Book Image

Game Development with Three.js

By : Isaac Sukin
Book Image

Game Development with Three.js

By: Isaac Sukin

Overview of this book

The advent of WebGL and its inclusion in many browsers enabled JavaScript programs running in a web browser to access the GPU without a plugin or extension. Three.js is a next generation high-level library that makes it possible to author complex 3D computer animations that display in the browser using nothing more than a simple text editor. The development of these new tools has opened up the world of real-time 3D computer animations to a far broader spectrum of developers. Starting with how to build 3D games on the web using the Three.js graphics library, you will learn how to build 3D worlds with meshes, lighting, user interaction, physics, and more. Along the way, you'll learn how to build great online games through fun examples. Use this book as a guide to embrace the next generation of game development! Moving on from the basics, you will learn how to use Three.js to build game worlds using its core components, including renderers, geometries, materials, lighting, cameras, and scenes. Following on from this, you will learn how to work with mouse and keyboard interactions, incorporate game physics, and import custom models and animations. You will also learn how to include effects like particles, sounds, and post-processing. You will start by building a 3D world, and then create a first person shooter game using it. You will then be shown how to imbue this FPS game with a “capture the flag” gameplay objective. With Game Development with Three.js, you will be able to build 3D games on the Web using the Three.js graphics library.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

First-person shooter project


Let's write a real game! This project will be bigger than any others we've done, so let's start by specifying exactly what to accomplish. We're going to build an arena-based first-person shooter game with the following features:

  • A world based on a voxel map

  • A player that can look, run, and jump around in the world

  • Pointer lock and full-screen, so that the player is fully immersed as in a desktop or console game

  • The player should be able to shoot at enemies that wander around, and the enemies should shoot back

  • The player's and enemies' health should deteriorate when shot, and players should respawn when they run out of health

  • The player's screen should flash red when shot

  • There should be a HUD (heads-up display) with crosshairs and a health indicator

  • We do not care much about lighting or texturing, except that the player must be able to see and perceive distances in depth

Note

The complete code is too long to include here, but you can download it online from your account...