---
title: "Tutorial"
type: docs
---

# A Tutorial Introduction

This tutorial walks through building a simple game from scratch. By the end, you'll understand modules, programs, rendering, and input.

## How Prosperon Starts

Prosperon runs a `.ce` program file as the root actor. This is your game's entry point. There is no `config.js` or `main.js` — everything is modules you import with `use()`.

## Step 1: A Window

Create `game.ce`:

```javascript
var core = use('core')

core.start({
  title: "My Game",
  width: 1280,
  height: 720
})
```

Run it with `prosperon game.ce`. You get a window. `core.start()` initializes the GPU backend, opens the window, and starts the main loop.

## Step 2: Drawing a Sprite

Sprites are the fundamental drawable. Create one and it appears on screen — you don't issue draw calls.

```javascript
var core = use('core')
var sprite = use('sprite')
var compositor = use('compositor')
var camera = use('camera')

var cam = camera.make({
  pos: {x: 0, y: 0},
  width: 320,
  height: 240
})

var player = sprite({
  image: "player.png",
  pos: {x: 0, y: 0},
  width: 32,
  layer: 5
})

var plan = compositor.compile({
  planes: [{
    name: 'game',
    plane: 'default',
    resolution: {width: 320, height: 240},
    camera: cam,
    presentation: 'integer_scale'
  }]
})

core.start({
  title: "Sprite Test",
  width: 1280,
  height: 720,
  render: function() {
    return compositor.execute(plan)
  }
})
```

Key ideas:
- `sprite()` creates a sprite and registers it with the engine automatically
- The **compositor** describes how to render the scene: which planes, at what resolution, with what camera
- Your `render` callback returns the compositor result — the engine sends it to the GPU

## Step 3: Moving the Sprite

Add an `update` callback to move things each frame:

```javascript
core.start({
  title: "Moving Sprite",
  width: 1280,
  height: 720,
  update: function(dt) {
    player.pos.x += 60 * dt
  },
  render: function() {
    return compositor.execute(plan)
  }
})
```

`dt` is the time elapsed since the last frame, in seconds. Multiply speeds by `dt` for frame-rate-independent movement.

## Step 4: Handling Input

Use the `input` module to map physical keys to named actions, then route those actions to your game objects:

```javascript
var input = use('input')

input.configure({
  action_map: {
    move_left: ['a', 'left'],
    move_right: ['d', 'right'],
    jump: ['space']
  }
})

var player_entity = {
  on_input: function(action, data) {
    if (action == 'move_left' && data.pressed) {
      player.pos.x -= 16
    }
    if (action == 'move_right' && data.pressed) {
      player.pos.x += 16
    }
  }
}

var p1 = input.player1()
p1.possess(player_entity)
```

The input system handles keyboard, gamepad, and touch. You define actions once and bind them to any physical input.

## Step 5: Adding Sound

```javascript
var sound = use('sound')

sound.play("jump.wav")
```

Sounds are loaded by path. The engine caches audio data so loading the same sound twice reuses the existing data.

## Step 6: Multiple Planes

Real games often need separate rendering layers — pixel art at low res, HUD at native res:

```javascript
var plan = compositor.compile({
  clear: {r: 0.1, g: 0.1, b: 0.2, a: 1},
  planes: [
    {
      name: 'game',
      plane: 'default',
      resolution: {width: 320, height: 240},
      camera: cam,
      layer_sort: {'5': 'y'},
      presentation: 'integer_scale'
    },
    {
      name: 'hud',
      plane: 'hud',
      resolution: {width: 1280, height: 720},
      camera: hud_cam,
      presentation: 'stretch'
    }
  ]
})
```

Sprites belong to a plane via their `plane` property. Each plane renders at its own resolution with its own camera, then composites onto the screen in order.

## Step 7: Entities

For anything more than a few sprites, use the entity system. Define entity types as modules, create instances with overrides:

```javascript
// entities/coin.cm
var sprite = use('sprite')

return {
  value: 1,
  image: "coin.png",

  init: function() {
    this.sprite = sprite({
      image: this.image,
      pos: this.pos,
      width: 16,
      layer: 3
    })
  },

  on_destroy: function() {
    this.sprite.destroy()
  }
}
```

```javascript
// In your game program
var world = use('world')
var coin_proto = use('entities/coin')

var c = world.add_entity(coin_proto, {
  pos: {x: 50, y: 80},
  value: 5
})
```

The entity's `init()` runs after overrides are applied. The prototype defines every valid field with a default — it is the schema.

## Putting It Together

A complete minimal game has:

1. A `.ce` program that imports modules and calls `core.start()`
2. Sprite and entity modules (`.cm`) that define game objects
3. A compositor config that describes the rendering setup
4. Input configuration that maps keys to actions

The engine does the rest: batching sprites, sorting layers, managing GPU resources, polling events, scheduling frames.

## Next Steps

- [Graphics](../graphics/) — Sprites, text, shapes, tilemaps
- [Compositor](../ops/) — Planes, effects, presentation modes
- [Input](../input/) — Actions, players, control stacks
- [Entities](../entities/) — The entity model and world system