Create a project

Beginner This page explains how to:

• Templates are projects that contain just the necessary elements to start working on a game. Samples are complete games, which you can learn from or base a new game on.

  Create an empty project

  empty project is project that contains only the bare minimum to make a game: a simple scene with a light, camera, and script to move the camera, plus a preconfigured rendering pipeline. This is good when you want to start your game from scratch without elements you don’t need. To create an empty project:
• Xenko Launcher, click Start to start Game Studio. New/open project dialog opens. File > New.
• New Game.
• Name and Location fields, specify a name for the project and the folder to save it in.
• Select. Create a new game dialog opens.
• Namespace field, specify the namespace you want to use. If you don’t know what your namespace should be, leave it as default.
• Platforms, select the platforms you want your game to support.

  Note

  Xamarin (free if you have Visual Studio). If your development system is missing prerequisites for any of the platforms you select, Xenko displays a warning.
• Asset Packs, you can select additional assets to include in your project. These include assets such as animations and materials. The asset packs are fun to play with when you’re learning how to use Xenko, but they’re not necessary.
• Rendering, select the options you want. Graphics API: The graphics features you can use in your project depend on the API you select. For advanced graphics features, select the latest version of the graphics APIs.

  Warning

  Some graphics cards don’t support the latest APIs. For some mobile devices, only Direct3D 9.3 / OpenGL ES 2.0 and Direct3D 10.0 / OpenGL ES 3.0 are available. High or Low Dynamic Range (HDR / LDR): This defines how color is computed in your project. In LDR mode, colors range from 0 to 1. In HDR mode colors can take any float value. HDR provides more advanced and realistic rendering but requires more processing power and profile Direct3D 10.0 / OpenGL ES 3.0 or later.
• Orientation, choose the orientation for your project. For PC games, use landscape. Portrait should usually only be used for mobile games.
• OK. Game Studio.

  Create a project from a sample or template

  Xenko includes several sample projects demonstrating each part of the engine (2D, 3D, sprites, fonts, UI, audio, input, etc). It also includes template games to help you make your own game. To create a project from a sample or template:
• New Project dialog.
• New project > Samples.
• Select the sample you want to create a project from.
• Select. Select Platforms window opens.
• OK. Xenko creates the project and opens it in Game Studio.

  What’s next?

• Get familiar with Game Studio