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Talking about Dash N Blast game, Game development, HTML5, Javascript and Phaser.

Did you play “Dasn N Blast” game? It’s a fun game available only for iOS devices where you have to move from circle to circle avoiding obstacles, which in most cases are circle arcs rotating around target circles.

The original game is a 3D game built with BuildBox: a tool to design, build, and launch 3D & 2D mobile games without coding.

I have an account with BuildBox so expect some tutorials with it this summer, but at the moment I turned it into a 2D prototype with a top-down view powered by Phaser:

Click or tap to move from one circle to another. The game turned into a vertical endless runner, with incoming circles appearing from the top.

Circles are graphics objects where circles are actually drawn one by one rather than using sprites.

Object pooling recycles circles leaving the canvas to the bottom to make them appear from the top.

All movements are managed by tweens. The most important thing – obstacles – is still missing because it will feature a bit of trigonometry and will be discussed in step 2, but you can find the completely commented source code:

var game;

// global object containing all configurable options
var gameOptions = {

    // number of circles used in the game
    numCircles: 4,

    // circle min/max radius, in pixels
    circleRadiusRange: [150, 200],

    // min/max distance between circles, in pixels
    circleDistanceRange: [600, 750],

    // distance from the bottom of the canvas, in pixels
    bottomDistance: 150,

    // min/max circle distance from the center of the canvas, in pixels
    distanceFromCenter: [0, 150],

    // ball speed, in pixels per second
    speed: 1000,

    // possible circle colors
    circleColors: [0x4deeea, 0x74ee15, 0xffe700, 0xf000ff, 0x001eff]
}
window.onload = function() {
    let gameConfig = {
        type: Phaser.AUTO,
        backgroundColor: 0x111111,
        scale: {
            mode: Phaser.Scale.FIT,
            autoCenter: Phaser.Scale.CENTER_BOTH,
            parent: "thegame",
            width: 750,
            height: 1334
        },
        scene: playGame
    }
    game = new Phaser.Game(gameConfig);
    window.focus();
}
class playGame extends Phaser.Scene{
    constructor(){
        super("PlayGame");
    }
    preload(){
        this.load.image("ball", "ball.png");
    }
    create(){

        // group which will contain the ball, all circles and landing spots
        this.stuffGroup = this.add.group();

        // flag to determine if the player can shoot the ball
        this.canShoot = true;

        // array which will contain all circles
        this.circles = [];

        // array which will contain all landing spots
        this.landingSpots = [];

        // index of the circle currently at the bottom of the canvas
        this.bottomCircle = 0;

        // time to create circles
        for(let i = 0; i < gameOptions.numCircles; i++){

            // add a graphics object at i-th position of the array
            this.circles[i] = this.add.graphics();

            // add the graphic object to stuffGroup group
            this.stuffGroup.add(this.circles[i]);

            // add a sprite representing the landing spot at i-th position of the array
            this.landingSpots[i] = this.add.sprite(0, 0, "ball");

            // set the landing spot semi-transparent
            this.landingSpots[i].alpha = 0.5;

            // add landing spot to stuffGroup group
            this.stuffGroup.add(this.landingSpots[i]);

            // this method will draw a random circle
            this.drawCircle(i);
        }

        // the ball! The hero of our game
        this.ball = this.add.sprite(this.circles[0].x, this.circles[0].y, "ball");

        // the ball too is added to stuffGroup group
        this.stuffGroup.add(this.ball);

        // wait for player input then call shootBall method
        this.input.on("pointerdown", this.shootBall, this);
    }

    // method to draw a circle along with its landing area
    drawCircle(i){

        // clear the graphic object
        this.circles[i].clear();

        // set graphic line style choosing a random color
        this.circles[i].lineStyle(12, Phaser.Utils.Array.GetRandom(gameOptions.circleColors), 1);

        // define a random radius
        let radius = this.randomOption(gameOptions.circleRadiusRange);

        // save the radius as a custom property
        this.circles[i].radius = radius;

        // place the circle at a random horizontal position
        this.circles[i].x = game.config.width / 2 + this.randomOption(gameOptions.distanceFromCenter) * Phaser.Math.RND.sign();

        // if both i and bottomCircle are equal to zero, this means it's the first grapic object we are placing
        if(i == 0 && this.bottomCircle == 0){

            // so we place it at the bottom of the screen
            this.circles[i].y = game.config.height - radius - gameOptions.bottomDistance;
        }
        else{

            // otherwise we are placing it above the grapic object in the highest position
            this.circles[i].y = this.circles[Phaser.Math.Wrap(i - 1, 0, gameOptions.numCircles)].y - this.randomOption(gameOptions.circleDistanceRange);
        }

        // time to draw the circle
        this.circles[i].strokeCircle(0, 0, radius);

        // place the landing spot at circle origin
        this.landingSpots[i].x = this.circles[i].x;
        this.landingSpots[i].y = this.circles[i].y;
    }

    // choose a random integer between an option declared in gameOptions object
    randomOption(option){
        return Phaser.Math.Between(option[0], option[1]);
    }

    // method to shoot the ball
    shootBall(){

        // if the player can shoot...
        if(this.canShoot){

            // can't shoot anymore at the moment
            this.canShoot = false;

            // define target index, that is the circle at the top of the canvas
            let targetIndex = Phaser.Math.Wrap(this.bottomCircle + 1, 0, gameOptions.numCircles);

            // calculate distance between the two targets
            let distance = Phaser.Math.Distance.Between(this.landingSpots[this.bottomCircle].x, this.landingSpots[this.bottomCircle].y, this.landingSpots[targetIndex].x, this.landingSpots[targetIndex].y);

            // add a tween to the ball to move to the target
            this.tweens.add({
                targets: this.ball,
                x: this.landingSpots[targetIndex].x,
                y: this.landingSpots[targetIndex].y,

                // duration, in milliseconds, is determined according to distance and speed
                duration: distance * 1000 / gameOptions.speed,
                callbackScope: this,

                // once the tween is completed
                onComplete: function(){

                    // determine the amount of pixels to scroll to make top circle move down to the bottom of the canvas
                    let yScroll = game.config.height - this.circles[targetIndex].radius - gameOptions.bottomDistance - this.circles[targetIndex].y

                    // add a tween to all stuffGroup children to move them down by yScroll pixels
                    this.tweens.add({
                        targets: this.stuffGroup.getChildren(),
                        props: {
                            y: {
                                value: "+=" + yScroll
                            }
                        },
                        duration: 250,
                        callbackScope: this,
                        onComplete: function(){

                            // at the end of the tween, save bottomCircle value
                            let currentCircle = this.bottomCircle;

                            // update bottomCircle value
                            this.bottomCircle = Phaser.Math.Wrap(this.bottomCircle + 1, 0, gameOptions.numCircles);

                            // redraw the bottom target to be placed at the top
                            this.drawCircle(Phaser.Math.Wrap(currentCircle, 0, gameOptions.numCircles))

                            // player can shoot again
                            this.canShoot = true;
                        }
                    })
                }
            })
        }
    }
}

The prototype has also room for customization with gameOption global object.

At the moment the game is fair from being exciting as there is nothing which can kill you, but just wait for next step where evil circle arcs will come into play. Download the source code.

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