PlayCanvas

Last updated
PlayCanvas
Developer(s) Will Eastcott, Dave Evans, Vaios Kalpias Ilias, Kevin Rooney, Maksims Mihejevs
Repository github.com/playcanvas/engine
Written in JavaScript
Operating system OS independent
Platform Cross-platform
Type HTML5 3D engine
License MIT License
Website playcanvas.com
As ofJuly 2014

PlayCanvas is an open-source [1] 3D game engine/interactive 3D application engine alongside a proprietary cloud-hosted creation platform that allows for simultaneous editing from multiple computers via a browser-based interface. [2] It runs in modern browsers that support WebGL, including Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The engine is capable of rigid-body physics simulation, handling three-dimensional audio and 3D animations.

Contents

PlayCanvas has gained the support of ARM, Activision and Mozilla. [3]

The PlayCanvas engine was open-sourced on June 4, 2014. [4] [5]

In April 2019, BusinessInsider.com reported that the company was acquired by Snap Inc. in 2017. [6]

Features

The PlayCanvas platform has collaborative real-time Editor that allows editing a project by multiple developers simultaneously. [7] The engine supports the WebGL 1.0 and 2.0 standard to produce GPU accelerated 3D graphics and allows for scripting via the JavaScript programming language. [8] Projects can be distributed via a URL web link or packaged in native wrappers, p.g. for Android, using CocoonJS [9] [10] [11] or for Steam using Electron, and many other options and platforms.

Notable PlayCanvas applications

Various companies [12] use PlayCanvas in projects of different disciplines of interactive 3D content in the web.

Disney created an educational game [13] for Hour of Code based on its Moana film.

King published Shuffle Cats Mini, [14] as a launch title for Facebook Instant Games.

TANX [15] massively multiplayer online game of cartoon styled tanks.

Miniclip published number of games [16] [17] on their platform with increase of HTML5 games popularity on the web.

Mozilla collaborated [18] with PlayCanvas team creating After the Flood [19] demo for presenting cutting-edge features of WebGL 2.0.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Flash</span> Discontinued multimedia platform used to add animation and interactivity to websites

Adobe Flash is a discontinued multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich internet applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players.

Web3D, also called 3D Web, is a group of technologies to display and navigate websites using 3D computer graphics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WebGL</span> JavaScript bindings for OpenGL in web browsers

WebGL is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is fully integrated with other web standards, allowing GPU-accelerated usage of physics, image processing, and effects in the HTML canvas. WebGL elements can be mixed with other HTML elements and composited with other parts of the page or page background.

HTML video is a subject of the HTML specification as the standard way of playing video via the web. Introduced in HTML5, it is designed to partially replace the object element and the previous de facto standard of using the proprietary Adobe Flash plugin, though early adoption was hampered by lack of agreement as to which video coding formats and audio coding formats should be supported in web browsers. As of 2020, HTML video is the only widely supported video playback technology in modern browsers, with the Flash plugin being phased out.

A browser speed test is a computer benchmark that scores the performance of a web browser, by measuring the browser's efficiency in completing a predefined list of tasks. In general the testing software is available online, located on a website, where different algorithms are loaded and performed in the browser client. Typical test tasks are rendering and animation, DOM transformations, string operations, mathematical calculations, sorting algorithms, graphic performance tests and memory instructions. Browser speed tests have been used during browser wars to prove superiority of specific web browsers. The popular Acid3 test is no particular speed test but checks browser conformity to web standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Away3D</span>

Away3D is an open-source platform for developing interactive 3D graphics for video games and applications, in Adobe Flash or HTML5. The platform consists of a 3D world editor, a 3D graphics engine, a 3D physics engine and a compressed 3D model file format (AWD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Vukićević</span>

Vladimir Vukićević, is a Serbian-born American software engineer who has worked on many open source projects. He is known mostly for his work on open-source graphics libraries, including those used in the Mozilla project, and for being the creator of WebGL.

BrowserQuest is a free massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by French developer Little Workshop and the Mozilla Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three.js</span> JavaScript library for 3D graphics

Three.js is a cross-browser JavaScript library and application programming interface (API) used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser using WebGL. The source code is hosted in a repository on GitHub.

Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, with only minor exceptions. The community is supported institutionally by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and its tax-paying subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDF.js</span> PDF viewer in JavaScript included in Mozilla Firefox

PDF.js is a JavaScript library that renders Portable Document Format (PDF) files using the web standards-compliant HTML5 Canvas. The project is led by the Mozilla Corporation after Andreas Gal launched it in 2011.

Google Chrome Experiments Online showroom of web browser based experiments

Google Chrome Experiments is an online showroom of web browser-based experiments, interactive programs, and artistic projects. Launched on March 1, 2009, Google Chrome Experiments is an official Google website that was originally meant to test the limits of JavaScript and the Google Chrome browser's performance and abilities. As the project progressed, it took on the role of showcasing and experimenting with the latest open-source web-based technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML, WebGL, Canvas, SVG, and CSS. All the projects on Chrome Experiments are user-submitted and are made using open-source technologies. As of 2024, the website continues to host a growing number of experiments, featuring over 1,500 projects.

stormEngineC JavaScript 3D graphics library

StormEngineC is a free and open-source 3D graphics library written in JavaScript that uses various HTML5 features such as WebGL, WebCL, and WebSockets. The library provides a way to load objects in the OBJ or Collada format and adds them to physical simulations.

asm.js is a subset of JavaScript designed to allow computer software written in languages such as C to be run as web applications while maintaining performance characteristics considerably better than standard JavaScript, which is the typical language used for such applications.

Media Source Extensions (MSE) is a W3C specification that allows JavaScript to send byte streams to media codecs within web browsers that support HTML video and audio. Among other possible uses, this allows the implementation of client-side prefetching and buffering code for streaming media entirely in JavaScript. It is compatible with, but should not be confused with, the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) specification, and neither requires the use of the other, although many EME implementations are only capable of decrypting media data provided via MSE.

CocoonJS was a mobile development framework produced by Ludei, a San Francisco-based startup founded by serial entrepreneur Eneko Knörr. It enables software developers to build mobile apps using JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3, instead of device-specific languages such as Objective-C. It enables wrapping up of HTML, CSS and Javascript code depending upon the platform of the device. It extends the features of HTML and Javascript to work with the device. The platform is similar to Adobe PhoneGap but claims significant improvements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenFL</span> Software framework for video games

OpenFL is a free and open-source software framework and platform for the creation of multi-platform applications and video games. OpenFL applications can be written in Haxe, JavaScript, or TypeScript, and may be published as standalone applications for several targets including iOS, Android, HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux, WebAssembly, Flash, AIR, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Wii U, TiVo, Raspberry Pi, and Node.js.

Turbulenz was a video game development company based in the United Kingdom, and was focused on HTML5 game development. They created a HTML5 game engine also named Turbulenz. The company published third party video games as well as developing their own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylon.js</span>

Babylon.js is a JavaScript library and 3D engine for displaying real time 3D graphics in a web browser via HTML5. The source code is available on GitHub and distributed under the Apache License 2.0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phaser (game framework)</span> Cross-platform JavaScript video game framework

Phaser is a 2D game framework used for making HTML5 games for desktop and mobile. It is free software developed by Photon Storm.

References

  1. "PlayCanvas goes open source". hacks.mozilla.org. June 4, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  2. "GDC 2014: Mozilla and partners prove Web is the platform for gaming". blog.mozilla.org. March 18, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  3. "Techstars London: Top Picks". techcrunch.com. September 27, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  4. "PlayCanvas 3D WebGL Game Engine Now Open Source". gamingonlinux.com. June 4, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  5. "PlayCanvas takes its WebGL video game engine open source". thenextweb.com. June 4, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  6. Ghosh, Shona. "This tech CEO secretly sold his startup to Snap and spent 2 years building a product that could transform the firm's fortunes". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  7. "PlayCanvas Video Game Making".
  8. "PlayCanvas Browser-Based Game Engine". phoronix.com. June 4, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  9. "Ludei CocoonJS". Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  10. "Ludei CocconJS Tech Partners - Engines". ludei.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  11. "PlayCanvas App On Mobile Using CocoonJS". magicsheepgames.co.uk. October 9, 2013. Archived from the original on September 17, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  12. "Github PlayCanvas Users List". GitHub .
  13. "Disney - Hour of Code - Moana (educational game)".
  14. "Facebook - Shuffle Cats Mini (game)". Facebook .
  15. "TANX (game)".
  16. "Miniclip - Virtual Voodoo (game)".
  17. "Miniclip - Flappy Bird (game)".
  18. "Mozilla launching WebGL 2.0 support in Firefox".
  19. "After the Flood (webgl 2.0 demo)".