5 ms·

I've spent the past 6 months building a game[1] using Phaser and TypeScript. On the whole, it's been a great experience. Actually, I was surprised to see this

by aroman 9y ago

I've spent the past 6 months building a game[1] using Phaser and TypeScript. On the whole, it's been a great experience. Actually, I was surprised to see this posted here now, since Phaser 3.0 is not yet out. It's mostly feature-complete, but they're still working on docs and preparing for the release (in the few days to a week). I've really enjoyed following the v3 devlog[2]. Richard Davey's dedication to the project and his and the other contributors herculean efforts towards v3.0 have been inspiring to watch. Truly a labor of love. Some tips for others based on my experience with Phaser: - USE TYPESCRIPT! One of the worst parts of Phaser is its documentation. In fact, the docs on the main website have been outdated by about 4 major releases, and the new docs are ugly and hard to use. TypeScript + VSCode massively improves this experience, by auto-completing functions and adding inline JSDoc info. - Webpack is great, but hard to use with Phaser 2 OOTB. This may be a moot point since V3 is almost here, but if anyone wants to see how it can be done, my whole game is open source[3]. - Phaser.Group is a weird concept, but very powerful. Not only useful for object pooling, but also for creating custom GUIs using surfaces with coordinates relative to the group size/position. Makes nested dynamic UIs very easy. - Phaser's scaling system[4] is awesome. Use it. Don't try to reinvent the wheel yourself! Richard and crew, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! You've built an incredible project. Thank you for sharing it with the world. [1] http://www.toomanycaptains.com/ http://www.toomanycaptains.com/ [2] http://phaser.io/phaser3 http://phaser.io/phaser3 [3] https://github.com/TooManyCaptains/TooManyCaptains/tree/master/game https://github.com/TooManyCaptains/TooManyCaptains/tree/mast... [4] https://photonstorm.github.io/phaser-ce/Phaser.ScaleManager.html https://photonstorm.github.io/phaser-ce/Phaser.ScaleManager....

LoSboccacc 9y ago
If we’re doing tips, here’s another: don’t use bazillion timers to control your actors lifetime! Timers array gets resorted at every addition and that can really add noticeable lag on slow devices. If you need to, rewrite the add timer method to use an insertio sort instead of adding last then sorting the whole array (I was using timer instead of collision for bullets since I had the hit/miss outcome coming from a percentage base rile as opposed as game phisycs and expired bullets just at the right time to make them appear misses - maybe not the greatest idea mind you but eh got it working and was cool enough)
diminish 9y ago
Phaser 3 is indeed out ) https://mobile.twitter.com/phaser_/status/963303506999480320 https://mobile.twitter.com/phaser_/status/963303506999480320
_mrmnmly 9y ago
imho the reason why Phaser docs are so bad is an excuse to sell... Books about Phaser. Maybe I'm wrong, but why they exists if community repeated many times that docs should be improved?
- rtpg 9y ago
  hmm I mean that could be why, but the simplest explanation is that they're lacking the peoplepower to work on documentation. Who wants to work on docs after all? Some people, but probably not enough
- wastedhours 9y ago
  Hanlon's Razor. It seems to me that if there's limited resources, then if they've decided that they're not using "documentation as marketing" (which for free frameworks doesn't seem to be the best strategy to be honest), then directing time to developing paid for learning materials over and above using that time for free docs is a valid strategy. I can't imagine any project deliberately having crappy docs in order to sell resources, as you'd get almost no buy in to begin with.
- humps 9y ago
  everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if that opinion is quite clearly wrong. Phaser is a tiny team of very dedicated individuals and they have successfully produced one of the best JS/TS game frameworks. If you want better documentation, why not produce some? Want to help the team grow so they can afford to employ someone to write docs? Buy the books, pledge to the Patreon. Basically: help in some way. That's much more productive than suggesting they did all this work simply to sell some books.
  - posterboy 9y ago
    An opinion can't be wrong, a statement maybe, but a statement "this is what I believe: <opinion>" is in any case not up to debate. Because An opinion has to be supported by arguments and those can be wrong. But of course, you are entitled to your opinion.
vanderZwan 9y ago
For Ludum Dare 34, my friends and I used Phaser and Typescript to make a Jam-game[0][1]. (meaning: team-based, has more days available, not part of the main "competition", which is about the solo achievement of making a 48 hour game) It was my first introduction to either, and none of us had used Phaser before. My experience matches yours: combining the two made for a great dev experience, and the docs are confusing at times. Luckily my friends Thomas ten Cate (aka Frozen Fractal) and Marten Veldthuis (aka... Marten Veldthuis) are excellent developers, who have struggled with way worse documentation, so we managed anyway. Docs aside, Phaser-the-framework seemed very well constructed. Tangent: a few competitions later Thomas made Leonardo's Paint Machine[2], which is so amazing, especially for a 48 hour game, that I'll link it despite being made in a different framework (he uses Ludum Dares to try new out new frameworks and such). [0] http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=18490 http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid... [1] https://blindedcyclops.neocities.org/ld34/index.html https://blindedcyclops.neocities.org/ld34/index.html [2] https://frozenfractal.com/games/leonardos-painting-machine/ https://frozenfractal.com/games/leonardos-painting-machine/
andrew_wc_brown 9y ago
My open source game is Electron+PhaserCE+Typescript+Webpack. I tried to avoid webpack since I knew compile time would be an issue for my other team members and it turned it out it was. As a web-dev I'm use to its workflow but onboarding game devs hate it. I have to hear everyday lets move to Godot, Unity, Unreal Engine because waiting 4 seconds for compiling is a headache. Switching to Typescript is great for larger teams because it makes properties explicit. I personally like coffee-script and find it more productive if I'm the only dev but I swallowed the medicine on this one and it was worth it. VSScode is powerful with Typescript but its not as productive as VIM. I think of code completion and seeing errors right away as crutches that atrophies a developers own skills to find code and errors but they can make it much easier for juniors and lower the bar, pair this with wallabyjs and you have a controlled environment that catches everything for you. I found no resources on testing Phaser but figured out my own way of mocking Phaser objects, and came up with my own way to write acceptance-like tests for my game without electron. I really wanted to contribute to Phaser3 and had put great effort to join but Richard was useless in responding. He said he was porting their tickets from Trello to Github and then I could contribute which never happened, I asked month over month. I really wanted to use Phaser 3 to future proof my game and I would have contributed significantly. I could have forked PhaserCE but its a mess which makes sense for the rewrite but working blindly on Phaser 3 would be futile. I am quite bitter about bitter about this because I 20 hours a week for 6 months I could have contribute and now I don't I think I will likely just write my own lightweight game framework to map only what I need and gut Phaser. Even looking at Phaser 3 codebase with their big rewrite from scratch its still clunky and I think this is because they don't build games at a large scale with a team to have a good feeling to fine tune an engine. https://github.com/omenking/swap-n-pop https://github.com/omenking/swap-n-pop
- Fifer82 9y ago
  `I think of code completion and seeing errors right away as crutches that atrophies a developers own skills` Really? You would rub sticks together for fire rather than use modern tools such as a lighter? I can't see how this reflects being a better programmer. While you are rubbing sticks, I am probably wondering how X can be improved and implementing that.

by aroman 9y ago

LoSboccacc 9y ago

If we’re doing tips, here’s another: don’t use bazillion timers to control your actors lifetime! Timers array gets resorted at every addition and that can really add noticeable lag on slow devices. If you need to, rewrite the add timer method to use an insertio sort instead of adding last then sorting the whole array (I was using timer instead of collision for bullets since I had the hit/miss outcome coming from a percentage base rile as opposed as game phisycs and expired bullets just at the right time to make them appear misses - maybe not the greatest idea mind you but eh got it working and was cool enough)

diminish 9y ago

Phaser 3 is indeed out ) https://mobile.twitter.com/phaser_/status/963303506999480320 https://mobile.twitter.com/phaser_/status/963303506999480320

_mrmnmly 9y ago

imho the reason why Phaser docs are so bad is an excuse to sell... Books about Phaser. Maybe I'm wrong, but why they exists if community repeated many times that docs should be improved?

rtpg 9y ago
hmm I mean that could be why, but the simplest explanation is that they're lacking the peoplepower to work on documentation. Who wants to work on docs after all? Some people, but probably not enough
wastedhours 9y ago
Hanlon's Razor. It seems to me that if there's limited resources, then if they've decided that they're not using "documentation as marketing" (which for free frameworks doesn't seem to be the best strategy to be honest), then directing time to developing paid for learning materials over and above using that time for free docs is a valid strategy. I can't imagine any project deliberately having crappy docs in order to sell resources, as you'd get almost no buy in to begin with.
humps 9y ago
everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if that opinion is quite clearly wrong. Phaser is a tiny team of very dedicated individuals and they have successfully produced one of the best JS/TS game frameworks. If you want better documentation, why not produce some? Want to help the team grow so they can afford to employ someone to write docs? Buy the books, pledge to the Patreon. Basically: help in some way. That's much more productive than suggesting they did all this work simply to sell some books.
- posterboy 9y ago
  An opinion can't be wrong, a statement maybe, but a statement "this is what I believe: <opinion>" is in any case not up to debate. Because An opinion has to be supported by arguments and those can be wrong. But of course, you are entitled to your opinion.

vanderZwan 9y ago

For Ludum Dare 34, my friends and I used Phaser and Typescript to make a Jam-game[0][1]. (meaning: team-based, has more days available, not part of the main "competition", which is about the solo achievement of making a 48 hour game) It was my first introduction to either, and none of us had used Phaser before. My experience matches yours: combining the two made for a great dev experience, and the docs are confusing at times. Luckily my friends Thomas ten Cate (aka Frozen Fractal) and Marten Veldthuis (aka... Marten Veldthuis) are excellent developers, who have struggled with way worse documentation, so we managed anyway. Docs aside, Phaser-the-framework seemed very well constructed. Tangent: a few competitions later Thomas made Leonardo's Paint Machine[2], which is so amazing, especially for a 48 hour game, that I'll link it despite being made in a different framework (he uses Ludum Dares to try new out new frameworks and such). [0] http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=18490 http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid... [1] https://blindedcyclops.neocities.org/ld34/index.html https://blindedcyclops.neocities.org/ld34/index.html [2] https://frozenfractal.com/games/leonardos-painting-machine/ https://frozenfractal.com/games/leonardos-painting-machine/

andrew_wc_brown 9y ago

My open source game is Electron+PhaserCE+Typescript+Webpack. I tried to avoid webpack since I knew compile time would be an issue for my other team members and it turned it out it was. As a web-dev I'm use to its workflow but onboarding game devs hate it. I have to hear everyday lets move to Godot, Unity, Unreal Engine because waiting 4 seconds for compiling is a headache. Switching to Typescript is great for larger teams because it makes properties explicit. I personally like coffee-script and find it more productive if I'm the only dev but I swallowed the medicine on this one and it was worth it. VSScode is powerful with Typescript but its not as productive as VIM. I think of code completion and seeing errors right away as crutches that atrophies a developers own skills to find code and errors but they can make it much easier for juniors and lower the bar, pair this with wallabyjs and you have a controlled environment that catches everything for you. I found no resources on testing Phaser but figured out my own way of mocking Phaser objects, and came up with my own way to write acceptance-like tests for my game without electron. I really wanted to contribute to Phaser3 and had put great effort to join but Richard was useless in responding. He said he was porting their tickets from Trello to Github and then I could contribute which never happened, I asked month over month. I really wanted to use Phaser 3 to future proof my game and I would have contributed significantly. I could have forked PhaserCE but its a mess which makes sense for the rewrite but working blindly on Phaser 3 would be futile. I am quite bitter about bitter about this because I 20 hours a week for 6 months I could have contribute and now I don't I think I will likely just write my own lightweight game framework to map only what I need and gut Phaser. Even looking at Phaser 3 codebase with their big rewrite from scratch its still clunky and I think this is because they don't build games at a large scale with a team to have a good feeling to fine tune an engine. https://github.com/omenking/swap-n-pop https://github.com/omenking/swap-n-pop

Fifer82 9y ago
`I think of code completion and seeing errors right away as crutches that atrophies a developers own skills` Really? You would rub sticks together for fire rather than use modern tools such as a lighter? I can't see how this reflects being a better programmer. While you are rubbing sticks, I am probably wondering how X can be improved and implementing that.