Why My Simple Games Run on Next.js: A Solo Dev’s Case for 'Overkill'

The core logic of my games is simple JavaScript. So why wrap it in a powerful, seemingly complex framework like Next.js? Let's break down this very deliberate choice.

Photo by Vicky Sim on Unsplash

The Obvious Question: Isn't a Simple HTML File Enough?

On the surface, a game like Chromax or HueDash is straightforward. The core of the game lives inside an HTML canvas element, manipulated by a single, focused JavaScript file. The simplest way to build this would be a single index.html file, a style.css file, and a game.js file. For a quick prototype, that approach is perfect. So why did I choose to build my finished games using a powerful framework like Next.js? Isn't it like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

I have asked myself this question many times. The answer is that a "game" is so much more than just the gameplay loop inside the canvas. It is a complete application. It needs a main menu, a game over screen, a way to display scores, settings, and rules. It needs to handle different game states cleanly. And most importantly, it needs a secure way to communicate with a server for features like leaderboards or the "Total Games Played" counter. When you look at the game as a full application, the choice of Next.js shifts from "overkill" to a smart, pragmatic, and truly "lazy" long term decision.

Benefit 1: From a Mess of DOM Manipulation to Clean, Reusable Components

Anyone who has built a complex user interface with plain JavaScript knows the pain of direct DOM manipulation. You end up with a tangled web of document.getElementById, .innerHTML, .appendChild, and .classList.toggle. Building a simple main menu this way is tedious. Building a dynamic game over screen that shows the final score, a high score, and a "Play Again" button becomes a mess.

This is where Next.js, which is built on React, completely changes the game. The entire UI is broken down into small, manageable, and reusable components. Instead of manually writing code to show or hide elements, I can manage the game's state with a simple variable. For example, I can have a state called gameState which can be 'menu', 'playing', or 'gameOver'. The page then simply renders the correct component based on this state:

If gameState is 'menu', it renders the MainMenu component.

If gameState is 'playing', it renders the GameCanvas component.

If gameState is 'gameOver', it renders the GameOverScreen component.

This is a profoundly cleaner, more declarative, and less error-prone way to build a user interface. It allows me to spend my time thinking about the game's logic, not wrestling with how to get a div to appear on the screen.

Benefit 2: The Power of API Routes for Secure Logic

This is perhaps the biggest advantage for a solo developer. A game should not be an island. It should be able to communicate with the outside world for features that enhance the player experience. A perfect example is the "Total Games Played" counter we have on the main LazyDevLabs website. To update this counter securely, the game client needs to tell a server, "Hey, a game was just played."

Without a framework, this is complex. You would need to set up and manage a separate server. With Next.js, this is built-in and incredibly simple. I can create a file at /pages/api/incrementPlayCount.js. This file becomes a secure, server-side API endpoint. The game client can send a request to this endpoint, and the server-side code can safely perform actions like updating a database. The logic is completely hidden from the user, preventing any cheating or manipulation. This is not a hypothetical benefit. It is the exact architecture I use.

This opens the door to a world of future possibilities. The next logical step is a global leaderboard. With API routes, the process is straightforward: when a game ends, the client sends the final score to a /api/submitScore endpoint. The server can then validate this score and save it to a database. This is the foundation for almost every modern online feature, and Next.js provides it out of the box.

Benefit 3: Performance and Optimization by Default

It might seem counterintuitive that a large framework could lead to better performance, but Next.js is packed with optimization features. The landing page for the game, the part that contains the main menu and rules, can be Statically Generated (SSG). This means it is pre-built into a static HTML file that loads almost instantly for the user.

Furthermore, Next.js has automatic code splitting. This means the user's browser does not have to download one massive JavaScript file containing all the game's logic at once. It can initially download just the small amount of code needed for the main menu. Then, when the user clicks "Start Game," the browser can fetch the rest of the JavaScript needed for the actual gameplay. For users on slower mobile connections, this can dramatically improve the initial loading time and reduce the bounce rate.

It also offers built-in image optimization. All the game's assets, from button icons to background images, can be served in modern, lightweight formats like WebP and automatically resized for different screen sizes. This is a huge performance boost that I get for free, without having to manually configure complex image processing tools.

A Foundation for a Professional Workflow

Ultimately, choosing Next.js is about treating my small web games as serious software projects. A well-organized Next.js project with a clear separation of components, pages, and API routes is infinitely easier to maintain and expand than a single, monolithic game.js file. When I come back to a project after a few months, I can immediately understand the structure and start adding new features.

It is a professional workflow that pays dividends in the long run. The choice was not about the complexity of the core gameplay. It was about building a complete, robust, and future-proof *application* around that gameplay. It is the truly "lazy" choice, because it leverages a powerful tool to save an immense amount of time and effort, allowing me to focus on what matters most: making the game fun.

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