine offers all tools you need. It also has extensive animation capabilities such as spine imports, SWF imports, animation curves and timeline animations. It also uses its own custom physics system based on Box2D.
3D capabilities
GameMaker is less suited for making 3D games. Some basic features are available, such as shaders, matrices and vertex buffers. These can help create interesting visual styles for your game, but require a lot of know-how to make a fully fledged 3D game with.
Team collaboration
The GameMaker IDE contains shortcuts and quick actions for Git, allowing you to quickly and easily safe and share your progress with your team. The visual part of the editor makes it possible to do the coding and graphical work in the same place.
Have a look at some of the games to see what GameMaker is capable of:
- Retro Bowl by New Star Games
- Iron Snout by SnoutUp Games
- Driftwave by Jamie Rowan x RowanFuture
Three.js is a powerful 3D graphics framework for the web. It provides a high-level API for creating and manipulating 3D graphics using WebGL, making it easier to create complex 3D visualizations and games in the browser.
File size
Three.js core library is around 580KB minified, and you can further reduce the size by only importing the specific modules you need. A basic scene setup can be as small as 150KB.
Mobile support
Three.js works well on mobile devices with WebGL support. It includes touch event handling and responsive viewport management. Performance optimization for mobile devices requires careful consideration of polygon count and shader complexity.
3D capabilities
As a specialized 3D framework, Three.js offers comprehensive 3D features including advanced materials, lighting, shadows, post-processing effects, and support for various 3D model formats (glTF, FBX, OBJ). It includes a powerful animation system and physics can be added through libraries like Ammo.js or Cannon.js.
2D capabilities
While primarily focused on 3D, Three.js can handle 2D content through orthographic cameras and sprites. However, for purely 2D games, other frameworks might be more suitable.
Multiplayer
Three.js itself doesn't include multiplayer functionality, but it can be integrated with WebSocket or WebRTC solutions. The lightweight nature of Three.js scene data makes it suitable for real-time multiplayer synchronization.
Team collaboration
Being a JavaScript framework, Three.js projects can use standard web development workflows and version control systems. The modular nature of Three.js code makes it suitable for team development, though you'll need to establish your own project structure and build pipeline.
Licensing
Three.js is released under the MIT license, making it free to use in both personal and commercial projects without any royalty fees or restrictions.
Have a look at some of the games to see what Three.js is capable of:
- Slope by Rob Kay
- Tunnel Rush by Deer Cat
- Color Tunnel by Deer Cat
LittleJS 是一个轻量级、快速且功能丰富的 HTML5 游戏引擎。它专为性能而设计，具有简洁易用的 API，特别适合 2D 游戏开发和快速游戏原型设计。
文件大小
LittleJS 核心库仅有约 30KB (压缩后)，是市场上最轻量级的游戏引擎之一，非常适合需要快速加载的 Web 游戏。
移动端支持
LittleJS 内置支持移动设备，包括触摸控制和自动缩放功能。其轻量级设计使其在各种移动设备上表现良好，即使在网络条件较差的情况下也能快速加载。
2D 功能
尽管体积小，LittleJS 提供了丰富的 2D 游戏开发功能，包括高效的渲染系统、物理引擎、粒子系统、声音管理和输入处理。它支持精灵动画和基础的碰撞检测，足以创建各种类型的 2D 游戏。
3D 功能
LittleJS 主要专注于 2D 游戏开发，不原生支持 3D 功能。如果需要 3D 功能，可能需要考虑其他游戏引擎。
多人游戏
LittleJS 本身不提供多人游戏功能，但由于其轻量级设计和灵活性，可以相对容易地与如 Socket.io 等第三方网络库集成来实现多人游戏功能。
团队协作
作为一个框架，LittleJS 没有自己的编辑器，开发者可以使用任何喜欢的 IDE 或代码编辑器。这提供了灵活性，但也意味着团队需要自行建立版本控制和协作流程。
许可证
LittleJS 使用 MIT 许可证发布，允许免费使用和商业化。这意味着可以自由地使用、修改和分发引擎，以及商业化使用 LittleJS 创建的游戏，无需支付任何费用。
Have a look at some of the games to see what LittleJS is capable of:
- Space Huggers by Frank Force
- LittleJS Demo by Frank Force
H5Tiny 是一个专为移动网页游戏优化的超轻量级引擎，专注于高性能和小体积，特别适合需要快速加载的休闲游戏和小游戏平台。
文件大小
H5Tiny 是目前最轻量级的游戏引擎之一，核心库仅有 20KB（压缩后），空项目约 50KB，这使其特别适合需要快速加载的小游戏和移动网页游戏。
移动端支持
H5Tiny 专为移动设备设计，提供优秀的触摸控制支持和自动适配屏幕大小的功能。它针对低端移动设备进行了特别优化，确保在各种移动平台上都能流畅运行，并且加载速度极快。
2D 功能
尽管体积小，H5Tiny 提供了足够的 2D 游戏开发功能，包括精灵渲染、基础动画系统、简单的物理引擎和碰撞检测。它专注于提供最核心的功能，而不是过多的复杂特性，适合快速开发简单的 2D 游戏。
3D 功能
H5Tiny 不支持 3D 功能，它完全专注于 2D 游戏开发和优化。如果需要 3D 功能，建议选择其他支持 3D 的游戏引擎。
多人游戏
H5Tiny 本身不提供内置的多人游戏功能，但由于其轻量级特性，可以较容易地与第三方网络库如 Socket.io 或 WebRTC 集成，实现基本的多人游戏功能。
团队协作
H5Tiny 是一个框架而非编辑器，开发者可以使用任何喜欢的 IDE 和版本控制系统。它的简洁设计使得团队成员更容易理解整个代码库，有利于小团队协作开发小型游戏项目。
许可证
H5Tiny 采用 MIT 许可证，允许免费使用和商业化。开发者可以自由地使用、修改和分发引擎，以及将用 H5Tiny 开发的游戏商业化，不需要支付任何许可费用。
Have a look at some of the games to see what H5Tiny is capable of:
- Puzzle Pop by TinyGames
- Speed Runner by MiniPlay Studios