HTML5 as a game platform

October 8, 2010 · by Aleksander Aas

Dominic Szablewski wanted to prove that HTML5 could be used as a fully functional game platform. With JavaScript, Canvas, the new audio tag and a bit of time on his hand he created this pretty cool proof of concept game called Biolab Disaster.

What makes this game so cool isn't the fact that it's made completely out of HTML5 or highly addictive, but we are pretty sure most people playing it won't even notice that this isn't your average run of the mill Flash game. Using Opera that is, just take a look at the frames per second:

Go to Dominic's site Phoboslab to play the game. Thanks to Al Garcia for sharing!

Update

This game is now also available in this awesome Opera Widget!

Readers' comments 38

Left under the original article, as archived.

Sami SerolaFriday, October 8, 2010 8:50:29 AM
Awesome Me like this http://files.myopera.com/serola/smilies/trillian_dance.gif -
TamilFriday, October 8, 2010 8:58:45 AM
Artur „Jurgi” JurgawkaFriday, October 8, 2010 9:10:26 AM
Wow, the game is amazing!
ouzowtfFriday, October 8, 2010 9:16:28 AM
I played it like two weeks ago, quite funny and awesome skills used.
Aleksander AasFriday, October 8, 2010 9:16:48 AM
It's awesome. I forgot to credit Al Garcia with the discovery, fixed now!
Marek NowickiFriday, October 8, 2010 9:49:00 AM
WOW! Amazing!
Blaz(ž) PristavFriday, October 8, 2010 10:01:48 AM
That's funny it's not loading in my Chromium
SaskatchewanFriday, October 8, 2010 10:08:39 AM
Nice!
But I had to turn my single-key shortcuts off to play it .
PengeFriday, October 8, 2010 10:36:31 AM
One of the best HTML5 game... and it doesn't work in 10.70.
berend ytsmaFriday, October 8, 2010 11:06:13 AM
html5 games http://www.phpguru.org/html5-examples#html5.canvas.examples
Uncle MickFriday, October 8, 2010 11:18:49 AM
http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Applause.gif - Briliant, and I actually finished the game, which is rare.
JoelFriday, October 8, 2010 11:33:29 AM
is a awesome game, is cool and the best thing there is no flash
KadaeFriday, October 8, 2010 1:29:58 PM
Wow, вот это шедевр.
Dustin WilsonFriday, October 8, 2010 1:50:05 PM
Yeah. Plays great in 10.6x, but fails miserably in 10.70.
Mayur S. KhuntFriday, October 8, 2010 2:47:52 PM
Really an amazing game. Very nice and fun
sleepyheadFriday, October 8, 2010 3:04:23 PM
Not working at all in 10.70, build 9053 under XP
So sadly no play for me...
IusedtobeOFriday, October 8, 2010 3:20:19 PM
10.70 MacOS 10.6.4 just black and white, not really workin.
3gleep3Friday, October 8, 2010 3:36:27 PM
worked pretty good on firefox will try opera later
LёppaFriday, October 8, 2010 4:02:16 PM
Opera 10.70 build 9047 - I only get a lot of light rectangles on dark background. Seems like "textures" not being loaded :-(
Charles SchlossFriday, October 8, 2010 4:56:24 PM

very fun to play

Edit: just beat it, tho very fun to play still will play again
Joel SpadinFriday, October 8, 2010 5:06:29 PM
Originally posted by leppa:

Seems like "textures" not being loaded

The devs are aware of it though, so a fix should be coming eventually.
FelixFriday, October 8, 2010 5:57:59 PM
Canvas-based games are already commonplace. Games as well-made as this one are not. That's just the kind of accomplishment we need to prove HTML5 is here and ready. Excellent work.
Al GarciaFriday, October 8, 2010 6:06:01 PM
Wow, I got featured (somehow) on Choose Opera! Thanks for linking back to my blog, and to the Opera team for making such a great browser. Kudos!
d4rkn1ghtFriday, October 8, 2010 6:15:12 PM
NimeshFriday, October 8, 2010 8:58:04 PM
nice game
worked very well on Opera
did not load on IE9 beta
João EirasFriday, October 8, 2010 9:33:21 PM
The level editor is the most impressive part.
Pablo MendozaSaturday, October 9, 2010 3:35:15 AM
Michael A. Puls IISaturday, October 9, 2010 5:21:12 AM
In Opera, the rendering performance is awesome, but the audio performance is absolutely horrible. It keeps stuttering and echoing. In Firefox latest trunk, the rendering is just a little bit jerky, but the audio is perfect.

Given that, I prefer Firefox's experience. The audio in Opera just ruins it.

Opera's problem is probably too small of a sound buffer. I filed it as DSK-288067 a while ago.
ZodiusSaturday, October 9, 2010 6:07:58 PM
Is there any chance of updating Nintendo DSi brower so that awesomeness like this works there?
Robert HurleySaturday, October 9, 2010 9:42:22 PM
I'd like to learn more about HTML5
Charles SchlossSaturday, October 9, 2010 10:32:06 PM
Basic info on what HTML 5 is so far http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
Idan AdarMonday, October 11, 2010 9:52:42 AM
Someone tell the developer the graphics fail in 10.7 builds.
KarenTuesday, October 12, 2010 2:56:22 AM
Absolute awesomeness!!!
Aleksander AasTuesday, October 12, 2010 7:00:20 AM
Originally posted by YtseJam:

Someone tell the developer the graphics fail in 10.7 builds.

There is a confirmed issue with this and 10.70. It's being looked into!
Aleksander AasTuesday, October 12, 2010 7:40:21 AM
Updated the post as it's also available as a Opera Widget!
Uncle MickTuesday, October 12, 2010 9:25:48 AM
Originally posted by Aleksander:

available as a Opera Widget

http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Yahoo.gif -
AdrianPMFriday, October 15, 2010 6:51:57 PM
Excellent game!http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/ThumbsUp.gif -
RunninglVlanSunday, October 17, 2010 2:29:12 PM
Yeah, I just finished the game, 'cause I only recently found out that I can play it without sound problems using my usb headphones. Well, that was a nice experience, but I still have some lags with sound when the huge effects like the last - explosion of the biolab happen. =D