#blog

How to Develop your Own Game in Phaser.js?

A Beginner's Guide to Understanding basics of Game Development, using JS Frameworks.

Written By
Published on
June 13, 2025
Reading Time
3 min read

Introduction

Phaser.js is a powerful, open-source JavaScript Framework for creating 2D Games that run in your web browser. In this guide, I'll walk you through the essential steps to build a simple game from scratch.

No prior game-development experience is required - although, just basic JavaScript knowledge and a text editor would be well preferred :)

What You'll Learn

  • Setting up your Development Environment
  • Creating a basic Phaser Project
  • Loading Assets (images, audio, etc.)
  • Displaying Sprites and Animations
  • Handling User Input
  • Adding Simple Physics and Collisions
  • Packaging and Deploying your Game

1. Setting Up Your Environment

  1. Install Node.js and npm
    Phaser Projects typically use npm for Package Management. Download and Install Node.js (which includes npm) from https://nodejs.org.
  2. Create a Project Folder
    mkdir my-phaser-game
cd my-phaser-game
  3. Initialize npm and Install Phaser
    npm init -y
npm install phaser
  4. Add a Development Server To test your game in the browser, install a simple server:
    npm install --save-dev live-server

    Add a script in your package.json:
    "scripts": {
  "start": "live-server --port=8080"
}

2. Creating Your First Scene

Phaser Organizes your Game into Scenes. Each scene handles its own Loading, Setup, and Update Loop.

  1. Create an index.html
    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  <title>My Phaser Game</title>
</head>
<body>
  <script src="node_modules/phaser/dist/phaser.js"></script>
  <script src="src/main.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
  2. Create src/main.js
    import Phaser from 'phaser';

const config = {
  type: Phaser.AUTO,
  width: 800,
  height: 600,
  scene: {
    preload,
    create,
    update
  }
};

const game = new Phaser.Game(config);

function preload() {
  this.load.image('sky', 'assets/sky.png');
}

function create() {
  this.add.image(400, 300, 'sky');
}

function update() {
  // tumhara jo bhi game logic hai, woh idhar jayega.
}
  3. Run Your Game
    npm run start

    Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser—you should see your “sky” background!

3. Loading and Displaying Assets

  • Images/Spritesheets
    this.load.spritesheet('player', 'assets/player.png', {
  frameWidth: 32,
  frameHeight: 48
});
  • Audio
    this.load.audio('jump', 'assets/jump.wav');

4. Adding Animations

Define animations in create():

this.anims.create({
  key: 'walk',
  frames: this.anims.generateFrameNumbers('player', { start: 0, end: 3 }),
  frameRate: 10,
  repeat: -1
});

Play animation on a sprite:

const player = this.add.sprite(100, 450, 'player');
player.anims.play('walk');

5. Handling User Input

Use Phaser’s built‑in input manager:

const cursors = this.input.keyboard.createCursorKeys();

function update() {
  if (cursors.left.isDown) {
    player.x -= 2;
    player.anims.play('walk', true);
  } else if (cursors.right.isDown) {
    player.x += 2;
    player.anims.play('walk', true);
  } else {
    player.anims.stop();
  }
}

6. Physics and Collisions

Phaser includes Arcade Physics by Default:

  1. Enable Physics
    const player = this.physics.add.sprite(100, 450, 'player');
player.setBounce(0.2);
player.setCollideWorldBounds(true);
  2. Create Platforms
    const platforms = this.physics.add.staticGroup();
platforms.create(400, 568, 'ground').setScale(2).refreshBody();
  3. Add Collision Detection
    this.physics.add.collider(player, platforms);

7. Packaging and Deployment

  1. Build Your Game Phaser Games are just Static Files. Meaning you can bundle them with tools like Webpack or Rollup, or simply copy your index.html, src/, and assets/ folders.
  2. Host on GitHub Pages
    • Push your project to GitHub
    • In Repository Settings → Pages → select main branch and /root
    • Your Game is Live at https://<username>.github.io/<repo>/
  3. Other Options
    • Netlify
    • Vercel (most preferred according to me)
    • Firebase Hosting

Conclusion

You’ve now set up a basic Phaser.js Project, Loaded Assets, Created Animations, Handled Input, and Added Simple Physics. From here, explore more Phaser features like— Tilemaps, Particle Effects, Shaders—and build the game of your dreams! Have Fun Developing Games!