Green Games / Documentation
Documentation
Everything you can do on Green Games and with Green Games Studio today, step by step and with screenshots of the real apps: play, make a game without programming and build one with code.
Preview release: every guide says which version it describes. What does not exist yet is on the roadmap, with no dates.
I want to play
Play
In the browser, with nothing to install, or offline with the launcher.
Start playingI want to create without programming
Create
A complete game with pieces and rules, in fifteen minutes, with Green Games Studio.
Your first gameI want to write code
Code
The package, the SDK API, the validator, the test bot and the command-line tool.
Build with code
Sections
GG-D15 pages
Get started
What the platform is, how to play on the web and how to install the Green Games launcher and the Green Games Studio editor.
- What the platform isThe three pieces (the portal, the Green Games launcher and the Green Games Studio editor), what a game is, what works today and what does not exist yet.
- Play on the webHow to play at play.green.games from your browser, with keyboard, touch screen or gamepad, and where your records are kept.
- RequirementsWhat your computer needs to play in the portal and to use the launcher and editor on Windows, Linux and macOS (the editor on Mac is not on the portal yet).
- Download and installGet the launcher and editor, check that the file is the original, open it on Windows or Linux (and the launcher on macOS), update from an earlier version and uninstall it.
- First stepsThe first things to do after installing. Play a match in the launcher, open the editor and bring your game to the launcher.
GG-D27 pages
Launcher
Install games, play offline, import .ggx files and where your progress is kept.
- LibrarySee the games, open their game card, install them, play them offline and uninstall them in the launcher.
- PlayingA game's start screen, the difficulty, the mode with bots, the pause menu, open worlds, several players on the same computer, the end of the match and full screen.
- ControlsHow to play with keyboard and mouse, touch screen or gamepad, the controls of an open world, how two people share the keyboard and how to use the launcher and a game's menus without a mouse.
- Import a .ggxOpen a game stored in a .ggx file in the launcher, play it, what the launcher checks before accepting it and what happens if it rejects it.
- History and progressWhat the launcher records about your matches, how best records work, what games save and what happens to all of it when you uninstall.
- SettingsEvery launcher setting (language, full screen, volume, name) and what is inside the data folder.
- TroubleshootingWhat to do if the launcher does not open on Windows, Linux or macOS, if the system warns you, if a .ggx is rejected, if a gamepad is missing, if there is no sound or if you cannot find your progress.
GG-D322 pages
Editor
Green Games Studio: make games without programming, with scene, rules, bot tests and export.
- A tour of the editorThe home screen and the editor 0.4.0 window area by area, with its menus, search boxes, panels, the viewport and the status bar, plus Settings, the camera, saving and undo.
- Simple mode and Full modeWhat each mode of the editor 0.4.0 shows, how to switch between them, the light and dark themes, the three ready-made layouts and how to dock, hide and resize the panels.
- Your first gameStep-by-step tutorial with the editor 0.4.0: a yard with coins, walls, lava and a goal, tested with the bot, exported to .ggx and played to a win in the launcher.
- New game, projects and templatesThe New game dialog step by step, with Rules or code or Blocks and the seven kinds of game; the templates, what a project is and which files it has, and how to open, duplicate, rename or trash it.
- Kinds of gameThe seven kinds that New game offers in the editor 0.4.0, with their view, their controls, what their template has and what cannot yet be edited inside the editor.
- Scene and DetailsPlacing shapes, prefabs and materials, moving, rotating and resizing pieces, the viewport views and shading, the Outline with eye and padlock and the Details panel of a piece and of the scene.
- Content browserThe panel that gathers the prefabs, materials, palettes, sounds, models, textures, sprites, scenes and scripts of the editor 0.4.0, with its filters, how to drag a prefab onto the viewport and how to save your own.
- Asset workshopDrawings, textures, cube models, animations and tile maps made inside editor 0.4.0. How each tool opens, where what you make is kept and how it is used in the game.
- Import assetsThe importer in editor 0.4.0 converts models, textures, sounds, packages and scenes made with other tools. Formats and how far each goes, required license, limits, cancel and undo.
- Models in the scenePlacing a 3D model, choosing its animation, using it as the player, adding textures and recorded sounds, and checking the package limits and the credits in editor 0.4.0.
- No-code rulesHow to give your game logic by picking options in the editor 0.4.0, with the Match settings, the 10 triggers, the 23 actions, characters and rules in games made with code.
- Blocks modeProgramming a game by snapping blocks together in editor 0.4.0, with the code in view. How a blocks project is created, the canvas, the palette, its link to the scene, switching to code and what it does not do yet.
- CodeThe code editor of the editor 0.4.0, with the Code layout, the Structure and Project panels, the block that Rules write, API autocompletion and errors with their Take me there button.
- Playing inside the editorHow to play your game without leaving the editor 0.4.0, with the Playing strip, Restart and Stop, the dropdown to play here or watch the bot, the difficulty and the Console.
- Test botWhat Test with bot checks in the editor 0.4.0, how it builds its route from the rules, what it can and cannot do, how to mark steps for it and how to read the panel when the test fails.
- Local multiplayerHow to make, with the editor 0.4.0, a game for several people on the same computer, turn it on in the Game card, test it with 2, 3 or 4 players on a split screen, run it past the bot and play it in the launcher.
- AI assistantAsking for changes by typing in the editor 0.4.0: which packages include the AI layer, how to install a model on your computer, how often it really gets it right and how to review each proposal.
- Game card, export and shareThe Game card in the editor 0.4.0: kind of game, players, difficulties, controls, cover, limits and credits, and how to export a .ggx file, share it and open it in the launcher.
- Your second game: an isometric roomShort tutorial with the editor 0.4.0 on the isometric example: change the view, add coins and a rule to a game with code, see the code that rule writes, export and win it in the launcher.
- Your first model, step by stepA guide for editor 0.4.0. You draw a brick texture, build a cube robot, give it an animation, put it in a game, test it with the bot and export it.
- Common editor problemsCauses and fixes for the most common stumbles of the editor 0.4.0, from the window that does not open and the bot that does not finish to where your projects ended up after updating.
- What is missing in editor 0.4.0What the editor 0.4.0 does not do yet, how the interface shows it and what you can do in the meantime, so that you do not look for a button that does not exist.
GG-D424 pages
Build games with code
The package, the manifest, scenes, the SDK API, the validator, the bot and the command-line tool.
- Package structureWhich files make up a Green Games game, the units the world is measured in, how a match unfolds and the whole path from an empty folder to the .ggx file.
- The manifest (juego.json)Every property of juego.json with a real example, and the rules for the id, cover, controls, difficulties, score tables and texts in two languages.
- ScenesThe whole escenas/<id>.json file: pieces, shapes, materials, automatic movement, spawn points, zones, lights, environment, 2D and 3D views, sprites and tile maps.
- ScriptsWhat a game's script is like: where it runs, how the API is imported, the eight rules, a skeleton, selectors, translatable texts, several players and what the API does not offer yet.
- API referenceThe greengames object and its eleven services: what each one does, which versions have it, the common types and how to read the reference pages.
- The juego serviceReference for the juego service. The match: its difficulty and scene, when it starts, what happens every frame and how it ends.
- The mundo serviceReference for the mundo service. What is in the scene: pieces, zones, spawn points, lights and tile maps, plus the touch, enter and collide events.
- The jugadores serviceReference for the jugadores service. Who is in the room, humans and bots: their position, abilities, actions, view and state.
- The interfaz serviceReference for the interfaz service. What each player sees on top of the game: HUD, messages, timers, scoreboard, menus and labels in the world.
- The sonido serviceReference for the sonido service. Synthesized sound: presets, tones, noise and note sequences.
- The progreso serviceReference for the progreso service. What is saved for each player from one match to the next, per game.
- The puntajes serviceReference for the puntajes service. The high-score tables the game declares in its manifest.
- The azar serviceReference for the azar service. Random numbers and choices drawn from the match seed, so a match can be replayed exactly.
- The reloj serviceReference for the reloj service. Match time and timers.
- The actores serviceReference for the actores service. Block characters driven by the script: rivals, neighbors, enemies.
- The camara serviceReference for the camara service. Each player's camera: the view (third person, first person, 2D, isometric), distance, tilt, what it follows and temporary shots.
- Current limitsEvery limit of format 1: package sizes, pieces per scene, script time per frame, interface, sound and saving, each with its key and its value.
- The validator and its codesWhat greengames validar checks and in what order, the shape of a problem, and the full list of GB codes with their level, message and how to resolve each one.
- Testing with the botThe bot script (pruebas/bot.json): steps, conditions, signals, the router, several scripts, and what greengames probar requires before it calls a match passed.
- The greengames toolThe commands crear, validar, probar, empaquetar, previsualizar, capturar and limites, with their syntax, options, exit codes, JSON output and real console output.
- Good practices and quality checklistWhat is worth doing when you make a game, the quality checklist with boxes to tick, and the table of common errors with their cause and their fix.
- Case study: Circuito Luz VerdeA commented walk through the Green Games reference game: the idea, the manifest, the scene, the script part by part with real excerpts, the bot script and what tests each thing.
- Open worldThe game type made of generated cubes, with its biome table, how blocks are broken and placed, what gets saved and how to start from the template.
- Models, textures and soundsVersion 1.2 of the contract: 3D models in .glb, image textures and recorded sounds in a game, how they are used from the scene and from the script, their limits and the credits.
GG-D54 pages
Concepts
Why games run isolated, what determinism means, how it performs and what is inside a .ggx.
- Isolation: why a game cannot touch your computerWhere a game's script runs, what it can and cannot do, the barriers of the portal, the launcher and the editor, the test with a malicious package and the risk that remains.
- Determinism: the same match, twiceWhy a Green Games match repeats identically with the same seed and the same inputs, what breaks that, how it is checked and what to do if the game is not reproducible.
- Measured performanceFrames per second, load times and script time of six games in the portal, measured with and without a graphics card, with the class of machine and the conditions behind each figure.
- The .ggx formatWhat is inside a .ggx file, how it is built, how to open and read it with common tools, its size limits and what the format number guarantees.
GG-D65 pages
Reference
Glossary, shortcuts, frequent questions, changelog and roadmap.
- GlossaryThe platform's terms, each in a sentence or two, with a link to the page that explains it.
- ShortcutsEvery key of the editor 0.4.0, the launcher 0.4.0 and a match, in tables, including how the keyboard is shared between two players.
- FAQShort answers about accounts, price, publishing, macOS, the Windows warning and installer, updating from the earlier version, privacy, multiplayer, the AI assistant, blocks, versions and the language.
- ChangelogThe published versions of the launcher and the editor, which engine each piece ships, what changed with editor 0.5.0, with the 0.4.0, 0.3.0 and 0.2.0 ones, and what changed in the format and the API.
- RoadmapWhat has already shipped, what is in development, what is pending and what does not exist yet on the platform, without dates.