Function Layer

A Layer Game Object.

A Layer is a special type of Game Object that acts as a Display List. You can add any type of Game Object to a Layer, just as you would to a Scene. Layers can be used to visually group together 'layers' of Game Objects:

const spaceman = this.add.sprite(150, 300, 'spaceman');
const bunny = this.add.sprite(400, 300, 'bunny');
const elephant = this.add.sprite(650, 300, 'elephant');

const layer = this.add.layer();

layer.add([ spaceman, bunny, elephant ]);
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The 3 sprites in the example above will now be managed by the Layer they were added to. Therefore, if you then set layer.setVisible(false) they would all vanish from the display.

You can also control the depth of the Game Objects within the Layer. For example, calling the setDepth method of a child of a Layer will allow you to adjust the depth of that child within the Layer itself, rather than the whole Scene. The Layer, too, can have its depth set as well.

The Layer class also offers many different methods for manipulating the list, such as the methods moveUp, moveDown, sendToBack, bringToTop and so on. These allow you to change the display list position of the Layers children, causing it to adjust the order in which they are rendered. Using setDepth on a child allows you to override this.

Layers can have Post FX Pipelines set, which allows you to easily enable a post pipeline across a whole range of children, which, depending on the effect, can often be far more efficient that doing so on a per-child basis.

Layers have no position or size within the Scene. This means you cannot enable a Layer for physics or input, or change the position, rotation or scale of a Layer. They also have no scroll factor, texture, tint, origin, crop or bounds.

If you need those kind of features then you should use a Container instead. Containers can be added to Layers, but Layers cannot be added to Containers.

However, you can set the Alpha, Blend Mode, Depth, Mask and Visible state of a Layer. These settings will impact all children being rendered by the Layer.