Book Image

Going the Distance with Babylon.js

By : Josh Elster
Book Image

Going the Distance with Babylon.js

By: Josh Elster

Overview of this book

Babylon.js allows anyone to effortlessly create and render 3D content in a web browser using the power of WebGL and JavaScript. 3D games and apps accessible via the web open numerous opportunities for both entertainment and profit. Developers working with Babylon.js will be able to put their knowledge to work with this guide to building a fully featured 3D game. The book provides a hands-on approach to implementation and associated methodologies that will have you up and running, and productive in no time. Complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts, practical examples, and links to fully working self-contained code snippets, you’ll start by learning about Babylon.js and the finished Space-Truckers game. You’ll also explore the development workflows involved in making the game. Focusing on a wide range of features in Babylon.js, you’ll iteratively add pieces of functionality and assets to the application being built. Once you’ve built out the basic game mechanics, you’ll learn how to bring the Space-Truckers environment to life with cut scenes, particle systems, animations, shadows, PBR materials, and more. By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to structure your code, organize your workflow processes, and continuously deploy to a static website/PWA a game limited only by bandwidth and your imagination.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Part 1: Building the Application
7
Part 2: Constructing the Game
13
Part 3: Going the Distance

Setting up the Environment

Effective software development relies on being able to confidently introduce changes to an application’s construction. Confidence in introducing, changing, or removing code comes from a) being able to run the code using the new changes, and b) through not being in a position where undoing changes imposes risks of its own. Let’s park that thought for a moment to back up and start from the beginning.

Preparatory Steps

The a priori assumption going into this step is that you have Git, VSCode, Node.js, and NPM all set up and ready to go. A linting tool such as ESLint is also recommended. If you know what you’re doing, go ahead and get those tools set up and configured now. No rush, it’s just the rest of the book that’s waiting is all – this has been speculated to go faster if you work while humming The Girl from Ipanema to yourself. VSCode has a rich ecosystem of extensions that can make your life easier. Here is...