Just wanted to chime and say one way I think it could be even better for fast prototyping would be to have TypeScript definitions available, and maybe an option to set TS as the scripting language in Editor in Project Settings.

I'd be happy to help with these features if you're looking for contributors (good way to get familiar with the API, and I'd really like to get a peek at that Editor code XD).

I've ended up referencing tile locations to spawn objects in the games I've written in PixelBox and it would be convenient to not have to count how many tiles across / down I need to go by hand. I think the proposed Prop Layer in the roadmap would work just as well to address this, but thought it was worth suggesting!

I like the philosofy of creating the game mechanics from scratch, is ideal for learning and I appreciate it.

But there are a set of things that I miss, and are common to almost every game: GameObjects and behaviors.

Game objects could be linked to a game instance reference, or the scene instance where they belong.

Game Objects could implement a set of behaviors:

- Position system, based on tiles and/or coordinates. Useful for calculating collisions.

- Health system, for perishable objects.

- Camera following system for a given object

- Animation interface, with loop, frame skips and sprite sequence options

Finally, the scene interface should define the game workflow methods (init, update, render).

- Main script would delegate the initialization and update of game state on scenes.

- Game would have a set of scenes and a reference to current scene

This is the approach I follow for developing using pixelbox. It takes ideas from other game engines that could be very useful.

When I finish my first real project with this engine, I want to extract my implementations of these and create a npm package with these.

If you want to collaborate and implement it together in you game engine, you can contact me.

Please add this feature

So I started using this amazing engine yesterday, but since its so new it doesn't have that much stuff. I made a small js file with some functions and classes that I thought i might need while developing with Pixelbox.js, all it has is:

- Game Objects (with collision detection)

- Simple 2D Vectors

- A function to get delta time

Obviously, my programming skills arent as good as the creator of this engine's, and I hope some of this stuff gets added soon. I just made this as a simple placeholder, and if any of you guys wanna use it, then here is the link: https://github.com/NoohAlavi/pixelbox.js-helper 

    import 'camera' from 'pixelbox'

Also a way to get raw keyboard input other than the buttons would be nice, one use would be for typing.

I know that pixelbox does not map memory like fantasy consoles, but it would be cool if there was an function to copy and paste parts of the canvas in a similar manner.

I have a few requests though.

First, like I mentioned above, a simple code editor would be nice. Nothing fancy. Just a small, PICO-8 styled code editor (syntax highlighting and autocomplete would be nice).

Secondly, a physics engine, HUD elements, and a better animation system would be nice. I mean, to get a simple animation working, I had to write a bunch of ugly code. TBH, I feel like I'm using something like p5.js with a visual editor instead of an engine.

Third: DARK THEME PLEASE.

I understand that this is a VERY new engine, but I would hope this stuff is coming soon!

Also, if possible, zooming other panels would be nice - My main laptop has smaller screen, but high resolution, which makes the assets and tile brush panels a bit small.

However I find that the way the gamepad module is explained on the GitHub page is a little misleading. It took me some time to figure out why my code was not working.

The functions getGamepads(), getGamepad(id) and getAnyGamepad() demonstrated are not exposed, being handled automatically by the module's update function. The example also uses gamepad as the variable name, however the module already has both gamepad and gamepads defined internally, which causes an error. These two objects are accessible and contain all the gamepad data, which would be even easier to explain in the documentation, save axes information when using gamepad, which is a merge of all connected pads. I quickly implemented axes support for this situation, though, since it was necessary for a game concept I'm developing: https://github.com/MorenoIgor/Pixelbox-Multiple-Gamepads-Axes

Overall I'm basically in love with Pixelbox! :D

I created a map and then ran it, but it only showed black blank screen.

How do I create and place sprites?

Thanks.

I know Mr. Stoquer must be really busy with the launch and all the sudden interest his Pixelbox has gotten over the last few days, so I would like to ask members of the community who already have enough knowledge if they could also create their own guides, video tutorials and the like.

Cheers!

If you can't make it happen, no worries. But you should at least know that there is some amount of demand!