In the dawn of video game history, we had titles like “Pong” and “Space Invaders.” They were rudimentary but significant for the future, helping the industry shift from novelty to worldwide sensation and paving the road for bigger ideas and better technology. Now, video games like “Ghost of Tsushima” and “Red Dead Redemption 2” boast graphics that are almost indistinguishable from real life — and at the heart of it all is the video game development process.
Taking a look under a video game’s hood and studying its source code can be beneficial if you want to hone your programming skills or are learning the coding languages most often used in gaming, such as Python, JavaScript, and C++. To help you get started, we’ve prepared a list of HTML games and CSS games. The source code on these HTML games can be modified or analyzed to help you understand video game development concepts. Similarly, the CSS games on this list were especially designed to help you grasp CSS concepts.
How Can a Game Help Your Coding Skills?
It’s all about the source code! A video game’s source code is essentially the instructions a computer uses to run a game. For instance, if a certain weapon in HTML games does specific damage, there are instructions for that. Or, if enemies move a certain way in CSS games, the source code denotes how that movement is possible. By studying source code, identifying instructions, and experimenting with it, you’ll take a hands-on and fun approach that will enable you to learn to code, hone your skills, and even help you discover tools that you didn’t know existed.
Let’s say you’re having trouble with CSS, a language used to make web page content visually appealing. Its Flexbox Layout, used to arrange items in rows and columns, is something you can’t really wrap your head around. Fortunately, a CSS game called “Flexbox Froggy” does an excellent job at explaining CSS and Flexbox in a fun and interactive way! As you learn more about coding languages through a game’s source code, you’ll be better prepared to take your newfound skills to the next level.
The following HTML games and CSS games have free source code, which means you’re free to inspect and modify them.
1. Clumsy Bird
Back in 2014, a game known as “Flappy Bird” took the mobile gaming world by storm. Initially released in 2013, the game let players control a bird as it flew through obstacle-ridden levels. “Clumsy Bird,” created by a developer known as Ellison Leão, is a direct replica of “Flappy Bird” and developed with melonJS, an HTML5 game engine.
https://ellisonleao.github.io/clumsy-bird
2. Flexbox Froggy
As the name suggests, “Flexbox Froggy” is a CSS game designed to help players learn more about Flexbox properties. Developed by Codepip, a platform dedicated to code education through games, “Flexbox Froggy” has 24 different levels and covers Flexbox properties such as:
- align-items
- justify-content
- align-content
- flex-direction
- flex-wrap
- flex-flow
- order
3. Pacman Canvas
“Pacman Canvas” is about as classic as it gets. The original game (“Pac-Mac”) was released in 1980 and lets players control the titular character as he eats his way through a maze while dodging the game’s antagonists, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. “Pacman Canvas” is an HTML game developed by a developer known as Chregi with HTML5 and JavaScript.
4. Grid Garden
“Grid Garden” is the second CSS game in our list and also developed by Codepip. The game was designed to help players learn CSS Grid Layout, used in web design to arrange pages more efficiently and consistently on different browsers. It contains 24 different levels and covers grid layout properties such as:
- grid-colum-start
- grid-colum-end
- grid-row-start
- grid-row-end
- order
- grid-template
- grid-template-colums
- grid-template-rows
- grid-row
- grid-area
5. Tetris
“Tetris” is one of the most widely recognized games in video game history. Developed in 1984 by Alexey Pajitnov, it challenges players to stack differently shaped pieces on a field. If the pieces reach the top of the field, the game is over. This iteration of the game was created by a developer known as Dionysis Zindros using HTML5 and JavaScript.
