User Manual
This manual is for artists, designers, and game makers building with Opal in the hosted browser editor at opal-engine.com. It follows the real editor workflow: create a project, build scenes, prepare assets, wire behavior, play-test, publish to the arcade, and export backups when you need them.
Developer-oriented docs live under Components and Reference in the sidebar.
The Opal Loop
Recommended Path
Start with projects, scenes, autosave, the top bar, panels, and play mode.
Build the coin collector before designing something large. It touches the core tools without burying you.
Use Art Canvas for sprite sequences, Sound Canvas for SFX, Components for reusable systems, Flow for rules, and UI for menus and HUD.
Publish small builds to the arcade during development so the game is always playable outside the editor.
Chapters
| Chapter | What you will learn |
|---|---|
| Introduction | What Opal is, core concepts, how the pieces fit together |
| Getting started | Open the hosted editor, create content, save work, and use play mode |
| Build your first game | Make a tiny coin collector with art, variables, Flow, UI, sound, and export |
| Editor overview | Workspaces, panels, top bar, shortcuts, asset library, File/Add/Help menus |
| Projects and scenes | Project structure, start scenes, scene lists, and scene settings |
| Objects and hierarchy | Stage objects, parenting, transforms, selection, and prefabs |
| Assets and importing | Import images and sounds, use Asset Studio, and keep assets organized |
| Art Canvas | Slice sheets, assemble frames, preview animation, register frames, and save .ssb bundles |
| Sound Canvas | Compose samples, tones, and mic takes; process, preview, and bake WAV sound effects |
| Components and properties | Attach built-in behaviors and configure fields in the inspector |
| Visual scripting | Object Flow, Scene Flow, events, expressions, variables, and graph debugging |
| Motion and rigging | Sprite motion clips, Motion Machine, Skeleton Studio, and character assets |
| Physics and collisions | Rigid bodies, colliders, sensors, collision events, and tuning |
| Prefabs and spawning | Save reusable objects, place instances, spawn them from graphs and spawners |
| UI and HUD | Build in-game interface layers and bind widgets to game state |
| Input and controls | Taps, drags, keyboard movement, and multi-touch play on phones and tablets |
| Audio and VFX | Import sounds, play audio, show speech, and trigger visual effects |
| Scripts | Use project scripts when visual graphs need reusable code |
| Testing and debugging | Play mode, stats, flow overlays, Problems, and Graph Explorer |
| Multiplayer and sharing | Use optional rooms for live network sessions and shared editing |
| Sharing and publishing | Publish to the arcade, export backups, and build standalone players |
| Troubleshooting | Common setup, storage, asset, physics, auth, docs, and publishing problems |
Quick Reference
Workspaces: Arrange, Object Flow, Scene Flow, Motion, Sound, Art, Rigging, Components, Scripts, UI
Top-bar menus: File for save/import/export/publish, Add for assets, Help for tutorials/shortcuts/console/problems/about
Play: Play in viewport, fullscreen play, Stop, Stats, Live Flow overlay
Undo / redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z for redo on Mac-style layouts)
Use Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on Mac) to search all documentation.