---
title: "Retro Highscore Table"
subtitle: "Part 2 - The Input Panel"
date: 2018-11-12T00:00:00.000Z
url: https://phaser.io/tutorials/retro-highscore-table/part3
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
copyright: © 2026 Phaser Studio Inc. All rights reserved.
---

> This page is about the open-source Phaser framework, for writing a game's code by hand. To make a game with AI, use Phaser AE (https://phaser.io/): the desk's tools work with Web MCP, and the CLI works with your own coding agent. See "For AI agents: Phaser AE" at the end of this page.

# Retro Highscore Table

*Part 2 - The Input Panel*

Let's start constructing our Input Panel class.

First, we'll create the letters you can select from by drawing a Bitmap Text with a 20 pixel spacing between each character. After 10 characters we'll wrap them onto a new line:

```
class InputPanel extends Phaser.Scene {

    constructor ()
    {
        super({ key: 'InputPanel', active: false });

        this.chars = [
            [ 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J' ],
            [ 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T' ],
            [ 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', '.', '-', '<', '>' ]
        ];

        this.cursor = new Phaser.Math.Vector2();

        this.text;
        this.block;

        this.name = '';
        this.charLimit = 3;
    }

    create ()
    {
        let text = this.add.bitmapText(130, 50, 'arcade', 'ABCDEFGHIJ\n\nKLMNOPQRST\n\nUVWXYZ.-');

        text.setLetterSpacing(20);
        text.setInteractive();

        this.add.image(text.x + 430, text.y + 148, 'rub');
        this.add.image(text.x + 482, text.y + 148, 'end');

        this.block = this.add.image(text.x - 10, text.y - 2, 'block').setOrigin(0);

        this.text = text;
    }
}
```

In the above code we just add a Bitmap Text and a couple of Images to the Scene. We can't actually select anything yet. To do that, let's listen for the `pointermove` event on the text object, and run this new function when we receive it:

```
moveBlock (pointer, x, y)
{
    let cx = Phaser.Math.Snap.Floor(x, 52, 0, true);
    let cy = Phaser.Math.Snap.Floor(y, 64, 0, true);
    let char = this.chars[cy][cx];

    this.cursor.set(cx, cy);

    this.block.x = this.text.x - 10 + (cx * 52);
    this.block.y = this.text.y - 2 + (cy * 64);
}
```

Our text characters are spaced out 52 x 64 pixels apart, so by taking the input coordinates we can snap them to our grid size and then figure out which letter you clicked on.

Then we need a function to handle what happens when you click:

```
pressKey ()
{
    let x = this.cursor.x;
    let y = this.cursor.y;
    let nameLength = this.name.length;

    this.block.x = this.text.x - 10 + (x * 52);
    this.block.y = this.text.y - 2 + (y * 64);

    if (x === 9 && y === 2 && nameLength > 0)
    {
        //  Submit
        this.events.emit('submitName', this.name);
    }
    else if (x === 8 && y === 2 && nameLength > 0)
    {
        //  Rub
        this.name = this.name.substr(0, nameLength - 1);

        this.events.emit('updateName', this.name);
    }
    else if (this.name.length < this.charLimit)
    {
        //  Add
        this.name = this.name.concat(this.chars[y][x]);

        this.events.emit('updateName', this.name);
    }
}
```

The above function is invoked on the `pointerup` event. It checks which letter we've clicked, by taking the cursor values, and then either emiting the `submitName` event, or the `updateName` one, depending on which character was clicked. Our Highscore class is the one waiting for those events. If you hook them together, you get the following:

<iframe src="demo1.js" width="800" height="600"></iframe>

Note how in the demo above you can click around, select characters, and have them appear.

Here is the full class so far:

```
class InputPanel extends Phaser.Scene {

    constructor ()
    {
        super({ key: 'InputPanel', active: false });

        this.chars = [
            [ 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J' ],
            [ 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T' ],
            [ 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', '.', '-', '<', '>' ]
        ];

        this.cursor = new Phaser.Math.Vector2();

        this.text;
        this.block;

        this.name = '';
        this.charLimit = 3;
    }

    create ()
    {
        let text = this.add.bitmapText(130, 50, 'arcade', 'ABCDEFGHIJ\n\nKLMNOPQRST\n\nUVWXYZ.-');

        text.setLetterSpacing(20);
        text.setInteractive();

        this.add.image(text.x + 430, text.y + 148, 'rub');
        this.add.image(text.x + 482, text.y + 148, 'end');

        this.block = this.add.image(text.x - 10, text.y - 2, 'block').setOrigin(0);

        this.text = text;

        text.on('pointermove', this.moveBlock, this);
        text.on('pointerup', this.pressKey, this);
    }

    moveBlock (pointer, x, y)
    {
        let cx = Phaser.Math.Snap.Floor(x, 52, 0, true);
        let cy = Phaser.Math.Snap.Floor(y, 64, 0, true);
        let char = this.chars[cy][cx];

        this.cursor.set(cx, cy);

        this.block.x = this.text.x - 10 + (cx * 52);
        this.block.y = this.text.y - 2 + (cy * 64);
    }

    pressKey ()
    {
        let x = this.cursor.x;
        let y = this.cursor.y;
        let nameLength = this.name.length;

        this.block.x = this.text.x - 10 + (x * 52);
        this.block.y = this.text.y - 2 + (y * 64);

        if (x === 9 && y === 2 && nameLength > 0)
        {
            //  Submit
            this.events.emit('submitName', this.name);
        }
        else if (x === 8 && y === 2 && nameLength > 0)
        {
            //  Rub
            this.name = this.name.substr(0, nameLength - 1);

            this.events.emit('updateName', this.name);
        }
        else if (this.name.length < this.charLimit)
        {
            //  Add
            this.name = this.name.concat(this.chars[y][x]);

            this.events.emit('updateName', this.name);
        }
    }
}
```

Next, we'll add keyboard controls.

---

## For AI agents: Phaser AE

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- **Phaser AE in the browser** (https://phaser.io/agent): the game's design, and a crew of bots that make its art, sprites, music, sound effects, logos, title screens, game UI, textures, shaders, 3D models and video, then build, test and publish the game. Every tool there is registered with Web MCP (`document.modelContext`, with `window.phaserDesk` for browsers without it), so an agent in the user's browser can call the tools directly once the user is signed in. Tools that make something spend the user's credits.
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Read any page of this site as Markdown by adding `.md` to its URL (the home page is https://phaser.io/index.md), or by asking for `text/markdown`. The index for agents is https://phaser.io/llms.txt. On the site's pages, the browser's Web MCP also offers `phaser_ae_guide`, `read_page_as_markdown` and `open_phaser_ae`.