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!
The release of Phaser 2.4.4 continues our work with bug fixes, new features and optimizations. As with the previous version it's a point-release, making it a safe upgrade for anyone using an earlier 2.4 build.
Internally here at Phaser HQ we have been busy with several new projects.
First we released [Interphase](http://phaser.io/interphase/), a new 400-page publication for Phaser developers. Packed full of exclusive content including 8 complete games, tutorials and a deep dive into the Phaser State Manager. It's been a blast to write and we have been really encouraged by the response from readers. We're planning on releasing Interphase 2 before the end of the year.
We've also released [Particle Storm](http://phaser.io/shop/plugins/particlestorm). An advanced particle system allowing you to easily create stunning special effects in your games with just a few lines of code. Our primary design goal was to create a particle system that was extremely flexible. It was important that you should be able to easily integrate the effects into your games. Particles are constructed through easy-to-understand JavaScript objects with multiple properties and options to let you quickly put together complex visuals with minimum effort.
As we close in towards the end of 2015 there are still a couple of new releases on the horizon, as well as Phaser 2.4.5. We're also getting very close to a fully working build of Phaser 2 using our new renderer. As always, keep you eyes on the Phaser web site or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/photonstorm) for the latest news.
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.
With 400 pages of content you'll find detailed articles, game development "Making Of" guides and tutorials. All were written using the latest version of Phaser, so you won't be learning any out-dated tricks here.
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+.
The majority of 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.
[Phaser Nano](https://github.com/photonstorm/phaser-nano) is a cut-down and optimized build of Phaser designed specifically for super low file-size environments such as banner ads and interstitials. It still uses the same friendly API as Phaser but in a much smaller footprint. The current release being just 8.3KB.
* You can use the new const `Phaser.PENDING_ATLAS` as the texture key for any sprite. Doing this then sets the key to be the `frame` argument (the frame is set to zero). This allows you to create sprites using `load.image` during development, and then change them to use a Texture Atlas later in development by simply searching your code for 'PENDING_ATLAS' and swapping it to be the key of the atlas data.
* Buttons (or any Sprites) that don't have a texture, but have children, would incorrectly render the children under WebGL due to the baseTexture.skipRender property (thanks @puzzud#2141)
* BitmapData.update causes a snowballing memory leak under WebGL due to a Context.getImageData call. BitmapData.clear used to call update automatically but no longer does. This resolves the issue of the Debug class causing excessive memory build-up in Chrome. Firefox and IE were unaffected (thanks @kingjerod#2208)
Please note that Phaser uses a custom build of Pixi and always has done. The following changes have been made to our custom build, not to Pixi in general.
- 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).
