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Learn by finishing small games

Short lessons, real results: place something, wire one behavior, press Play, maybe publish. Fifteen steps below — each ends with something on screen, not a quiz.

Start lesson 1 Open Editor

Editor in one tab, lesson in another — that’s honestly the nicest way to work through it.

Your path

Tick lessons off as you go

0 / 15
Your first hourProject, tiny game, published link, Desktop 0/4 Make it a gameFlow, GameState, components, input, a tiny script 0/6 Make it yoursArt, motion, rigging, sound, physics 0/5
Progress is saved in this browser only.

The path

Every lesson is a page of the real manual. Do them in order the first time — each one assumes the one before it, and each ends with something on screen rather than a concept.

Chapter 1

Your first hour

From an empty project to a link you can send someone.

1. Open the editor and make a project

Projects, scenes, the stage, and how autosave works — in the browser or in Opal Desktop.

You’ll have: a project that saves itself
Open

2. Make Coin Garden your own

Open the tutorial project, play immediately, move a coin, and change its score in Flow. A short guide stays beside the editor.

You’ll have: your own playable Coin Garden
Open

3. Publish it to the arcade

Package the project, publish, share the link, push updates — and decide whether people can remix it. Arcade publish is browser-only; Desktop uses Cloud Sync first.

You’ll have: a link anyone can play
Open

4. Keep the project in a folder

Opal Desktop, Cloud Sync, and why Arcade publish still happens in the browser.

You’ll have: a folder you can work in offline
Open
Chapter 2

Make it a game

Behavior, rules, controls, and a tiny script.

5. Find your way around the editor

What each workspace tab is for, where the hierarchy and inspector live, and what the workbench dock does.

You’ll stop hunting for panels
Open

6. Wire behavior with Flow

Events, nodes, execution wires versus data wires. Next lesson is the GameState those rules read.

You’ll have: a rule that fires on an event
Open

7. Declare GameState

Number, true/false, text, list, and object fields. Session, Saved, and Scene lifetimes. HUD vs Flow.

You’ll have: score that the HUD and the next scene share
Open

8. Give objects abilities with components

Attach Health, Pickup, Timer, Spawner, a movement controller — and call their actions from Flow.

You’ll have: behavior you didn’t have to build
Open

9. Take player input

Taps, drags, keys, and pointer gestures — and how the same game stays playable on a phone.

You’ll have: something you can control
Open

10. Write a tiny script

A spinner, a hopper, a coin. Attach an OpalScript class and press Play. Flap is the advanced follow-on.

You’ll have: an object that turns because you wrote Update
Open
Chapter 3

Make it yours

The studios: art, motion, rigging, sound, and physics.

11. Bring in your own art

Import images, organise the library into folders, and cut sprites out of photos in Pixel Studio.

You’ll have: your sprites, not the starter pack
Open

12. Animate with Motion

Keyframe clips on the dope sheet and a Motion Machine over the top. Bones come next.

You’ll have: an object that moves on purpose
Open

13. Rig a character

Skeleton Studio: Setup vs Animate, bones, slots, IK, and a reusable character asset.

You’ll have: a character that bends, not slides
Open

14. Add sound and effects

Import or bake audio, play it from Flow and animation markers, and land particles on the right frame.

You’ll have: feedback on every hit
Open

15. Turn on physics

Rigid bodies, colliders, sensors, and joints — with collisions arriving in Flow as real events.

You’ll have: a world things bump into
Open

Then go where your game needs you

Finished the first pass? These clusters point at the docs people reach for next — art, gameplay, shipping — depending on what you’re building.

Stuck? Walk through this loop

When you’re not sure what to do next, it’s usually one of these five pieces missing — not a whole new skill. Tick them off and you’ve got a complete game; after that it’s just scope.

One scene with a background, a player object, and one thing to interact with.
One variable — score, health, timer, or progress — declared in GameState.
One Flow rule that responds to input or a collision.
One UI element bound to that variable, so the player can see it change.
One published build on the arcade — however small.

See what others published

A few games from the community — play them, and open the project if the author allowed remixing.

Browse the arcade

Or browse the manual

Prefer to look things up instead of following the path? Every docs page is linked below.

Introduction Getting started Opal Desktop Build your first game Editor overview Projects and scenes Variables and GameState Objects and hierarchy Components and properties Visual scripting Flow as text Input and controls Physics and collisions Prefabs and spawning Assets and importing Pixel Studio Art Canvas Motion and rigging Skeleton Studio Sound Canvas Particle Canvas Audio and VFX UI and HUD Scripts High-level scripting Your first component Flap Scripting API Multiplayer Testing and debugging Sharing and publishing Troubleshooting Component reference

Every link above is a docs page — browse the full Manual → with search (Ctrl+K) and sidebar.

Ready when you are

In the launcher, choose Open Tutorial Project, play Coin Garden once, then follow the guide to make it yours — most people are moving things around within a few minutes.

Open Editor Open the walkthrough