Welcome to Issue 7 of the Phaser Newsletter. As another year draws to an end we can't help but reflect on 2014. And wow! What a year it has been! Hundreds of new Phaser games released, thousands of new developers, constant updates, piles of tutorials and even new books.

I couldn't be more proud of the Phaser team and community. Together we've achieved so much and created wonderful things. Here's to an even more exciting 2015!

After hundreds of hours of hard work, 13 Release Candidates and changes pretty much across the whole board: Phaser 2.2 was released.

Thanks to a raft of contributions from Paul Stickney Phaser is now sporting a powerful new Scale Manager, nicely updated API docs and many other fixes and features across the board.

One of his other major contributions was in updating Signals, the event system used inside Phaser. Before Phaser was creating thousands of Signals in a busy game, most of which sat idle. Now they've gone on a diet in terms of memory consumption and hide behind a proxy causing them to not even be created unless needed. This has cut down on the amount of objects being generated every frame dramatically.

We bumped the version from 2.1 to 2.2 because there are some fundamental API changes. The biggest of these is the move to a proper fixed-step internal game loop. The logic and rendering are now fully decoupled, with both Arcade Physics and Tweens having been updated to use this new system. This is by no means a panacea for overloading low-powered mobile devices. However it will help prevent issues arising from devices running at different processor speeds.

Also given a large update is the Tween Manager. This is now hooked in to the new timestep code, smoothing out tweens when the frame rate drops. New features have been added, including the ability to pause and resume a whole timeline of tweens and tween chaining has vastly improved.

The Change Log is extensive. I would say that if you are already working on a Phaser game, and a good way through development, then you should carry on with whatever version you used before. But for all new projects definitely take the leap into 2.2 and I hope you enjoy splashing around in its new features :)

The Hobbit: Orc Attack was created by the talented team at Soap Creative for the final film in the trilogy. You play as either Legolas, Tauriel or Bard and using your archer skills you must fend off the attack over 20 levels. Each archer has different abilities such as range, health and reload speed, helping fight off the orcs, wargs and other nasties from the film.

Play The Hobbit: Orc Attack

With Phaser 2.2 released and lots of high profile client work out of the way, I took the time to sit down and focus on writing some Phaser books. The process has been extremely rewarding and I've been overwhelmed at the reception to them, so will carry on writing more!

The first three books are:

A Guide to the Phaser Scale Manager

Modern HTML5 games need to be able to scale to any screen size. Phaser has a powerful built-in Scale Manager and this guide teaches you how to unlock its features.

A Guide to the Phaser Tween Manager

Tweens are great, but they can do so much more than just move Sprites around. Learn how to use the Phaser Tween Manager to its full potential and spice up your games. This book also comes with an optional Source Code Bundle with over 65 demos and games.

A Guide to the Phaser State Manager

Learn how to break your game down into manageable chunks with this in-depth guide to the Phaser State Manager. This book is still being written but you can sign-up to be notified as soon as it's available.

Also check out this thread to vote on what book you'd like to see next.

Technobabble is a CBBC show (9am every Sunday morning) that is a high octane blast of the future. Each episode explores the worlds of technology, gaming, apps and all things digital.

As part of the BBC’s 2015 Make It Digital initiative they launched an early version of a tool that enables children to make their own games. It’s a type of digital maker kit called Make It: Technobabble as it’s linked to the popular CBBC show.

It’s a starter kit. It requires no technical knowledge, no download and works just as well on mobiles and tablets as desktop. The only requirements are access to the web, a willingness to experiment and an idea. In minutes a child can create a game.

Make It: Technobabble is an interactive extension of the show’s ethos and hopes to appeal to the next generation of game designers giving them an amazing opportunity to create the games they want to play.

It was created by Aardman Digital, using Phaser and TypeScript and we were very pleased to be involved in this great project.

If you're in the UK you can play with Make It: Technobabble for yourself. There are also detailed blog posts about the concept and technical implementation.

Here's a round-up of the latest Phaser tutorials:

• Create a Level Selection Screen by Emanuele Feronato.
• MightyEditor Update with a brand new keyframe animation tool.
• VideoGameArmy presentation (in Spanish) plus slides and source.
• Building a Game With a 6-Year-Old - Dad and son remake Blocky Roads.
• Adventures in Phaser with TypeScript - Physics using the P2 Physics Engine.
• CocoonJS 2.1.1 is out and it includes loads of Phaser specific fixes!
• Combining Phaser and Three.js for for a 2.5D overhead GTA style game!

Created by the team at Vulture magazine this fun little retro Game of Thrones game tests how well you can get Tyrion drunk!

"As massive Game of Thrones fans, we firmly believe that there's no Tyrion Lannister quite like a drunken Tyrion Lannister. That's why we devised an old-school video game that will allow you to help keep him in his cups, although that’s no easy task, considering that he’s chosen to drink in a place that is raining swords."

To play click on the game to start it

It's been a busy year. A really busy year! There has never been a better time to be a Phaser developer and we've got lots in store for you in 2015. Maybe we'll even finally get around to releasing the new Phaser web site?! Stranger things have been known to happen.

In the meantime I wish you all a Happy Holidays. I'm off to watch the final few Sword Art Online 2 episodes and enjoy some Wii U Super Smash Bros. with the kids (who utterly kick my butt at it). We'll be back in the New Year with the next issue.

If you'd like something featured in a future issue then get in touch. And please  forward this newsletter to friends who may be interested. Every little helps.

Cheers,

Rich
& the team at Photon Storm

"Levels are just numbers. In this world, strength is just an illusion. There are more important things."