Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting Started with
WebGL Game Development
We are in 5000 AD and you are wired in to your browser. Rivers have dried up
and you are under constant attack by the mutated human race. You are the only
hope. You have this topic, and your tool is
WebGL
, a JavaScript API for rendering
interactive 3D and 2D graphics. Your ancestors, the non-profit technology
consortium Khronos Group, gave you this technology. This topic has recipes to add
rain when you need water, add trees when you need food, generate weapons to fight
the mutated Mr. Red, and create your own army of beasts to defend your city. You
know the technology that you have is powered by the GPU and is lightning fast. All
you need are the recipes.
Wait, hold on a second. Are you a 3D expert? If not, let me teleport you to the current
year so you can read this chapter, else stay wired in and move on to
Chapter 2
,
Colors
and Shading Language
.
Since you are reading on, let's focus on the 3D terms that you need to understand for
using the recipes in this topic. This chapter will cover the following topics:
•
Understanding WebGL
•
Understanding basic 3D mathematics
•
Learning the basics of 3D graphics
•
Understanding WebGL's rendering pipeline
•
A walkthrough of the WebGL API
•
The structuring of a WebGL application and learning shaders for debugging
your application
