Phaser is a fast, free and fun open source HTML5 game framework. It uses [Pixi.js](https://github.com/GoodBoyDigital/pixi.js/) for WebGL and Canvas rendering across desktop and mobile web browsers. Games can be compiled to iOS and Android apps via 3rd party tools.
Along with the fantastic open source community Phaser is actively developed and maintained by [Photon Storm Limited](http://www.photonstorm.com). As a result of rapid support and a developer friendly API Phaser is currently one of the [most starred](https://github.com/showcases/javascript-game-engines) game frameworks on Github.
Thousands of developers worldwide use it. From indies and multi-national digital agencies to schools and Universities. Each creating their own incredible games. Grab the source and join in the fun!
* **Be awesome:** Support the future of Phaser on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/photonstorm) or by buying our [books](http://phaser.io/shop/books) and [plugins](http://phaser.io/shop/plugins)
The release of Phaser 2.4.4 continues our work with bug fixes, new features and continued optimizations. As before it's a point-release, making it a safe upgrade for anyone using a previous 2.4 build.
As well as working on this release we've also been busily writing tutorials for the first issue of [Interphase](http://phaser.io/interphase/), our new publication for Phaser developers. Packed full of exclusive content we've been coding games, writing tutorials and authoring deep-dive articles for the first issue. It's been a blast so far and I'm excited for it's release in early September - and if you [pre-order now](http://phaser.io/interphase) with the discount code 'earlybird' you can save 15% on the cover price.
Finally we'd be extremely grateful if you could get involved with our [Phaser Patreon campaign](https://www.patreon.com/photonstorm). The uptake so far has been fantastic. Thank you to everyone who now supports Phaser development and shares our belief in the future of HTML5 gaming and Phasers role in that.
Please help support the future development of Phaser through our [Patreon campaign](https://www.patreon.com/photonstorm). We've some exciting plans and there's so much we'd like to do. Let's see if we can all work together to make this possible.
### Phaser Sponsors
Phaser is [sponsored](https://www.patreon.com/photonstorm) by the following great companies:
If you'd like to try coding in Phaser right now, with nothing more than your web browser then you can head over to the [Phaser Sandbox](http://phaser.io/sandbox). You'll find Quick Start templates and a user-friendly editor filled with handy code-completion features.
Want to try Phaser without downloading anything? The site [Koding](https://koding.com) offer a complete browser-based virtual machine to work in, allowing you to clone the Phaser repo and start work immediately.
We have a [Getting Started Guide](http://phaser.io/tutorials/getting-started) which covers all you need to begin developing games with Phaser. From setting up a web server, to picking an IDE and coding your first game.
Prefer **videos** to reading? Lynda.com have published a free course: [HTML5 Game Development with Phaser](http://www.lynda.com/Phaser-tutorials/HTML5-Game-Development-Phaser/163641-2.html)
The single biggest Phaser resource is the new [Phaser web site](http://phaser.io/news). It has hundreds of tutorials listed and fresh ones are added every week, so keep coming back to see what's new!
Using Phaser with **TypeScript**? Check out this great series of [Game From Scratch](http://www.gamefromscratch.com/page/Adventures-in-Phaser-with-TypeScript-tutorial-series.aspx) tutorials.
We've been busy writing books about Phaser. Available now:
* [A Guide to the Phaser Tween Manager](https://leanpub.com/phasertweenmanager) Book + Code Bundle
* [A Guide to the Phaser Scale Manager](https://leanpub.com/phaserscalemanager)
With more on the way. [Vote on the next title](http://www.html5gamedevs.com/topic/10962-which-phaser-book-would-you-like-to-see-next/) to be written.
### Game Mechanic Explorer
The [Game Mechanic Explorer](http://gamemechanicexplorer.com) is a great interactive way to learn how to develop specific game mechanics in Phaser. Well worth exploring once you've got your dev environment set-up.
### Mighty Editor - Visual Game Editor
[MightyEditor](http://mightyfingers.com/) is a browser-based visual Phaser game editor. Create your maps with ease, position objects and share them in seconds. It also exports to native Phaser code. Excellent for quickly setting-up levels and scenes.
Phaser is provided ready compiled in the `build` folder of the repository. There are both plain and minified versions. The plain version is for use during development and the minified version for production.
Starting from Phaser 2.3.0 we now include a brand new build system which allows you to strip out lots of additional features you may not require, saving hundreds of KB in the process. Don't use any Sound in your game? Then you can now exclude the entire sound system. Don't need Keyboard support? That can be stripped out too.
See the [Creating a Custom Phaser Build](http://phaser.io/tutorials/creating-custom-phaser-builds) tutorial for details.
### Building from source
Should you wish to build Phaser from source you can take advantage of the provided [Grunt](http://gruntjs.com/) scripts. Ensure you have the required packages by running `npm install` first.
Run `grunt` to perform a default build to the `dist` folder.
Thousands of games have been made in Phaser. From game jam entries to titles by some of the largest entertainment brands in the world. Here is a tiny sample:
Phaser requires a web browser that supports the [canvas tag](http://caniuse.com/#feat=canvas). This includes Internet Explorer 9+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera on desktop. iOS Safari, Android Browser and Chrome for Android are supported on mobile.
While Phaser does its best to ensure a consistent cross-platform experience always be aware of browser and device limitations. This is especially important with regard to memory and GPU limitations on mobile, and legacy browser HTML5 compatibility.
### IE9
If you need to support IE9 / Android 2.x **and** use P2 physics then you must use the polyfill in the `resources/IE9 Polyfill` folder. If you don't use P2 (or don't care about IE9!) you can skip this.
### JavaScript and TypeScript
Phaser is developed in JavaScript. We've made no assumptions about how you like to code and were careful not to impose a strict structure upon you. You won't find Phaser split into modules, requiring a build step, or making you use a class / inheritance OOP approach. That doesn't mean you can't do so, it just means we don't *force* you to. It's your choice.
If you code with [TypeScript](http://www.typescriptlang.org/) there are comprehensive definition files in the `typescript` folder. They are for TypeScript 1.4+.
All Phaser development is now taking place on the Phaser 3 project. The Phaser 2 branch will still be supported and issues fixed, but roadmap features have been migrated over to Phaser 3.
We're now a good way in to development of Phaser 3. We've been working hard on creating a brand new and extremely powerful renderer. Progress reports are posted to the [web site](http://phaser.io/labs) and [Phaser 3 repo](https://github.com/photonstorm/phaser3).
There is still plenty of time to add your suggestions and feedback in [this forum thread](http://www.html5gamedevs.com/topic/7949-the-phaser-3-wishlist-thread/).
If you are an exceptional JavaScript developer and would like to join the Phaser 3 development team then let us know. We have a limited budget available to pay towards your time.
* Emitter.emitParticle now has 4 new optional arguments: `x`, `y`, `key` and `frame`. These allow you to override whatever the Emitter default values may be and emit the particle from the given coordinates and with a new texture.
* Group.resetChild is a new method that allows you to call both `child.reset` and/or `child.loadTexture` on the given child object. This is used internally by `getFirstDead` and similar, but is made public so you can use it as a group iteration callback. Note that the child must have public `reset` and `loadTexture` methods to be valid for the call.
* Group.getFirstDead, Group.getFirstAlive and Group.getFirstExists all have new optional arguments: `createIfNull`, `x`, `y`, `key` and `frame`. If the method you call cannot find a matching child (i.e. getFirstDead cannot find any dead children) then the optional `createIfNull` allows you to instantly create a new child in the group using the position and texture arguments to do so. This allows you to always get a child back from the Group and remove the need to do null checks and Group inserts from your game code. The same arguments can also be used in a different way: if `createIfNull` is false AND you provide the extra arguments AND a child is found then it will be passed to the new `Group.resetChild` method. This allows you to retrieve a child from the Group and have it reset and instantly ready for use in your game without any extra code.
* P2.Body.removeCollisionGroup allows you to remove the given CollisionGroup, or array of CollisionGroups, from the list of groups that a body will collide with and updates the collision masks (thanks @Garbanas#2047)
* Filter.addToWorld allows you to quickly create a Phaser.Image object at the given position and size, with the Filter ready applied to it. This can eliminate lots of duplicate code.
* Tiled 0.13.0 added support for layer data compression when exporting as JSON. This means that any .tmx stored using base64 encoding will start exporting layer data as a base64 encoded string rather than a native array. This update adds in automatic support for this as long as the data isn't compressed. For IE9 support you'll need to use the new polyfill found in the resources folder (thanks @noidexe#2084)
* When calling GameObject.revive the `heal` method is called to apply the health value, allowing it to take into consideration a `maxHealth` value if set (thanks @bsparks#2027)
* Change splice.call(arguments, ..) to use slice instead (thanks @pnstickne#2034#2032)
* BitmapData.move, moveH and moveV have a new optional `wrap` argument allowing you to control if the contents of the BitmapData are wrapped around the edges (true) or simply scrolled off (false).
* Game.update could call `updateLogic` multiple times in a single frame when catching up with slow device frame rates. This would cause Tweens to advance at twice the speed they should have done (thanks @mkristo)
* Under setTimeOut (or when `forceSetTimeOut` was true) the Time was incorrectly setting `Time.timeExpected` causing game updates to lag (thanks @satan6#2087)
- Before submitting a Pull Request run your code through [JSHint](http://www.jshint.com/) using our [config](https://github.com/photonstorm/phaser/blob/master/.jshintrc).
