# Game Maker
[](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/actions?workflow=ci.yml)
A browser-based tool "one step before a game engine": create **assets** (scenes, cameras,
sprites), place them into scenes, tweak their properties in an inspector and press **Play** –
all in one program, all drawn inside a single WebGL canvas.
Live: · Widget playground:
**The documentation is the wiki:** – every concept,
node, tab and shortcut, plus the architecture and the development workflow. This file is the short
way in.
## In one screen
- An **asset** is a named, typed thing (scene, camera, sprite, text, behavior, variables, struct,
collider, rigidbody, joint, container, clip area, texture, vector art, pixel art, palette,
animation, curve, tile, tilemap, state machine, shader, shader function, font, sound, sound FX,
instrument, pattern, song, bus, particles) with properties and no position.
- A **scene object** places an asset: position, sparse **overrides** of its properties, an optional
parent. Only what differs from the asset is stored; the inspector paints it gold and offers ↺ / ↑.
- A **container** is a reusable group edited once and placed many times; its content is resolved
from the template on every read. A **screen** is a container switched on and off.
- A **behavior** is logic as a node graph, placed like anything else and parented to the object it
acts on. Play has no built-in behaviour – everything that happens is a graph.
- An **account** owns projects: the editor asks for a user name and a password first, and each
account sees only its own projects. The Account menu at the far right of the toolbar changes
the password and signs out.
- **Play** runs a throwaway copy of the project; every panel stays usable and Stop brings back
exactly what was saved. **Release…** shares a link that plays the saved game on its own, without
the editor and without signing in.
## Quick start
Node 22 is required.
```bash
npm install
npm run dev # http://localhost:5175/game-maker/dist/ – API calls are proxied to production
npm run check # typecheck + lint + format:check + unit tests – the gate CI runs too
npm run build # writes dist/ and regenerates index.html; the folder is what nginx serves
```
The browser suite and the three example games need a machine with a GPU:
```bash
node tools/seed-e2e.mjs && node tools/e2e.mjs # the editor, 2004 checks (GM_STEPS=20 for one step)
# every tool signs in first – see the Accounts page
node tools/seed-jumprun.mjs && node tools/smoke-jumprun.mjs
node tools/seed-tetris.mjs && node tools/smoke-tetris.mjs
node tools/seed-actor.mjs && node tools/smoke-actor.mjs
```
Every push runs all of it on the Gitea runners – the gate as one job, build and suite as another
beside it – so locally take the gate plus the step your change touches and leave the full run to
CI. Details, the GPU requirement and the detached runner are in
[Development](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Development).
## Documentation
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| [Concepts](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Concepts) | Assets, scene objects, overrides, play mode, the camera, the console |
| [Accounts](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Accounts) | Signing in and out, the accounts, who a project belongs to, what the check tools need |
| [Scenes](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Scenes) | The edited scene, the start scene, and switching scenes from a graph |
| [Scene editing](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Scene-editing) | Placing, z-order, hierarchy, the editor offset |
| [Behaviors](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Behaviors) | Node graphs: variables, the node set, structs and lists, loops, nesting, editing |
| [Structs](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Structs) | Struct assets: a named shape that struct variables, fields and `Pack`/`Expand` follow |
| [Colliders](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Colliders) | Shapes (box, circle, capsule, polygon), collision events, blocking movement, one-way colliders and raycasts |
| [Physics](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Physics) | Rigidbodies, the collider material, gravity, the fixed step, joints |
| [Textures](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Textures) | Images, frames, nine-slice, the filter, upload limits |
| [Vector art](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Vector-Art) | Pictures drawn from shapes: the pen, curves, gradients and texture fills, combining shapes |
| [Pixel art](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Pixel-Art) | Pictures painted pixel by pixel: the palette, the tools, layers and frames |
| [Fonts](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Fonts) | Font assets, the picker, what a text falls back to |
| [Sounds](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Sounds) | Sound assets and clips, `Play sound`, buses and the Master routing, sound FX |
| [Instruments](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Instruments) | Instruments as node graphs, Chips and presets, the keys of the Instrument tab, `Play note` |
| [Patterns](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Patterns) | Patterns and the piano roll, playing one in a loop or from a game |
| [Songs](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Songs) | Songs, their tracks and items, routing, recording, playing one from a game |
| [Animations](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Animations) | Animation assets and the Animation tab |
| [Curves](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Curves) | Easings drawn by hand, the Curve tab, using one on a key or a `Lerp` |
| [Shaders](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Shaders) | Shader graphs that sprites, texts, particle fields and cameras wear, their node set, passes, shader functions |
| [Particles](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Particles) | Particle graphs: a particle as a function of its age |
| [State machines](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/State-machines) | The asset, named transitions, `State branch`, `Set state` and `State transition` |
| [Containers](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Containers) | Templates, instances, screens |
| [Tiles](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Tiles) | The tile asset, plain tiles and the two autotile kinds, the pictures as animation steps, the Tile tab |
| [Tilemaps](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Tilemaps) | The tilemap asset, painting in the scene view, layers, what it looks like in the game |
| [Plugins](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Plugins) | Extending the editor: the plugin file, how it is loaded, switching one on and off, API v1 |
| [Keyboard](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Keyboard) | Every shortcut |
| [Architecture](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Architecture) | Stack, source layout, the rules that keep it organised |
| [Development](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/Development) | Commands, the e2e suite, the example games, CI |
| [API](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki/API) | The PHP JSON API and the project document |
## Ideas, gaps and bugs
They live in the issue tracker: . What is not
there yet is listed on the wiki's [Home](https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/wiki) page.