Creating a Project

Every world you create in Easel begins as an empty project.

Creating your project

We are going to open the Easel Game Editor in a new tab so you can easily switch between the editor and this guide as you follow along.

1. Right-click the Launch Editor button in the top-right corner of this page, then choose Open Link in New Tab from the pop-up menu.
2. Once the editor loads, click New Project.

Now you are ready to start creating your game.

tip

If you have multiple screens, place this tutorial on one screen and the editor on another so it is easy to switch back and forth.

Naming your project

It is a good idea to give your project a name. To do this, we will edit the configuration file for your project called easel.toml.

1. Select the file easel.toml from the left sidebar.
2. Find the name field in the [project] section. It will initially contain a randomly generated name like "Generous Pink Biscuit".
3. Change the name to "Astroblast!". Be sure to keep the double quotes (") that surround the name.

The top section of your file should look like the following once you are done:

[project]
name = "Astroblast!"

[authors]
# ...

note

You will be inserting and modifying a lot of code in this tutorial. Look for the highlighted blocks of code to see what to change. Sometimes we will omit other parts of the file for brevity. This will be indicated by a ....

tip

If you make any mistakes while editing a file, you can always undo your most recent change by pressing Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac) on your keyboard.

Click the Preview button in the top right to see your changes. You should see a page that says "Astroblast!", a text box asking for your name, and a Play button. Enter a username for yourself (don't use your real name) and click Play.

You will see a black screen, a small message greeting you into your empty universe. Click Exit Preview in the top left to return to the editor so we can start filling your game world with a spaceship and asteroids!