Content browser
The 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.
DescribesEditor 0.4.0 For creating without programming
On this page
The Content browser gathers in one place everything that can be used in the game: what the editor comes with and what belongs to your project. It is in Full mode, in the bottom drawer, and opens with Alt+8.
Content types#
The column on the left filters by type and says how many there are of each. The numbers in the table are those of a project just created with the Blank template.
| Filter | What it shows | In a new project |
|---|---|---|
| All | Everything together. | 43 |
| Prefabs | The editor's ready-built pieces and the ones you save. | 20 |
| Materials | The ready-made materials: Grass, Tile, Wood and the rest. | 14 |
| Palettes | Sets of colors to add to the scene. | 5 |
| Sounds | Synthesized sounds to copy to the project. | 2 |
| Models | The project's 3D models, imported or made in the workshop. | None |
| Textures | The project's images for the material of pieces. | None |
| Recorded sounds | The project's .wav or .mp3 sounds. | None |
| Sprites | The game's pixel art. | None |
| Cube models | The cube models of the workshop, also the ones you have not exported yet. | None |
| Tile maps | The workshop's tile maps. | None |
| Scenes | The project's scenes. | 1 |
| Scripts | The code files. | 1 |
At the top there are two more filters:
- The search box filters by name within the chosen type.
- The origin dropdown: Every origin, Built in (what comes included) or From the project (what is yours).
What is yours carries a mine label. What the assistant built carries IA. A workshop document you have not exported yet carries draft, and a model no piece uses, unused.
What a click does#
Each type of card responds differently.
| Card | On click |
|---|---|
| Prefab | You pick it to place it in the scene with another click. Double click: it goes to the center of the view. It can also be dragged. |
| Material | Paints the selected pieces with that material, and the next ones you place. |
| Palette | Adds its colors to the scene's palette: they appear under Material. |
| Sound | Copies it to the project to use it in a rule, in "play sound". |
| Sprite | Opens its drawing in the pixel editor. It can also be dragged to the viewport, as a flat piece. |
| Model | You pick it to place it in the scene with another click, like a prefab. Double click: it goes to the center of the view. The card says its size, its triangles and in how many places it is used. See Models in the scene. |
| Texture | Puts it in the material of the selected pieces. With nothing selected, a notice explains how to use it. |
| Recorded sound | Plays it. |
| Cube model, Tile map | Opens the document in its workshop tool. |
| Scene | Opens that scene for editing. The one that is open carries the label open. |
| Script | Opens it in the code editor. |
Dragging a prefab onto the viewport#
A prefab can be dragged from its card to the viewport. It stays where you drop it. The foot of the panel reminds you: "Drag a prefab onto the viewport to place it".
- Find the prefab. In the screenshot, "tree" was typed in the search box.
- Hold the mouse button down on the card and drag to the viewport.
- Drop it on the floor, where you want it.
What you place stays selected, ready to be moved. A prefab of several pieces comes in as a group.
Saving the selection as a prefab#
If you built something you want to repeat, such as a tower, a bridge with railings or an ornament, save it.
- Select in the scene the pieces that make it up.
- At the foot of the browser, type a name under Prefab name.
- Press Save selection.
The prefab is kept in the project, with the mine label. From then on it appears in the browser and also in Place pieces, in the My pieces group, and is placed like any other.
To delete it, press the × on its card (Remove from the project). The copies you already placed in the scene are left untouched.
Palettes#
A palette is a named set of five colors. The editor comes with five: Sunset, Forest, Glacier, Neon night and Desert.
A click on a palette adds its colors to those of the scene. They appear in the Material section of Place pieces, next to the usual 25, and are used the same way.
Sounds#
There are two kinds of sound. Synthesized ones are built by the engine, with no files. Recorded ones are .wav or .mp3 files you bring in with the importer; they show up in the Recorded sounds filter and in the rules, marked "(recorded)".
Rules can already use twelve synthesized sounds with nothing to do: moneda, salto, golpe, caida, control, victoria, derrota, clic, alerta, tic, luz and poder.
The browser offers two more, Fanfare and Mystery. A click copies the sound to the project; from then on it appears in the list of the "play sound" action, marked as "project". A project sound is removed with its ×.
Scripts#
A click on a script opens it in the code tab. The Script button, at the foot of the browser, creates a new file in scripts/ and opens it. How to use it is in Code.
From the workshop and the importer#
At the foot of the browser are the asset workshop buttons: Drawing, Model, Map and Assets, and the importer's, Import….
Sprites are a game's pixel art: the drawings of the flat pieces, of the tiles and of the character in 2D games. A newly created third-person project has none; the 2D platformer, Top-down, Hybrid and Local multiplayer examples do. Since editor 0.4.0, a click on a sprite opens it in the pixel editor: it is no longer read only.
Deleting a model, a texture or a sound that is in use first warns you where it is used and offers Delete anyway. It can be undone.
Next#
- Scene and Details: place, move and give material.
- No-code rules: use your sounds in a rule.
- Assistant: what it builds is kept in the browser.
- Asset workshop: drawings, models and maps.