The silence from the creator of Happy Wheels is over, and we now have information on its future. And as it turns out, there are plans for both a sequel and javascript port.
On January 9, 2020, creator James Bonacci posted an update on totaljerkface.com, the official Happy Wheels website, about the future of the game. He said that he probably should have made a news post about this a while ago, but there has been a javascript version of Happy Wheels in the works since early 2019.
Bonacci claims that it will be out before Flash is “murdered by Chrome.” He intended for the Javascript version of Happy Wheels for this month, but he doesn’t see that happening so immediately. The only reason he’s speaking up now is that many are proclaiming the death of Happy Wheels after Pewdiepie did just that earlier this year. Bonacci claims that he “probably didn’t want to tell anyone so nobody would ask me when it will be released.”
This Javascript version of Happy Wheels will be a nice upgrade is that it will run at 60 fps, though the physics will still be 30 fps. But unfortunately, Bonacci said, all older replays that currently exist will be inaccurate as Box2d, the physics engine Happy Wheels uses, will have been updated slightly. However, the old replays will still be there for the sake of top records. Bonacci claims that if players somehow play the Flash version, the replays will function fine.
This is great news for fans of the game since Happy Wheels has been both a staple of both Youtube and future game developers. The level editor for Happy Wheels grants people some experience with Box2d, a robust yet notoriously difficult physics engine to use.
Bonacci said that he was not the one developing the Javascript port, but he hired a company that he thought was most capable of doing so. He plans on continuing to give more details once this version is out.
Bonacci’s focus, however, is on the sequel. In fact, he is the sole programmer for this new game. And he claims that these efforts are going well.
Fans of Happy Wheels can breathe a sigh of relief with this knowledge. This decade-old game has survived the test of time as a fun and robust game for people to play and create content. And those the Flash version will end at the end of this year, Happy Wheels will live on in mobile and Javascript versions.
