q5play was designed by Computer Science teachers to be intuitive for beginners, making it popular at schools and universities around the world. Level up with Learn q5play, a 50 page interactive textbook!
Ask questions, meet people, and share your games made with q5play on our community Discord server.
No installation required! Use the q5 Web Editor.
You can use q5play offline with Visual Studio Code.
βI was looking at the new p5play (v3) yesterday and realized it had been so long since I tried it! I didn't realize it had physics built into it. I would LOVE to make some videos with it. This is such wonderful work, thank you for supporting the community in this way!β
βI have found the p5play library to be an invaluable resource for introducing students to game design and development. Our team chose to use this library for our Game Design Summer Program due to its many customizable features, well documented resources, and easy-to-use API which make it accessible for students of all ages and skill levels.
Due to the many methods and properties included in this library, students are able to quickly bring their game visions to life with code. These games range from basic catcher games to games with multiple levels and challenging features.
In addition to the library's well-documented resources, p5play offers a wealth of support and inspiration for the students and teachers in their community. This includes their interactive learn pages that allow students to tinker with different properties and methods in the library, their bi-annual Game Jam event, and their Discord channel filled with many great resources and opportunities to find support.
Our Girls Who Code team highly recommends this library to anyone interested in game development. We can't wait to see all of the games our students create this summer with this incredible library!β
βI recently got a chance to work with Quinton and do a deep dive into the p5play library. Video game design is such a great entrypoint for engaging students in programming projects, while introducing them to the structure of object oriented programming in p5. I can't wait to see what my students create with this!β
βI absolutely love what you've done with the Learn pages, what a cool reference for important sprite properties, looking forward to seeing more of that. Digging through the source a bit I'd say [p5play v3] retains a ton of the appeal of earlier versions and I was able to orient pretty quick.β
βI added a unit centered on p5play to my Artistic Coding and Game Design curriculum as a way to tease object oriented programming. Students quickly adapted to sprites and groups and were beyond excited about all the interactivity built into p5play. Through games, students were able to solidify their understanding of properties and methods without even realizing they were learning some of the core concepts of object oriented programming.
My students spent time making games using the p5play library and were immensely proud of their accomplishments. Since we have used p5play, my students are now better able to understand classes and have even written some of their own!β
βI've been using variations of p5play for several years in my middle school CS class. While it was serviceable before, it was nothing like what you've done with version 3. I LOVE it! Even my younger students can be successful and learn basic coding concepts because they don't really need to know all the math and physics behind the code now. Plus everything is consistent and streamlined so new ideas make sense. Then there's your amazing new website with so many easy to understand examples. I can send my advanced students directly to the p5play website and they can just explore and build anything they want. Thank you so much for all your work!β
βp5play has been a great addition to our curriculum. It has allowed us to explore a more creative outlet for learning object orientated programming and has been invaluable in their students projects for their exams.
Since introducing p5 and p5play we have seen an uptake of over 100% for students and are now seeing huge benefits to students learning. I would highly recommend introducing p5 & p5play into your curriculum. We have now developed a bespoke series of video tutorials to allow more schools and colleges in the UK to introduce p5play to their curriculum.β
βThank you so much for all the work Quinton. With this proper physics integration, I may start using p5play again in my classes!β
βOverall, I can't recommend p5play enough. It has provided an incredibly easy way to take my game development skills to the next level without having to learn some complicated game development software. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, I think you'll find that p5play is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.β
βUsing the library p5play in JavaScript in order to make graphical programs is a lot better then learning Python, because you get to see your program code influence something on screen.β - Student at Wyke
βLearning p5play has really helped me get more interested in coding, as it makes creating games very easy. It makes the process less time consuming and more fun!β - Student at Wyke
βI've used Tkinter in Python, which was useful to make basic applications. However, now using p5play we can make far more advanced games that are interesting and practical.β - Student at Wyke
Send your review of q5play to [email protected]
Quinton Ashley is a Computer Science educator with a passion for game design and 7 years of teaching experience!
q5play makes Object Oriented Programming tangible. Changing the properties of game objects called sprites produces immediate visual feedback.
q5play is a natural addition to q5 or p5.js based curriculum, which is already popular in schools.
Also, since it doesn't require a bespoke game editor, students gain transferrable, text based coding skills in JavaScript or Python.
Every EdTech company claims their "easy and fun to use" software empowers students to "realize their creative potential", but often it's just marketing fluff.
If these platforms are so fun and creatively empowering, why are students only using them to complete assignments?
q5play makes the art of game design more accessible, without being reductive. We believe in rewarding students for learning the basics by enabling them to go beyond.
q5play offers cutting edge performance, that even exceeds the out-of-the-box capabilities of professional game engines like Unity and Godot. q5 WebGPU and Box2D v3 WASM empower students to make games that were previously impossible to share on the web.
q5play was created to definitively bridge the gap between Scratch and Unity.
"Only the best is good enough"
Ole Kirk Christiansen, founder of LEGO
We don't believe in skimping on quality to make something "just for kids". q5play isn't merely a stepping stone, its elegant API makes it a joy to use for all.
Whether you're a beginner, hobbyist, or professional developer: q5play was created for you!
In q5play, sprites have built-in physics colliders and can display animations. User input can be handled from the keyboard, mouse, touch screens, and game controllers. Groups enable novice programmers to harness the power of class inheritance.
Yes! The q5play Creator License enables users to freely share or sell games made with q5play.
Educational use of q5play and the Learn q5play interactive textbook requires the q5play Educational License, which costs $6 USD per student per semester.
Check out @q5play on Codevre for templates, performance showcases, and educational demos made with q5play!
Look at the incredible projects that student have made with p5play v3, featured on the Play page!
See award-winning student games from the bi-annual q5play Game Jam.
q5play was just released in April 2026, so check back next year to see the first wave of student work made with q5play. Or... start teaching q5play and have your own students share their work on q5play's community Discord.
q5play's source code is available on GitHub.
Please report bugs if you find any!
Got an idea for a new feature? Make a feature request.
q5play and p5play v3 were created by Quinton Ashley.
Huge thanks to everyone that's helped with q5play! π
Erik Sombroek and Alex Birch, creators of Box2D v3 WASM.
Erin Catto, creator of the Box2D physics simulator.
Paolo Pedercini, creator of p5.play (version 1), who trusted me to take over this project.
Ali Shakiba, creator of planck.js, a JavaScript port of Box2D v2 used behind the scenes by p5play v3.
Inspired by Seymour Papert's groundbreaking work on Mindstorms (1980), Turtle programming with LOGO, and the learning theory of constructionism.
Contributors: @Tezumie, Oliver Zell, Caleb Foss, and Bobby S.
Testers and bug reporters: Lachlan Noble, Raj Raizada, Nathan Anil, Chayarat Wangweera, Zhiyuan Guo, Aarnav Gupta, and Carter Noa.