rootandClaude Opus 5
d1fcfe8b81
A variable or a state machine declared `global` keeps one value for the whole run instead of one per behavior instance. The scope sits on the declaration -- `PropertyDef.scope` and `StateMachineAsset.scope`, both optional, absence meaning `local` -- and `local` is never written, so every project made before this saves back unchanged. **The name is the key.** Two behaviors declaring a global `score` mean one variable; a behavior declaring `score` locally keeps its own. Kinds that disagree about one global name stop the run before it starts, with the two behaviors named; starting values that disagree are a warning on the behavior that declares it, and the first declaration wins (`globalConflicts`). The runtime needs no redirection layer. A global variable falls out of `schemaForObject`, so it never reaches `entity.props` -- and then the whole rule is "whoever declares the name takes their own value" (`graph/sharedState.ts`). The `Variables` node is untouched and stays transparent: switching a variable to global breaks no existing graph, because `GraphInterpreter.readAll` builds a fresh object per read anyway and only asks `port.key in all`. That same cut answers the inspector. A shared value has no owner, so the placed object shows no row for it and can hold no override -- `SetVariableScopeCommand` takes the deviations that were there and undo gives them back. Both places say it in words rather than leaving a glyph to be guessed: the declaration explains the mark below the list, and the placed object names the variable it no longer holds instead of claiming the behavior declares none -- which is what it said before, untruthfully. Screenshots of the e2e run turned that up; no check had been looking at it. `SharedState` hangs off `NodeContext`, is built in `BehaviorSystem.start()` from the *declarations* rather than from any instance (a global variable exists before its behavior is placed), and is thrown away with the run: nothing is written back, not even in the editor run. `GraphInterpreter.call` passes it on through `...ctx` while nested calls keep getting fresh local variables, which is why `program.defaults` is stripped of global keys. Two traps this hit. `defSignature`/`assetSignature` have to carry the scope or the inspector does not rebuild after the switch -- and a state machine has no rows at all, so its scope is appended to the signature by hand. And the object inspector does not go through `schemaForObject` for behaviors, it reads `asset.variables` directly; filtering in one place was not enough, and no unit test covered that path. The e2e caught it (`global: true` where false belonged), and the rule now lives in one named function, `objectRows`. Scopes `object` and `scene` are deliberately not built. The object case already has a route (`Object by name` -> `Properties`), and a run knows exactly one scene, so `scene` would be indistinguishable from `global` until #39 exists. Closes #59: a machine's scope is a word on the machine asset, not a setting per `Set state` node, so the same machine cannot live in two places at once. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Game Maker
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: https://nockal.com/game-maker/ · Widget playground: https://nockal.com/game-maker/?playground
The documentation is the wiki: https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/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, collider, container, texture, animation, state machine) 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.
- Play runs a throwaway copy of the project; every panel stays usable and Stop brings back exactly what was saved.
Quick start
Node 22 is required.
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:
node tools/seed-e2e.mjs && node tools/e2e.mjs # the editor, 862 checks (GM_STEPS=20 for one step)
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 runner, 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.
Documentation
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Concepts | Assets, scene objects, overrides, play mode, the camera, the console |
| Scene editing | Placing, z-order, hierarchy, the editor offset |
| Behaviors | Node graphs: variables, the node set, structs and lists, loops, nesting, editing |
| Colliders | Collision events and blocking movement |
| Textures | Images, frames, the filter, upload limits |
| Animations | Animation assets and the Animation tab |
| State machines | The asset, named transitions, State branch, Set state and State transition |
| Containers | Templates, instances, screens |
| Keyboard | Every shortcut |
| Architecture | Stack, source layout, the rules that keep it organised |
| Development | Commands, the e2e suite, the example games, CI |
| API | The PHP JSON API and the project document |
Ideas, gaps and bugs
They live in the issue tracker: https://git.nockal.com/meleki/game-maker/issues. What is not there yet is listed on the wiki's Home page.