HTML5 Shoot 'em Up in an Afternoon

Learn how to make a simple top-down shoot 'em up in a few hours using the Phaser HTML5 game framework.

This book covers all of the basics: from placing and moving sprites, to managing collision detection and unit health, up to setting up a boss fight. It also covers topics not directly related to game development like how to setup your Phaser development environment, refactoring your code, and releasing your game to the public.

This book was a result of three things that happened to occur around the same time:

First was the problem that came up with our HTML5 workshop. The original lecturer bailed at the last minute and we had problems with finding a replacement. We even considered the worst case, cutting out the hands-on portion leaving us with a morning “workshop” consisting only of talks from people in the local gaming industry.

Coincidentally, I was playing around with Phaser a few weeks before the event. While I am not a game developer, I had just enough knowledge to make a simple workshop to introduce basic game concepts via the said HTML5 game framework. In the end I volunteered to take over the workshop less than four days before the actual event.