Building Retro Arcade Games with Phaser.js

When I decided to add an arcade section to my portfolio, I wanted to create something that would be both fun and technically impressive. After researching various game engines, I settled on Phaser.js for its robust feature set and excellent documentation.

Why Phaser.js?

Phaser is a fast, free, and fun open source HTML5 game framework. It offers:

The Games

Pac-Man

Building Pac-Man was a fantastic challenge. The maze generation, ghost AI, and power-up mechanics all required careful implementation. Making the ghosts chase the player intelligently while still being beatable was the trickiest part.

Breakout

Building Breakout taught me a lot about ball physics and brick destruction patterns. The satisfying chain reactions when breaking multiple bricks required careful timing.

Space Shooter

The most complex of the three, featuring enemy waves, power-ups, and boss battles. This one really showcased what's possible with Phaser.

Integration with Next.js

One interesting challenge was integrating Phaser with Next.js. Since Phaser relies heavily on the DOM, I had to use dynamic imports and ensure the game only rendered on the client side.

const PhaserGame = dynamic(
  () => import("@/game/PhaserGame"),
  { ssr: false }
);

Achievements System

To make the arcade more engaging, I built an achievements system that tracks player accomplishments and lets them share their progress. This required careful state management and localStorage persistence.

What's Next?

I'm planning to add more games and potentially a global leaderboard. The arcade has been a great way to showcase both my gaming passion and technical skills.