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Lenga starts with one simple step: install the editor so you can create and open projects locally.
When you launch Lenga, the editor opens to the `Project Hub`.
Use the `Project Hub` when you want to start a new game in Lenga.
Every Lenga project has a clear folder layout.
Use this workflow when the project already exists on disk and you want to bring it into the editor.
The Lenga Editor is the main workspace for building a game.
Lenga's editor keeps the parts you reach for most in view at the same time: your scene, your selected object, your assets, and the console feedback that tells you what just changed.
A lot of editor work in Lenga comes down to three panels working together:
Lenga gives you two important visual surfaces while you work:
A Scene is one authored space in your game.
Once a project is open, scenes become the main units of authored world and UI content that you move between.
Use scene backdrops when you want to establish the look of a scene before you start filling it with foreground detail.
Scene backdrops let you shape the visual mood of a scene without building decorative geometry just to fill the background.
A `GameObject` is one named thing in a scene.
A GameObject is the scene object Lenga stores, selects, edits, and exposes to your code.
You do not need final art before you start building a scene.
Every GameObject can be active or inactive.
Tags and layers help Lenga answer different questions about a GameObject.
Scenes become easier to work with when related objects live together in a clear hierarchy.
A prefab is a reusable GameObject setup saved as an asset.
A `Transform` stores where a GameObject is.
Once a scene is open, the next job is usually the same: place content where it belongs.
Use the Scene grid and snap controls when you want object placement to land on predictable increments.
Use this workflow when you want a 3D object or camera to rotate cleanly in code, especially when the object has a parent or when you want to combine several rotations together.
A component is one capability attached to a GameObject.
Components are how a GameObject gains capabilities.
Scene-attached gameplay code often coordinates other components on the same GameObject.
The Inspector is where component data becomes easy to tune.
A Behaviour is a scene-attached component class for gameplay logic.
A `Behaviour` is a PHP class attached to a GameObject as a component.
Lenga reads serialized PHP properties and turns them into Inspector controls.
Gameplay events let one part of your game react to something that happened somewhere else.
Use `EventBus` when you want systems to react to gameplay without holding references to the object that dispatched the event.
Use a `Signal` when one object wants to expose a callback surface on itself and listeners already know which exact owner they care about.
Lenga gives you three valid communication patterns.
`WaitForSeconds` is the cleanest way to express short timed sequences in Lenga when the code should read as a sequence instead of a state machine.
Lenga supports engine-wide pause.
`Preferences` is Lenga's built-in API for small local settings.
Tweens are short scripted motions that move a value smoothly from one state to another.
Use transform tweens when you want a GameObject to move, rotate, or scale smoothly without writing timer code by hand.
Tweens describe motion. Coroutines describe order.
Most tweens can be fire-and-forget. Some need to be controlled.
This guide covers the asset import workflow in the Lenga editor.
A sprite is a 2D image used as game artwork.
A `UIElement` is one piece of interface inside a Canvas.
Every UI element in Lenga uses a `Rect Transform`.
This guide walks through building a small UI hierarchy under a `Canvas` and placing elements where you want them in the editor.
Buttons can carry their own font and their own images for each interaction state.
SDF fonts help UI text stay crisp when it is scaled, outlined, or drawn at several sizes.
Use UI tweens when a HUD or menu should respond smoothly instead of snapping from one value to another.
A Rigidbody is a physics body attached to a GameObject.
A Collider is the shape the physics system uses for contact.
This page covers the 2D callback API. For 3D contact callbacks, start with [3D Physics Overview](/guides/3d-collisions-and-kinematic-movement).
This page covers the 2D collision matrix.
This page covers 2D-only effectors.
This page covers the 2D platform effector workflow.
This page covers 2D-only joints.
Use this workflow any time two `Rigidbody2D` components need a physical relationship in a 2D scene.
This page covers a 2D-only joint.
This page covers a 2D-only joint.
This page covers a 2D-only joint.
This page covers a 2D-only joint.
This page covers the 2D contact query API. For 3D physics, start with [3D Physics Overview](/guides/3d-collisions-and-kinematic-movement).
This page covers the 2D query API. For 3D raycasts and overlaps, start with [3D Physics Overview](/guides/3d-collisions-and-kinematic-movement).
Use a 3D physics material when a collider needs a surface feel: slippery, sticky, heavy, springy, or somewhere in between.
3D physics starts with two separate ideas:
Start with one object. Get it falling and colliding before adding gameplay scripts.
Use `CharacterController` when gameplay code should own the movement.
Collision callbacks let a Behaviour respond when colliders touch during play.
Queries ask the physics world a question immediately.
Lenga's 2D animation workflow is built to handle the common character loop without forcing you into a heavyweight graph tool before you need one.
Lenga's 3D animation workflow is focused on **imported model animation playback**.
Use an `AudioSource` when a GameObject should play a sound.
Audio mixers let you route sounds through named channels such as Music, SFX, UI, Voice, and Ambience. This gives you one place to balance groups of sounds instead of tuning every `AudioSource` one by one.
2D lighting in Lenga is scene-based. You enable it for the scene, then add light and occluder objects to shape the result.
Lenga supports a practical lighting workflow for 3D scenes:
Lenga supports scene-level skyboxes for 3D projects.
Lenga uses first-class `Shader` assets for custom 3D surface rendering.
Lenga has a `Material` asset workflow for 3D rendering.
This section covers visual effects (VFX) and particle systems in Lenga. VFX are used to enhance the visual appeal of a game by adding effects like explosions, smoke, fire, magic spells, and more. Particle systems are a powerful tool for creating these effects by simulating and rendering large numbers of small particles.
Use `Trail Renderer` when a moving object needs a quick motion read: balls, dashes, projectiles, weapon arcs, pickups, or fast-moving 3D props.
Particle systems create many short-lived visual elements from a component. Use them for effects that would be awkward to author as individual GameObjects: sparks, dust, smoke, fire, rain, snow, magic motes, muzzle flashes, pickup bursts, impact debris, and trails.
This guide creates a small 2D sparkle burst. The same workflow works for dust, impact sparks, pickup flashes, smoke puffs, and ambient motes.
This guide creates a 3D particle emitter for effects such as sparks in a 3D scene, smoke near a torch, falling rain, magic glints around an object, or debris from an impact.
A particle profile is a reusable `.particle.json` asset. It stores the same module data that a `ParticleSystem` component can store inline, but outside the scene.
Particle modules divide an effect into focused groups of settings. This keeps the Inspector manageable and makes `.particle.json` profiles easier to reuse.
Particle effects look alive when particles vary. Lenga uses shared value types so the same ideas work across lifetime, speed, size, rotation, emission, force, velocity, and color.
Emission decides when particles are created. Shape decides where they are created and which direction they initially move.
The renderer module controls how simulated particles become visible. A good simulation can still look wrong if the render mode, texture, size, blending, or sorting is wrong.
Use PHP to control when particle effects play, how many particles are emitted, which profile is active, and which simple runtime values change during gameplay.
Particles can be cheap, but they can also become one of the easiest ways to waste frame time. A single small effect is rarely the problem. Many dense effects in a large scene can be.
These recipes give starting points. Treat the numbers as first drafts, then tune them in your own scene with the gameplay camera.
Lenga's tileset tool lets you take one sprite sheet, slice it into reusable tiles, and start painting a level without leaving the editor.
Use this guide when you want to stage a build of your game for the machine and operating system you are developing on.
Use this guide when you want to take a Lenga export and hand it to another person or another machine in a repeatable way.
Use this guide when you want to take a Lenga export and hand it to another person or another machine in a repeatable way.
Lenga can build an early browser version of a project. Use this page to understand what that preview can test, what it cannot do yet, and when it makes sense to try it.
Use this guide when you want to understand what changes between a normal development run and a packaged player build.
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Start Here
If you are new to Lenga, read these pages in order before branching into subsystem guides.
Choose a Path
Choose a starting point based on what you want to do next: learn the basics, build with familiar engine concepts, explore advanced systems, or contribute to the engine.
New to game development
Begin with the editor, scenes, GameObjects, Transforms, Components, and Behaviours before moving into task guides.
Already know how to make games
Map familiar engine concepts onto Lenga without skipping the names Lenga uses in the editor.
Already use Lenga
Dive into gameplay communication, tweening, UI layout, and shipping workflows once the core model is already familiar.
Contribute to Lenga
Refresh the editor and object model first, then open the public GitHub organization to follow the code and project work.
Explore by topic
Choose a topic area to find guides that belong together. Start with the highlighted pages, then open subtopics when you need more detail.
5 guides
Install Lenga, open the editor, and create or load your first project.
4 guides
Understand the editor workspace, views, panels, and day-to-day authoring flow.
4 guides
Understand scenes as authored spaces and manage scene files.
7 guides
Learn the scene object model: GameObjects, active state, tags, layers, primitives, parents, children, and prefabs.
4 guides
Place objects by working with position, rotation, scale, local space, world space, grids, and snapping.
5 guides
Attach and tune capabilities on GameObjects, from renderers and physics components to Behaviours.
9 guides
Write Behaviours, expose fields, respond to lifecycle methods, and coordinate gameplay.
4 guides
Use time-based interpolation to animate movement, scale, rotation, UI feedback, and authored presentation.
1 guide
Import textures, audio, models, and configure project asset settings.
1 guide
Use 2D image assets, sprite renderers, sprite sheets, and sprite-based workflows.
6 guides
Understand UIElements, canvases, RectTransforms, layout, text, images, and buttons.
20 guides
Understand rigidbodies, colliders, collision callbacks, queries, joints, effectors, and kinematic movement.
2 guides
Create sprite animation, animation controllers, and model animation workflows.
2 guides
Add sound sources and connect audio to gameplay.
3 guides
Light scenes, use shadows, skyboxes, and configure rendering setup.
2 guides
Create materials and shaders for custom surface rendering.
13 guides
Add particle effects and polish moments with visual feedback.
1 guide
Author levels with tilemaps, layout tools, and editor workflows after the core object model is clear.
5 guides
Export, publish, secure, and ship playable builds.