---
title: "Top-down world"
package: "@phaser-ae/world-topdown"
tier: Free
version: 3.0.0-5
released: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-20
description: "The 2D world for games seen from above, where objects draw by where their feet are, so characters walk behind trees with no sorting code."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/world-topdown
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Top-down world

The world for games seen from above. Within a layer, objects draw back to front by their feet, so whatever stands
lower on screen is in front, and a hero walks behind a tree and in front of a fence without a line of sorting code.

## What it does

Objects live on named layers, by default `floor`, `world` and `fx`, drawn back to front. Within a layer, each object
sorts by its feet: its `y` plus half its scaled height, which is the bottom edge of the sprite. Move a character up
the screen and it passes behind the tree it was in front of. You never sort; you choose a layer, and nudge the odd
object with `z`, which is added to its feet.

It installs the shared 2D camera, with pan, zoom and bounds, and `toWorld` and `toScreen` to convert between screen
pixels and world units, so a click finds the tile it landed on. `view`, `vw` and `vh` give the rectangle the camera is
looking at and points a fraction across it.

Set `wrap` and the world becomes a torus. Positions wrap, everything draws at its nearest image to the camera, the
camera follows across the seam, and nearby-object queries and collisions see across it too. Game code never wraps a
coordinate itself.

## Features

- **Feet sorting** — objects in a layer draw by their bottom edge, so depth follows position on screen.
- **A `z` nudge** — added to the feet, for tall sprites and things that should sit just in front or behind.
- **Your own layers** — floors, the world, effects, fog of war, each drawn in order; an unknown layer throws at spawn.
- **The 2D camera** — pan, zoom and bounds, with `toWorld` and `toScreen`.
- **Wrap-around worlds** — `wrap: { w, h }` makes positions, drawing, the camera, queries and collision cross the
  edges.

## Good for

- **Action adventures** — heroes walking behind trees, pillars and houses, in the style of Zelda.
- **Twin-stick shooters** — an overhead arena where the player and the enemies overlap correctly.
- **Farming and life games** — crops, fences and villagers that layer themselves as they move.
- **Dungeon crawlers and RPG towns** — walls, props and characters sorted by where they stand.
- **Maze games** — a floor layer for the maze and a world layer for everything that moves through it.

## Make it yours

The options are the layer list and the wrap size. An adventure might declare a floor, a world layer for everything
that stands, an effects layer and a final darkness layer that the lights do not shine through. A wrap-around arena
sets `wrap`, so a ship that leaves one edge comes back on the other with no wrapping code. A game built on `core-2d`
that names this world gets it in place of the side-on world the bundle would bring.

## A quick look

A tree in the world layer, a shadow on the floor beneath it, and a click converted into the world:

```ts
game.spawn({ id: 'tree', x, y, layer: 'world', width: 32, height: 48 });
game.spawn({ id: 'shadow', x, y, layer: 'floor' });      // always under 'world'
const w = game.world.toWorld(pointer.x, pointer.y);      // screen → world
```

## Works with

- `rig-follow` — the camera that follows the player; `controls-2d` — the input.
- `world-screen` — a HUD over it, and an underlay that sits just above its floor.
- `collision` — overlaps between what walks around; `grid-move` — tile-locked movement.
- `lighting-2d` and `fog` — lights, darkness and fog of war on layers of their own.
- `world-side` — the alternative when depth should be declared by hand rather than taken from position.

## Good to know

- Sorting uses the sprite's bottom edge, so a tall sprite whose feet are not at its bottom needs a `z` to correct it.
- A sheet the size of the screen, such as a floor of tiles, has its feet at the bottom of the screen and covers its
  layer: give it a large negative `z`, or a layer of its own.
- Wrapping is all or nothing; a world cannot wrap on one axis only.
- The 2D camera does not rotate, and there is one 2D world per game.

---

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