Tip/Tutorial

The main loop is a core part of any application in which state changes over time. In games, the main loop is often called the game loop, and it is typically responsible for computing physics and AI as well as drawing the result on the screen. Unfortunately, the vast majority of main loops found online - especially those in JavaScript - are written incorrectly due to timing issues. I should know; I've written my fair share of bad ones. This post aims to show you why many main loops need to be fixed, and how to write a main loop correctly.

I need to use this command every once in awhile and I always forget how to do it off the top of my head.

grep -lr --exclude-dir=".git" -e "oldword" . | xargs sed -i '' -e 's/oldword/newword/g'

If you're on Windows you'll need unix command-line tools installed. The easiest way to do that is with Gow.

Here's what each piece does:

Update, October 2013: I wrote a book, Game Development with Three.js, that goes into much more detail on the concepts discussed in this article and much more about how to build a fuller in-browser game. Check it out if you'd like to learn more!