Superpowers
A downloadable, open-source HTML5 game-development engine + IDE by Sparklin Labs, distinctive for real-time collaboration — multiple developers editing the same project simultaneously through the browser (“Google Docs for game dev”), great for jams or long-term co-development. TypeScript (~86%), ISC licensed, self-hostable (with optional password-protected collaborative sessions).
What it is
- Engine-agnostic core + extensions. The core is a collaborative project platform; specialized extensions sit on top — Superpowers Game (TypeScript via Three.js, 2D and 3D), a web-project mode (Pug/Stylus), and even a LÖVE 2D export. So it’s as much a collaborative editor shell as an engine.
- Status: archived (5 Mar 2021), unmaintained. The spoke’s first defunct/historical engine.
Why it matters to the spoke — two new axes
- Real-time collaboration (new axis). Every other engine here is a single-developer-project tool with collaboration bolted on via external VCS. Superpowers made simultaneous multi-user editing the core design — a distinctive (and, in 2014–2021, early) bet. Worth watching whether modern engines revisit it as cloud/collab tooling matures.
- Liveness as a dimension (new). Being archived since 2021 makes it the first engine here that is no longer maintained — a reminder that the field’s roster includes dead-but-instructive projects, not only active ones. Its collaboration idea outlived its codebase.
Related
love2d · godot-engine · phaser · gdevelop · synthesis