This aims to be an exhaustive tutorial and example/boilerplate with hopes of teaching others the usage of phaser's state management system, including:
- Creating a cool splash screen
- Loading assets into your game with a progress bar.
- How to load Custom Fonts into your game
- Game state management
- Navigation between Main Menu, Options Screen, and more.
You can view the finished product here: http://mmcfarland.itch.io/phaser-menu-system
When finishing this chapter we'll create a cool splash screen with a preloading progress bar. We're also going to leverage phaser's asset loading system to grab scripts, a custom font, images, and music files so the engine loads up real quick and the progress bar will update as assets are cached. Additionally, we'll touch the surface of the game state management system.
My directory structure follows a kind-of hybrid of scaffolds I've used in the past for web application development as well as game development with different engines. I am not saying it's the best one, but please follow it this time so you can easily follow the tutorial. If you get stuck at any time the source code is available to you on this github page.
game/
assets/
bgm/
fonts/
images/
style
states/
vendor/
For this HTML file we're going to do something a little different then you might have seen across the web. Rather
than loading all of our assets in script tags, I want you to just load the minimum. So it looks like we only need
phaser.js and main.js Now if you are wondering why, and how we are going to load everything I look forward to
explaining further below. Don't worry, we're not going to put everything in one monolithic file either!
The index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<main id="game"></main>
<script src="vendor/phaser.js"></script>
<script src="main.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The benefit is that we can actually have the engine start up much sooner. This way, the users don't have to wait so long before before being greeted with the splash screen. I don't know about you, but I have personally closed my browser before fully loading a game simply because I saw a blank screen. So let's try to shorten that as much as possible to improve our user experience.
So what do we need to load before we can show our cool splash screen??
- A background image(800x600) - I chose space because I love space.
- A logo - I chose my personal logo because I made it a long time ago and I dont want to remake one
- The progress bar - I created a simple one you are free to use. All you need is a horizontal bar and make it 100% full
Create a simple logo, a progress bar, and a background image (800x600)
Or you can just use the stuff found in (./game/assets/images)
So, did you create a logo, progress bar, and background image? Or use mine? Either way, I hope you had fun!
Before we get started with the splash screen itself, we need to setup phaser to load the assets necessary to show it!
Now to create the main.js file that html file was pointing to, and we're going to use it to load everything we need to show our cool splash screen, then we'll use the state system to switch to our awesome splash screen once it is ready.
`assets/game/main.js``
var game = new Phaser.Game(800, 600, Phaser.AUTO, 'game'), Main = function () {};
Main.prototype = {
preload: function () {
game.load.image('stars', 'assets/images/stars.jpg');
game.load.image('loading', 'assets/images/loading.png');
game.load.image('brand', 'assets/images/logo.png');
game.load.script('splash', 'states/Splash.js');
},
create: function () {
game.state.add('Splash', Splash);
game.state.start('Splash');
}
};
game.state.add('Main', Main);
game.state.start('Main');assets/states/splash.js will be used to load the rest of our assets and show a progress bar as they are loaded.
To keep things organized, I prefer to create specific functions that have single responsibilities. To follow the single responsibility principal, let's create separate functions that load specific types of media.
splash.prototype = {
loadScripts: function () {
},
loadBgm: function () {
},
loadImages: function () {
},
loadFonts: function () {
},
// The preload function then will call all of the previously defined functions:
preload: function () {
this.loadScripts();
this.loadImages();
this.loadFonts();
this.loadBgm();
},To add the progress bar, we add the following code to our preload function:
// Add the loadingbar to the scene:
var loadingBar = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX, 400, "loading");
// Tell phaser to use laodingBar as our preload progess bar
this.load.setPreloadSprite(loadingBar);That's it! Phaser.io will then do the rest by modfying the progress bar's clipping as assets are loaded. Once the preload function completes loading all of the assets, the create function will take over and the progress bar will be full.
So all of the assets loaded from main.js are available to you to create your splash screen. As such, we can add them
to our preload function:
preload: function () {
// object z-index is set to when object was added.
// background
game.add.sprite(0, 0, 'stars');
// my logo
var myLogo = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX-120, 100, 'brand');
// loading bar
var loadingBar = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX-(387/2), 400, "loading");
// my logo was too big, so i use scale to set it down, not optimal but it works for now, plus later on
// I am going to show you a neet trick with scale, although really in production you should never do this, especially
// for a splash screen!
myLogo.scale.setTo(0.5);
// add text that says its loading
var status = game.add.text(game.world.centerX, 380, 'Loading...', {fill: 'white'});
this.load.setPreloadSprite(loadingBar);
}That's nice and all, but we could do better. In fact there are a couple things I do not like about it.
I don't like that we are using game.add.sprite before we use var, because the javascript engine will then
create the var for me at the top of the function and it will be undefined. This is known as hoisting. I dont want
to get into too much detail about it, but it might be better to do it this way:
preload: function () {
var myLogo, loadingBar, status;
game.add.sprite(0, 0, 'stars');
myLogo = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX-120, 100, 'brand');
myLogo.scale.setTo(0.5);
// loading bar
loadingBar = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX-(387/2), 400, "loading");
// my logo was too big, so i use scale to set it down, not optimal but it works for this.
status = game.add.text(game.world.centerX, 380, 'Loading...', {fill: 'white'});
this.load.setPreloadSprite(loadingBar);Well, that's essentially the same thing, except we're saving the run-time compiler a step and we're reminding ourselves how it works. You don't have to do it this way, but it surely is a style that I prefer.
BUT.. there's another problem with this... I don't have to use maths to center the logo, instead all I have to do
is anchor.setTo(0.5)
preload: function () {
var myLogo, loadingBar, status;
game.add.sprite(0, 0, 'stars');
myLogo = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX, 100, 'brand');
myLogo.anchor.setTo(0.5);
myLogo.scale.setTo(0.5);
status = game.add.text(game.world.centerX, 380, 'Loading...', {fill: 'white'});
status.anchor.setTo(0.5);
loadingBar = game.add.sprite(game.world.centerX, 400, "loading");
loadingBar.anchor.setTo(0.5);
this.load.setPreloadSprite(loadingBar);Ok, that's looking better, but you know I still don't like it. Also, DID you notice the loading bar loads from the center? We'll have to avoid using anchor for the loading bar unless you would prefer to keep it that way of course.
Still, we seem to be repeating ourselves with anchor.setTo, really I might be nitpicking but I prefer
to be DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself), and another thing, I'd rather declare my variables at the top AND have them defined as well.
So I ended up creating a utility or helper function and gave it the utils namespace. The helper allowed me to avoid repeating the same methods, which I feel is cleaner.
Since you're following along, here's another challenge for you, if you get stuck just head on over to the next chapter:
- create a utils.js file and put it in a new lib folder
- add a helper function that will center all of the sprites you pass into it
- make sure to load the utils.js file by putting it in main.js
- use your new helper function with the your splash screen
How did you do? Here's what I came up with...
utils.js
var utils = {
centerGameObjects: function (objects) {
objects.forEach(function (object) {
object.anchor.setTo(0.5);
})
}
};main.js (preload function)
preload: function () {
game.load.image('stars', 'assets/images/stars.jpg');
game.load.image('loading', 'assets/images/loading.png');
game.load.image('brand', 'assets/images/logo.png');
game.load.script('utils', 'lib/utils.js');
game.load.script('splash', 'states/Splash.js');
},My new splash screen (now using the handy init function!)
init: function () {
this.loadingBar = game.make.sprite(game.world.centerX-(387/2), 400, "loading");
this.logo = game.make.sprite(game.world.centerX, 200, 'brand');
this.status = game.make.text(game.world.centerX, 380, 'Loading...', {fill: 'white'});
utils.centerGameObjects([this.logo, this.status]);
},
preload: function () {
game.add.sprite(0, 0, 'stars');
game.add.existing(this.logo).scale.setTo(0.5);
game.add.existing(this.loadingBar);
game.add.existing(this.status);
this.load.setPreloadSprite(this.loadingBar);
this.loadScripts();
this.loadImages();
this.loadFonts();
this.loadBgm();
},The init function calls before preload, so we can go ahead and add our sprites there in any order we want without
having to worry about z-order, many thanks to the make function.
Then, in our preload function we can simply use game.add to add them to the stage. You may notice that I also chain onto the addition
of the logo and scale it right then and there. I really wish phaser had more chainable methods, but that's ok. It's still a great framework!
It's now time to add the scripts, images, fonts, and background game music!
loadScripts: function () {
// You can download this at: https://github.com/typekit/webfontloader
// or use npm install webfontloader
game.load.script('WebFont', 'vendor/webfontloader.js');
// You can go ahead and make empty versions of these:
game.load.script('gamemenu','states/gamemenu.js');
game.load.script('thegame', 'states/thegame.js');
game.load.script('gameover','states/gameover.js');
game.load.script('credits', 'states/credits.js');
game.load.script('options', 'states/options.js');
},
loadBgm: function () {
// thanks Kevin Macleod at http://incompetech.com/
game.load.audio('dangerous', 'assets/bgm/Dangerous.mp3');
game.load.audio('exit', 'assets/bgm/Exit the Premises.mp3');
},
// various freebies found from google image search
loadImages: function () {
game.load.image('menu-bg', 'assets/images/menu-bg.jpg');
game.load.image('options-bg', 'assets/images/options-bg.jpg');
game.load.image('gameover-bg', 'assets/images/gameover-bg.jpg');
},Phaser works pretty well with google's webfont loader. What webfont loader does is it allows you to load fonts with javascript code. You can load fonts from google's website, or you can load custom fonts you created or downloaded yourself. I personally downloaded a custom font, in fact I think its better you keep the font on your filesystem, in case a 3rd party server goes down.
To add the custom font:
-
Download a font from the web, a good site is http://www.dafont.com
-
Put the font in assets/fonts directory (I chose theminion.otf)
-
Create a css file that defines the font
style/theminion.css:
@font-face {
font-family: 'TheMinion';
src: url('../fonts/theminion.otf');
}We will use the webfont loader script located at https://github.com/typekit/webfontloader to get the font. This way we dont put the font in our html file, this means that we can use our cool splash screen while the font is loading.
loadFonts: function () {
WebFontConfig = {
custom: {
families: ['TheMinion'],
urls: ['assets/style/theminion.css']
}
}
},Now let's add the create function, and have it change the text from "Loading" to "Ready" - then add a 5 second timer before loading the next screen.
create: function() {
this.status.setText('Ready!');
setTimeout(function () {
// We will load the main menu here
}, 5000);
}I decided to make it change the text to ready, because by default phaser will pause the game when it comes out of focus. So if a user sees the preload screen, then clicks on another tab in their browser, the game state will not change. The assets will still load, but they'll be greeted with the 'ready' text. Then once they refocus the game, it will change the state to the game menu.
There's also a timer for 5 seconds, so even if it is fully loaded there's an additional 5 seconds for the user to see the really awesome splash screen you just made. However, free to adjust the timer, or remove it altogether if you think it is too much... ;)
We also want to enqueue the other states of our game like so:
game.state.add("GameMenu",GameMenu);
game.state.add("Game",Game);
game.state.add("GameOver",GameOver);
game.state.add("Credits",Credits);
game.state.add("Options",Options);For each of the states, go ahead and create the following files:
game/states/Credits.js
var Credits = function () {};game/states/Game.js
var Game = function () {};game/states/GameMenu.js
var GameMenu = function () {};game/states/GameOver.js
var Credits = function () {};game/states/Options.js
var Options = function () {};You can play music with phaser's music loader pretty easy, like so:
music = game.add.audio('dangerous');
music.loop = true;
music.play();But actually the music will keep playing between states, so it would be better to declare the music variable
at the top level of scope, so that way we can access it later in case we want to change it or if we have music
options that turn it off and on.
The final splash screen:
var Splash = function () {},
playSound = true,
playMusic = true,
music;
Splash.prototype = {
loadScripts: function () {
game.load.script('WebFont', 'vendor/webfontloader.js');
game.load.script('gamemenu','states/gamemenu.js');
game.load.script('thegame', 'states/thegame.js');
game.load.script('gameover','states/gameover.js');
game.load.script('credits', 'states/credits.js');
game.load.script('options', 'states/options.js');
},
loadBgm: function () {
// thanks Kevin Macleod at http://incompetech.com/
game.load.audio('dangerous', 'assets/bgm/Dangerous.mp3');
game.load.audio('exit', 'assets/bgm/Exit the Premises.mp3');
},
// varios freebies found from google image search
loadImages: function () {
game.load.image('menu-bg', 'assets/images/menu-bg.jpg');
game.load.image('options-bg', 'assets/images/options-bg.jpg');
game.load.image('gameover-bg', 'assets/images/gameover-bg.jpg');
},
loadFonts: function () {
WebFontConfig = {
custom: {
families: ['TheMinion'],
urls: ['assets/style/theminion.css']
}
}
},
init: function () {
this.loadingBar = game.make.sprite(game.world.centerX-(387/2), 400, "loading");
this.logo = game.make.sprite(game.world.centerX, 200, 'brand');
this.status = game.make.text(game.world.centerX, 380, 'Loading...', {fill: 'white'});
utils.centerGameObjects([this.logo, this.status]);
},
preload: function () {
game.add.sprite(0, 0, 'stars');
game.add.existing(this.logo).scale.setTo(0.5);
game.add.existing(this.loadingBar);
game.add.existing(this.status);
this.load.setPreloadSprite(this.loadingBar);
this.loadScripts();
this.loadImages();
this.loadFonts();
this.loadBgm();
},
addGameStates: function () {
game.state.add("GameMenu",GameMenu);
game.state.add("Game",Game);
game.state.add("GameOver",GameOver);
game.state.add("Credits",Credits);
game.state.add("Options",Options);
},
addGameMusic: function () {
music = game.add.audio('dangerous');
music.loop = true;
music.play();
},
create: function() {
this.status.setText('Ready!');
this.addGameStates();
this.addGameMusic();
setTimeout(function () {
//game.state.start("GameMenu");
}, 5000);
}
};That's it for Chapter 1!!! Please star this and share it with your friends. If you have any questions you can send me a message on twitter @docodemore.
Read on to Chapter 2 - The Game Menu
If you like this tutorial please STAR it and share it with your friends! This system is based off of Understanding Phaser States by Emanuele Feronato and also some other tutorials I've used in the past that were actually for different game engines. The purpose is to have a re-usable game menu system.
Emanuele brings up some great details about state management that I will not re-iterate. So if you're interested in learning more please also check out his tutorial as well.
I couldn't have done it without the examples found on phaser's website, you should check them out when you get the chance: http://phaser.io/docs#loader