Systems & global options

Two parts of a game belong to no scene: the list of systems the game runs, and the global options every scene shares. You edit both in the inspector, in its Systems tab and its Project settings tab.

The systems list

The Systems tab lists the systems the game runs. Add System offers the engine’s own systems plus the ones in your project. Expand an entry to edit that system’s options.

The Systems tab with seven systems: Camera System, Keyboard Input System, Keyboard Control System, Movement System, Animator, Renderer and UIBridge. Each row has a drag handle on the left. Renderer is expanded and shows Window Node Id, Background Color and Filter Effects. Add System is at the bottom. — Drag the handle on the left to reorder the systems.

Order is execution order

The engine runs systems in the order of this list, every frame. Put the renderer after the systems that move things, or it draws positions that are one step old. Configuration explains the order rules.

The editor writes names, not classes

Adding a system here writes only its name into the project configuration. The class still has to reach new Engine({ systems }) in your entry point. If it does not, the game runs without the system and prints System not found: … to the console. See when the class never arrives.

Global options

The Project settings tab has four panels under Global Options.

Sorting lists the named layers an actor can be drawn in, and the order used inside a layer. See Rendering.

Physics lists the collision layers and the matrix that says which pairs of layers collide. A new layer collides with everything until you clear its boxes. See Physics.

The Project settings tab with the Physics panel open. Collision Layers lists ship-parts, ship-hull and projectiles, with Add Collision Layer below. The Collision Matrix has a row and a column for each of those layers and for default. Three boxes are checked, all in the default row. — A checked box means the two layers collide.

Audio Groups names the buses a sound can play through, so music and effects get separate volumes. See Audio.

Performance tunes the game loop. See The game loop.