Making Games in React

Rate this content
Bookmark
The video discusses how to create games using React 3.0 Fiber, a library that integrates with three.js. It covers the basics of 3D game development, including concepts like 3D space, axes, cameras, and primitive objects. The video also explains how to use lighting and materials, such as the mesh standard material, to make objects visible and realistic. For interactivity, the video recommends using Canon.js, a physics library, and demonstrates how to use hooks like useBox and useFrame for animation and user interactions. The talk also touches on creating reusable components and adjusting properties like mass and gravity for realistic physics. Additionally, it mentions the importance of understanding photography basics for better lighting effects. The speaker encourages viewers to explore more complex examples on GitHub and to experiment with React 3.0 Fiber and three.js for creating rich 3D scenes in web applications.

From Author:

This talk is going to be about react-three-fiber. We'll make a mini game together. We'll see how even beginners can make it through all the heavy boilerplate and math without losing their minds, and then translate it to anything, be it a game or a website with some interesting visuals and effects.

This talk has been presented at JSNation Live 2020, check out the latest edition of this JavaScript Conference.

FAQ

React 3.0 Fiber is a reconciler or wrapper for three.js, designed to integrate 3D content into React applications more seamlessly. It allows developers to use React's component-based architecture to manage and render 3D scenes using three.js, making it easier to create interactive and complex 3D graphics in web applications.

Using React to make a game provides a new tool for expression and creativity. It opens new doors for developers to implement interactive features and complex front-end functionalities that might not be possible otherwise. React's ecosystem and component-based architecture can facilitate the development process of games or any other interactive applications.

In React 3.0 Fiber, basic 3D concepts include handling the 3D space with axes (X for horizontal, Y for vertical, and depth), using cameras to define the visible area, and creating primitive objects like spheres and meshes. Lighting and materials are also crucial, with different types of lights (ambient, point lights) and materials (like mesh standard material) used to enhance the visual appearance of objects.

In React 3.0 Fiber, interactivity with 3D objects can be achieved through physics libraries like Canon.js and using hooks provided by React 3.0 Fiber. These hooks allow objects to react to physical behaviors like gravity and collisions, and additional custom interactions can be programmed to respond to user inputs, such as mouse movements.

Before diving into React 3.0 Fiber, it's beneficial to have a basic understanding of 3D concepts and three.js fundamentals, such as scenes, cameras, and lighting. Familiarity with React and its component-based architecture is also crucial since React 3.0 Fiber leverages these principles to manage 3D content.

Yes, React 3.0 Fiber fully supports all features of three.js, including the use of custom textures and materials. This compatibility allows developers to create rich and visually complex 3D scenes within a React application, utilizing the full power of three.js for graphical content.

Paul Henschel
Paul Henschel
30 min
18 Jun, 2021

Comments

Sign in or register to post your comment.

Video Transcription

Available in Español: Creando juegos en React

1. Introduction to React Game Development

Short description:

Today I'm going to show you how to make games in React. It gives you a new tool for expressing yourself and opens new doors to do things that previously wouldn't have been possible.

Hi, my name is Paulo Henschel. Thanks for having me. I am a developer from Germany. And this is my Twitter account. You can check it out. This is not an old, it's a zero. And today I'm going to show you how to make games in React. I guess many of you, they will wonder why the hell would I make a game in React? The thing is, it just gives you a new tool for expressing yourself. So it could be a game, could be front end, could be anything, really. So maybe you have a story to share, political messages, whatever. So this just helps you to open new doors, to do things that previously wouldn't have been possible.

2. Introduction to React 3.0 Fiber

Short description:

Today I'm going to show you how to use React 3.0 Fiber, a library I made as a reconciler or wrapper for three.js. It originated from Bureli, an open embeddable CAD platform for the web. We needed something to make it more Reacty and control the scene better. This is very specific and great for making models and variant configurators. I'll show you how to use it from a beginner's perspective.

The thing that we are going to use is called React 3.0 Fiber. This is a library I once made. It's a reconciler or a wrapper, whatever you want to call it, for three.js. And you can see here some fancy demos going on. The thing where it originated from is called Bureli, B-U-E-R-E-L-I.io, you can check out here. This is what we are doing at work, and this is where it comes from. It's basically like a open embeddable CAD platform for the web. And we just needed something to make it more Reacty, to control the scene in a better way. And this is very specific. You can make models with it, variant configurators, visually or headless. But what I'm going to show you today has to do more with the library itself, React 3.0 Fiber, and how you can use it, and everything from a beginner's perspective because that's what I am. I have never made games before, but if you can make something like this, I guess you can do everything, at least you have the starting grounds.

QnA

Check out more articles and videos

We constantly think of articles and videos that might spark Git people interest / skill us up or help building a stellar career

A Guide to React Rendering Behavior
React Advanced Conference 2022React Advanced Conference 2022
25 min
A Guide to React Rendering Behavior
Top Content
This transcription provides a brief guide to React rendering behavior. It explains the process of rendering, comparing new and old elements, and the importance of pure rendering without side effects. It also covers topics such as batching and double rendering, optimizing rendering and using context and Redux in React. Overall, it offers valuable insights for developers looking to understand and optimize React rendering.
Building Better Websites with Remix
React Summit Remote Edition 2021React Summit Remote Edition 2021
33 min
Building Better Websites with Remix
Top Content
Remix is a web framework built on React Router that focuses on web fundamentals, accessibility, performance, and flexibility. It delivers real HTML and SEO benefits, and allows for automatic updating of meta tags and styles. It provides features like login functionality, session management, and error handling. Remix is a server-rendered framework that can enhance sites with JavaScript but doesn't require it for basic functionality. It aims to create quality HTML-driven documents and is flexible for use with different web technologies and stacks.
React Compiler - Understanding Idiomatic React (React Forget)
React Advanced Conference 2023React Advanced Conference 2023
33 min
React Compiler - Understanding Idiomatic React (React Forget)
Top Content
Watch video: React Compiler - Understanding Idiomatic React (React Forget)
Joe Savona
Mofei Zhang
2 authors
The Talk discusses React Forget, a compiler built at Meta that aims to optimize client-side React development. It explores the use of memoization to improve performance and the vision of Forget to automatically determine dependencies at build time. Forget is named with an F-word pun and has the potential to optimize server builds and enable dead code elimination. The team plans to make Forget open-source and is focused on ensuring its quality before release.
Using useEffect Effectively
React Advanced Conference 2022React Advanced Conference 2022
30 min
Using useEffect Effectively
Top Content
Today's Talk explores the use of the useEffect hook in React development, covering topics such as fetching data, handling race conditions and cleanup, and optimizing performance. It also discusses the correct use of useEffect in React 18, the distinction between Activity Effects and Action Effects, and the potential misuse of useEffect. The Talk highlights the benefits of using useQuery or SWR for data fetching, the problems with using useEffect for initializing global singletons, and the use of state machines for handling effects. The speaker also recommends exploring the beta React docs and using tools like the stately.ai editor for visualizing state machines.
Routing in React 18 and Beyond
React Summit 2022React Summit 2022
20 min
Routing in React 18 and Beyond
Top Content
Routing in React 18 brings a native app-like user experience and allows applications to transition between different environments. React Router and Next.js have different approaches to routing, with React Router using component-based routing and Next.js using file system-based routing. React server components provide the primitives to address the disadvantages of multipage applications while maintaining the same user experience. Improving navigation and routing in React involves including loading UI, pre-rendering parts of the screen, and using server components for more performant experiences. Next.js and Remix are moving towards a converging solution by combining component-based routing with file system routing.
(Easier) Interactive Data Visualization in React
React Advanced Conference 2021React Advanced Conference 2021
27 min
(Easier) Interactive Data Visualization in React
Top Content
This Talk is about interactive data visualization in React using the Plot library. Plot is a high-level library that simplifies the process of visualizing data by providing key concepts and defaults for layout decisions. It can be integrated with React using hooks like useRef and useEffect. Plot allows for customization and supports features like sorting and adding additional marks. The Talk also discusses accessibility concerns, SSR support, and compares Plot to other libraries like D3 and Vega-Lite.

Workshops on related topic

React Performance Debugging Masterclass
React Summit 2023React Summit 2023
170 min
React Performance Debugging Masterclass
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Ivan Akulov
Ivan Akulov
Ivan’s first attempts at performance debugging were chaotic. He would see a slow interaction, try a random optimization, see that it didn't help, and keep trying other optimizations until he found the right one (or gave up).
Back then, Ivan didn’t know how to use performance devtools well. He would do a recording in Chrome DevTools or React Profiler, poke around it, try clicking random things, and then close it in frustration a few minutes later. Now, Ivan knows exactly where and what to look for. And in this workshop, Ivan will teach you that too.
Here’s how this is going to work. We’ll take a slow app → debug it (using tools like Chrome DevTools, React Profiler, and why-did-you-render) → pinpoint the bottleneck → and then repeat, several times more. We won’t talk about the solutions (in 90% of the cases, it’s just the ol’ regular useMemo() or memo()). But we’ll talk about everything that comes before – and learn how to analyze any React performance problem, step by step.
(Note: This workshop is best suited for engineers who are already familiar with how useMemo() and memo() work – but want to get better at using the performance tools around React. Also, we’ll be covering interaction performance, not load speed, so you won’t hear a word about Lighthouse 🤐)
Concurrent Rendering Adventures in React 18
React Advanced Conference 2021React Advanced Conference 2021
132 min
Concurrent Rendering Adventures in React 18
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Maurice de Beijer
Maurice de Beijer
With the release of React 18 we finally get the long awaited concurrent rendering. But how is that going to affect your application? What are the benefits of concurrent rendering in React? What do you need to do to switch to concurrent rendering when you upgrade to React 18? And what if you don’t want or can’t use concurrent rendering yet?

There are some behavior changes you need to be aware of! In this workshop we will cover all of those subjects and more.

Join me with your laptop in this interactive workshop. You will see how easy it is to switch to concurrent rendering in your React application. You will learn all about concurrent rendering, SuspenseList, the startTransition API and more.
React Hooks Tips Only the Pros Know
React Summit Remote Edition 2021React Summit Remote Edition 2021
177 min
React Hooks Tips Only the Pros Know
Top Content
Featured Workshop
Maurice de Beijer
Maurice de Beijer
The addition of the hooks API to React was quite a major change. Before hooks most components had to be class based. Now, with hooks, these are often much simpler functional components. Hooks can be really simple to use. Almost deceptively simple. Because there are still plenty of ways you can mess up with hooks. And it often turns out there are many ways where you can improve your components a better understanding of how each React hook can be used.You will learn all about the pros and cons of the various hooks. You will learn when to use useState() versus useReducer(). We will look at using useContext() efficiently. You will see when to use useLayoutEffect() and when useEffect() is better.
React, TypeScript, and TDD
React Advanced Conference 2021React Advanced Conference 2021
174 min
React, TypeScript, and TDD
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Paul Everitt
Paul Everitt
ReactJS is wildly popular and thus wildly supported. TypeScript is increasingly popular, and thus increasingly supported.

The two together? Not as much. Given that they both change quickly, it's hard to find accurate learning materials.

React+TypeScript, with JetBrains IDEs? That three-part combination is the topic of this series. We'll show a little about a lot. Meaning, the key steps to getting productive, in the IDE, for React projects using TypeScript. Along the way we'll show test-driven development and emphasize tips-and-tricks in the IDE.
Web3 Workshop - Building Your First Dapp
React Advanced Conference 2021React Advanced Conference 2021
145 min
Web3 Workshop - Building Your First Dapp
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Nader Dabit
Nader Dabit
In this workshop, you'll learn how to build your first full stack dapp on the Ethereum blockchain, reading and writing data to the network, and connecting a front end application to the contract you've deployed. By the end of the workshop, you'll understand how to set up a full stack development environment, run a local node, and interact with any smart contract using React, HardHat, and Ethers.js.
Designing Effective Tests With React Testing Library
React Summit 2023React Summit 2023
151 min
Designing Effective Tests With React Testing Library
Top Content
Featured Workshop
Josh Justice
Josh Justice
React Testing Library is a great framework for React component tests because there are a lot of questions it answers for you, so you don’t need to worry about those questions. But that doesn’t mean testing is easy. There are still a lot of questions you have to figure out for yourself: How many component tests should you write vs end-to-end tests or lower-level unit tests? How can you test a certain line of code that is tricky to test? And what in the world are you supposed to do about that persistent act() warning?
In this three-hour workshop we’ll introduce React Testing Library along with a mental model for how to think about designing your component tests. This mental model will help you see how to test each bit of logic, whether or not to mock dependencies, and will help improve the design of your components. You’ll walk away with the tools, techniques, and principles you need to implement low-cost, high-value component tests.
Table of contents- The different kinds of React application tests, and where component tests fit in- A mental model for thinking about the inputs and outputs of the components you test- Options for selecting DOM elements to verify and interact with them- The value of mocks and why they shouldn’t be avoided- The challenges with asynchrony in RTL tests and how to handle them
Prerequisites- Familiarity with building applications with React- Basic experience writing automated tests with Jest or another unit testing framework- You do not need any experience with React Testing Library- Machine setup: Node LTS, Yarn