Homegames is a free website where you can play, create, and share simple games — all in your web browser. What makes it different from most gaming platforms is that you don't need to create an account or log in just to play someone else's game. You can share a link, and people can start playing immediately.

The platform includes three main tools. First, there's an editor where you write the code for your game and see it running live while you work — useful if you're playing with friends and want to test things together as you build. Second, there's a studio for managing pictures, drawings, and sounds for your game. Third, there's a simple way to publish your game so others can find it, or keep it private if you prefer.

Every game on Homegames is written in JavaScript, a common programming language for websites. Here's something unusual: anyone visiting a published game can read the actual code that makes it work. Most game platforms keep that code hidden. Homegames makes it open.

The entire platform is open-source, meaning the underlying code is free for anyone to use, modify, or study. It's licensed under GPLv3, a legal framework that keeps everything open and shared. All the code lives on GitHub, where developers can see what's happening. Most importantly, you can run Homegames on your own computer or server — you don't have to depend on the main website staying online.

The project started in 2018 as a side project by a single developer. It began with a specific idea: a game system where people sitting on the same couch could use their phones as controllers, like the party games Jackbox or Spaceteam. Over time, it evolved into something broader — a full toolkit for making and sharing games — though the multiplayer-first design is still visible in how the editor works.

The broader context matters here. Browser-based game creation tools have a complicated history. When a game platform becomes popular, it eventually costs a lot of money to keep running — servers, bandwidth, storage. That's when platforms usually need to charge money, show ads, or get funding. Eventually, many shut down when the money runs out or the company loses interest. Homegames takes a different approach by letting anyone host it on their own computer. If the main website disappeared tomorrow, anyone with the code could keep it running. The community owns the tools.

One practical choice is worth noting: games don't require an account to play. This means the platform can't track individual players or save personal progress to a server — a limitation for some types of games. But it makes sharing incredibly simple: you paste a link and people play. This approach worked brilliantly for browser games during the Flash era, when links spreading through chat and email were how games went viral.

The platform has had eight years of development from its original creator, with no announced funding or plan to charge money. Whether it will grow to have many contributors — people who help maintain and improve it — is an open question. The legal structure is set up correctly for that to happen. But plenty of open-source projects have the right legal structure and never find enough volunteers to thrive. The jump from "code is available online" to "a community maintains it together" is where most projects like this one stall out.

Homegames works well for what it does: letting people create small, shareable games without complexity or gatekeeping. For a solo project with no commercial ambitions, that's a meaningful thing to have built.