hottehead/node-gameloop

an accurate game loop for nodejs

node-gameloop

A game loop designed by timetocode for NodeJS applications. Uses a combination of setTimeout and setImmediate to achieve accurate update ticks with minimal CPU usage.

This repo adds npm module support and an API that allows it to be called from client code.

npm install --save node-gameloop

Example

node-gameloop uses an API very similar to setTimeout/setInterval, returning an ID that can be used to clear the game loop later.

const gameloop = require('node-gameloop');

// start the loop at 30 fps (1000/30ms per frame) and grab its id
let frameCount = 0;
const id = gameloop.setGameLoop(function(delta) {
	// `delta` is the delta time from the last frame
	console.log('Hi there! (frame=%s, delta=%s)', frameCount++, delta);
}, 1000 / 30);

// stop the loop 2 seconds later
setTimeout(function() {
	console.log('2000ms passed, stopping the game loop');
	gameloop.clearGameLoop(id);
}, 2000);

API

var gameloop = require('node-gameloop');

Return	Function	Params	Description
number id	setGameLoop	(function update(delta), [float targetDeltaMs])	Sets and runs a game loop at a target delta (in milliseconds) [defaults to 30fps]. Runs function update with a parameter delta (time in seconds from last update). Returns the game loop ID used in clearGameLoop
void	clearGameLoop	(number id)	Clears and stops a given game loop. Will cancel the loop immediately and will not wait for current frame to finish.