To start making desktop, browser, and mobile game apps in JavaScript with codeheart.js:

  1. Download play.html and game.js to a folder on your computer. Do not change the filenames.
  2. Load play.html in your web browser.
  3. Edit game.js in any plain text editor, such as TextEdit or Notepad. If you use a programmer's editor, then your code will be easier to indent and read. The Atom editor works well with Javascript and is free for OS X, Windows, and Linux.
  4. Reload the browser page to see your changes.
  5. Read the JavaScript Cheat Sheet, Reference documentation, and list of reserved words when you need a refresher; or read an Introduction to JavaScript for Sophisticated Programmers.
To make another game, just download it again to another directory. Do not rename any of the files.

You can register for e-mail announcements of new releases in the codeheart Google Group.

codeheart.js supports the following web browsers: Safari 5.1.5+, Internet Explorer 9.0+, Firefox 12.0+, Chrome 18.0+, and iOS Safari 5.0+ (iPhone/iPad/iPod) on all operating systems.

The game library requires a network connection so that it can keep itself up to date. To develop or deploy your game without a network connection, just expand the contents of codeheartjs.zip into the same directory as your game, or the parent of that directory if you want to share one installation over multiple games. To use the advanced online (network) features of codeheart.js, you need to run a relay server with relay.js under Node.js.

Younger programmers may want to start with the TurtleScript layer for codeheart.js before moving on to games.

codeheart.js is an open source (BSD) JavaScript and HTML5 framework designed and implemented by Morgan McGuire. Lily Riopelle at Williams College contributed to early versions of the library.