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Main skill — intake, foundation, and routing for JGengine games.
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Basé sur la classification professionnelle SOC
Game-first HUDs, menus, touch controls, motion, accessibility, art direction, and visual verification.
Scene truth is data. Invoke before verifying anything works or renders.
Invoke on any mechanical leg — verify, ship, scout, sweep. Standing authorization.
Rebuild a one-model agent as orchestrator plus cheap workers. Invoke to cut cost.
Do any task in this repo AND leave the engine better than you found it. Same harvest instinct as harvest-game/harvest-full-game — but the carrier isn't a game, it's whatever task you were given (a fix, a feature, a refactor, a question, a doc pass). Complete the task, and treat every gap, friction, workaround, and doc error you hit along the way as an engine-improvement opportunity to close now or file. Invoke with the task, or nothing to have the standing gap list picked from.
| name | jgengine |
| description | Main skill — intake, foundation, and routing for JGengine games. |
JGengine is a pure-TypeScript game-engine SDK for games built by AI coding agents. Its skills teach the agent how to use the SDK. When a user says “make X with JGengine” or “make X with jgengine.com,” treat that as sufficient intake. If the skills are not installed, run npx jgengine skills; then use this skill and build on the SDK. Do not make the user discover or name skills.
State the reading as a short numbered list that is easy to correct, then proceed unless the user changes it. Prefer concrete values and actions over prose:
Keep this compact—roughly one line per item. It is a build map, not a large specification or an approval gate. Infer conventional details from the named game or genre. Ask only when two plausible readings would fundamentally change the game.
This skill is the foundation for every task (packages, project shape, defineGame, context, catalogs). After intake, also read only the domain skills the work needs:
| Need | Read |
|---|---|
| Terrain, scenes, camera, movement, physics, maps, sensors | jgengine-world |
| Seeded generation, terrain/environment generation, grids, buildings, simulation | jgengine-procedural |
| Damage, effects, weapons, targeting, projectiles, loot, death | jgengine-combat |
| Items, quests, dialogue, economy, crafting, objectives, turns, social systems | jgengine-gameplay |
| Networking adapters, authority, rooms/topology, persistence/backend seams | jgengine-multiplayer |
| React HUD, shell affordances, controls, feedback, accessibility | jgengine-ui |
| Models, sprites, textures, audio, catalogs, attribution | jgengine-assets |
| Proof and screenshots | jgengine-verify after implementation |
Do not read every domain by default. Build through documented engine surfaces; do not infer APIs from gallery games. Inspect engine source only when a documented surface appears wrong or a missing primitive blocks the work.
Scaffold with npx jgengine create game-name --name "Game Name" when needed. Build the requested game continuously from the intake, keeping systems end-to-end rather than leaving registered-but-unusable pieces. Use real assets and visible feedback early. Verify at completion with jgengine-verify.
Cartridge-shaped games (declarative config, engine-owned loop): see reference-cartridge.md.
The engine ships verbs and primitives; your game ships nouns (catalogs) and thin handlers. This skill is that foundation plus intake. Use domain skills only when needed; use jgengine-verify afterward. UI guidance lives in ../jgengine-ui/reference.md; assets live in jgengine-assets.
Load detailed references only for the selected domain: jgengine-combat, jgengine-world, jgengine-multiplayer, and jgengine-ui. Each domain skill explains when its reference is needed.
All published on npm, source at github.com/Noisemaker111/jgengine (AGPL-3.0):
| Package | Role | May import |
|---|---|---|
@jgengine/core | Everything below: defineGame, GameContext, scene, combat, game systems, movement, input, world features, runtime/transport contracts | nothing platform-specific — no React, Convex, three.js, browser |
@jgengine/react | GameProvider, hooks, headless UI primitives | react + core |
@jgengine/shell | GamePlayerShell — R3F canvas, camera rig library (orbit, first-person, top-down/iso, RTS, over-the-shoulder, lock-on, chase, cinematic + shake channel), input tracking, HUD mounting, GameUiPreview, demo game; you supply a GameRegistry | react + three + core |
@jgengine/ws | Browser-safe GameBackend over a pluggable string-pipe transport (WebSocket/socket.io/WebRTC/loopback), protocol codec, HTTP reads, browser-safe authoritative host + router (host/hostRouter), and P2P (peer) | core |
@jgengine/node | Node process bindings over @jgengine/ws's host/router: ws-package server, socket.io server attach, file persistence (re-exports createGameHost/memoryPersistence unchanged) | node + ws + core |
@jgengine/sql | HostPersistence on Postgres (structural pool, no hard pg dep) | core |
@jgengine/convex | The Convex adapter behind the GameBackend seam | react + convex + core |
Import by deep path: @jgengine/core/<domain>/<file> (e.g. @jgengine/core/runtime/gameContext).
Any hiccup with JGengine — a doc that's wrong, a missing primitive, a rough edge, or a feature/improvement idea — file it fast at github.com/Noisemaker111/jgengine/issues. A 30-second issue (what you were building, the glue it forced, the API you wanted) is worth more than a silent workaround — that's the fastest way gaps and doc errors get closed. Don't reverse-engineer around a broken doc in silence; report it.
All eight packages version in lockstep. When you bump (e.g. 0.6 → 0.7) to pick up new capabilities, read CHANGELOG.md — each release leads with a Migrate block listing the concrete steps to move a game onto the new APIs. It ships inside every package too (node_modules/@jgengine/core/CHANGELOG.md), and as typed values: import { VERSION, CHANGELOG } from "@jgengine/core/meta/changelog" to diff your installed version against the latest programmatically.
Exact import paths and export names — do not invent paths; every row below resolves to a real file under packages/core/src. Import the deep path form @jgengine/core/<path>.
| Concept | Import path (@jgengine/core/…) | Export(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Game boot | game/defineGame | defineGame, GameDefinition, GameLoop, InventoryDeclaration, PhysicsConfig, GameServerConfig, TimeConfig |
| Simulation clock | time/simClock | createSimClock, SimClock, TimeConfig, ClockSnapshot, CalendarTime |
| Runner contract | game/playableGame | PlayableGame, GameCameraConfig, CameraRigKind, CameraProjection, SideScrollCameraConfig, TopDownCameraConfig, RtsCameraConfig, ShoulderCameraConfig, LockOnCameraConfig, ChaseCameraConfig, ObserverCameraConfig, CameraShakeConfig, CinematicCameraConfig, CameraKeyframe, EntitySpriteConfig |
| Runtime ctx | runtime/gameContext | createGameContext, GameContext, GameContextContent, GameContextItemEntry, GameContextEntityEntry, GameContextObjectEntry, CatalogEntityRole |
| Behaviour lifecycle | behaviour/behaviour | Behaviour (onAwake→onEnable→onStart→onUpdate(dt)→onDisable→onDestroy), BehaviourModule, createBehaviourWorld, BehaviourWorld, JGEngineRegister, RegisterField, BehaviourModules — Unity-style lifecycle over an id-keyed node tree (setActive cascade, lazy update dispatch); key nodes by entity instance ids. Games augment JGEngineRegister via declare module "@jgengine/core/behaviour/behaviour" for typed world.modules. Three.js binding: Object3DBehaviour, attachObject3D, useBehaviourWorld from @jgengine/shell/behaviour |
| Reactive keyed store | store/observableKeyedStore | createObservableKeyedStore, ObservableKeyedStore — backs ctx.game.store |
| Scene instance role | scene/entityStore | EntityRole, SceneEntity, SpawnOptions, EntityPose |
| Object spatial queries | scene/objectQuery | raycastObjects, raycastObjectsAll, ObjectRaycastInput, ObjectRaycastHit — backs ctx.scene.object.raycast/raycastAll |
| Runtime paint layer | scene/paintLayer | createPaintLayer, PaintLayer, PaintStroke — backs ctx.scene.entity.paint |
| Possession | scene/possession | createPossession, Possession, PossessionDeps, PossessionSwappedEvent |
| Form / shapeshift | scene/form | createForms, Forms, FormDef, FormsDeps, FormChangedEvent |
| Multiplayer adapters | runtime/adapter | offline, ws, convex, socketIo, p2p, lan, fly, servers, MultiplayerTopology, ServersPoolConfig |
| Loot | game/lootTable | lootTable, LootTableDef, LootEntry, Drop |
| Dropped-item entity | game/worldItem | WORLD_ITEM_ENTITY_NAME, WorldItemRecord, WorldItemSpawnInput, createWorldItemStore, resolveDeathDrops, scatterOffset, scatterPosition, selectNearestWorldItem, resolveWorldItemPresentation, RarityStyle, WorldItemPresentation, DEFAULT_RARITY, DEFAULT_PICKUP_RADIUS, DEFAULT_SCATTER |
| Loot filter | game/lootFilter | lootFilter, evaluateLootFilter, LootFilterRule, LootFilterCondition, LootFilterItem, LootFilterOverride |
| Loadout | game/loadout | LoadoutDef, LoadoutItemEntry, Loadouts |
| Cosmetic loadout | game/cosmetics | createCosmetics, Cosmetics, CosmeticLoadoutDef |
| Quest | game/quest | QuestDef, QuestRewards, QuestObjective, QuestJournal |
| World features | world/features | WorldFeature, biomes, voxel, plots, tilemap, flat, environment, terrain, rain, snow, grass, ocean, building |
| Voxel field | world/voxelField | createVoxelField, VoxelField, VoxelCell, VoxelHit, VoxelBounds, VoxelFieldSummary, VoxelFace, VOXEL_FACES, VOXEL_FACE_NORMALS — a chunked block lattice, distinct from the voxel() WorldFeature descriptor |
| Terrain field | world/terrain | TerrainField, noiseField, resolveTerrainField, rollingField, fractalNoise, valueNoise, withNormal, arenaField, flatField, resolveGroundStep, snapToGround, snapEntityToGround, resolveTerrainPalette, TERRAIN_MATERIAL_PALETTES |
| Seeded RNG | random/rng | seededRng, seededStreams |
| Seed share link | random/seedLink | withSeedParam, seedFromUrl, seedFromSearch, dailySeed, DEFAULT_SEED_PARAM — encode/decode a world seed to/from a shareable URL query param; dailySeed is the UTC daily-run seed |
| Name generator | random/nameGen | createNameGenerator, pickFrom, fillTemplate, NameGenerator, NameGeneratorOptions, SyllableBank |
| Regions | world/regions | createRegionField, isRegionField, RegionDef, RegionField, RegionSample |
| Wind field | world/wind | windField, WindField, WindFieldConfig, WindVector |
| Water surface | world/water | waterSurface, waterSurfaceFromDescriptor, synthesizeWaves, WaterSurface, GerstnerWave |
| Scatter | world/scatter | scatter, scatterAabb, ScatterConfig, ScatterPoint |
| Content scatter | world/scatterItems | scatterItems, pickWeighted, ScatterLayer, ScatterInstance |
| Building generator | world/buildings | generateBuilding, generateBuildingDistrict, createBuildingGrid, GeneratedBuilding |
| Building index | world/buildingIndex | buildingIndex, BuildingIndex, BuildingHit |
| Scene summary | world/environmentSummary | summarizeEnvironment, resolveStructureBuildings, EnvironmentSummary |
| Map markers | world/markers | createMarkerSet, MarkerSet, MapMarker, MarkerInput, MarkerKindStyle, DEFAULT_MARKER_KINDS, markerKindStyle |
| Fog of war | world/fog | createFogField, FogField, FogConfig, FogBounds, FogCells |
| Minimap math | world/minimap | projectToMinimap, clampToMinimapEdge, compassBearing, headingToBearing, bearingToCardinal, relativeBearing, MinimapView |
| Ping | game/ping | createPingSystem, classifyPing, PingSystem, PingPayload, PingCategory, PingCategoryDef, DEFAULT_PING_CATEGORIES, PING_FEED_ACTION |
| Proximity prompt | interaction/proximityPrompt | proximityPrompt, ProximityPrompt, ProximityPromptDisplay, keybind, gauge, label, command |
| Skill-check minigame | interaction/skillCheck | evaluateSkillCheck, skillCheckMarkerPosition, skillCheckZoneAt, SkillCheckConfig, SkillCheckZone, SkillCheckResult |
| QTE sequencer | interaction/qte | evaluateQteSequence, pendingQteStep, qteProgress, QteStep, QteInputEvent, QteOutcome |
| Item use | item/use | createItemUse, ItemUseHandler, ItemUseInput, ItemUseResult, ItemUseRejection |
| Durability | item/durability | createDurability, wear, repairQuote, isDisabled, createDurabilityTracker, DurabilitySpec, DurabilityState, RepairSpec, RepairQuote |
| Affix roller | item/affix | createAffixRoller, seededRng, AffixRoller, RollerConfig, AffixPool, AffixDef, RarityTier, ItemBaseDef, RolledItem, RolledAffix |
| Modular item | item/modularItem | createModularItem, install, computeEffectiveStats, missingRequiredSlots, ModularItemDef, MountSlotDef, PartDef, InstalledPart |
| Storage tier | inventory/storageTier | partitionOnDeath, createDeliveryQueue, insureLost, resolveConsolation, tierOf, StorageTier, ContainerSnapshot, DeathPartition, DeliveryQueue, InsurancePolicy, ConsolationPolicy |
| Contested channel | session/contestedChannel | createContestedChannel, ContestedChannel, ContestedChannelConfig, ContestedEvent, ContestedPhase, ContestedSnapshot |
| Round state | session/roundState | createRoundState, lossBonusFor, RoundState, RoundConfig, RoundPhase, RoundTeam, RoundEvent, RoundEconomy, RoundSnapshot, LossBonusRule |
| Shrinking ring | session/ring | createRing, ringSampleAt, Ring, RingConfig, RingPhase, RingSample, RingHit, RingPoint |
| Extraction session | session/extraction | createRaidSession, RaidSession, RaidSessionConfig, ExtractPoint, ExtractionResult, DeathResult, RaidStatus |
| Role assignment | session/roles | assignRoles, RoleSpec |
| Downed / revive | combat/downed | createDownedState, DownedState, DownedConfig, DownedPhase, DownedEntry, DownedEvent |
| Persistence scopes | runtime/persistenceScope | partitionScopes, resetRun, mergeScopes, clearRunFields, applyRunReset, planScenarioReset, ScopeSchema, ScenarioReset, PersistenceScope |
| Inventory | inventory/inventoryModel | InventoryLayout, InventorySet, ItemTraits |
| Progression | game/progression | curve, evalCurve, leveling, Curve, LevelingTrack, LevelProgress |
| Talent tree | game/talents | createTalentTree, TalentTree, TalentTreeConfig, TalentNodeDef, TalentRequirement, TalentAllocateResult, ResolvedTalents, TalentSnapshot — point spends gated by prereqs + points-in-branch, resolved once into a cached flat StatModifierSet + ability grants |
| Inventory slots | inventory/slotModel | createSlots, placeAt, removeAt, moveSlot, firstEmpty, compactSlots, Slot, SlotGrid |
| Shaped inventory | inventory/shapedGrid | createShapedGrid, placeShaped, moveShaped, removeShaped, canPlace, rotateFootprint, occupiedCells, gridAdjacencyQuery, cellFromPoint, ShapedGrid, Footprint, Placement, Rotation |
| Card piles | cards/cardPile | createCardPile, createCardPileState, draw, moveCards, shuffleZone, pileRng, CardPile, CardPileState, CardPileConfig |
| Modifier pipeline | cards/modifierPipeline | createModifierPipeline, runPipeline, Modifier, TraceStep, PipelineResult |
| Lane board | board/laneBoard | createLaneBoard, laneAggregate, laneOutcome, boardTotals, lanesWon, LaneBoard, LaneRule, LaneBoardConfig |
| Timeline board | board/timelineBoard | createTimelineBoard, tickTimeline, TimelineBoard, TimelineSlot, TimelineFire |
| World geometry | world/geometry | footprintAabb, aabbOverlap, snapToGrid, resolveMove, Aabb, Footprint |
| Placement | world/placement | validatePlacement, footprintObstacle, PlacementRules, PlacementResult |
| Placement ghost | world/placementController | createPlacementController, PlacementController, PlacementPreview, PlacementCommit, SnapMode, quarterTurnsToRotationY |
| Connector sockets | world/connectors | snapToNearest, socketsCompatible, worldSockets, socketWorldPosition, ConnectorSocket, ConnectorPieceDef, PlacedPiece, SnapResult |
| Structural support | world/support | solveSupport, toDebrisBodies, SupportPiece, SupportLink, SupportResult |
| Wall/roof authoring | world/walls | createWallDrawTool, footprintFromWalls, autoRoof, wallSegments, createSurfacePaint, WallDrawTool, RoofPlan, EnclosedFootprint |
| Placed structures | world/placedStructureStore | createPlacedStructureStore, PlacedStructure, PlacedStructureStore, PlacedStructureSnapshot |
| Terraform | world/terraform | createEditableTerrain, createTerraformBrush, brushWeight, EditableTerrain, TerraformBrush, TerraformEdit, TerraformMode |
| Build permissions | world/buildPermissions | createPlotPermissions, createContributionPool, PlotPermissions, ContributionPool, BuildRole, ContributionGoal |
| Interiors | world/interiors | createInteriors, Interior, Exterior, SpaceRef |
| Game clock | time/gameClock | getScaledElapsedMs, computeGameDay, SECONDS_PER_GAME_DAY |
| Idle / offline catch-up | time/idleProgress | idleWindow, linearCatchUp, exponentialCatchUp, steppedCatchUp, IdleWindow, IdleWindowConfig, SteppedCatchUpResult — elapsed-real-time production/growth/decay for a game reopened after being closed |
| Scene behaviors | scene/behaviors | wander, patrol, promptable, talkable, player |
| Capture check | scene/captureCheck | captureChance, rollCapture, CaptureCheckInput |
| Owned roster | scene/roster | createRoster, Roster, RosterEntry, RosterCaptureOptions |
| Economy wallet | economy/wallet | createEmptyWallet, balance, grant, charge, canAfford, chargeAll |
| Tech tree | economy/techTree | createTechTree, TechTree, TechNodeDef, canUnlockTech, availableTech, unlockedRecipes, grantTech, techPrerequisitesMet |
| Recipe graph | crafting/recipe | createRecipeGraph, RecipeGraph, RecipeDef, RecipeItem, canCraft, craft, missingInputs, stationSatisfied, craftSeconds |
| Production building | crafting/production | productionBuilding, ProductionBuildingDef, createProductionState, tickProduction, feedProduction, drainOutput, advanceTransport, resolvePowerGrid |
| Crop tile / farming | crafting/crop | createCropField, CropField, CropDef, CropTileState, tillTile, plantCrop, waterTile, advanceCropDay, harvestCrop, applyToolToTiles, squarePattern, diamondPattern, createDayTicker |
| Skill-check roll | stats/rollCheck | rollCheck, CheckInput, CheckResult, CheckAdvantage |
| Input bindings (full) | input/actionBindings | hotbarSlotBindings, actionLabel, bindingLabel, resolveActionCommand, bindingMatches, createActionStateTracker |
| Touch controls | input/touchScheme | deriveTouchScheme, touchCode, touchActionLabel, withTouchCodes, TouchControlsConfig, TouchGestureBindings, TouchDragBinding, TouchButtonSpec, TouchScheme, TouchJoystick, TouchButton |
| Pointer hit | input/pointer | PointerHit, PointerButton, aimToPoint, moveTargetFromHit, groundOf, PointerVec3 |
| Navmesh + A* | nav/navGrid | createNavGrid, findPath, smoothPath, NavGrid, NavGridConfig, NavPoint, FindPathOptions |
| Path follow | nav/pathFollow | createPathFollow, advancePathFollow, pathFromNav, PathFollowConfig, PathFollowState, Waypoint |
| Nav-grid movement constraint | nav/navConstrain | constrainToNavGrid, NavConstrainProposed, NavConstrainEntity, NavConstrainOptions — a standalone walkable-pass-through + wall-slide helper; adapt its (proposed, entity) shape to PlayerMovementConfig.beforeCommit's (frame) => [x,y,z] with a small closure |
| Selection set | scene/selection | createSelectionSet, SelectionSet, screenRect, selectWithinRect, rectContainsPoint, isMarquee, ScreenRect |
| Context menu | interaction/contextMenu | contextVerb, buildContextMenu, contextVerbInput, ContextVerb, ContextMenu |
| Shared / group wallet | economy/sharedWallet | createWalletBook, WalletBook, WalletScope, userScope, groupScope, balanceIn, grantTo, chargeFrom, contributionOf, contributorsOf |
| Analog axis input | input/axisInput | AxisInput, AxisChannel, AxisBindingMap, DRIVE_AXIS_BINDINGS, clampAxis, rampToward, NEUTRAL_AXIS |
| Raw control polling | runtime/inputSnapshot | createInputSnapshot, InputSnapshot — backs ctx.input |
| Physics world | physics/physicsWorld | PhysicsWorld, PhysicsWorldConfig, PhysicsBounds, PhysicsStats, AddBodyOptions ({ shape: "box", halfExtents } | { shape: "sphere", radius }), JointOptions, JointKind, CollisionEvent |
| Ballistic collision sweep | physics/ballisticSweep | createBallisticSweep, BallisticSweep, BallisticSweepHit, BallisticSweepOptions |
| Tweening / easing | anim/easing | Easing, lerp, clamp01, smoothstep, easeInQuad, easeOutQuad, easeInOutQuad, easeInCubic, easeOutCubic, easeInOutCubic, easeOutBack, easeOutElastic, tween, timedProgress |
| Async data source | data/dataSource | createDataSource, DataSource, DataSourceState, DataSourceStatus, DataSourceOptions, DataSourceClock, RefreshOptions |
| JSON fetch | data/fetchJson | fetchJson, FetchJsonOptions, FetchImpl, HttpStatusError, JsonParseError |
| JSON data source | data/jsonDataSource | createJsonDataSource, JsonDataSourceOptions |
| Dev proxy routing | data/devProxy | proxiedUrl, parseDevProxyTable, DevProxyTable, ProxiedUrlOptions, DEFAULT_DEV_PROXY_PREFIX |
| Grid-cell world rendering | world/gridInstances | resolveGridInstances, GridInstanceTransform |
| Swarm LOD scheduler | world/lod | createLodScheduler, LodScheduler, LodSchedulerConfig, LodBand — distance→band index for render detail, step(id, distance, dt) throttles per-entity updates by band interval (staggered, accumulates skipped time); pairs with @jgengine/shell/world/SpriteBatch for 1000+ entity swarms |
| Turn loop | turn/turnLoop | createTurnLoop, TurnLoop, TurnLoopConfig, TurnState, PoolConfig, PoolState, TurnLoopSnapshot |
| Declared-action intent board | turn/intent | createIntentBoard, IntentBoard, DeclaredIntent — declare(participantId, intent), peek, all, consume, clear |
| Commit modes | turn/commit | createCommitController, CommitController, CommitMode, CommitOutcome, SubmittedAction |
| Intent board | turn/intent | createIntentBoard, IntentBoard, DeclaredIntent |
| Tactical grid | tactics/tacticalGrid | createTacticalGrid, TacticalGrid, TacticalGridConfig, Tile, ReachableTile, PushResult, PushCollision |
| Predictive query | tactics/predictiveQuery | predictAreaEffect, predictArcEffect, predictTiles, PredictiveDeps, PredictedTarget |
| Sim snapshot | tactics/snapshot | createSnapshotStore, SnapshotStore, SnapshotSlice, Snapshot, deepClone |
| Surfaces | tactics/surface | createSurfaceLayer, SurfaceLayer, SurfaceLayerConfig, SurfaceKindDef, SurfaceReaction, SurfaceEvent |
| Area targeting | combat/effects | resolveAreaTargets, AreaTarget, AreaTargetInput (shared AoE targeting behind effect + the predictive query) |
| Environment field | world/envField | createEnvironmentField, EnvironmentField, EnvironmentSample, EnvironmentFieldConfig, OccluderRect, HeatSource |
| Weather + fire | world/weather | resolveWeather, WeatherState, WeatherModifier, WeatherModifierTable, ResolvedWeather, createFireGrid, FireGrid, FireCell, FireGridConfig |
| Realm composition | world/realm | composeRealm, RealmCard, RealmBase, ComposedRealm, RealmEnvironmentParams, SpawnTableOverride |
| Decay meters | survival/decayMeter | createDecayMeterSet, DecayMeterSet, DecayMeterConfig, MeterThreshold, DecayMeterState |
| Status moodles | survival/moodle | createMoodleStack, stackMoodles, MoodleStack, Moodle, MoodleSeverity, TimedMoodleInput |
| Multi-region health | survival/regionHealth | createMultiRegionHealth, MultiRegionHealth, HealthRegionConfig, AilmentConfig, RegionHealthState, AilmentInstance |
| Audio contract | audio/audioFalloff | computeFalloffGain, resolveEmitterGain, distance3, AudioFalloffConfig, FalloffCurve, SoundDef, AudioBusDef, AudioBusId |
| Beat clock | time/beatClock | createBeatClock, createBeatInputBuffer, nextBeatTime, BeatClock, BeatClockConfig, BeatSnapshot, BeatInputBuffer, BufferedAction |
| Spawn director | ai/spawnDirector | createSpawnDirectorState, advanceSpawnDirector, advanceWave, raiseAlert, pickSpawnPoint, SpawnDirectorConfig, WaveManifest, SpawnEntry, SpawnRequest, DirectorContext |
| Threat table | ai/threat | createThreatTable, ThreatTable, ThreatTableConfig, ThreatEntry, HighestThreatOptions |
| Group-assist aggro | ai/groupAssist | createAssistNetwork, AssistNetwork, AssistNetworkConfig, AssistMember — propagates one member's threat gains to same-group members (optional radius + distanceBetween gating) so a single pull rallies the group |
| Job board | ai/jobBoard | createJobBoard, JobBoard, JobDef, Job, JobPhase, WorkerState, JobReport, JobTickContext |
| Crowd flow | ai/crowd | computeFlowField, createCrowdField, selectPoi, FlowField, FlowFieldOptions, CrowdField, Poi, SelectPoiOptions |
| Factions & reputation | faction/factions, faction/reputation | createFactionGraph, createFactionRoster, FactionRelation, FactionDef, FactionGraph, FactionRoster, createReputationLedger, DEFAULT_REPUTATION_TIERS, tierForStanding, effectiveRelation, ReputationTier, ReputationLedger |
| Physics actors | physics/ragdoll, physics/carryable, physics/forceVolume, physics/spatialGrid | createRagdoll, Ragdoll, Carryable, carrySpeedMultiplier, ForceVolume, PlatformCarry, SpatialGrid |
| Traversal (grapple/glide) | physics/traversal | Grapple, GrappleConfig, Glide, GlideConfig |
| Structural destruction | physics/structure | StructureGraph, StructureNodeSpec, StructureEdgeSpec, StructureMaterial, StructureMaterialTable, CollapseEvent, DebrisConfig |
| Destructible terrain | world/carve | VoxelVolume, VoxelMaterial, VoxelMaterialTable, CarvableField, carvableTerrain, CarveOp, DepositOp, CraterOp, MoundOp, EMPTY_VOXEL |
| Vehicle body | physics/vehicleBody | createVehicleBody, VehicleBody, VehicleBodyConfig, WheelSpec, GripCurve, sampleGripCurve, DEFAULT_GRIP_CURVE |
| Buoyant boat | physics/buoyancy | createBuoyantBody, BuoyantBody, BuoyantBodyConfig |
| Crash damage | physics/damageZones | createDamageModel, DamageModel, DamageZoneDef, DamageTransition |
| Mounts / rideables | scene/mount | createMountController, MountController, MountKit, MountSeat, RideableConfig |
| Shared-vehicle stations | scene/stationClaim | createStationClaim, StationClaim, Station, SharedVehicleConfig, ClaimResult |
| Lag compensation | multiplayer/lagCompensation | createPositionHistory, PositionHistory, rewindTimestamp, resolveHitscan, raySphereDistance, HitscanRay, HitscanTarget |
| Simultaneous commit | multiplayer/simultaneousCommit | createCommitRound, CommitRound, SealedCommit, resolveCommits |
| Combat-snapshot replay | multiplayer/combatSnapshot | serializeBoard, cloneSnapshot, replayCombat, BoardSnapshot, SnapshotUnit, CombatRules, ReplayResult |
| Session matchmaking | multiplayer/matchmaking | browseSessions, findByJoinCode, quickMatch, matchesFilter, normalizeJoinCode, generateJoinCode, SessionListing, MatchFilter |
| Auth identity | multiplayer/identity | AuthSession, PlayerIdentity, sessionPlayer, resolveGuestSession |
| Text chat | game/chat, multiplayer/chatContract | createChat, Chat, ChatMessage, ChatChannelDef, whisperChannelId, createChatRateLimiter, ChatTransport, ChatSync, createLocalChatTransport |
| Chat filter | game/chatFilter | createChatFilter, normalizeChatText, ChatFilter, ChatFilterConfig, ChatFilterResult — mask/reject blocked words (leet-normalized token match); wire via ChatDeps.filter (word lists are game data, the engine ships the mechanism) |
| Voice seam | multiplayer/voiceContract | VoiceTransport, VoiceParticipant, VoiceRoute, createLocalVoiceTransport, createPushToTalk, PushToTalkMode |
| Race state | game/race | raceTrack, RaceTrack, createRaceState, RaceState, RaceEvent, RaceWinCondition, firstPastPost, topK, lastStanding, everyoneFinishes |
| Reveal query | sensor/revealQuery | createRevealQuery, RevealQuery, RevealQueryOptions, RevealHit |
| Hidden-state probe | sensor/hiddenStateProbe | probeHiddenState, probeHiddenStateAll, HiddenStateSource, HiddenStateValue, SensorProbeOptions, SensorReading |
| View-frustum sensor | sensor/frustumSensor | createFrustumSensor, projectToView, framingScore, FrustumCamera, FrustumTarget, FrustumProjection, FrustumSample, FrustumSensor, FramingConfig |
| Recording buffer | sensor/recordingBuffer | createRecordingBuffer, RecordingBuffer, RecordingFrame, RecordingBufferOptions |
| Concealment scoring | sensor/concealment | colorDistance, concealmentScore, createConcealmentSensor, ColorHex, ConcealmentTarget, ConcealmentSample, ConcealmentSensor |
| Freeze violation monitor | sensor/freezeMonitor | createFreezeMonitor, FreezeMonitor, FreezeSubject, FreezeViolation |
| Animation SM | combat/animationState | createAnimationState, AnimationState, AnimationClip, FramePhase, FrameRange, phasesAtFrame, activeRangeAtFrame, frameAtMs |
| Accumulator meter | stats/accumulatorMeter | createAccumulatorMeter, AccumulatorMeter, AccumulatorMeterConfig, MeterTier, MeterAddResult, tierAt |
| Stagger / buildup | combat/breakMeters | createStaggerMeter, createBuildupMeter, StaggerMeter, BuildupMeter, BuildupProc |
| Attack tags | combat/attackTags | attackMeta, AttackTag, AttackMeta, hasTag, isBlockable, isParryable, isDodgeable, counters |
| Defensive window | combat/defensiveWindow | createDefensiveWindow, resolveDefense, DefensiveWindowConfig, DefenseKind, DefenseOutcome, windowActiveAt, iframeActiveAt |
| Combo string | combat/comboString | createComboRunner, advanceCombo, ComboString, ComboStep, AdvanceComboResult |
| Hit reaction | combat/hitReaction | resolveHitReaction, HitReaction, HitReactionConfig, CameraShake, applyImpulse |
| Telegraph | combat/telegraph | pointInTelegraph, telegraphProgress, telegraphFired, telegraphTurnProgress, telegraphFiredAtTurn, telegraphTurnsRemaining, TelegraphShape, TelegraphConfig |
| Dash / dodge | movement/dash | createDashState, DashState, DashConfig, DashBurst, iframeActive, dashOffset |
| Ability kit | combat/abilityKit | createAbilityKit, AbilityKit, AbilitySlotConfig, AbilitySlotSnapshot, AbilitySlotState, AbilityCastType, AbilityCastResult, AbilitySlotRetune |
| Resource pool | combat/resourcePool | createResourcePool, ResourcePool, ResourcePoolConfig — current/max with per-second regen/decay and spend/gain; pool.current() is the ability kit's resourceAvailable |
| Combo points | combat/comboPoints | createComboPoints, ComboPoints, ComboPointsConfig — discrete points accrued on action, expiring after a timeout from the last gain, spent in bulk |
| Event meter | stats/eventMeter | createEventMeter, EventMeter, EventMeterConfig, EventMeterFeedResult |
| Auto-target policy | scene/autoTarget | selectAutoTarget, createAutoTargeter, AutoTargetPolicy, AutoTargeter, AutoTargetDeps |
| Resistance matrix | combat/resistance | resolveResistance, resistanceScale, ResistanceMatrix, ResistVerdict, ResistanceResult |
| Run draft | game/runDraft | createRunDraft, createRunModifierStack, RunDraft, RunModifierStack, RunModifierOffer |
| Uniform-cell grid | puzzle/cellGrid | CellGrid, CellRun, createCellGrid, cellAt, inGridBounds, withCell, withCells, fullRows, clearRows, collapseColumns, findRuns |
| Falling piece | puzzle/fallingPiece | FallingPiece, ShapeTable, LockDelayState, pieceCells, pieceCollides, mergePiece, dropDistance, gravityInterval, levelForLines, lineScore, createLockDelay, stepLockDelay |
| Falling tile grid | tactics/fallingGrid | createFallingGrid, FallingGrid, FallingGridConfig, FallingGridCell, FallingGridSnapshot, LockState, gravityIntervalMs, GravityIntervalConfig — a generic tile-drop grid (any TCell payload), distinct from puzzle/cellGrid+puzzle/fallingPiece's row-clear/shape-table pair |
| Spawn/respawn points | game/spawnPoints | createSpawnPoints, SpawnPoints, SpawnPointPose, RespawnTarget |
| Level sequence | game/levelSequence | createLevelSequence, LevelSequence, LevelSequenceConfig, LevelDescriptor, CurrentLevel, LevelSequenceStatus, LevelSequenceProgress |
| Devtools overlay + tunables | devtools/devtools | devtools, createDevtools, tunable, snapshotDevtools, instrumentLatency, Tunable, TunableOptions, TunableAccessor, DevtoolsControl, DiscoveredEntry, DevtoolsOverrides, DevtoolsSnapshot |
| Tunable auto-discovery | devtools/transformTunables | transformTunableExports, tunableModuleTable, tunableDiscoveryPlugin, TunableTransformResult |
Fastest path — the jgengine CLI scaffolds the entire canonical shape below (harness, skeleton, stub game, verify test, AGENTS.md) as a booting game:
npx jgengine create my-game # then: cd my-game && bun dev
npx jgengine doctor # later, if the setup drifts (version skew, unstyled HUD, shape strays)
Manual equivalent:
bun add @jgengine/core @jgengine/react @jgengine/shell react react-dom three three-stdlib @react-three/fiber @react-three/drei
bun add -d @tailwindcss/vite tailwindcss # HUD styling (Vite + Tailwind v4)
A single game's standalone entry mounts GameHost (@jgengine/shell/GameHost) over the game your game.config.ts exports. The full standalone harness is four small files plus a script — this is exactly the shape every Games/* game ships, so bun dev plays it on its own with no host app:
<!-- index.html -->
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
<title>My Game</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="root"></div>
<script type="module" src="/src/main.tsx"></script>
</body>
</html>
// vite.config.ts — monorepo-aware: the alias branch only fires when this folder
// sits inside the engine repo checkout; copied anywhere else, @jgengine/* resolves
// from npm dist and the alias list is empty
import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
import tailwindcss from "@tailwindcss/vite";
import react from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
const engineSrc = (pkg: string) => fileURLToPath(new URL(`../../packages/${pkg}/src`, import.meta.url));
export default defineConfig({
plugins: [react(), tailwindcss()],
resolve: {
alias: existsSync(engineSrc("core"))
? [
{ find: /^@jgengine\/core\/(.*)$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("core")}/$1` },
{ find: /^@jgengine\/react\/(.*)$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("react")}/$1` },
{ find: /^@jgengine\/ws\/(.*)$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("ws")}/$1` },
{ find: /^@jgengine\/shell\/(.*)$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("shell")}/$1` },
{ find: /^@jgengine\/assets$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("assets")}/index.ts` },
{ find: /^@jgengine\/assets\/(.*)$/, replacement: `${engineSrc("assets")}/$1` },
]
: [],
},
});
/* src/index.css */
@import "tailwindcss";
@source "../node_modules/@jgengine/react/dist";
@source "../node_modules/@jgengine/shell/dist";
Inside the engine repo the two @source lines point at ../../../packages/react/src and ../../../packages/shell/src instead (see any Games/*/src/index.css) — same file, different @source targets depending on where dist lives.
// main.tsx
import "./index.css";
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client";
import { GameHost } from "@jgengine/shell/GameHost";
import { game } from "./game.config";
const root = document.getElementById("root");
if (root === null) throw new Error("main: missing #root mount element");
createRoot(root).render(<GameHost playable={game} />);
Add "dev": "vite" to package.json's scripts — bun dev then launches the game standalone.
GameHost resolves multiplayer itself from game.multiplayer (falling back to offline when the adapter can't resolve, with a console warning) — pass multiplayer (a prebuilt ShellMultiplayer | null, used as-is with no resolution attempted) or resolveMultiplayer ((args) => ShellMultiplayer | null, tried before the built-in resolver, falling back to it on null) only when the host app needs to supply its own session, e.g. trying several transports in sequence.
A multi-game host (a launcher, a dev registry) wires GamePlayer over a GameRegistry:
import { GamePlayer } from "@jgengine/shell/GamePlayer";
import type { GameRegistry } from "@jgengine/shell/registry";
const games: GameRegistry = {
"my-game": () => import("./my-game").then((m) => m.game),
};
function App() {
return <GamePlayer gameId="my-game" registry={games} loading={<p>Loading…</p>} />;
}
GamePlayer({ gameId, registry, fallbackGameId?, loading?, multiplayer? }) (@jgengine/shell/GamePlayer) is GamePlayerShell plus the lazy-load glue: it looks up gameId in registry, awaits the loader, renders loading (default null) until it resolves, then mounts GamePlayerShell playable={...} multiplayer={...}; switching gameId re-triggers the load, and an in-flight load is discarded if the id changes again first. resolveGameLoader(registry, gameId, fallbackGameId?) (@jgengine/shell/registry) is the underlying lookup — registry[gameId] ?? registry[fallbackGameId] — for hosts that want the fallback behavior without the component.
HUD styling is Tailwind v4 via the index.css above — without its @source lines the HUD renders unstyled. Then build the game itself under src/ per the layout below — src/game.config.ts is the single entry, defined with defineGame from @jgengine/shell/defineGame.
This file documents engine primitives and conventions only — never game domain. Example ids (iron_block, mob_grunt, shop_town) are placeholders, not content to copy.
| Engine owns | Your game owns |
|---|---|
| Weighted loot RNG, trade validation, loadout application, quest journal state, social graph, stat clamp math, effect absorption, projectile geometry, death resolution, event bus, feeds, leaderboards, input capture, pose hitboxes | Catalog entries and ids, effect id names, XP curves, shop/item/quest/loadout definitions, use-handlers, AI logic, UI content |
Rules:
place()/spawn(); the catalog owns them.defineGame fields exist only with a live engine consumer.| Bucket | What | API |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | Stackable ids in containers | ctx.player.inventory.put / take / move / has / count |
| Scene object | Static world content | ctx.scene.object.place / remove / move / rotate / list |
| Scene entity | Movers driven per tick | ctx.scene.entity.spawn / despawn / setPose / effect / … |
A voxel block is an object. A rack is an object with a slot inventory. A GPU is an inventory item inside it. A player, mob, or car is an entity. A dropped-item lying on the ground is also an entity — ctx.scene.worldItem (position + item ref + rarity, spawned under game/worldItem's WORLD_ITEM_ENTITY_NAME) — never a fourth bucket and never merged into inventory or object.
Every game is one shape, enforced by check-game-shape (part of check-types): the top of src/ holds only the skeleton, and every game-specific module, UI component, and test lives under src/game/. Dense files — one catalog.ts per domain, never one file per entry.
src/
game.config.ts single entry — export const game = defineGame({...}) from "@jgengine/shell/defineGame"
index.tsx barrel — export { game } from "./game.config" (+ any UI-preview scenario re-export)
main.tsx standalone host — mounts <GameHost playable={game}/> from "@jgengine/shell/GameHost"
loop.ts onInit, onNewPlayer, onTick
world.ts WorldFeature + PhysicsConfig (only for games that have one)
game/
keybinds.ts ActionCodesMap — named actions + hotbarSlotBindings(n)
inventories.ts inventory declarations
assets.ts Render catalog
content.ts itemById / entityById lookups over all catalogs
loadouts.ts Loadout ids → items/economy/unlocks per inventory
world/ zones.ts, setup.ts (place/spawn from onInit)
items/ <domain>/catalog.ts + use-handlers.ts
objects/ catalog.ts (+ loot tables beside their domain)
entities/ players/ enemies/ npcs/ — catalog.ts per role (never actors/)
quests/catalog.ts when using game.quest
progression/ curves.ts — game-owned XP curve numbers fed to game/progression
ui/GameUI.tsx ALL layout/positioning
ui/components/ content-only pieces GameUI places
defineGame — the single authoring entry@jgengine/shell/defineGame is the game-authoring entry: one call in game.config.ts takes both engine fields (name, assets, world, physics, inventories, input, server, save, time, feed, multiplayer) and presentation fields (content, loop, GameUI, camera, environment, WorldOverlay, renderEntity, renderObject, entitySprites, entityModels, objectModels, hotbarSelection, prompts, pointer, touch, worldHealthBars, audio, entitySounds, objectSounds, worldItem, shadows, collision, movement, devtools) and returns a ready PlayableGame — no separate object to assemble. It is a thin wrapper over the core defineGame primitive (below) plus the PlayableGame runner assembly; see packages/shell/src/defineGame.tsx for the exact accepted fields. Never game tuning (walk speeds, damage, prompts — those live in catalogs).
Smart defaults — omit any of these and the call still resolves: multiplayer → offline(); assets → an empty asset catalog; loop hooks (onInit/onNewPlayer/onTick) → no-ops; content → {}; GameUI → an empty component; camera → third-person orbit; feed → 20-entry ring buffers per action; a world of kind environment() auto-renders as the backdrop with no environment component supplied — a non-environment() world (flat(), voxel(), …) still needs the game to hand it one.
// game.config.ts — imports only, nothing inline
import { defineGame } from "@jgengine/shell/defineGame";
import { assets } from "./game/assets";
import { content } from "./game/content";
import { GameUI } from "./game/ui/GameUI";
import { inventories } from "./game/inventories";
import { keybinds } from "./game/keybinds";
import { loop } from "./loop";
import { physics, world } from "./world";
export const game = defineGame({
name: "My Game",
assets,
world,
physics,
inventories,
input: keybinds,
server: "persistent", // or { mode: "ffa", scoreLimit: 30 } — rules live in game code
save: { auto: "5m", scope: "player+chunks" }, // or "none"
multiplayer: offline(), // or ws({ topology, url? }) / fly({ app }) / convex({ topology }) / socketIo({ topology, url? }) / p2p({ room? }) / lan({ port?, path? }) / servers({ …, adapter }) — defaults to offline()
content,
loop, // Partial<GameLoop<GameContext>> — missing hooks default to no-ops
GameUI,
camera: { perspective: "third" }, // optional — this is the default
});
// game/keybinds.ts — named actions + generated hotbar slots; one key, one action
import { hotbarSlotBindings, type ActionCodesMap } from "@jgengine/core/input/actionBindings";
export const keybinds: ActionCodesMap = {
moveForward: ["KeyW"], moveBack: ["KeyS"], moveLeft: ["KeyA"], moveRight: ["KeyD"],
jump: ["Space"], sprint: ["ShiftLeft"],
interact: ["KeyE"],
crouch: { hold: ["KeyC"], toggle: ["KeyZ"] },
aim: { hold: ["mouse2"], toggle: ["KeyV"] },
tabTarget: ["Tab"], clearTarget: ["Escape"],
...hotbarSlotBindings(9), // hotbarSlot1..9 → Digit1..9 (a 10th slot gets Digit0)
};
// game/inventories.ts
import type { InventoryDeclaration } from "@jgengine/core/game/defineGame";
export const inventories: Record<string, InventoryDeclaration> = {
hotbar: { slots: 9, hud: "hotbar" },
backpack: { slots: 28, traits: itemTraits },
equipment: { slots: 4, accepts: ["weapon", "armor"], applyModifiers: true },
};
// world.ts — top of src/, not under game/
import type { PhysicsConfig } from "@jgengine/core/game/defineGame";
import { biomes, type WorldFeature } from "@jgengine/core/world/features";
export const world: WorldFeature = biomes({ map: "world/biomes", zones: "world/zones" });
export const physics: PhysicsConfig = { gravity: -32 };
PhysicsConfig.gravity/jumpVelocity tune the shell's built-in walk controller's fall/jump feel (defaults ~-24/7.1) — the only two levers on gravity and jump height; everything else about movement (speed, poses) stays catalog movement fields.{ hold, toggle, repeatMs? } for the same verb. repeatMs turns a held action into an auto-repeat fire (build-mode place-on-drag, rapid-fire without a separate wasPressed/interval combo in game code) — the shell refires the command every repeatMs while the binding stays down, on top of its normal press-edge fire.ui.<action> fallback (so openBackpack → ui.openBackpack). Just declare the binding and a matching command — no per-game keydown listener. Reserved actions the shell consumes natively and never routes to a command: moveForward/moveBack/moveLeft/moveRight, turnLeft/turnRight, sprint, jump, tabTarget, clearTarget, useAbility, interact, and any hotbarSlotN/slotN. tabTarget/clearTarget run target.cycle/target.clear (native cycleTarget/setTarget fallback).interact is special: pressing it resolves the active proximity prompt from the prompts field of defineGame({...}) and runs that prompt's invoke command. A prompt with invoke: null is display-only and does nothing on the key.keybinds via actionLabel(keybinds, "openBackpack") — bindingLabel maps codes to short labels (Digit1→1, KeyB→B, mouse0→LMB, Escape→Esc). Never hardcode label strings; they drift the moment a binding changes.server.mode is a string your loop/commands interpret — the engine ships no gamemode presets.defineItems etc.), game nouns, behaviors, prompts, or inline binding/inventory/world blobs. The one exception is physics.gravity/physics.jumpVelocity — global controller tuning, not a catalog value (see "Controller kinematics" below).assets may be omitted for a game with no models (a HUD-only card/board game, say) — defineGame injects an empty catalog, so GameDefinition.assets is always present downstream with no per-caller ?. checks.devtools defaults to true — every game gets the F2-toggled debug overlay (Perf/Tune/Logs/Net/Keys) for free, and every top-level export const number/boolean/color and every exported flat table of them under src/ is auto-discovered into the Tune tab with zero game code; set false to disable the toggle entirely. See "Devtools — F2 overlay and tunables" below.@jgengine/core/game/defineGame — the underlying primitiveThe low-level engine boot call the shell defineGame composes internally: engine fields only (name, assets, world, physics, inventories, input, server, save, time, feed, multiplayer, loop) — no content/GameUI/camera/render fields, those are the shell layer's job.
import { defineGame as defineEngineGame } from "@jgengine/core/game/defineGame";
import { offline } from "@jgengine/core/runtime/adapter";
const game = defineEngineGame({
name: "My Game",
assets, world, physics, inventories,
input: keybinds,
server: "persistent",
save: { auto: "5m", scope: "player+chunks" },
multiplayer: offline(),
loop, // GameLoop<GameContext>
});
Reach for this directly only outside a React host — a headless server, a non-shell runner; a browser game authors through @jgengine/shell/defineGame above, which calls this and returns the PlayableGame a runner needs.
PlayableGame — how a game plugs into a runnerThe type @jgengine/shell/defineGame returns and every runner (GameHost, GamePlayerShell) consumes. A game never builds this object by hand — defineGame({...}) assembles it from the merged config. Source type at @jgengine/core/game/playableGame:
export type PlayableGame<TUi = unknown> = {
game: GameDefinition;
content: GameContextContent; // { itemById?, entityById?, objectById? }
loop: Required<GameLoop<GameContext>>; // onInit, onNewPlayer, onTick
GameUI: TUi; // React component in web runners
prompts?: (ctx: GameContext) => readonly PositionedPrompt[]; // interact-key + HUD source
};
prompts is the single source of positioned proximity prompts: the shell reads it to fire the interact key, and the HUD should read the same list through useActivePrompt(playable.prompts?.(ctx)) rather than building its own — one list, no drift. A prompt is only actionable if its invoke is non-null.
Optional render/world fields the shell also reads: entitySprites / entityModels (billboards / GLBs keyed by entity kind), objectModels (GLBs keyed by object catalog id), renderObject (per-object visual override — return your own mesh for a placed object and the shell still positions it; falls back to objectModels → colored box), WorldOverlay (canvas-layer VFX), environment (canvas-layer scenery — ground/sky/structures; when set, replaces the default ground plane + debug grid + rock field), camera, shadows (cast/receive shadows across the R3F canvas; default true), and worldHealthBars (boolean | { statId?, roles? } — roles restricts bars to entities whose catalog role is in the given CatalogEntityRole list, e.g. skip friendly NPCs). A model value is a catalog id (string, resolved via game.assets) or an inline ModelConfig { url, scale?, y?, anchor?, dims?, material?, animation? } (material overrides color/metalness/roughness/emissive/emissiveIntensity on the cloned mesh, leaving shared GLTF caches untouched; animation?: { clip?, loop?, timeScale?, paused?, time? } plays a GLTF clip — clip defaults to the first clip, loop defaults true — and paused: true + time: <seconds> holds the rig on one fixed frame, a pose library for inventory previews or held cutscene poses). Catalog-resolved models carry measured dims (catalog.resolve(id).dims = { footprint:{w,d}, center:{x,z}, minY }); with the default anchor: "center" the shell centers the footprint on the placement point and ground-snaps minY to it, so corner-pivot kit models place correctly with no per-game pivot math. Applies through both entityModels and objectModels.
renderEntity?: (entity: SceneEntity) => ReactNode and renderObject?: (object: SceneObject) => ReactNode hand you the mesh for one entity/object while the shell still positions it and keeps it tagged for picking/selection; return null/undefined to fall through to model → sprite/box. objectStyles?: Record<catalogId, { color?, opacity?, hidden? }> styles the default colored-box object render — color overrides the hash color, opacity < 1 sets transparent, hidden skips the mesh but keeps the picking tag.
Presentation mode. PlayableGame.presentation: "3d" (default) mounts the canvas, camera rig, and pointer; "hud" mounts none of that — the game is GameUI plus the command/input loop, for board/card/menu games that need no 3D camera at all.
Auto environment. When world is an environment() descriptor and PlayableGame.environment is unset, the shell renders that descriptor as the backdrop automatically — no manual environment wiring needed for the common case. Set environment explicitly only to override that default (a custom canvas component always wins). The same auto-render convention covers grid-cell worlds (biomes/voxel/plots/tilemap) — see "World features" below.
Lighting and backdrop. PlayableGame.lighting (LightingConfig, @jgengine/core/game/playableGame) replaces the shell's hardcoded ambient/directional default when present, regardless of world kind: ambient?: { color?, intensity? }, directional?: { color?, intensity?, position, castShadow? }[], hemisphere?: { skyColor?, groundColor?, intensity? }. PlayableGame.backdrop (BackdropConfig) is a generic background/sky/fog for any world kind, including a custom environment component: background?: string (CSS color), sky?: SkyEnvironmentConfig (same descriptor environment()'s sky field takes), fog?: { color?, near?, far?, density? } (density set switches to exponential FogExp2 and near/far are ignored). Both are optional and additive to whatever the world/environment renderer already draws.
Visibility & streaming (automatic). Every 3D game gets camera frustum + distance culling for free — the shell's CullingProvider reads the live camera each frame, runs the engine createVisibilitySystem (@jgengine/core/visibility/visibilitySystem) over the scene's entities and placed objects, and toggles group.visible so off-screen objects are never submitted to the renderer (never unmounted — gameplay and simulation are untouched). Defaults are conservative (a preload margin larger than the view, hysteresis, Infinity default render distance) so existing games only benefit. Tune or opt out via PlayableGame.visibility (VisibilityConfig, @jgengine/core/visibility/config): enabled: false disables it; culling/streaming patch the global CullingSettings/StreamingSettings (@jgengine/core/visibility/settings); scene sets scene-wide overrides; entities/objects override by kind name / catalog id (alwaysVisible, maxRenderDistance, custom bounds, pinned, cullingDisabled, …). The engine layer also ships @jgengine/core/visibility/spatialIndex (the 3D hash the culler queries instead of scanning every object), @jgengine/core/visibility/assetStreaming (dedup/budget/grace-period asset loading), and @jgengine/core/visibility/simulationCulling (opt-in, off by default — throttles low-priority off-screen updates, never protected entities). Full reference: packages/core/src/visibility/README.md.
Player movement tuning — the movement field (PlayerMovementConfig) tunes the shell's local-player walk controller beyond physics.gravity/jumpVelocity: mode ("free" camera-relative default, "axis" locks travel to one world axis, "grid" snaps each committed step to cellSize centers), collideObjects (collide against placed scene objects as unit-box AABBs even without collision.voxel), and beforeCommit(frame) — an escape hatch called each frame with { entityId, current, next, dt } that can return a replacement [x, y, z] to constrain or redirect the step (rails, bounds, custom collision) before it commits and before onTick runs.
The runner boots createGameContext({ definition, content, player: { userId, isNew } }), calls loop.onInit(ctx) then loop.onNewPlayer(ctx), and drives loop.onTick(ctx, dt) per frame. Convention: onNewPlayer spawns the player entity with id === ctx.player.userId — bounded stats, targeting, and kill attribution key off that.
ctx.scene.object.at(x, y, z) // cell lookup, cell size 1, most-recent wins
ctx.scene.object.inBox(min, max) // inclusive AABB query
ctx.scene.object.raycast({ origin, direction, maxDistance, halfExtents?, filter? }) // → nearest hit or null
ctx.scene.object.raycastAll({ origin, direction, maxDistance, halfExtents?, filter? }) // → hits, nearest-first
ctx.scene.entity.update(id, patch) // name/position/rotations/role/movement/behaviors/meta; false for unknown id
Placed objects are unit boxes (half-extents [0.5, 0.5, 0.5]) centered on position, matching the shell's default render, so raycast/raycastAll (scene/objectQuery) match what a player sees. entity.update notifies subscribers and bumps ctx.version() the same as spawn/despawn/setPose — it's the general-purpose patch the more specific methods (setPose, form.shapeshift, possession.possess) build on.
ctx.scene.object.place(catalogId, x, y, z, { instanceId?, parentSpace?, rotation?, visual? }) takes an optional visual: ObjectVisual (@jgengine/core/scene/objectStore) — { scale?: number | [x,y,z], color?, opacity? } — a per-instance render override independent of the catalog entry; ctx.scene.object.setVisual(instanceId, visual | undefined) changes it after placement (undefined clears back to the catalog default). Distinct from objectStyles on PlayableGame (styles a catalog id for every instance); visual/setVisual targets one placed instance (a damaged crate, a dyed banner, a resized prop).
pointerService.worldHitCenter() (shell) casts from the viewport center regardless of cursor presence (pointer-lock aim) — combine with pointer.worldHit() (cursor-driven) to support both mouse-look and free-cursor games from the same probe. PointerHit also carries an optional uv?: { u, v } on UV-mapped mesh hits (absent for the ground fallback), material?: { color, metalness?, roughness? } | null sampled off the hit mesh's MeshStandardMaterial (null/unset for non-standard materials, e.g. the ground plane) — combine uv + material for paint tools, decals, and material-aware interaction — and instanceId?: number, the hit index when the intersected mesh is a THREE.InstancedMesh (grid-world cells, InstancedBodies debris, any instanced render), absent otherwise.
Runtime paint layer (ctx.scene.entity.paint, backed by scene/paintLayer) — a PaintLayer keyed by instance id (entity or object): paint(instanceId, { u, v, radius, color }), strokes(instanceId), clear(instanceId?), version(instanceId) (bumps per paint/clear), subscribe(listener). The shell auto-renders painted instances through a lazily-created 512×512 canvas texture kept in sync — no per-game render wiring. Clearing refills with the material's base color; the original texture pixels are not restored.
Catalog-first, no per-game audio glue. The audio field of defineGame({...}) — { sounds: Record<string, SoundDef>, buses?: Record<string, AudioBusDef> } — declares the sound catalog (SoundDef = { id, url, bus, gain?, loop?, positional?, falloff? }) and mix buses (music/sfx/ambient/…, AudioBusDef = { id, gain? }) — both types from @jgengine/core/audio/audioFalloff. entitySounds?: Record<string, string> maps an entity kind name (same convention as entitySprites/entityModels) to a sound id: while a matching entity exists, the shell keeps a looping positional emitter on it, repositioned every frame. objectSounds?: Record<string, string> does the same keyed by placed-object catalog id. The pure distance→gain math (computeFalloffGain(distance, config), curves "linear" | "inverse" | "none") lives in core so it is unit-tested without a browser; @jgengine/shell (shell/audio/audioEngine, shell/audio/AudioComponents) is the only package that touches Web Audio — it owns an AudioContext, mounts AudioListener on the camera every frame, and EntityAudioEmitters/ObjectAudioEmitters drive per-instance emitter gain from the core falloff function. GamePlayerShell wires all of this automatically from playable.audio/entitySounds/objectSounds — a game never touches AudioContext directly.
camera field of defineGame({...}))The shell ships a rig library; a game picks and tunes one through camera config, never by writing camera positions from onTick. Select with camera.rig (or the perspective: "third" | "first" shorthand) — or by config block alone (#207.8): supplying camera.<rig> selects that rig with no redundant rig field, checked in the table's order; an explicit rig wins when several blocks are present:
rig | For | Key config (camera.<rig>) |
|---|---|---|
orbit (default) | Third-person chase | initialDistance, targetHeight, min/maxPolarAngle, drag/zoom |
first | FPS mouse-look | firstPerson: { eyeHeight, sensitivity, maxPitch, reticle, viewmodel } |
topDown | ARPG iso / top-down (Diablo IV, Hades II) | topDown: { height, pitch, yaw, followSmoothing, zoom } — decoupled follow; pitch is camera elevation (PI/2 = straight down, near 0 = grazing and boom-distance blows up past frustum.far) |
rts | Free-pan / edge-scroll (The Sims, Manor Lords) | rts: { panSpeed, edgeScroll, rotateSpeed, bounds, start, pan } — pan: false turns it into a static backdrop camera: no WASD/arrow pan, no edge-scroll, no Q/E rotate, no wheel zoom, still re-centers on followEntityId if one resolves |
shoulder | Over-the-shoulder (Helldivers 2, Remnant II) | shoulder: { shoulderOffset, distance, ads, side } — ADS + shoulder-swap (V) |
lockOn | Souls-like strafe (Elden Ring) | lockOn: { targetEntityId?, distance, framingBias, yawSmoothing } — yaw binds to player→target; WASD becomes strafe |
chase | Vehicle chase (Forza, Rocket League) | `chase: { distance, springDamping, fov: { base, max, speedForMax }, shakePerSpeed, view: "chase" |
sideScroll | Fixed lateral follow — 2.5D platformer/beat-'em-up | sideScroll: { distance, height, lookHeight, axis: "x"|"z", followSmoothing, fov } — reads no player input, follows like the other follow rigs (defaults to the local player) |
observer | Detached spectator/photo/kill-cam (#120) | observer: { bind: { kind: "entity", entityId } | { kind: "point", position }, distance, height, orbitSpeed } — reads no player input, auto-orbits the bound subject |
inspection | Model-viewer / data-viz orbit (#207.7) | inspection: { anchor: "target"|"cursor"|"center", target, initialDistance, initialPosition, min/maxDistance, min/maxPolarAngle, pan, rotateSpeed, zoomSpeed, dampingFactor } — left-drag orbit, middle/right-drag pan (pan defaults on for this rig only), scroll zoom toward the anchor (cursor = zoom-to-cursor); orbits a fixed target, never reads player/entity state |
none | No camera rig mounted | HUD-only presentations or a game that manages its own camera; see presentation: "hud" below |
Frustum: camera.frustum: { fov?, near?, far? } overrides the canvas camera; far defaults to 300, so any world whose content spans more than a few hundred units must raise it or distant settlements/terrain silently clip out of view. Every rig accepts followEntityId: null so avatar-less games (city-builders, card games, auto-battlers) still mount a camera. Leave followEntityId unset and the shell defaults it to ctx.player.possession.active(userId) every frame, so a possession swap (party control-swap, BG3-style) or a form's mesh/camera-relevant change re-targets the camera automatically — set it explicitly only to override that default. Shake / trauma (#28): every rig reads a shake channel; feed it from anywhere with import { cameraShake } from "@jgengine/shell/camera" — cameraShake(amplitude, decayPerSecond?) (amplitude 0..1) — or from React via useCameraShake(). Tune with camera.shake: { maxOffset, maxRoll, decayPerSecond, exponent, frequency }. Cinematic (#29): set camera.cinematic: { keyframes: [{ position, lookAt, fov?, duration?, ease? }], loop? } to play a scripted path over the active rig, and camera.transitionSeconds cross-fades the camera when the rig changes so mode swaps don't hard-cut. The pure rig math (shake decay, spring-arm, speed→FOV, offset/strafe, keyframe lerp) is exported from @jgengine/shell/camera for testing. |
GameContext — the ctx surfacecreateGameContext (in @jgengine/core/runtime/gameContext) wires every system:
ctx.scene.object place, remove, move, rotate, get, list, subscribe,
at, inBox, raycast, raycastAll, catalog
ctx.scene.entity spawn, despawn, setPose, update, get, list,
stats.{get,set,delta}, setTarget, getTarget, cycleTarget,
canReceive, preview, effect, paint,
willHitProjectile, fireProjectile, settleProjectile,
distance, inRadius, hasLineOfSight, queryArc, moveToward,
spawnPoseOf, resetToSpawn, resetAllToSpawn,
form.{register,get,active,abilities,shapeshift,revert}
ctx.game commands, events, feed, loot, trade, quest, social, chat,
unlocks, economy, leaderboard, roster, store, cards, turn
ctx.game.social friends, party, presence, emotes.play, worldInvites
ctx.game.store set, delete, get, has, subscribe, mapSnapshot, arraySnapshot — game-defined
keyed reactive store slot (any value type); mutations bump ctx.version()
ctx.game.cards pile(id, config?) — lazily creates (config required on first call) or returns
the existing notify-wrapped CardPile for id
ctx.game.turn loop(id, config?) — lazily creates (config required on first call) or returns
the existing notify-wrapped TurnLoop for id
ctx.player userId, isNew, inventory, stats (modifiers), loadout,
applyLoadout, movement (pose/aim), motion (impulse/setVerticalVelocity/setY/takePending),
possession, cosmetics
ctx.player.motion impulse(vy), setVerticalVelocity(vy), setY(y), takePending() — game-code
seam into the shell's vertical-motion integrator; drained once per frame
before gravity, so a jump pad or grapple release calls this from
onTick/commands instead of touching y directly
ctx.item use, weapon
ctx.input publish(held), isDown(action), held() — per-frame held-action snapshot, polled from onTick
ctx.world ground (TerrainField), groundHeightAt(x, z) — the canonical
sampler for the game's declared world; environment worlds
resolve their terrain field, every other world kind is 0.
Use it for every spawn/placement/waypoint y — never
hand-roll a noise sampler or hardcode y = 0 on relief
ctx.camera follow(entityId | null), followedEntityId(), setCinematic(config), cinematic(),
subscribe — runtime camera-follow/cinematic override; the shell reads
followedEntityId() each frame, falling back to the static
playable.camera.followEntityId when it returns undefined
ctx.time advance, now, calendar, snapshot; pause, play, toggle,
setSpeed, cycleSpeed; after, every, at (game-time timers)
ctx.subscribe / ctx.version change signal — UI layers bind via useSyncExternalStore
content.itemById(id) supplies { use?, weapon?, trade? }; content.entityById(id) supplies { stats?, receive?, onDeath?, movement?, role? }; content.objectById(id) supplies GameContextObjectEntry { proximityPrompt?, breakable?, slotInventory? }. Build all three from your catalogs in content.ts. A placed object resolves its catalog entry via ctx.scene.object.catalog(instanceId); ctx.scene.object.at(x, y, z, tolerance?) finds placed objects near a point (grid interaction, click resolution beyond the pointer service). ctx.scene.entity.update(id, patch) writes a shallow patch onto a spawned entity's mutable fields (e.g. movement.walkSpeed) without a full respawn — scene/movementSpeed's applyStatDrivenSpeed(deps, id, { baseSpeed, multiplierStat?, flatBonusStat? }) is the catalog-driven helper that recomputes and writes movement.walkSpeed from a stat-modifier pair each time a buff changes.
ctx runtime vs pure factoriesThe ctx surface above is the stateful runtime — it's what game code uses. Every subsystem it wires is also exported as a pure factory that createGameContext composes internally: createTradeSystem, createDeathSystem, createEffectSystem, createProjectileSystem, createSpatialApi, createEntityStatsApi, createEntityStore, createObjectStore, createStats, createLoadouts, createLootRegistry, createQuestJournal, createSocial, createSlots, createInteriors (plus stateless helpers beside each — canAffordCosts/resolveBuy in game/trade, getStatValue/applyPoolDelta in scene/entityStats, and so on). Build a game through ctx, not these — reach for the factories only for unit tests of pure game math, headless servers, or a custom runtime. Import the domain deep path (@jgengine/core/combat/death, @jgengine/core/game/trade, @jgengine/core/stats/statModifiers, …) and read the .d.ts; each is a real export in the published package.
createSpatialApi's optional grid: { cellSize } opts inRadius/queryArc into a lazily-built x/z broadphase index over candidates() instead of a linear scan — worth it once candidate counts run into the hundreds+. The index is reused across calls until invalidate() is called, so call it after any position change (move, spawn, despawn); a candidate outside the index at query time still resolves exactly (never silently skipped), only a moved one can be missed until invalidated.
loop — lifecycleexport function onInit(ctx: GameContext) {
ctx.item.use.register(itemUseHandlers);
ctx.player.loadout.register(loadouts);
for (const table of lootTables) ctx.game.loot.register(table);
ctx.game.quest.register(quests);
ctx.game.quest.bind("entity.died");
ctx.game.feed.bind("entity.died");
ctx.game.events.on("entity.died", (evt) => onEntityDied(ctx, evt));
setupWorld(ctx);
}
export function onNewPlayer(ctx: GameContext) {
ctx.scene.entity.spawn("player_default", { id: ctx.player.userId, position: spawnPoint });
if (ctx.player.isNew) ctx.player.applyLoadout(ctx.player.userId, "starterKit");
}
export function onTick(ctx: GameContext, dt: number) {
// AI, regen, respawn timers — dt is GAME time (see ctx.time). Never death detection (see entity.died)
}
onInit runs once per boot; register everything there. Loot tables register through ctx.game.loot.register — lootTable() is a pure validating factory, there is no global side-effect registry.
ctx.time — the simulation clockonTick's dt is game time, not real time: the shell scales each frame's real delta by definition.time.scale (real→game seconds at 1×) and the live speed multiplier, so writing decay/regen/AI as rate * dt makes it obey pause and fast-forward for free — never read wall-clock in a tick. Configure via defineGame({ time: { scale?, speeds?, dayLength?, start?, startPaused?, daysPerYear?, seasons? } }) (all optional; default is real-time 1:1 with speeds [1,2,3,4], 365-day years).
dt. Scheduled work uses game-time timers: ctx.time.after(sec, cb), ctx.time.every(sec, cb), ctx.time.at(gameSec, cb) — measured in game-seconds, so 4× fires them 4× sooner and pause freezes them. Each returns a cancel handle.pause(), play(), toggle(), setSpeed(mult) (0 pauses), cycleSpeed(). Read state with ctx.time.snapshot() / ctx.time.calendar() ({ day, hour, minute, second, dayFraction, year, dayOfYear, yearFraction, season? }), or in React with useGameClock() → snapshot + controls. Speeding to 4× or pausing affects everything on the tick — no per-system wiring.year/dayOfYear fall out of day divided by TimeConfig.daysPerYear (default 365), yearFraction is progress through the current year (0..1). Setting TimeConfig.seasons: string[] (e.g. ["spring","summer","fall","winter"]) slices the year into equal named segments and populates calendar().season; omit seasons and the field is absent — a living-world sim names its own season boundaries this way instead of a hand-rolled dayOfYear % ... module.@jgengine/core/time/beatClock is a separate, purpose-built signal from simClock — a BPM tick generator for rhythm games (Hi-Fi Rush–style quantized combat), not a day/pause clock. createBeatClock({ bpm, beatsPerBar? }, onBeat?) returns a BeatClock: call advance(gameDt) from onTick with the same game-time dt (never wall-clock) — it fires onBeat(beatIndex) once per newly crossed integer beat and returns a BeatSnapshot (beat, beatIndex, bar, beatInBar, phase). createBeatInputBuffer<T>(beatDurationSec) is the auto-correct input buffer: buffer(action, nowSec) quantizes an off-beat press to fire on the next beat tick (or immediately if pressed exactly on one); advance(nowSec) drains and returns every action whose beat has arrived. nextBeatTime(nowSec, beatDurationSec) is the underlying pure quantization function. Feed a music track's actual BPM in; the buffer is what makes an early/late input still land on-beat.
ctx.game.store — reactive game statectx.game.store.set("health", 100) // any key, any value type
ctx.game.store.get("health") // T | undefined
ctx.game.store.has("health")
ctx.game.store.delete("health")
ctx.game.store.subscribe(listener) // change-signal fires on set/delete
ctx.game.store.mapSnapshot() / arraySnapshot()
A reactive per-game keyed store (ObservableKeyedStore<unknown>) attached to GameContext — reach for it instead of a module-level singleton store for ad-hoc reactive game state (turn trackers, deck UIs, anything that doesn't already have a ctx surface). set/delete bump ctx.version() and notify ctx.subscribe listeners; get/has are plain reads. Unlike a per-slot handle, there is no define/seed step — a key simply doesn't exist until the first set.
ctx.game.cards / ctx.game.turn — lazily-created piles and turn loopsctx.game.cards.pile(id, config?) and ctx.game.turn.loop(id, config?) lazily create (config required on first call) or return the existing notify-wrapped CardPile/TurnLoop for id — call with just the id after the first onInit seed to fetch the same instance; every mutating method is wrapped so it bumps ctx.version()/notifies ctx.subscribe automatically, same as every other ctx surface. This replaces manually constructing createCardPile/createTurnLoop and wiring notification yourself.
data/dataSource and the dev proxyRenderer-free async-state primitives (@jgengine/core/data) for a game that reads a live external source (a leaderboard API, a session browser, remote config) — distinct from ctx.game.store/multiplayer, which are for the game's own authoritative state.
createDataSource(load, options?) (data/dataSource) → DataSource<T> wraps one load(signal) async call as { status: "idle"|"loading"|"ready"|"error", data, error }. getState() reads the current snapshot, subscribe(listener) fires on every change, refresh({ force? }) re-runs load (de-duplicates a call already in flight unless force; aborts the prior call first when forced), startPolling(intervalMs?)/stopPolling() run refresh on an interval (intervalMs falls back to the one passed at construction; throws if neither is given), dispose() tears down polling and in-flight requests for good. Pass options.clock ({ setInterval, clearInterval }) to swap the timer source in tests.