Publish Your HTML5 Game on Rosebud (From Localhost to a Playable Link)

An HTML5 game is the most portable thing in game development: an index.html, some JavaScript, a <canvas>, and your assets. No engine, no install, runs anywhere there’s a browser. And yet — right now yours runs on http://localhost, or worse, it only half-works when you double-click the file. Let’s fix that and get it to a real, public, playable link on Rosebud.

Why “it’s just HTML” still doesn’t share easily

HTML5 games feel like they should work by double-clicking, but modern browsers sandbox the file:// protocol: ES module imports, fetch() for JSON/levels, and some audio/image loads get blocked when there’s no server. That’s why developers run a local server during testing — and a local server is, again, localhost: visible only to you. To share the game, the same files need to live on an always-on public host.

What you’ve got

• index.html — the entry point.
• JavaScript — your game loop and logic (vanilla, or a small library).
• Assets — images, audio, maybe a JSON level file.

That’s a complete static site already. It just needs a home.

Path 1: Submit your game and get it hosted

The simplest route: hand us the files. Fill out the form with your HTML5 game — the folder, a zip, or a repo — and we’ll host it at a shareable, browser-playable link. No web server to run, no MIME-type fiddling, no “works when I serve it locally but not when I upload it” path issues. Send the files; get a link.

Path 2: Bring it into Rosebud and let Rosie reformat it for Three.js

Vanilla HTML5 is the cleanest possible input for an AI port. Bring it into Rosebud and turn it into a browser-native Three.js build you can publish instantly and keep iterating on by prompting:

1. Open Rosebud, create a project, and add a code file.
2. Paste your HTML5 game logic — the loop, your entities, your canvas draw calls.
3. Prompt Rosie to reformat it for Three.js: “Reformat this Canvas/HTML5 game to run on Three.js. Keep the mechanics identical, recreate the 2D rendering with an orthographic camera and sprites, and set up the render loop and input.”
4. Iterate in plain English — add juice, levels, or even a third dimension — then publish in one click.

Because your game is already lightweight web code, this is often the smoothest port of all.

Common gotchas moving an HTML5 game to the web

• Don’t judge it by file://. If it breaks on double-click but works on a local server, that’s expected — hosting serves it properly.
• Relative asset paths. Use ./assets/... rather than absolute paths so things resolve wherever it’s hosted.
• Audio gestures. Browsers block sound until the player interacts — start audio on a click/tap.
• Mobile viewport. Add a responsive <meta viewport> and scale the canvas so it plays on phones.

Frequently asked questions

Can I host a plain HTML5/Canvas game for free?

Yes — submit it through the form and we’ll host it, or publish it from Rosebud for free after a quick Three.js port.

Why does my game break when I open the HTML directly?

The file:// protocol blocks module imports and fetches. Served over HTTP — which hosting does — it works.

Do I have to convert it to Three.js?

No. You can host the HTML5 game as-is via the form. Porting to Three.js is optional — it just makes it one-click publishable and AI-iterable on Rosebud.

Is it really free to try?

Yes — you can build and publish on Rosebud for free.

Get your HTML5 game to a playable link

Two ways to go live, and you can do both:

1. Fill out the form with your game. Send us your HTML5 game with this short form and we’ll host it at a real, shareable playable link — no localhost, no deploy config, no server to babysit.
2. Try it yourself on Rosebud. Open Rosebud, create a code file, paste in your game, and ask Rosie to reformat it for Three.js. A few prompts later you’ll have a browser-native build you can publish with one click.

New to this? Start with the overview: How to put your vibe-coded game on the web.

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