What the platform is
The 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.
DescribesLauncher and editor 0.4.0 For everyone
On this page
The studio's platform has two names, one for each thing you do on it. You play on Green Games: that is the name of the portal, https://play.green.games/en, and of the desktop launcher. You create with Green Games Studio, the editor. Today it is a preview release: you can play and you can create, and it is missing pieces that this documentation names plainly.
On these pages, "the launcher" is always Green Games, the desktop app, and "the editor" is always Green Games Studio. "The studio" is the team that makes all of this.
The three pieces#
| Piece | What it is for | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| Portal | Playing in the browser, with nothing to install and no account. | https://play.green.games/en |
| Green Games launcher 0.4.0 | Playing on your computer, offline too, solo or with several people on the same computer, and opening games stored in .ggx files. | 64-bit Windows, 64-bit Linux and macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) |
| Green Games Studio 0.4.0, the editor | Making games of seven types: a scene, rules without code, blocks that snap together for learning to program (Blocks), code if you want it, your own or imported drawings, 3D models and sounds, testing with a bot and export to .ggx. | 64-bit Windows, 64-bit Linux and macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) |
You download the launcher and the editor from https://play.green.games/en/download. How to do it carefully: Download and install.
What a game is#
A Green Games game is a .ggx file: a package with data (the game card and its scenes) and a script with the logic. It is not a web page and it is not a program: it carries nothing that can touch your computer.
That script runs isolated. It cannot read your files, use the network or see the page or app that shows it; it can only use the functions the platform offers to build the match. That is why you can open a game made by someone else without handing them your computer. The details are in Isolation.
The format is the same in the portal, in the launcher and inside the editor: a .ggx is not converted to move from one to another.
The portal, launcher 0.4.0 and editor 0.4.0 ship the same engine: what runs in one runs in the others.
The seven games#
All of them are made by the studio and can be played with keyboard, touch screen or gamepad, on three difficulties.
| Game | What it is about | Players |
|---|---|---|
| Green Light Circuit | An obstacle race against the clock: you hop the slabs, dodge the sweeper and freeze when the light turns red. Every coin takes one second off. | 1 to 4 (with bots) |
| Block Cup | Three-a-side arena football: quarter-final, semi-final and final to lift the cup. | 1 |
| Lighthouse Defense | Shadows march in to put out the lighthouse. You light and upgrade towers of light and strike up close until the last wave is over. | 1 |
| Workshop Island | You gather wood, stone and crystals, build bridges and machines, fill the dock orders and light the lighthouse before time runs out. | 1 |
| Maze of Lights | A room-by-room puzzle: you turn every lamp green to open the exit, with crates, switches, keys, teleports and light beams. | 1 |
| Red Light, Green Light | Three rounds against other runners. You may only advance on green; whoever moves on red goes back or is out. Its address in the portal is semaforo. | 1 to 4 (with bots) |
| Open Valley | An open world of cubes that builds itself, different for every seed, with nine biomes. You break and place blocks: on the expedition you gather wood, sand and stone and raise a shelter; in free mode you build without limits and fly. | 1 or 2 on the same computer |
What works today#
- Playing the seven games in the browser, with nothing to install and no account.
- A launcher for Windows, Linux and macOS: the seven games come inside the program and play offline. It keeps your progress and your records on your computer and imports games from
.ggxfiles. - Green Games Studio, the editor, for Windows, Linux and macOS: seven types of game (third person, first person, 2D platformer, top-down, isometric, 2D / 3D hybrid and open world), rules without code, the Blocks mode for learning to program, code with the Green Games API, testing the game with a bot and export to a
.ggxfile. See Game types and Blocks. - Local multiplayer: a game can be for several people on the same computer, from 1 to 4, with split or shared screen, with gamepads or with the keyboard shared between two. See Playing and Local multiplayer.
- Asset workshop and importer: the editor draws sprites and textures, builds cube models with their animations and paints tile maps, and converts models, textures and sounds made with other tools, with their author and license. See Asset workshop and Import assets.
- The editor's assistant: what it does, which packages ship the artificial intelligence layer and which ship only the basic assistant is in Assistant.
What does not exist yet#
- User accounts. Nothing asks you to sign up.
- Online matches with other people. The "With bots" mode fills the match with players driven by the game itself, on your computer. In the editor, online multiplayer appears disabled.
- Publishing your game online. For now you share the
.ggxfile and the other person imports it in their launcher. - Global leaderboards. Your records are yours and stay in your browser or on your computer.
- Signed files. The programs are not signed: Windows and macOS warn you the first time you open them. What to do: Download and install.
What is missing, without dates, is in the Roadmap.
Where to go#
| You want to | Start with |
|---|---|
| Play right now, with nothing to install | Play on the web |
| Play offline | Download and install and then Library |
| Make a game without programming | Your first game |
| Make a game by writing code | The game package |
| Know what a word means | Glossary |