PlayCanvas End-to-End : the quick version

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In this workshop, we’ll build a complete game using the PlayCanvas engine while learning the best practices for project management. From development to publishing, we’ll cover the most crucial features such as asset management, scripting, audio, debugging, and much more.

FAQ

PlayCanvas is a web-first game engine that allows for the creation of 3D games and applications. It operates entirely in the browser, making it accessible on multiple platforms including mobile devices. PlayCanvas features real-time collaboration, asset management, and an open-source framework for detailed customization and functionality.

To publish a game in PlayCanvas, use the Publish/Download tool in the editor. Simply provide a title for your game, optionally add a description, and click 'Publish Now'. This generates a permanent link to your build, which you can share with others. The game will be hosted on the PlayCanvas platform, accessible to anyone with the link.

In PlayCanvas, UI elements like text and images can be created by adding a '2D Screen' entity first to manage screen space elements. Then, add UI components such as 'Text Element' or 'Image Element' under this screen. Customize properties like alignment, anchoring, and fonts using the editor's properties panel to fit your game's design.

PlayCanvas supports debugging through Chrome DevTools. Developers can inspect code, set breakpoints, and monitor game performance in real-time. Custom logs and event handling can also be tested directly in the browser, facilitating an efficient debugging process during game development.

Yes, the PlayCanvas engine is open-source and hosted on GitHub, allowing developers to contribute to its development. Interested contributors can access the repository, submit changes, and help improve the engine by addressing issues, adding features, and updating documentation.

PlayCanvas supports various major 3D file formats including FBX and GLB. The platform handles asset processing and texture compression, simplifying the workflow for developers by automatically optimizing content for performance across different devices.

PlayCanvas is designed to be collaborative by nature, allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously. Changes made by one user are updated in real-time and visible to all collaborators, which is ideal for teams to work together efficiently regardless of their physical location.

João Ruschel
João Ruschel
121 min
18 Apr, 2022

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Video Summary and Transcription

This Workshop covers the basics of Play Canvas and guides you through building a game in three phases: scene setup, interactivity, and polishing. Play Canvas is a web-first game engine that runs on your mobile device or browser, making it fully cross-platform. It provides its own hosting solution for easy sharing of your game. The Workshop covers topics like importing assets, scripting, physics, animation, debugging, user interface, audio, and publishing.

1. Introduction to Play Canvas Workshop

Short description:

This workshop will cover the basics of Play Canvas and guide you through building a game in three phases: scene setup, interactivity, and polishing. You'll learn about importing assets, scripting, physics, animation, debugging, user interface, audio, and publishing. Play Canvas provides its own hosting solution for easy sharing of your game.

Hi, everyone. My name is João and this is the workshop for Play Canvas End to End, the quick version. So Play Canvas End to End, the quick version. Quick, not so quick, because it will be around 2 hours of workshop. But yeah, we'll still be able to build a full game in this 2 hours.

So the way that we will structure this workshop is, so just to do some brief introductions, but then I'll talk about Play Canvas. So I'll just talk about, you know, the basic features that we have, you know, like the everything you can do in Play Canvas. And we'll go into the actual core of the workshop where we'll build a game together.

So I split that into 3 different phases. Phase number 1 is like just a general scene set up, so we'll start just importing some assets, placing some stuff around, some obstacles, some ground. We'll talk about that in a second. And we'll talk about launching and like testing your game out. Phase 2 will be about interactivity. So we'll go over scripting, question scripts, we'll go about the event system that we have in Play Canvas, also about how to do physics with rigid bodies. We'll talk about the animation system as well. And then some debugging capabilities using Chrome. And then phase 3 will be about polishing and publishing. So we'll create just some final touches on user interface, how to do audio, and then we'll be able to publish that to the world. We'll be able to do that using Play Canvas' own hosting solution, so you don't need to have anything on your own, you just press a button and you'll have a firmware link to your build of the game, and then you can share it with anyone that you want. And then we'll do some wrap-ups towards the end.

2. Play Canvas Project Phases

Short description:

We'll be using a Play Canvas source project that already contains all the assets and boilerplate code. You can fork the project at any phase if you get lost and start from there. The final project with full documentation will also be available for reference. You can choose to listen and learn or build along with me.

Now, the way that we'll be doing the different phases there in the actual game is that we'll – I prepared a Play Canvas, like a source project that already contains all the assets and the boilerplate stuff that we'll need, and what you guys will be able to do is actually is you take that and make a fork out of it, so you'll be able to copy that as your own project and then make whatever you want with it. I'll be doing the same thing, so I'll be starting from the same like, starter project, and then together we'll build up to the final game. Now each of the phases, we also have a project for those, so let's say that you're in the middle of phase one and you kinda get lost. It's okay, just wait for phase two, and then you can clone, you can fork a project starting at phase two, and then same thing for phase three. If you get lost in the middle of the scripting stuff on phase two, just wait and I'll send the link for phase three, and then you can fork phase three and restart from there, so you have these three kind of like, checkpoints that we can go along the way, and also the final project, like the end thing, with full documentation, with all the features, will also be available for you guys to take a look at, so see the entire thing done as well. So you can also just sit back, take a coffee, tea, water, whatever you fancy, and just listen out how to build the full thing, or you can build out, like together with me as you go through it.

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