Phaser — Fast & Fun HTML5 Game Framework

What Phaser Does

• Scene management — Preloader, MainMenu, Game, GameOver
• Physics — Arcade (simple AABB), Matter.js (advanced rigid body)
• Sprites & animations — atlas, frame-by-frame, skeletal (Spine)
• Tilemaps — Tiled JSON loader with collision
• Input — keyboard, mouse, touch, gamepad
• Audio — Web Audio with spatial positioning
• Cameras — multi-camera, follow, zoom, shake
• Particles — emitters with physics
• Plugins — extend with custom systems

Architecture

Game → Scene(s) → GameObjects → Display list. Each frame runs scene update(). Renderer is Canvas 2D or WebGL (auto-detect). Physics systems are optional plugins. Loader preloads assets before scene creates.

Self-Hosting

Phaser ships with your game bundle. Deploy as static HTML to any CDN. Can also package with Cordova/Capacitor for mobile app stores.

Key Features

• Canvas + WebGL renderer
• Arcade + Matter.js physics
• Tilemap support (Tiled)
• Animation system
• Audio with Web Audio API
• Input handling (keyboard/mouse/touch/gamepad)
• Plugin architecture
• Scene manager
• Camera system with effects
• Particle emitters

Comparison

FAQ

Q: What size of games is it suitable for? A: Well-suited to small-to-medium 2D games — casual, puzzle, platformer, side-scrolling shooter, and farm-sim all work great. For large RPGs or 3D, consider Unity.

Q: How do I deploy to mobile? A: Wrap it in a native shell via Capacitor/Cordova, or ship it as a pure-web PWA that installs to the home screen.

Q: What's new in Phaser 4? A: A new render pipeline (higher performance), improved TypeScript support, and WebGPU exploration. v3 is still the primary maintained version.

Sources & Credits

• Docs: https://docs.phaser.io
• GitHub: https://github.com/phaserjs/phaser
• License: MIT