Best way for simple game-loop in Javascript?

Question

Is there a simple way to make a game loop in JavaScript? something like...

onTimerTick() {
  // update game state
}

Answer 1

Many of these answers are outdated and suboptimal. The recommended way to do this now is using requestAnimationFrame.

For example:

let previousTime = 0.0;

const loop = time => {
  // Compute the delta-time against the previous time
  const dt = time - previousTime;

  // Update the previous time
  previousTime = time;

  // Update your game
  update(dt);

  // Render your game
  render();

  // Repeat
  window.requestAnimationFrame(loop);
};

// Launch
window.requestAnimationFrame(time => {
  previousTime = time;

  window.requestAnimationFrame(loop);
});