| name | sbox-cookbook |
| description | Use when building a whole s&box game or a specific game SYSTEM and you want a proven, code-grounded recipe instead of guessing. Genre playbooks (tycoon/idle, shopkeeper/management, deathmatch/arena, platformer/obstacle course, survival/horror, card-battler, gacha/dungeon-crawler, social-hub, document/inspection sim, puzzle, sandbox/voxel, vehicles, roleplay) and per-system how-tos (inventory, economy/currency, shop/vendor/trading, save/persistence, progression/upgrades/prestige, gacha/loot tables, leaderboards/services, idle/offline earnings, building/placement, crafting, dialogue, round/match flow, spawning/waves, anti-cheat) plus engine references (networking & authority, architecture, player controller, Razor UI, weapons/combat, input, physics/traces, component lifecycle, worldgen/rendering, performance/threading, data assets). Triggers on "how do I build a <genre> game", "inventory system", "save system", "economy / currency", "shop", "upgrade / prestige tree", "leaderboard", "round system", "spawn waves", "gacha / loot box", "building placement", "host-authoritative", and similar. This is a ROUTER — find the system/genre, open the reference; do not answer from SKILL.md alone. |
s&box Cookbook — Master Router
A library of code-grounded recipes mined from 51 current (2026), hand-built open-source s&box games (2026-06 refresh re-mined all 51 — added 6 genres + 2 systems below; cross-reference them with references/CORPUS-INDEX.md) plus the modern engine repos (Facepunch sandbox, sbox-scenestaging, sandbox-plus-plus, grubs, …). Every recipe is modern GameObject/Component/Scene API and cites real source you can open. (The original 27 deep-mined games supply the bulk of the genre/system spine; a second batch of 20 — basebuilder, scoops, sneguborka, duck_pond, phenodex, lumberyard, stone_by_stone, newrp, sweeper_otso, wjse, farm_land, garden, suspectra, sandmoney_, minigolf, fill_the_void, chess_otb, nice_putt_idiot, s_sino, sandbox-reforged — adds the host-migration/day-night/buoyancy/genetics/module-loader/sidewalk-NPC variations cited in the references below.)
This file is an index, not the answer. Find your system or genre below, then open that reference so you load only what you need.
The four skills, and when each fires
sbox-cookbook (this) — recipes: "how do I build a tycoon / an inventory / a save system?" → routes to a grounded how-to.sbox-api — the brain: how to write correct s&box C# (the Unity→s&box table, the Ten Rules, per-area API references). Open it for exact API surface.sbox-build-feature — hands + eyes: the screenshot-driven bridge workflow + runtime gotchas. Open it to build it, run it, and SEE it.sbox-scaffold-game — turns one ask into a playable starter scene.
Authority of truth: the recipes teach the pattern; the live editor reflection (describe_type / search_types / get_method_signature) is the authoritative signature check for your installed SDK. If a recipe disagrees with live reflection, reflection wins.
🎮 Building a whole game? → Genre recipes
Each references/genres/<x>.md gives the system stack to compose, a build order, and how the real games do it (with code refs).
| You're building… | Open | Mined from |
|---|
| Tycoon / idle / incremental (chop, mine, dig) | references/genres/tycoon-idle.md | chop_the_forest, s_miner, digging_simulator |
| Shopkeeper / management (kiosk, store, restaurant) | references/genres/shopkeeper.md | doner_kiosk, shop_manager, everything_must_go |
| Document / inspection sim (Papers-Please-like) | references/genres/document-sim.md | terryspapers |
| Roleplay (jobs, doors, money, factions) | references/genres/roleplay.md | darkrpog |
| Sandbox / voxel (spawn, build, tools) | references/genres/sandbox-voxel.md | sandboxwars, ss1 |
| Social hub / lobby game | references/genres/social-hub.md | elevator |
| Platformer / obstacle course (your DeathMaze) | references/genres/platformer-obstacle.md | jumper, terrys_crash_course, xtrem_road |
| Deathmatch / arena combat | references/genres/deathmatch-arena.md | sdoomresurrection, versus |
| Card / draft battler | references/genres/card-battler.md | battledraft |
| Survival / horror | references/genres/survival-horror.md | natural_disaster_survival, backrooms, sdiver |
| Gacha / dungeon crawler | references/genres/gacha-crawler.md | gacha_crawler, multis_cases |
| Puzzle | references/genres/puzzle.md | 15_puzzle_master |
| Vehicles | references/genres/vehicles.md | vehicle_tool_example |
| Party / microgames | references/genres/party-microgame.md | terry_games |
| Social deduction (hidden roles, vote/eject) | references/genres/social-deduction.md | suspectra, murder |
| Survivor / bullet-heaven roguelite | references/genres/survivor-roguelite.md | ss2 |
| Co-op kitchen / assembly-line (Overcooked) | references/genres/coop-kitchen.md | wjse |
| Board game / turn-based (chess, minesweeper) | references/genres/board-game.md | chess_otb, sweeper_otso |
| Casino / gambling hub (case-opening) | references/genres/casino-gambling.md | s_sino, multis_cases |
| Physics sports (golf, climbing, skater) | references/genres/physics-sports.md | minigolf, nice_putt_idiot, ragroll |
🧩 Need one system? → System how-tos
Each references/systems/<x>.md = what it is + the canonical modern approach + variations across games + gotchas + which games to read.
| System | Open |
|---|
| Inventory / backpack / hotbar | references/systems/inventory.md |
| Economy / currency (host-authoritative, request→apply→confirm) | references/systems/economy-currency.md |
| Shop / vendor / trading | references/systems/shop-vendor.md |
Save / persistence (signed, versioned, FileSystem.Data) | references/systems/save-persistence.md |
| Progression / upgrades / prestige (data-driven balance tables) | references/systems/progression-upgrades.md |
| Gacha / loot / cases (weighted tables, recharge) | references/systems/gacha-loot.md |
| Genetics / breeding (heritable genome, Gaussian inheritance, mutations, best-of registry) | references/systems/genetics-breeding.md |
Leaderboards / services (Sandbox.Services stats, HTTP) | references/systems/leaderboards-services.md |
| Idle / offline earnings / round-robin ticks | references/systems/idle-offline.md |
| Building / placement (grid snap, footprint, modular) | references/systems/building-placement.md |
| Crafting (recipes, refine, mill/smelt) | references/systems/crafting.md |
| Dialogue / quest / VN | references/systems/dialogue.md |
| Cutscene / cinematic / Movie Maker / dialogue / conversation / story / NPC dialogue (bridge scaffolds) | references/systems/cutscenes-dialogue.md |
| Round / match / gamemode flow (phase machines) | references/systems/round-match.md |
| Spawning / waves / NPC | references/systems/spawning-waves.md |
| Anti-cheat / validation (clamp, sanitize, sign, provably-fair) | references/systems/anti-cheat.md |
| Level design & mapping (modular sets, lighting, blockout, triggers, spawns) | references/systems/level-design.md |
| AI director / adaptive pacing (telemetry-driven spawn cadence, composed multipliers) | references/systems/ai-director.md |
| Services backend / accounts (JWT auth, optimistic store + reconcile, HTTP) | references/systems/services-backend.md |
Composing across games? references/CORPUS-INDEX.md cross-references which of the 51 mined games implement each system/genre, with the single best file to read — use it to pull pieces from several games into one system.
⚙️ Engine concern? → Engine references
(For raw API surface, also open sbox-api.)
| Concern | Open |
|---|
| Networking & authority ([Sync] vs FromHost, [Rpc.*], host/proxy, ownership) | references/engine/networking-authority.md |
Architecture (GameObjectSystem<T>, ISceneEvent<T>, partial-class, registries) | references/engine/architecture.md |
| Component & GameObject lifecycle (+ freeze-class gotchas, FindMode, solo-gate) | references/engine/components-lifecycle.md |
| Player controller (identity/body/mover split, MoveMode, view-models, spectator) | references/engine/player-controller.md |
| Razor UI (BuildHash reactivity, HUD bootstrap, world panels) | references/engine/ui-razor.md |
| Weapons / combat (Can/Wants/Do, hitscan vs projectile, AoE, reloads) | references/engine/combat-weapons.md |
| Input & interaction (named actions, IPressable, analog, ClientInput) | references/engine/input-interaction.md |
| Physics, traces & custom movement (Scene.Trace, kinematic, forces, suspension) | references/engine/physics-traces-movement.md |
| World-gen & custom rendering (libsdf, VertexMeshBuilder, render-to-texture) | references/engine/worldgen-rendering.md |
| Performance & threading (frame budget, RunInThreadAsync, dynamic audio) | references/engine/performance-threading.md |
Data assets (GameResource, prefab registries, editor tooling split) | references/engine/data-assets.md |
The cross-cutting laws (true in every recipe)
These bite across every system — they're repeated in the references but live here too so you internalize them:
- Authority is the #1 bug class. Mutating synced state on a proxy silently rolls back. Gate every mutator with
if (IsProxy) return; (owner-authoritative) or if (!Networking.IsHost) return; (host-authoritative); Assert.True(Networking.IsHost,…) in dev makes silent desync loud.
[Rpc.Host] is callable by any client with forged args. NetFlags restrict who invokes, not security — re-validate ownership/permission/limits and rate-limit (cooldown keyed by Rpc.CallerId) inside every host body. The proven shape is request → apply → confirm (client optimistic → [Rpc.Host] re-clamp → [Rpc.Owner] echo authoritative).- Money/health/score must be
[Sync(SyncFlags.FromHost)]. Plain [Sync] lets a client author the value — a classic exploit. Collections use NetList<T>/NetDictionary<K,V>, not [Sync] List<>.
Network.IsOwner is false in solo editor playtests (no lobby = no owner), so IsOwner-only guards silently disable whole systems. Combine with a LocalSimulation property: ShouldSimulate => LocalSimulation || Network.IsOwner.NetworkSpawn is required for replication — Clone()/new GameObject is local-only. Configure before spawn, pass a Connection for authority, spawn on exactly one machine (guard with !IsProxy).- Persisted state must sanitize + clamp on load (and version-migrate). Saves outlive your balance changes; FNV/SHA signatures are anti-tamper deterrents, not crypto. Anything with real economy value needs server-side re-validation.
- API names drift between SDK builds, and some training-data APIs are dead. Verify with
describe_type/search_types before writing; wrap volatile calls in try/catch with a fallback.
async void in the frame loop leaks (continuations outlive the GameObject, swallow exceptions). Use TimeUntil + Destroy for timed lifetimes; cancel a CTS on teardown for loops.- Static singletons are wiped on hotload. Use
GameObjectSystem<T> (reconstructs safely) or LocalComponent<T> + IHotloadManaged; null static Instance in OnDestroy.
Time.Delta is 0 when paused (Scene.TimeScale=0) — use RealTime.SmoothDelta/RealTimeSince for anything that must move while time-scaled. Prefer TimeUntil/TimeSince over hand-rolled timers.
Router only. Find the system or genre, open its reference, and verify exact API live. Do not answer s&box build questions from this file alone.
