How to pause/unpause game Phaser 3

Phaser 3
1

Hi guys,
I am working on a game right now and I want to be able to pause and unpause the game using the ‘p’ key and have the text ‘Paused’ in the center of the screen, but I don’t know how to go about it. If anyone could help, that would be great.

1 Like
2

Hi there!
I don’t know if there is a default function for that, but you could do it in the update function of the scene:

let pause = false;

update(){

    if(p is pressed) pause = !pause;

        if(pause){
            return;
        }
// your code here
}

You make a global variable or scene variable to hold the pause state (let pause = false)
Then you check if the button p is pressed. If yes, then you toggle the pause value (pause = !pause).
If the game is paused, the update loop will not proceed after

if(pause){
    return;
}

As for the text, you can either use the text method or use an image.

3

Hi!

I’m happy creating a scene for my game and other scene for my pause screen.

this.scene.pause("GameScene");
this.scene.launch("PauseScene");

This way allows me to stop game and its logic easily, without complications.

Happy coding!

2 Likes
6

Thanks for the advice, @Manz. How would I toggle between the pause scene on differences scenes? Like if I had more than one Game scene?

7

Hey @Eliaquim. I appreciate the advice, but I find it kind of confusing. How would I declare a global variable? And how would I toggle between the two scenes (pause and my game scene) with the same key?

8

Hi!
In my example, you do not need to have another scene.
You can declare the global variable at the init or create function of the scene:

this.isPaused = false;

And to change the boolean value of this.isPaused, you only have to check:
if( button P is pressed) this.isPause = !this.isPause;

which is the same as

if(button P is pressed){
    if(this.isPause)
        this.isPause = false
    }else{
        this.isPause = true
    }
}
9

Hi @Eliaquim. That really help me out. Thanks! I was able to pause my game scene, but is there a way to unpause using the same p key?

10

Hi! ^^
Yes for sure, with that same code I gave to you. But you have to put it at the top of your update function:

update(){

    if( button P is pressed) this.isPause = !this.isPause;

    if(this.isPause) return; // That will stop your update function

    // Your code here

};
11

Thanks!

1 Like