game-setup-and-config

Game Setup and Config

How to create a Phaser.Game instance with the right GameConfig options for renderer, scaling, pixel art, FPS, and canvas placement.

Key source paths: src/core/Game.js, src/core/Config.js, src/core/typedefs/GameConfig.js, src/const.js, src/scale/const/ Related skills: ../scenes/SKILL.md, ../loading-assets/SKILL.md, ../scale-and-responsive/SKILL.md

Quick Start

The simplest possible Phaser 4 game -- a single scene with the default 1024×768 canvas:

class MyScene extends Phaser.Scene {
    preload() {
        this.load.image('logo', 'assets/logo.png');
    }

    create() {
        this.add.image(400, 300, 'logo');
    }
}

const config = {
    type: Phaser.AUTO,
    scene: MyScene
};

const game = new Phaser.Game(config);

new Phaser.Game(config) triggers the entire boot sequence: config parsing (Config), renderer creation, DOM insertion, and the game loop (TimeStep). The game waits for DOMContentLoaded before booting.

Core Concepts

Boot Sequence (src/core/Game.js)

1. new Phaser.Game(config) -- parses config into a Phaser.Core.Config instance.
2. Creates global managers: AnimationManager, TextureManager, CacheManager, InputManager, SceneManager, ScaleManager, SoundManager, TimeStep, PluginManager.
3. Waits for DOMContentLoaded, then calls boot().
4. boot() creates the renderer (CreateRenderer), adds the canvas to the DOM (AddToDOM), prints the debug header, emits BOOT.
5. Once textures are ready (TextureManager emits READY), emits READY then calls start().
6. start() begins the TimeStep loop, sets up the VisibilityHandler, calls config.postBoot.

Config Parsing (src/core/Config.js)

The Config constructor reads a flat GameConfig object and resolves defaults. Some properties can be specified at top level OR nested inside sub-objects (e.g., width can be top-level or under scale.width). The scale sub-object takes priority when both are present.