Setting Up the Scene

Setting Up the Scene

We'll begin by starting a new pocket. Do that now by clicking here, or by clicking on the Build icon (screwdriver) above.

Once the game builder has started, we will be greeted with the default scene, containing two blue cubes, one stacked on top of the other. We won't be using these cubes in our scene, so let's delete them now:

1. Select either blue cube by left-clicking on it.
2. Delete the cube with your keyboard's Delete button, or by right-clicking on it and selecting Delete.
3. Repeat for the remaining cube.

We'll be using a custom skybox and ground plane as well, so we'll want to delete the default ones. However, these objects are currently "locked," so we can't delete them right away. In Wild Pockets, certain objects can be locked, which means that they cannot be selected by a simple left-click. This is generally used for background objects like a ground plane and a skybox, because these objects are usually placed once and then never modified again. Locked objects can still be right-clicked on, so let's delete these:

1. Right-click on the skybox and select Delete.
2. Repeat for the ground plane.

We now have a completely empty scene. We'll begin by adding in our custom art assets. Please note that we could choose to use any art for our new skybox and ground plane, but this walkthrough will mention specific assets the Wild Pockets Team has created for it. Feel free to choose any or create new ones!

1. Click on the Global Library (globe with surrounded by blue cubes) icon.
2. Type "western world" into the search box and click "Search."
3. Mouse-over the objects called "western world" and find the one made by "jasonn."
4. Drag the icon for this model into the scene.

The Builder does an excellent job of guessing where to place the objects we place in our scene. Unfortunately, we don't currently have any other objects it can use to guess the best position, so we need to position this model manually. Also, the "jasonn/western world" skybox was premade with lighting already in it, so we do not want it to use the built-in Wild Pockets lights. Finally, we will want to lock this background art, the way our previous skybox and ground plane were locked.

1. Click on the new art to select it.
2. Now click the Properties (blue cube with a gear intersecting it) icon.
3. At the top of the Properties window, find the 3 text boxes defining the object's position.
4. Change the text in all 3 position boxes (X, Y, and Z) to 0, and press Enter.
5. Down at the bottom of the Properties window, uncheck "Receives Light" by clicking on it.
6. Right-click on the background art and select "Anchor."
7. Right-click on the background art again and select "Lock."

We now have a background for the game! We can take a little time to move around it and get a feel for how big it is. Right-clicking allows us to look around, and the arrow keys allow us to move. If the camera is going too slowly, we can use the scroll wheel to zoom out; the camera moves faster when it is zoomed out and slower when it is zoomed in.

Our pocket is now at a good starting place for creating a game, so let's pick a name for the pocket and save it just like any other computer document, and then let's make sure it reloads correctly.

1. Click on the "File" menu and select "Save."
2. In the text box that pops up, add your scene name to the end of your username and a slash. For example, call your game "MyFirstGame" by making the box say "YourUserName/MyFirstGame".
3. Click "Okay."
4. Now that the scene is saved, try reloading it by finding it in the library. Click the My Library (red folder with blue cubes coming out of it) icon.
5. Find your pocket name ("MyFirstGame") at the top of the list, and drag its icon into the scene.
6. Click "OK" in the confirmation dialog that pops up to confirm that you want to load this pocket over what you have open.

When the pocket reloads, it should look the same. Congratulations, you've saved your first pocket! Next up: creating content for it.