Desktop Wrappers for HTML5/JS Apps

Question

I am currently working on an HTML5/JS game, and I wanted to ask if there are any solutions to create EXE/App wrappers for the game to run the standalone.

I plan to use PhoneGap to get it on mobile devices, but I wanted to also release it for Windows/Mac/Linux as standalone games in their own window. Maybe if it turns out well enough, put it on Steam and Desura.

I hear Titanium Desktop is an option, but seems to be out of date or super buggy according to what I read in various posts. While others mention Adobe AIR, but I am not sure how well that will work, or if it will support all the JS I need.

So I need help with figuring out if there is a good solution for what I want to do.

Any information is helpful.

Answer 1

The BEST solution I found out there is NodeWebkit.

It's basically Google Chrome (actually Chromium) wrapped into a customizable chromeless interface. It uses Node.js as the backend (you can do data storing, interact with the system...), so you have the advantage of having the fast V8 javascript engine running on both ends.

As its core is just plain old Chromium, it will run smoothly anything that runs smoothly on Chrome.

Originally I suggested AppJS, but I think the project kind of went dead since then. NodeWebkit is very similar, but has an ever better approach: it brings the Node.JS API right into the client javascript, so everthing works seamlessly.

Answer 2

I've heard good things from http://www.appcelerator.com . I've also seen people use webkit. Or use flex/as3/air, which has a built in webkit browser.

I've also heard of some custom html5 browsers that extend/improve the canvas element.