Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to ACOS: Build and share competitive turn-based browser games
Hi everyone, This is a little tech demo I've been working on the past 2 years. It's been up for 1 year now, and has since had a few major updates. I have a soft spot for games with ranking systems, and I wanted an easy way for developers to create games with the competitive element abstracted away. The current games are built with ReactJS, so it's pretty easy to onboard if you are a web developer. All games developed for ACOS come with these features: - Real-time turn-based for browser - Simulator for game development - Client / Server architecture - Easy multiplayer with simple JSON…
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. ACOS: Build and share competitive turn-based browser games launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1IM
I've posted this game here before, hopefully a repost is fine as the game has changed quite a bit (improved AI, improved mapeditor, much quicker gameplay, etc). Game is based on JavaScript/Canvas and WebSockets. On the browser side the map is pre-rendered (as a background image), just the mobile units/buildings and animations are dynamically rendered. The lobby server is made in node.js, but the game server is C++ for performance reasons (mainly the pathfinding). I found the C++ WebSocket libraries out there to be too difficult to use so I made my own based on the rfc. Overall I…
2022 · battle-of-flags.com · its alternatives →
- 2
I've been working on Athena Crisis for about two years, and full time for the past 9 months. The game is entirely built from scratch using React and CSS without a game engine. It runs anywhere, including the Steam Deck. You can even use a gamepad on the landing page to play! Previously the landing page had a video of the game but my goal was to always just put the actual game on the website. I merged the landing page into the game's monorepo, added the game's React components, and boom – the video was replaced with a playable version of Athena Crisis. Of course, the real game has tons more…
2024 · athenacrisis.com · its alternatives →
- 3
I'm making a platform for simple open source games you can play anywhere. Games are all just JavaScript classes and you can read the source of every game on the platform. I started working on initial "games" (mostly rendering tests) in 2018 and eventually built all of the platform stuff around it to make it easy to share games. There's also an in-browser editor available for you to make and publish games all from the browser. Would love some feedback on the games and studio features as well as the platform overall. All of the code is available at https://github.com/homegamesio
Jul 2026 · homegames.io · its alternatives →
- 4IB
I've been working on an MMORPG that is now in alpha as a solo developer. Here are the major open source technologies that I use: Blender - 3D modeling software for creating the overall environment and every game object. I've gotten a lot of CC and Public Domain assets from https://poly.pizza GLTF - I export assets from blender to the GLTF asset format JSON - I write a JSON config for every game object that describes things like its name, its interactions, its collisions, etc. Node.js exporter - I iterate over the environment and every asset to create a scene hierarchy. I use…
2024 · alpha.reconquer.online · its alternatives →
- 5MA
hi all, I've always wanted to make my own game, but couldn't afford a thousand-dollar adobe (flash+photoshop) license. I'm not a talented programmer, have no degree in CS. But I understand some elements of design. So I got me a copy of ImpactJS, and after about 5 months of steep learning curve (at least for me), I managed to come up with a game. I also integrated it with a highscore and badge system, similar to what you get at Kongregate. You need to login with Google/OpenID to earn badges/scores. link is: http://www.hotbazooka.com/privatejoe hope to hear some feedback/questions from you guys!
2011 · hotbazooka.com · its alternatives →
- 6
Show HN: Boardzilla, a framework for making web-based board games Tldr: We’ve made a framework for web-based board games. You can try out some games over at https://boardzilla.io, or you can take a look at https://docs.boardzilla.io to learn more about how to develop your own game. Source is available at https://github.com/boardzilla Hey y’all. My brother and I have made a framework for board games. During the pandemic we started to look at BGA but got discouraged by how old-fashioned the tools were and how cumbersome the development process was. We set out…
2024 · boardzilla.io · its alternatives →
- 7
Croct▲387We just launched Croct Templates, a way to drop CMS-powered components into your app with a single command. It's like Shadcn, but for CMS, AB testing and personalization: * Built-in support for A/B testing, content editing, and dynamic logic * Works with existing projects (Next.js, React, etc.) * Supports community libraries via `npm://`, `shadcn-ui://`, etc. Example: ```bash npx croct@latest use shadcn-ui://block/pricing-page ``` Happy to answer any questions!
2025 · croct.com · its alternatives →
- 8
Hey HN! I'm so excited to open source Athena Crisis under the MIT-License and fund contributions to the game and the genre. If you like the game and want to support its development, please check it out on Steam or on athenacrisis.com.
2024 · cpojer.net · its alternatives →
- 9MM
Fun free no-download game you
2021 · vnav.io · its alternatives →
- 10
GameSnacks▲65Hi HN! I built a 3D arcade racing game in HTML5 using PlayCanvas. It features arcade-style physics inspired by OutRun, with PS1/Dreamcast-style graphics. The multiplayer is asynchronous: you race against the “ghosts” (replays) of up to 7 other players, and after finishing a run you can share a link with a friend so they can race your ghost 1v1. The game currently has 20 tracks, plus a “daily challenge” mode with procedurally generated tracks. We’ve tested it on both desktop and mobile. It supports touch and keyboard controls, though I personally prefer playing with a keyboard in…
2020 · gamesnacks.com · its alternatives →
- 11MP
I have been working on this game somewhat sparsely for the past three years or so. However, it is still in a very early stage, and there is a lot of work to do. One of my friends encouraged me to post about it here, since he felt people might find interesting how I don’t use any libraries for it. The game can be played on a browser by virtue of WebAssembly. There are native ports using either MiniFB or SDL2, but you have to build those yourself. I decided to write the game in C because I feel like it is a simple language that a lot of people can understand well enough, and I didn’t think I…
2023 · zamfofex.neocities.org · its alternatives →
- 12UG
Hi all, I'm currently working on my hobby project, and one of the fun constraints I put in was to build using as less dependencies as possible. I chose Go as it has a really good standard library, and all went well for building backend. But for frontend, I was wondering whether I should break the constraint and go for React. I tried options like Web Components, but I really didn't like the ergonomics and I didn't want to use jQuery either. Out of curiosity, I was exploring Go's html/template package to see if I can write UIs in a React-like manner. I found most of the online docs using…
2024 · its alternatives →
- 13
This is something that I've been working on on-and-off in my spare time for the last few years. I started in 2020 during Covid trying to do a Mount and Blade style map in UE4, and it grew from there until where it is now - I would just add a feature, then another, until it came together. Since the start of the year I've really been trying to polish it some more. I've got the full thing planned for a Q3 25 release. Github release if you don't have Steam: https://github.com/joe-gibbs/fall-of-an-empire-release
2024 · store.steampowered.com · its alternatives →
- 14IL
2020 · tapsify.com · its alternatives →
- 15
We talked about Redux, React, and Functional JavaScript
2015 · changelog.com · its alternatives →
- 16IB
Hey HN! What started off as a meme has turned into a passion project and I'm pretty excited about it. As the title suggests, I made a Rock, Paper, Scissors game in React. The twist is the perk shop that you can power yourself up upon wins. I have a Node web socket backend because it started off as just a PvP experience, but I wanted people to be able to play a solo mode. That's where the Roguelike comes in. I still have plenty of features to go! But for now, it's an endless Roguelike where after each round, you get to upgrade a shop perk to make your character stronger. I'd love to get some…
2024 · xtremerps.com · its alternatives →
- 17
Hi HN! This is my first game — something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a small browser game built with Phaser 3, React, and the phaser template (https://github.com/phaserjs/template-react-ts/). I made it in 2 days (like 8 hours in total real time) using gemini-cli. About 90% of the code was generated with AI, but I learned a lot by making fine tweaks. It only works on PC since it’s a typical WASD + R (reload) shooter. I’d love feedback on: - Gameplay (is it fun, too hard?) - Ideas for new features Thanks in advance! ps: I used cubes as a prototype, but now I kind of…
2025 · cubic-zombies.pages.dev · its alternatives →
- 18IM
Hi HN! Solo developer here. 10 days ago, I started building this after spending countless hours copying/pasting marketing sections and fighting to keep them consistent with our design system. I wondered: "What if AI could understand our design system and generate React components that actually match it?" Current progress (10 days in): - Can generate hero sections that follow your design tokens - Uses your actual component variants and styles - Works with Next.js, Tailwind, shadcn/ui It's very early days, but I'm excited to share it with other devs who: - Are tired of rebuilding…
2024 · robustlaunch.com · its alternatives →
- 19
Most games have limits. You can only use preset features, need coding for customization & adding mods, require expensive extra devices. We wanted to remove those barriers. That’s why we are building space zero—a browser based 3D world powered by AI. We plan to build players can freely mix items to generate unexpected creations with unique properties and sounds. Also the world itself is dynamically generated, evolving endlessly. I uploaded a demo version I’ve been working on for the past month! I hope to get any feedbacks or comments :)
2025 · 0.space · its alternatives →
- 20
Web Components to turn your web app into a fake operating system - victorqribeiro/fos
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21
React Tutorial is the easiest, most interactive way to learn & practice modern React online. Learn in an interactive environment. Understand how React works not just how to build with React.
2020 · react-tutorial.app · its alternatives →
- 22
Zeon Games▲25Interactive creation in your pocket. Scroll. Create. Share
May 2026 · gamesbyzeon.com · its alternatives →
- 23AT
I have some experience building these kinds of games, so last year I put together a beginner's guide on them. It's been getting more attention recently with people wanting to make/experiment with these games during quarantine, so I figured I'd share to get feedback: - Part 1, Client: https://victorzhou.com/blog/build-an-io-game-part-1/ - Part 2, Server: https://victorzhou.com/blog/build-an-io-game-part-2/ - [demo] An example .io game: https://example-io-game.victorzhou.com/
2020 · its alternatives →
- 24
About a year ago me and a buddy joined Google's HTML5GameJam, a game building hackathon. Finally I've had the time to dust the project off, upgrade some of the required libraries (node.js bumped from 0.4.2 to 0.8.11 in the meantime) and did some minor patching to get it done for some finishing touches and hopefully release somewhere this year. We implemented the full real Tetris® (yeah, that means T-Spins and funky stuff Tetris addicts like) in MVC, with configurable renderers (canvas, ASCII, Divs), input methods (keyboard, swipe, touch), 2player split mode and offline singeplayer. The…
2012 · en.wikipedia.org · its alternatives →
Also compare
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- Homegames. An open-source game platform I've been making for 8 years alternatives
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- made a html5 game, polished it many many times alternatives
- Boardzilla, a framework for making web-based board games alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →