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Talking about Endless Runner game, Game development, HTML5, Javascript and Phaser.

Did you play the endless runner prototype I published last week?

It was a very basic prototype but I was able to create a playable game in a very few lines.

What can we do with a few more lines?

Well, I added player animation – not we have a running character rather than a rectangle – and more customization such as platforms at different heights and with different speed. Remember in endless runners the player never runs, it’s the entire environment which moves towards the player.

Have a look at the game:

Click or tap to jump. You can also double jump and you can set the game to make any number of jumps.

Fall down and it’s game over.

I also improved the source code, adding more comments and above all commenting all customizable options in gameOptions global object.

let game;

// global game options
let gameOptions = {

    // platform speed range, in pixels per second
    platformSpeedRange: [300, 400],

    // spawn range, how far should be the rightmost platform from the right edge
    // before next platform spawns, in pixels
    spawnRange: [80, 300],

    // platform width range, in pixels
    platformSizeRange: [90, 300],

    // a height range between rightmost platform and next platform to be spawned
    platformHeightRange: [-10, 10],

    // a scale to be multiplied by platformHeightRange
    platformHeighScale: 10,

    // platform max and min height, as screen height ratio
    platformVerticalLimit: [0.4, 0.8],

    // player gravity
    playerGravity: 900,

    // player jump force
    jumpForce: 400,

    // player starting X position
    playerStartPosition: 200,

    // consecutive jumps allowed
    jumps: 2
}

window.onload = function() {

    // object containing configuration options
    let gameConfig = {
        type: Phaser.AUTO,
        width: 1334,
        height: 750,
        scene: playGame,
        backgroundColor: 0x87CEEB,

        // physics settings
        physics: {
            default: "arcade"
        }
    }
    game = new Phaser.Game(gameConfig);
    window.focus();
    resize();
    window.addEventListener("resize", resize, false);
}

// playGame scene
class playGame extends Phaser.Scene{
    constructor(){
        super("PlayGame");
    }
    preload(){
        this.load.image("platform", "platform.png");

        // player is a sprite sheet made by 24x48 pixels
        this.load.spritesheet("player", "player.png", {
            frameWidth: 24,
            frameHeight: 48
        });
    }
    create(){

        // group with all active platforms.
        this.platformGroup = this.add.group({

            // once a platform is removed, it's added to the pool
            removeCallback: function(platform){
                platform.scene.platformPool.add(platform)
            }
        });

        // pool
        this.platformPool = this.add.group({

            // once a platform is removed from the pool, it's added to the active platforms group
            removeCallback: function(platform){
                platform.scene.platformGroup.add(platform)
            }
        });

        // number of consecutive jumps made by the player
        this.playerJumps = 0;

        // adding a platform to the game, the arguments are platform width, x position and y position
        this.addPlatform(game.config.width, game.config.width / 2, game.config.height * gameOptions.platformVerticalLimit[1]);

        // adding the player;
        this.player = this.physics.add.sprite(gameOptions.playerStartPosition, game.config.height * 0.7, "player");
        this.player.setGravityY(gameOptions.playerGravity);

        // setting player animation
        this.anims.create({
            key: "run",
            frames: this.anims.generateFrameNumbers("player", {
                start: 0,
                end: 1
            }),
            frameRate: 8,
            repeat: -1
        });

        // setting collisions between the player and the platform group
        this.physics.add.collider(this.player, this.platformGroup, function(){

            // play "run" animation if the player is on a platform
            if(!this.player.anims.isPlaying){
                this.player.anims.play("run");
            }
        }, null, this);

        // checking for input
        this.input.on("pointerdown", this.jump, this);
    }

    // the core of the script: platform are added from the pool or created on the fly
    addPlatform(platformWidth, posX, posY){
        let platform;
        if(this.platformPool.getLength()){
            platform = this.platformPool.getFirst();
            platform.x = posX;
            platform.active = true;
            platform.visible = true;
            this.platformPool.remove(platform);
        }
        else{
            platform = this.physics.add.sprite(posX, posY, "platform");
            platform.setImmovable(true);
            platform.setVelocityX(Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.platformSpeedRange[0], gameOptions.platformSpeedRange[1]) * -1);
            this.platformGroup.add(platform);
        }
        platform.displayWidth = platformWidth;
        this.nextPlatformDistance = Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.spawnRange[0], gameOptions.spawnRange[1]);
    }

    // the player jumps when on the ground, or once in the air as long as there are jumps left and the first jump was on the ground
    jump(){
        if(this.player.body.touching.down || (this.playerJumps > 0 && this.playerJumps < gameOptions.jumps)){
            if(this.player.body.touching.down){
                this.playerJumps = 0;
            }
            this.player.setVelocityY(gameOptions.jumpForce * -1);
            this.playerJumps ++;

            // stops animation
            this.player.anims.stop();
        }
    }
    update(){

        // game over
        if(this.player.y > game.config.height){
            this.scene.start("PlayGame");
        }
        this.player.x = gameOptions.playerStartPosition;

        // recycling platforms
        let minDistance = game.config.width;
        let rightmostPlatformHeight = 0;
        this.platformGroup.getChildren().forEach(function(platform){
            let platformDistance = game.config.width - platform.x - platform.displayWidth / 2;
            if(platformDistance < minDistance){
                minDistance = platformDistance;
                rightmostPlatformHeight = platform.y;
            }
            if(platform.x < - platform.displayWidth / 2){
                this.platformGroup.killAndHide(platform);
                this.platformGroup.remove(platform);
            }
        }, this);

        // adding new platforms
        if(minDistance > this.nextPlatformDistance){
            let nextPlatformWidth = Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.platformSizeRange[0], gameOptions.platformSizeRange[1]);
            let platformRandomHeight = gameOptions.platformHeighScale * Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.platformHeightRange[0], gameOptions.platformHeightRange[1]);
            console.log(rightmostPlatformHeight)
            let nextPlatformGap = rightmostPlatformHeight + platformRandomHeight;
            let minPlatformHeight = game.config.height * gameOptions.platformVerticalLimit[0];
            let maxPlatformHeight = game.config.height * gameOptions.platformVerticalLimit[1];
            let nextPlatformHeight = Phaser.Math.Clamp(nextPlatformGap, minPlatformHeight, maxPlatformHeight);
            this.addPlatform(nextPlatformWidth, game.config.width + nextPlatformWidth / 2, nextPlatformHeight);
        }
    }
};
function resize(){
    let canvas = document.querySelector("canvas");
    let windowWidth = window.innerWidth;
    let windowHeight = window.innerHeight;
    let windowRatio = windowWidth / windowHeight;
    let gameRatio = game.config.width / game.config.height;
    if(windowRatio < gameRatio){
        canvas.style.width = windowWidth + "px";
        canvas.style.height = (windowWidth / gameRatio) + "px";
    }
    else{
        canvas.style.width = (windowHeight * gameRatio) + "px";
        canvas.style.height = windowHeight + "px";
    }
}

We can add a lot more stuff, such as coins and enemies – what about a patrolling enemy walking on platforms – but that’s all at the moment, next week I will show you a big update and hopefully more comments on the script. Download the source code.

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