2026/10/09 — issue #666

Google Playground, js13kGames 2026 winners, and PixiJS AI skills

Articles

Introducing Playground: create and play custom games
Google introduces Playground, an experimental platform for creating, playing, and sharing custom games directly in the browser using text prompts, with no coding experience required.
Maryam Karimzadehgan at Google

A wild shift is happening in how games are being made and distributed
Anul Agarwal looks at how new AI models are enabling non-developers to build increasingly polished browser games with technologies like Three.js, while changing both development and distribution workflows.
Anul Agarwal at X

Valve will make $20 billion this year via Steam, and it owes developers big-time
With Steam reportedly on track for $20 billion in game sales this year, John Walker argues Valve could do far more for developers, from reducing its revenue cut to improving discovery and reviews.
John Walker at Kotaku

Tutorials

Integrating ECS into existing mass-market games: a practical engineering guide
A practical guide to introducing Entity Component System architecture into established live games without rewriting the engine, covering legacy interoperability, scripting, migration, and engineering trade-offs.
Aliaksandr Zhorau at MCV/DEVELOP

Interlude: a starter for custom page transitions in Astro
A starter for custom GSAP-powered transitions using Astro's own client router, with 21 examples ranging from simple covers to WebGL effects built with Three.js and TSL.
Manoela Ilic at Codrops