I'm looking for a simple JavaScript library or framework to create interactive 2D animations in the browser. (Excuse the buzzword in the title, but I'm not set on any particular rendering technology like Canvas or SVG.)

This should make it simple to draw and animate arbitrary (though not very sophisticated) shapes on a canvas screen and allow users to select and move these shapes as objects (kind of like a very basic RTS game engine).

Ideally, the following features should be supported (directly or indirectly; I'd implement it myself if necessary):

• panning
• zooming
• fisheye partial zooming
• box selection (selecting multiple objects by drawing a box around them)

Not being familiar with such things yet, I find it tricky to research what's out there (e.g. regarding search terms). Also, I have no illusions about some magical package that doesn't require any effort on my part - indeed, I'd prefer simple and readable libraries so I can learn about the basics by reading the source.

I'm looking for a simple JavaScript library or framework to create interactive 2D animations in the browser. (Excuse the buzzword in the title, but I'm not set on any particular rendering technology like Canvas or SVG.)

This should make it simple to draw and animate arbitrary (though not very sophisticated) shapes on a canvas screen and allow users to select and move these shapes as objects (kind of like a very basic RTS game engine).

Ideally, the following features should be supported (directly or indirectly; I'd implement it myself if necessary):

• panning
• zooming
• fisheye partial zooming
• box selection (selecting multiple objects by drawing a box around them)

Not being familiar with such things yet, I find it tricky to research what's out there (e.g. regarding search terms). Also, I have no illusions about some magical package that doesn't require any effort on my part - indeed, I'd prefer simple and readable libraries so I can learn about the basics by reading the source.

• javascript
• html
• canvas
• svg

2 Answers 2

If you like simple libraries, perhaps take a look at GameJS. It claims to be "a thin library on top of the HTML5 canvas element." It's a port of PyGame to JavaScript, which in my experience is a fairly nice abstraction layer that at the same time doesn't overdo it.

If that doesn't cut it, have a look at this list of JS game (and animation) engines.

You probably did make a search and found dozens of js game engines. I will just narrow it down for you. It is impossible to just spit out one single js game engine. Also, you might find some to be more appropriate than others based on the type of game you want to make. So here they are

LimeJS

Impact

Crafty