Gamedev.js Weekly #34

Articles

My tips on how to plan a game, stay motivated and get it finished
The question of how to motivate oneself or finish a huge project is a very common question here. I wanted to share my personal methods.
V4nKw15h at Reddit

4 Game Design Lessons We Can Learn From Shovel Knight
Released after successfully finding funding on Kickstarter, Shovel Knight was one of the most highly anticipated indie games of the summer.
Paul Suddaby at Tuts+ Game Development

How To Balance An RPG
The most important high-level goal with any choice the player makes is that they feel good.
Josh Sawyer at Kotaku

Why make a game a week? Learning game development in public Exclusive
At first I felt horrible because all my ideas were dumb, instead of feeling good that I was accomplishing things.
Leigh Alexander at Gamasutra

Tips to Slash Game Loading Time by 87%... Without Giving Up On Quality
When we first got Galaxy Force it was taking 32 seconds to load. Here’s how we got it to four seconds.
Scott Johnston at Spil Games

Reasons To Use HTML5 For Developing Games & Other Applications
These days, lots of developers prefer to develop mobile games and apps using HTML5 because of its flexibility. However, there are various other reasons of using HTML5 for mobile games and apps development.
Mobile Tech Force Blog

Clay.io update: Games Load 2 to 3 times Faster
We’ve been pretty quiet lately on the blog – mostly because we’ve been busy working on some big new things for Clay (more on that soon).
Austin at Clay.io blog

Will the indie games market crash and burn?
The market for indie games has changed beyond all recognition since I started.
Cliffski's blog

Tutorials

Hosting HTML5 games on Google Drive
Being able to quickly upload a HTML5 game to the web is important.
YellowAfterlife blog

Get started with Pixi.js
Mat Groves explains how to use 2D renderer Pixi.js to seamlessly deliver interactive content across different devices and browsers.
Mat Groves at Creative Bloq

HTML5 Phaser Tutorial – SpaceHipster, A Space Exploration Game
They say space is the final frontier. We haven’t got very far when it comes to exploring it, but what if you could bypass this sad reality by playing a retro-style space exploration game called SpaceHipster?
Fariazz at GameDev Academy

Upgrading to melonJS 1.0
With the release of melonJS 1.0.0, is time to conduct a upgrade to this new version of the engine, packed with several new features.
Andre Antonio Schmitz at Cian Games

Competitions

The js13k submit form is online
You can upvote Reddit or Hacker News threads.
 

Tools

EPSy Particle system for Pixi and Phaser

New Transform Aliases in Kiwi.js v1.1.0

Hexels is a brand new, grid-based art program that lets you paint with shapes

Resources

Free firearm sound effects, no strings attached

Scirra's new 2D royalty free asset store