BeepMini is a tiny JavaScript game engine for creating retro-style games in the browser. It’s inspired by 8-bit computers of the 1980s, but built with modern web tech.
BeepMini is not an emulator or a locked-down fantasy console. It’s a lightweight JavaScript library that gives you the tools of a retro engine while keeping the freedom of the open web.
✅ Open source ✅ Runs in any browser ✅ Simple API ✅ No external plugins or assets required
- Built-in music – generate chiptune tracks directly in the browser.
- Sound effects – 100+ zzfx sounds included, plus the ability to design your own.
- Tilemaps – define maps in JSON or ASCII formats, or use the map editor.
- Fonts & graphics – retro textmode fonts and tiles included, or create your own with the textmode art editor.
- Input handling – unified keyboard + touch controls.
- Utilities – inventory, menus, passcodes, ECS, particles, and more.
See the full feature list and try the examples.
Download the files in dist and assets - these are all you need to run BeepMini.
<script src="dist/b8.js"></script>
<script>
b8.init();
// your game code here
</script>To develop BeepMini locally:
npm install
npm run dev # builds dist/b8.js and watches for changes
npm run build # builds everything for releaseTo avoid polluting the global namespace, all BeepMini code lives inside a single global object called b8. For example, instead of calling init(), you call b8.init(). This prevents BeepMini’s functions and variables from clashing with other libraries or your own code.
The name b8 was chosen because BeepMini starts with “B” and has 8 letters. It’s also short and easy to remember.
Originally, the project was called BeepMini, but another project later used that name. Rather than cause confusion (and since I already owned several domains), I renamed it BeepMini. The b8 prefix remains as a nod to the original name.
Full documentation, examples, and tools are available at: 👉 Comprehensive Docs 👉 Code Examples 👉 Textmode Art Editor 👉 Map Maker 👉 Example Games
Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
BeepMini is a fork of the QX82 engine by btco. For more background, check out the QX82 site.
BeepMini is free and open source, released under the MIT License.