---
title: "Paper Plane Physics Tutorial"
subtitle: "A great in-depth tutorial on building a paper plane glider with Phaser 3 and Arcade Physics."
date: 2019-02-22T00:00:00.000Z
category: tutorial
url: https://phaser.io/news/2019/02/paper-plane-physics-tutorial
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
copyright: © 2026 Phaser Studio Inc. All rights reserved.
---

# Paper Plane Physics Tutorial

*A great in-depth tutorial on building a paper plane glider with Phaser 3 and Arcade Physics.*

![image](paper-plane-physics-tutorial1.png)

Amos Laber has published this great tutorial on how he built a 'paper plane' effect in Phaser 3: "Game development often involves simulating real life scenarios: whether it's running and jumping, rolling rocks on a slope or shooting projectiles from a slingshot, the developer has to find a way to show it on a 2D or 3D scene in a way that is believable enough to engage the player.

During the course of developing a new game, I had a need for a specific motion of a character that involved air gliding and riding on air currents. The main issue was to imitate the motion of a glider like object in a way that would look reasonably realistic."

![image](paper-plane-physics-tutorial2.png)

The tutorial covers creating a Glider component and how to handle the different forces acting upon it, in order to achieve the desired result. With gravity pushing the glider down, lift pushing up and a small amount of drag. The goal was to achieve a smooth cyclic motion. The tutorial itself is a fascinating read and there's a link to a GitHub repo with full source at the end.

[Read More](https://www.codementor.io/amoslaber/build-a-paper-plane-with-phaser-3-and-arcade-physics-s8so8u831)

---

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