Newsletter – Issue 027

📆 2025-08-13

🔥 Headlines

Apple shipped WebGPU support in Safari 26 beta. It should be rolled out to iPhones in mid-September. Mozilla also shipped support in Firefox 141 on Windows, which is already live!

PlayCanvas open-sourced their Editor’s Frontend. You cannot run the full editor locally since it requires the backend part too, but having its frontend open-sourced allows the community to contribute, fork it, customize it, and get a better understanding of how it works.

Elysian (web version) by Felix Z is the first WebXR PWA to land in the Meta Horizon Store. 👏

⭐️ Sponsors

With 90M+ monthly players and full marketing support, Poki lets devs focus on making great games. Poki supports game developers in reaching a wide audience with HTML5 games and is continually evolving the variety of web games available, from casual point-and-click games to multiplayer FPS shooters and everything in between. Share your game with us!

Check out this Discord post to get access to our new Playtest feature. It allows you to get free and unlimited playtests of your game with our players! Learn more about Poki.

CrazyGames is revolutionizing web gaming, connecting over 3,000 developers with 40+ million players monthly. Our platform supports both ads and in-app purchases, paying out millions in revenue share to developers each year while fostering one of the most vibrant player communities worldwide. Publish your game on CrazyGames!

We’re heading to Gamescom in Cologne and would love to meet fellow web game devs! Whether you’re already publishing with us or curious about how we can help scale your game’s reach and revenue, come say hi! Feel free to schedule a meeting with us.

Rosebud AI is transforming game development, turning ideas into playable prototypes in minutes, not months. Our AI-powered platform helps thousands of developers rapidly create 2D and 3D games using frameworks like Three.js and Phaser. With our template library, one-click sharing, and instant deployment, go from concept to playable game faster than ever.

Join our Discord to collaborate, share knowledge, and push the boundaries of AI-assisted game creation. Whether you’re a solo dev or in a larger team, Rosebud AI gives you the tools to prototype and iterate at the speed of imagination. Start building your next game today!

🏎 Engines

Three.js r179 – See the announcement (changelog, migration guide).
Drei Vanilla v1.23.0 and previous – Stars, Sparkles, CameraShake.
R3F v9.3.0 – Fix flushSync (forces React to flush updates immediately) and React Native support.
Drei v10.6.0 and previous – CameraControls updates, export RoundedBoxGeometry.
TresJS 5.0.0-next – A major update that includes WebGPU support is in the works.
PlayCanvas Engine v2.10.0, 2.9.0, and 2.8.0 – Faster load times, SOGS-based gaussian splats, 3D gaussian splat performance upgrades, new high-level camera controls API, WebGPU Indirect Draw support, 100% of GLSL ported to WGSL, KHR_materials_anisotropy, new custom shader API, custom LUT color correction.
PlayCanvas React v0.4.0 – Adds useFrame and Screen.
Babylon.js – Node Particle Editor (video, docs).
Wonderland Engine 1.4.0 – GI Probe Volumes, Reverse-Z, Array Properties.
Needle 4.5 – Custom file types, change QR code URL, contact shadow updates, transparent loading screen.
PixiJS 8.12.0, 8.11.0, 8.10.0 – Split text, baked text filters and trimming, PixiJS Layout v3.1.0, and bug fixes.
Phaser – See the Phaser Mega Update.
Kaplay – See the State of Kaplay #5.
Construct r450 – WebGPU enabled by default.
🤺 Rapier 0.28.0

🛠 Tools

Three.js Cannon-ES Rigger (video) – Rig cannon-es physics in Blender, by Bandinopla.
material-maker-threejs – Material Maker export target and viewer for Three.js by celestialmaze.
Three.js Resources – A curated list of resources for Three.js by Peter Csipkay.
pmndrs/viverse – Three.js and React Three Fiber toolkit for HTC’s Viverse by Bela Bohlender.
BVHEcctrl (demo) three-mesh-bvh-based character controller, no physics engine required, by Andrew Chen.
Reactylon – XR framework built on Babylon.js and React by Simone De Vittorio.
MaterialX Export for Blender – Add-on to export Blender materials to MaterialX format by Ben Houston.
glTF Compressor (announcement, source) – glTF compression tool by Shopify.
gltf-transform unwrap – Generates new UVs for scenes without UVs, or to bake textures, by Don McCurdy.
⚡️ Octahedral Impostor Baker (repo) – Generate octahedral impostor textures, by Erik.
🏃‍♂️ Mesh2Motion (app, repo) – Open-source alternative to Mixamo by Scott Petrovic.
WebGPUReconstruct – Record WebGPU content and replay as native, by Albin Bernhardsson.
spark.js – Real-time GPU texture compression ($1000 license for indie commercial use), by Ignacio Castaño.
🎨 PixiEditor 2.0 (video, source) – Open source 2D graphics editor by Pixi Labs.
OneJS – JavaScript-first UI Engine for Unity by Singtaa.

🎬 Videos

🎓 Unlocking Creativity with Signed Distance Fields by shader god Inigo Quilez
🎓 Rendering Assassin’s Creed Shadows (it’s about the game, not shadows) by Nicolas Lopez
TypeGPU: Your GPU is a JavaScript runtime by Iwo Plaza
React Native WebGPU, Skia, and Three.js by William Candillon
Portfolio – Devlog 9 by Bruno Simon
An Overview Of Three.js Shading Language (TSL) by Visionary 3D
Three.js Project: TSL Rainbow Shader by Robot Bobby
Create a Minimap in Three.js with React Three Fiber by Wawa Sensei
How to Create a Lenticular Material with TSL and WebGPU by Wawa Sensei
Post-processed TresJS Effects by Alvaro Saburido
Create an Immersive Product Configurator with Threlte by Grischa Erbe
Create Destructible VR Worlds with PlayCanvas + Viverse by Dan Greenheck
Advanced Materials with Three.js and Unity: Clearcoat and Sheen by Felix Herbst
Blender Low-Poly Map Modeling Tutorial (Mana Blade-style) by Verekia
Top Phaser Games from Gamedev.js Jam by Phaser
2D Drift Game with PixiJS and React by VNNCK
Blazing fast JavaScript – Lessons from a Game Engine by Excalibur.js author Erik Onarheim

✍️ Articles

🎮 Games

Combat Online 2 by Nadgames – Multiplayer FPS with various UGC maps.
Digger Escape by Platonov Developer – Collect resources and build a base.
Plonky by Gametornado – Ragdoll physics puzzle platformer.
Dino Miner by monoinyo – Action and idle game with a sword-wielding dinosaur.
circloO XL by Florian van Strien – Relaxing circle-physics puzzle game.
Tanks 3D by Yp3d – Multiplayer tank battle game on a destructible map.
SimplyUp.io by Elanra Studios – Multiplayer parkour game.
Escape From Pizzeria – Roblox-like escape game in a haunted pizzeria.
Crazy Jump Jump Multiplayer by Dinobros – Jumping puzzle game.
Stickman and Guns by Rike Games – 2D multiplayer platform shooter.
Mana Blade by Verekia – 3D MMORPG where you fight invading demons.
Drift.io by Slipstream Games – Car game with racing and battle modes.
Bloxd.io – Minecraft-like sandbox game with community maps and various modes.
Carillion by Tiaratum Games – 3D Crillion-like puzzle game.
Poxel.io by Legion Games – 3D multiplayer FPS with a voxel art style.
Alfi’s Adventures by Brian Breiholz – 3D jump-and-run platformer.
Hexian City by hexianWeb (source) – Isometric city builder and management game.
Red Bull Motormania by Merci Michel – Top-down promotional racing game.
Horizon Drive by Shopify (technical thread) – Synthwave racing game.
Cube Slide by Dominik Scholz – Sliding cube puzzle game.

✨ Demos

WebGPU Particle Life Simulation by Nikita Lisitsa
Vehicle Showcase by vis_prime
Duck Pool and Rings Pool (you can view source) by Maeda Mameo
Easy Tomorrow Street

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