Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to NESFab – Programming language for making NES games
This is a long-running personal project I've had to write an optimizing compiler from scratch. Everything was done by me, including the lexer/parser, SSA-based IR, high-performance data structures, and code generator. Originally I wasn't targeting the NES. It started as a scripting language, then it morphed into a C++ replacement, and then finally I turned it into what it is today. The large scope of the project and colorful history means it's still a little rough around the edges, but it's now working well enough to post.
NESFab is a programming language and compiler for creating games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It features a custom-built optimizing compiler with lexer, parser, SSA-based intermediate representation, and code… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. NESFab – Programming language for making NES games launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1

NES emulator written in Rust. Contribute to pcwalton/sprocketnes development by creating an account on GitHub.
2013 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 2

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 →
- 3

Hi friends, I started casually working on scrapscript in 2015. I built a few compilers over the years to test out various ideas/implementations, and I think I'm finally happy with the overall design. The code is not public yet. Email me at [email protected] if you're interested in joining the core team later this year. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback :)
2023 · scrapscript.org · its alternatives →
- 49D
2025 · 90s.dev · its alternatives →
- 5

GitHub repo: https://github.com/ArcadeMakerSources/ArcadeMaker (first of all, i want to say that I made this project for fun and challenge. I always wanted to create my own language. This has no business goal or something.) So the project is a 2D game engine (MonoGame backend) inspired by GameMaker 8. It includes its own IDE (built with WinForms) and an interpreted programming language that I wrote myself. The language—definitely the biggest challenge in the project—is a simple dynamically typed language. When I started, I had zero knowledge of how to build something like…
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6

- 7

A gameboy emulator written in pure Lua. Work in progress. - zeta0134/LuaGB
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8

I am proud to present my solo hobby project NAND. This year-long undertaking follows the completed Nand to Tetris course, but ported to the web with its own runtime, user interface, and IDE. Using the "Load example program" selector, you can try out some programs I wrote on NAND's emulated hardware such as 2048, a genetic algorithm, and a manual stack overflow to corrupt the screen. Check out NAND at https://nand.arhan.sh Additionally, I've authored an extensive writeup about the project. Read about it on the GitHub repository's readme.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 9

💰 A Javascript framework for creating idle games . Contribute to Flaque/merchant.js development by creating an account on GitHub.
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10AV
I made this because building UIs in a lexical medium like code is super annoying. I have to pre-render what I’m making in my head, and then jump between the browser and IDE to test. I was inspired by the developer console in chrome and safari since I end up editing css there because it’s ironically more convenient. Hope it’s useful!
2022 · dev.aspect.app · its alternatives →
- 11

A NES Emulator written in Emacs Lisp. Contribute to gongo/emacs-nes development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12

Matt Mueller's personal website for sharing what I've learned about programming, design, entrepreneurship and life.
2017 · mat.tm · its alternatives →
- 13EGEditable Games▲142
I made an animation programming language that you can type into a textarea. I make little games with it. Now other people can customize the games I make with it. I've been working on canvas language for 15 years now. Not very successful, but editable gifs turned out okay. Since it's my passion, I keep trying, and my latest is editable games - I'm not officially calling it that though. I've had some interest in advergames and this would allow designers to easily customize games for their clients - the hidden objects game being the best example for this, and the only one made specifically for…
2025 · playscl.com · its alternatives →
- 14YA
About a year ago, I stumbled upon a new Nodejs language called "Imba", I found this language to be interesting and it seemed like it had a lot of potential. Doing a bit of digging, I realized no one had created a framework for it, so what did a normal dev do? Well, a normal dev went ahead and created another Nodejs Framework, only this time it was meant for Imba. So what did I create? I created a batteries included Framework heavily inspired by Laravel but it runs on Nodejs, and uses Imba as the default language, but you can actually use TypeScript or JavaScript. In fact, when creating a new…
2022 · its alternatives →
- 15MP
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 →
- 16

1kB-ish JavaScript framework for building hypertext applications - hyperapp/hyperapp
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17MT
2013 · teamten.com · its alternatives →
- 18

Contribute to reaalkhalil/JSRobot development by creating an account on GitHub.
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19AL
2013 · np-lang.org · its alternatives →
- 20

An implementation of a dynamic programming language in Rust. Includes: Parser/Compiler, REPL, Virtual Machine, Bytecode Disassembler This started out as a learning project to teach myself Rust. It has grown into a decently substantial piece of software and I've learned quite a bit in the process! Some neat things: + A garbage collector that can store dynamically sized types without any double-indirection (i.e. I have my own Box implementation with manual alloc/dealloc) + The smart pointer used to reference GCed data is a thin pointer. The ptr metadata needed for DSTs is stored in…
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21
myCompiler▲122Run your favourite programming languages online
2019 · mycompiler.io · its alternatives →
- 22

i made an esoteric programming language which i call spellscript. every program is a "spell" written in a "grimoire," and you have to use keywords like summon, enchant, inscribe, and conjure. it's literally read like a spellbook because the syntax consists of all natural language, and newlines are optional. your code can now be an essay, like everybody wants! for example, if you want to print something, you'd write: `begin the grimoire. inscribe whispers of "hello, world!". close the grimoire.` it has variables, dynamic typing, arrays, functions, conditionals, loops, string manipulation,…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23

goboscript is a text-based programming language which compiles to Scratch. It allows you to write Scratch projects in text, and compile it into a .sb3 file - which can be opened in the Scratch editor, TurboWarp or be uploaded to the Scratch website. goboscript allows you to create advanced Scratch projects with ease, you can use any text editor, use a version control system such as git. You can refactor your code using search and replace. Text code can be copy pasted, which allows you to easily reuse code or share it with others. goboscript syntax is concise and easy to read. goboscript…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24

Hey! I’m JC. I’m 17 and part of Hack Club, a nonprofit where we help teenagers ship programming projects with their friends while growing technically. A while ago, I asked myself the question, “How exactly do programming languages work behind the scenes?” It seemed really daunting until I went to a half hour workshop at a high school hackathon about writing a tree-walk interpreter and realized that getting started was actually super fun. This guide is designed in the vein of that - to get people, especially teenagers, started on learning how to build a programming language in a literal…
2024 · easel.hackclub.com · its alternatives →
Also compare
- An NES emulator written in Rust alternatives
- Boardzilla, a framework for making web-based board games alternatives
- ScrapScript – A tiny functional language for sharable software alternatives
- 90s.dev – Game maker that runs on the web alternatives
- C# Game Engine with its own scripting language and IDE alternatives
- JSRobot 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 →