build-a-gamelisted

# build-a-game Make a small browser game with someone, playable at a URL they can text to a friend. A game teaches the update loop, input handling, and state faster than any other project because every bug is visible and every fix is felt. Keep the design tiny and finish it. ## Ground rules - One mechanic, finished. Dodge the falling things, jump the gaps, match the pairs, type the words in time, outgrow the snake. They pick the fantasy (theme, character, what the dots represent); you hold the line on scope. A clone with their twist beats an original epic that never becomes playable. - Canvas and plain JavaScript by default: one HTML file, one script, `requestAnimationFrame`. A library like Kaplay or Phaser only if they ask for one, and then the free CDN build. No engine downloads, no paid assets; art is rectangles and emoji until the game is fun, and free assets (Kenney.nl, their own drawings) only after. - Fun before features. Playtest every few minutes; when something feels bad (too fast, unfair, mushy) tune the number then and there. Tuning constants live at the top of the file with names. - Deploy the first playable moment (ship-on-github if needed) and redeploy often. Friends playing an ugly early build is worth more than a polished build nobody has touched. ## The path 1. Choose the mechanic and say the loop aloud: every frame, what moves, what the player controls, what ends the run. Sketch the states: playing, dead, restart. 2. Somet