Getting Started

This section serves a small template on how to get started with Game Pencil Engine.

 

What is Game Pencil Engine?

Game Pencil Engine(GPE) is a 2D  cross-platform video game engine. It was created from the ground up to create wonderful console, desktop and web games.

The dynamic architecture of the engine is friendly for common programmers and inviting for newcomers in the field of game design. The engine's editor is built with an emphasis on user code, game and scene design.

 

Getting Started

So let's get you started on using Game Pencil Engine to make 2D games. If you already have Game Pencil Engine's Editor on your computer skip to the "Three Important Aspects of GPE".

 

Downloading Game Pencil Engine is quick and easy. Simply go to our DOWNLOAD PAGE.

 

The section should resemble something like this:

 

On the list of Itch.io for both editions the latest version is always on top. Feel free to download earlier versions if you are experiencing any undue bugs or migration issues.

Licensed console manufacturers are able to freely download their console's version of their editor in their respective  portals.

 

Simply extract the file archive and run the game pencil application. You may or may not to need to run as administrator depending on your computer settings as GPE does create, read and write folders and files. So make sure your permissions are set properly.

 

If you have any issues feel free to debug it on our discord server.

 

If all succeeded congrats you are now developing in Game Pencil Engine's Editor!

In Game Pencil engine you simply can not have a game without Scenes, Game Objects and User Input.Why is that?

 

Below we will explain the importance of each and our philosophy on two content resource types and the importance of handing user input. So without further ado. Let's begin. We can start with Objects...

 

Objects

GPE's Object editor may be the resource editor users may find themselves using the most.  This is simply because objects for the most part control the entire game.  They are placed into scenes, can create and destroy one another and do basically everything to communicate with the player, each other and the system.

 

 

In this figure you can see the obj_player object with his engine and custom components/nodes.   For a more in depth look of how crucial objects are to your game design experience please look at our Objects section now.

 

In this figure you can see the obj_player object with his engine related game logic.   For a more in depth look of how crucial objects are to your game design experience please look at our Objects section now.

 

GPE's objects are comprised of "components" also known as "nodes" as well as collision functions, custom functions and of course engine-based functions.  So please store that knowledge for later when we go into a more in depth way to use and handle objects.

Objects are crucial to not only processing logic, but drawing in the game world and interacting with it.  Without an object in your project the editor will not allow you to build your project.

 

Scenes

Game Scenes is where the action in the game takes place. From your puzzle games, shooters to racers and RPGs. Without a scene you have a game that is essentially "void".

Let's whip up a quick image of how a really basic Game Scene can look like in an auto-generated game.

As pictured above we see the floor full of green blocks, an unidentified object(with the blue car symbol) as well as what we can assume to be the player object we did a quick glance of earlier.

 

Scenes are made up of a layers and meta data. We will go over layers later; but for the simplicity of this document know that each layer can contain one resource type. Currently in Version 1.1x the allowed resource types per layer are objects, tiles and backgrounds.

 

Without a game scene a project will not compile in GPE's editor.

 

User Input Handling

Every game from the Flappy Bird rip off to Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild are unplayable without any sort of game input. Although others may choose to minimize the importance of game input we have set it as a priority throughout the engine.  User Input in the engine currently handles keyboard, mouse and gamepad inputs. So that you will be able to tell obj_player to shoot bullets at the Giant Gummy Bear boss. To learn more on how to handle user input please see our guide here.  Non-game programs like servers,  background processes, screen-savers, etc may not require user input to run; but for the sake of this documentation we will only speak about making games.

 

With mastery of these three core aspects you will be able to use Game Pencil Engine to create classic masterpieces under the right conditions.

 

Of course a game is more than just Objects, Scenes and User Input;  but, this page is meant to introduce to you their importance for your game development process in the editor going forward.

 

Now that we have did a quick overview of the concept of developing in Game Pencil Engine.

 

So let's begin the first chapter of Game Development in GPE:

Using The Editor  >>>