kaboom

Kaboom is a JavaScript library that helps you make games fast and fun!
Start playing around with it in the Kaboom Playground

Examples

// initialize context
kaboom()

// define gravity
setGravity(2400)

// load a sprite called "bean"
loadSprite("bean", "sprites/bean.png")

// compose the player game object from multiple components and add it to the game
const bean = add([
    sprite("bean"),
    pos(80, 40),
    area(),
    body(),
])

// press space to jump
onKeyPress("space", () => {
    // this method is provided by the "body" component above
    bean.jump()
})

Kaboom uses a powerful component system to compose game objects and behaviors.

// add a game obj to the scene from a list of component
const player = add([
    // it renders as a sprite
    sprite("bean"),
    // it has a position
    pos(100, 200),
    // it has a collider
    area(),
    // it is a physical body which will respond to physics
    body(),
    // it has 8 of health
    health(8),
    // or give it tags for easier group behaviors
    "player",
    "friendly",
    // plain objects fields are directly assigned to the game obj
    {
        dir: vec2(-1, 0),
        dead: false,
        speed: 240,
    },
])

Blocky imperative syntax for describing behaviors

// .onCollide() comes from "area" component
player.onCollide("enemy", () => {
    // .hurt() comes from "health" component
    player.hurt(1)
})

// check fall death
player.onUpdate(() => {
    if (player.pos.y >= height()) {
        destroy(player)
        gameOver()
    }
})

// if 'player' onCollide with any object with tag "enemy", run the callback
player.onCollide("enemy", () => {
    player.hp -= 1
})

// all objects with tag "enemy" will move towards 'player' every frame
onUpdate("enemy", (e) => {
    e.move(player.pos.sub(e.pos).unit().scale(e.speed))
})

// move up 100 pixels per second every frame when "w" key is held down
onKeyDown("w", () => {
    player.move(0, 100)
})

Usage

Start a Project With create-kaboom

The fastest way to start a Kaboom game is with create-kaboom

$ npm init kaboom mygame

This will create a directory called mygame for you, containing all the files we need

$ cd mygame
$ npm run dev

Then open http://localhost:5173 and edit src/game.js

Install as NPM Package

$ npm install kaboom

import kaboom from "kaboom"

kaboom()

add([
    text("oh hi"),
    pos(80, 40),
])

also works with CommonJS

const kaboom = require("kaboom")

Note that you'll need to use a bundler like esbuild or webpack to use Kaboom with NPM

Browser CDN

This exports a global kaboom function

<script src="https://unpkg.com/kaboom@3000.0.1/dist/kaboom.js"></script>
<script>
kaboom()
</script>

or use with es modules

<script type="module">
import kaboom from "https://unpkg.com/kaboom@3000.0.1/dist/kaboom.mjs"
kaboom()
</script>

works all CDNs that supports NPM packages, e.g. jsdelivr, skypack

Documentation

• v3000: https://kaboomjs.com/
• v2000: https://2000.kaboomjs.com/
• v0.5.0: https://legacy.kaboomjs.com/

Dev

1. npm install to install dev packages
2. npm run dev to start dev server
3. go to http://localhost:8000/ and pick an example
4. edit examples in examples/ to test

Check out CONTRIBUTION.md for full info.

Community

• Discord Server
• GitHub Discussions
• Twitter

Games

Collection of games made with Kaboom, selected by Kaboom, here.

• on Itch.io
• on Replit
• on Newgrounds

Misc

• Thanks to LaJBel for help building the Kaboom community
• Thanks to abrudz for the amazing APL386 font
• Thanks to Polyducks for the amazing kitchen sink font font
• Thanks to 0x72 for the amazing Dungeon Tileset
• Thanks to Kenney for the amazing 1-Bit Platformer Pack
• Thanks to mulfok for the amazing mulfok32 color palette
• Find bitmap fonts: Oldschool PC Font
• Featured on Console 50
• Thanks to Umayr for kindly offering the "kaboom" npm package name
• Please buy fireworks on kaboom.com
• How to do a KABOOM on a Trampoline