Getting Started

Introduction

Welcome to the Black Engine.

This introduction covers the core concepts of the Black Engine and intended to give an overview of basic features.

Black Engine was designed on a clear philosophy of simplicity. In spite of fact that this is a turn-key production platform, Black Engine does not try to provide all-encompassing solutions for everything. Vice versa, we believe that the main task of Black is empowering you, as a game creator, with simple but strong tools which will allow you realize your personal unique vision. If you are an experienced developer Black Engine core concepts will be quite easy for understanding, but we strongly recommend you to take a minute and read this overview carefully because despite the simplicity of some of our conceptions, they can differ from what you might expect initially.

Thank you for choosing our engine and good luck!

Installing

Node.js runtime is required to run your future project. If it is not already installed on your computer, follow download link: Node.js.

Before you start writing any code, please follow next simple step:

Open command console in folder, where your projects are usually located and enter following commands:

git clone https://github.com/MassiveHeights/Black-Template.git
cd Black-Template
npm install

Running

This template provides ability to run development server on port 4245 to do so run npm start in the terminal then open a browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:4245. If you can see the anvil on the screen, then you've done everything right.

All files inside sheets, textures, fonts, html, spine and audio folders will be automatically copied into dist folder when changed. Settings in guldfile.js allow you to build changes in a really short time. For better compatibility and faster loading time please use production build. Simply enter next command: npm run bundle.

Dig into

Open project folder in your favorite code editor. Navigate to /js/game.js file. This is your entry point, where you can start writing code.

What to do next

Navigate to next parts of our tutorial where you can learn essentials for building games on Black Engine.