Within the next few years, WebAssembly will change the web as we know it. It promises a world where you can write an application for the web in any language, and compile it for native platforms as well as the web.
This book is designed to introduce web developers and game developers to the world of WebAssembly by walking through the development of a retro arcade game. You will learn how to build a WebAssembly application using C++, Emscripten, JavaScript, WebGL, SDL, and HTML5.
This book covers a lot of ground in both game development and web application development. When creating a game or application that targets WebAssembly, developers need to learn a plethora of skills and tools. This book is a sample platter of those tools and skills. It covers topics including Emscripten, C/C++, WebGL, OpenGL, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. The reader will also learn basic techniques for game development, including 2D sprite animation, particle systems, 2D camera design, sound effects, 2D game physics, user interface design, shaders, debugging, and optimization. By the end of the book, you will be able to create simple web games and web applications targeting WebAssembly.
Build web applications with near-native performance using WebAssembly
Become familiar with how web applications can be used to create games using HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, and SDL
Become well versed with game development concepts such as sprites, animation, particle systems, AI, physics, camera design, sound effects, and shaders
Deploy C/C++ applications to the browser using WebAssembly and Emscripten
Understand how Emscripten HTML shell templates, JavaScript glue code, and a WebAssembly module interact
Debug and performance tune your WebAssembly application
Game developers interested in deploying their games to the web
Web developers interested in creating applications that are potentially orders of magnitude faster than their existing JavaScript web apps
C/C++ developers interested in using their existing skills to deploy applications to the web