A tour of the editor
The 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.
DescribesEditor 0.4.0 For creating without programming
On this page
Editor 0.4.0 has two faces: Simple mode, with the essentials, and Full mode, with every tool. This page tours Full mode, because it contains everything Simple has. How they differ and how to switch is in Simple mode and Full mode.
The home screen#
When you open the editor you see Your games. The first time there are none, and the screen invites you to start from a template.
| Where | What is there |
|---|---|
| Sidebar, top | New game and Open folder… |
| Sidebar, bottom | Español (or English), Light theme (or Dark theme), Settings and the editor version. |
| Center | Your projects, each with Open, Duplicate and Rename. Once you have projects, a search box and the order Most recent or By name appear too. |
| Footer | The projects folder and how many games there are. |
The seven thumbnails in the box are the seven kinds of game the New game dialog offers. Creating, opening, duplicating and deleting projects is in New game, projects and templates.
The window in Full mode#
From top to bottom, the window has these areas:
| Area | What it is |
|---|---|
| Main menu | Six menus: File, Edit, View, Scene, Run and Help. Next to them, the project name. |
| Search everywhere | The field in the middle of the first row. |
| Simple / Full switch | Top right, next to the theme button, the help button and the Settings button. |
| Main toolbar | Save, undo, redo, the Scene, Code and Test layouts, and reset. On the right: how the match starts, Play, test with bot and Export. |
| Tool strips | Two columns of icons, one on each side of the window. Each icon is a panel. |
| Center | The document tabs, the breadcrumb and the viewport (or the code, or the game card). |
| Dock zones | The four places where panels are shown. |
| Status bar | The last row. |
The main menu#
Everything the editor can do is in one of the six menus, with its shortcut next to it.
| Menu | What it has |
|---|---|
| File | Save, New script, New drawing…, New cube model…, New tile map…, Workshop assets, Game blocks, Import…, Export game…, Show the project in its folder, Game card, Settings… and Close project. What does not apply to the open project is shown disabled and says why: in a game made with code, Game blocks says "This game is programmed with code"; in a blocks one, New script is disabled too. The four workshop ones are in Asset workshop and Import…, in Import assets. |
| Edit | Undo, Redo, Copy pieces, Paste pieces, Duplicate, Delete, Select every piece, Drop the tool or the selection, Group, Ungroup, Search everywhere… and Find action… |
| View | The mode, the theme, the language, one line per panel, the three layouts and Reset layout. |
| Scene | The four tools, the axes, snap to grid, framing, the viewport views and shading, the helpers, hide and lock, Program the selection with blocks, Add a zone, Add a light and Use this view as the cover. |
| Run | Play, Stop, Play from the start, Play here (where the camera looks), Watch the bot play, Test multiplayer (2 players on this computer), Test with bot (every difficulty) and Validate now. |
| Help | Keyboard shortcuts and About Green Games Studio. |
An action that cannot be used at that moment is shown greyed out. Test multiplayer only lights up in a game with local multiplayer. Game blocks and Program the selection with blocks only light up in a blocks project: see Blocks mode.
Search everywhere#
Press Shift twice in a row, or click the Search everywhere field. A search box opens that looks through the whole project at once: actions, scene pieces, prefabs, files and rules.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ | Pick a result. |
| Enter | Use it: selects the piece, starts placing the prefab, opens the rule or the file, or runs the action. |
| Tab | Go to the next tab: All, Actions, Scene pieces, Prefabs, Files, Rules. |
| Esc | Close. |
The action palette#
Ctrl+Shift+A opens the same search box on the Actions tab. It helps when you know what you want to do and do not remember which menu it is in: type "export", "theme" or "play" and press Enter.
The palette lists only the actions that can be used at that moment: Redo is not in the screenshot, because there was nothing to redo.
The strips and the eleven panels#
Each icon on the strips shows or hides a panel. Ten have a shortcut.
| Panel | Shortcut | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Place pieces | Alt+1 | Shapes, prefabs and materials. See Scene and Details. |
| Project | Alt+2 | The game's files. |
| Structure | Alt+3 | The outline of the open script, or a summary of the scene. |
| Outline | Alt+4 | The scene tree, with eye and padlock. |
| Details | Alt+5 | The properties of the selection, or those of the scene. |
| Rules | Alt+6 | The game's logic. See No-code rules. In a blocks project this panel is called Blocks: see Blocks mode. |
| Assistant | Alt+7 | Ask for changes in your own words. See Assistant. |
| Content browser | Alt+8 | See Content browser. |
| Problems | Alt+9 | What the validator finds, with a Take me there button. |
| Console | Alt+0 | The game's messages while you test it. |
| Test bot | No shortcut | The result of Test with bot. See Test bot. |
The center: tabs, breadcrumb and viewport#
At the top of the center there is one tab per open document: the scene (principal), the script (principal.ts) and the Game card. While you play, a fourth one appears, Playing. In a blocks project, the Blocks tab takes the place of the script tab.
Below is the breadcrumb, which says where you are: project, folder, file and, if something is selected, its name.
The viewport is the 3D view of the scene. It has two bars:
- The viewport toolbar, above it: the Select, Move, Rotate and Resize tools; the World or Local axes; the position, angle and size snaps; duplicate, group and delete; Editing | Game and the view type.
- The controls over the viewport: the camera view, the shading, the fly speed, the difficulty shown, the bot path, the helpers and framing.
Each control is explained in Scene and Details.
The dock zones#
Panels are shown in four zones: Left; Right, top; Right, bottom; and Bottom, the bottom drawer. Each panel can be sent to another zone or hidden. How to do it, and the three ready-made layouts, are in Simple mode and Full mode.
The status bar#
| Cell | What it says | On click |
|---|---|---|
| Validation | No problems, or how many errors and warnings there are. | Opens Problems. |
| Saving | Saved. | Saves now. |
| Selection | How many pieces the scene has, or how many are selected. | |
| View | The viewport view: Perspective, Top, Front or Side. | |
| fps | The viewport's frames per second. With the code open, the cursor's line and column go here instead. | |
| Language | English or Español. | Switches the language. |
| Mode | Simple or Full. | Switches the mode. |
| Theme | Dark or Light. | Switches the theme. |
While you play, Playing appears too, and during a test, the bot's progress.
Settings#
File > Settings…, Ctrl+, or the gear button, top right.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Editor language | Español or English. |
| Your author name (for new games) | The name recorded as the author on the card of each game you create. |
| Theme | Dark or Light. |
| Editor interface | Simple: just the essentials or Full: every tool. |
The rest of the dialog belongs to the assistant: what computer you have, what is installed and which model to work with. It is explained in Assistant.
At the foot, the dialog states the editor version and the projects folder.
Moving the camera#
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Right button and drag | Turn the camera. |
| Right button + W A S D Q E | Fly through the scene. With Shift, faster. |
| Wheel | Zoom in and out. |
| Middle button and drag | Pan. |
| F | Frame the selection, or the whole scene if nothing is selected. |
| 5 6 7 8 | Perspective, Top, Front and Side view. |
The viewport reminds you in a line at its foot: "Click: select · Shift: add · Double click: one piece of a group · Right button: orbit (+ W A S D) · Wheel: zoom · Middle button: pan".
Saving and undo#
The project saves by itself. The status bar says Saved; a click there, or Ctrl+S, saves right away.
Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z) work for everything: pieces, rules, code, the game card and the assistant's changes. Each step has a name: after moving a box, the step is called "Move «caja»".
All the keys are in Shortcuts.
Next#
- Simple mode and Full mode: choose how much you want to see and arrange the panels.
- Your first game: the tutorial, step by step.
- Scene and Details: the viewport in depth.