---
title: "Rope swinging courses"
package: "@phaser-ae/ninja-rope-2d"
tier: Pro
version: 3.0.0-4
released: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-19
description: "Rope-swinging courses on real 2D physics, where a runner walks, jumps, fires a rope, swings, reels and climbs through gates, over pits and hazards, to the goal."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/ninja-rope-2d
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Rope swinging courses

Courses to swing through on a rope: walk to the edge, fire at a ceiling, swing across the pit, catch the next rope in
the air, reel up to a ledge, and reach the goal through every gate. The rope is real physics, the course is data, and
your game draws it however it likes.

## What it does

Each course plays on a `physics-2d` world of its own, with a rope from `rope-swing`. You hold a move and a reel
direction from step to step, jump when on the ground, fire the rope at a point and release it. The runner walks and
jumps on the ground; in the air or on the rope, the move pushes, which pumps a swing. Reeling shortens or pays out the
rope, and letting go flies the runner on with the speed of the swing.

A course is a set of boxes, hookable or not, a start, a goal, gates in order that act as checkpoints, a fall line
below which a pit sends the runner back, and hazards that do the same on touch. The game tracks time, falls, gates
passed and shots fired, and a finish earns stars against a par time: three within par, two within half as long again,
one otherwise.

`view()` gives you everything to draw: the runner's position, velocity, size and facing, the rope's line from its hook,
whether it is taut, the surfaces, the gates and the goal. `drain()` gives events for gates, falls, jumps, the win and
every rope event, such as hooking, wrapping round a corner and mantling over a ledge.

## Features

- **Swing, reel and fly** — fire a rope at any point, swing and pump, reel in and pay out, let go and catch the next
  rope in mid-air.
- **Two ropes and everything between** — the ninja rope that wraps round corners, the grapple arm that climbs over
  ledges, or any `rope-swing` options.
- **Courses as data** — boxes in any layout, hookable or not, hazards, gates, a goal, a fall line and gravity.
- **Checkpoints** — gates passed in order, and falls and hazards that return the runner to the last one.
- **Stars and par times** — a rating for every finish, with time and falls reported.
- **Five ready courses** — three for the ninja rope and two for the grapple arm, each proved by a recorded run.
- **Saves and validation** — snapshots that replay through the kernel's history, and every problem in a course listed
  before it plays.

## Good for

- **Rope-swinging platformers**, where the rope is the only way across.
- **Grappling-hook games** with a rope that wraps round corners, in the style of the ninja rope in Worms.
- **Climbing games** where a grapple arm reels up and mantles over ledges.
- **Time-trial courses** with par times, stars and checkpoints.
- **Touch and mouse games**, where pointing is where the rope goes.

## Make it yours

A course sets its surfaces, start, goal and its radius, gates, fall line and gravity, the rope as a preset or as your
own `rope-swing` options for range, reel speed, wrapping, paying out and mantling, the runner's width, height, walk
speed, jump and push, and a par time. There are no pack options; everything is per course.

Two very different courses: a ninja-rope run across a wide pit under a row of short ceilings, where the player swings
from one to the next without touching the ground; or a grapple-arm climb up a tall shaft of ledges, reeling in and
mantling over each, with hazards on the walls and a strict par.

## A quick look

A built-in course, with held movement, a jump, a rope fired at the pointer and released, stepped each frame:

```ts
const run = game.ninjaRope.create(game.ninjaRope.courses.ninja[0]!);
game.step('course', dt => {
    run.hold({ move: (keys.right ? 1 : 0) - (keys.left ? 1 : 0), reel: (keys.up ? 1 : 0) - (keys.down ? 1 : 0) });
    if (keys.jumpPressed) run.jump();
    if (pointer.pressed) run.fire(pointerInWorld);
    if (keys.releasePressed) run.release();
    run.step(dt);
});
```

## Works with

- `rope-swing` — the rope itself; compose it directly for a rope in a game of other rules.
- `physics-2d` — the world each course plays on.

## Good to know

- Surfaces are boxes that do not turn; the rope wraps round their corners.
- The runner is a box that does not turn. On the ground walking eases to speed; in the air or on the rope the push
  only adds speed, up to 900.
- It draws nothing: your game presents the view and the events.

---

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