WebGL

Perhaps no other HTML5 feature is as exciting for game developers as WebGL. This new JavaScript API allows us to render high performance, hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics. The API is a flavor of OpenGL ES 2.0 and makes use of the HTML5 canvas element in order to bridge the gap between the browser and the graphics processing unit in the user's computer.

While 3D programming is a topic worthy of its own book, the following overview is sufficient to get us started on the most important concepts, and will allow us to get started with 3D game development for the browser platform. For those looking for a good learning resource for OpenGL ES 2, take a look at OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide by Munshi, Ginsburg, and Shreiner.

Note

Since WebGL is heavily based on OpenGL ES 2.0, you may be tempted to look for reference and supplemental material about it from OpenGL books and other sources. Keep in mind that OpenGL Version 1.5 and earlier is significantly different than OpenGL 2.0 (as well...