How to Create Interactive Sprites with Phaser 3

Adjusting CSS for Canvas Width
Before modifying our code, we need to make a change at the CSS level to ensure that the game’s width fits 100% of the available space. This adjustment allows us to view the entire content, even on smaller screens.

To do this, we add a

Refreshing the page after this change ensures that the canvas utilizes the full width of its container.

Adding Game Assets to the Scene
To enhance our scene, we’ll include various game assets like buildings, cars, houses, and trees. These assets are located in the assets/images folder. Instead of creating individual sprites for each asset, we’ll use a group. Groups allow us to manage multiple elements as a single unit.

1. Creating the Group
   • Start by creating a group:
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     this.items = this.add.group();
   • To add elements, pass an array containing objects for each asset.
   • Example:
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     this.items.create({ key: 'building', setXY: { x: 100, y: 240 } });
2. Adding Multiple Elements
   • To include multiple elements (e.g., a house, car, and tree), repeat the process:
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     this.items.create([ { key: 'building', setXY: { x: 100, y: 240 } }, { key: 'house', setXY: { x: 240, y: 280 }, setScale: { x: 0.8, y: 0.8 } }, { key: 'car', setXY: { x: 400, y: 300 } }, { key: 'tree', setXY: { x: 550, y: 250 } } ]);

Managing Element Depth
Elements are rendered in the order they are added, but you can manage their rendering hierarchy using depth.

1. Setting Background Depth
   • Example:
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     background.setDepth(-1);
2. Setting Group Element Depth
   • Set a uniform depth for all group items:
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     this.items.children.iterate(item => item.setDepth(1));

[Heading: Making Elements Interactive]
To make the background and group items interactive:

1. Background
   • Enable interactivity and listen for pointer events:
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     background.setInteractive(); background.on('pointerdown', pointer => { console.log('Background clicked', pointer); });
2. Group Items
   • Use Phaser.Actions.Call to iterate over group elements and make them interactive:
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     Phaser.Actions.Call(this.items.getChildren(), item => { item.setInteractive(); item.on('pointerdown', () => { console.log(`You clicked ${item.texture.key}`); }); });

 Future Enhancements
With this setup, we can implement additional features, such as:

• Animations on Interaction: Add tween animations to highlight selected items.
• Hover Effects: Add animations or effects when hovering over items.
• Custom Click Actions: Define unique behaviors for different items upon selection.

These improvements will be explored in the next lesson.