Game starters are crucial to starting Makinom and your game – learn more about them and where they’re used.
Game starters are Unity components that are added to game objects. They’re used to initialize Makinom and load a selected project’s data.
A game object with a game starter is represented in the Unity scene view by this gizmo icon:
You can’t use machines or any other Makinom mechanics without first initializing Makinom with a game starter.
Using Game Starters #
The game starter should be added to the first scene of your game, or at least the first scene that uses Makinom mechanics (e.g. machines).
The most important setting of the game starter is the Project Asset:
- Project Asset
Select the Makinom project asset file that you want to use here.
The default project asset file can be found at Assets/Gaming Is Love/_Data/Project.asset.
The Start Schematic can also be used to do additional things after Makinom is initialized.
- Start Schematic Asset
Select a schematic asset file you want to start after initializing Makinom.
This is optional and can be used to e.g. do further initializing through schematics or display a start menu.
Adding a Game Starter #
When using the scene wizard to add a game starter (Add Game Starter), you’ll first be able to select the Makinom project asset you want to use. The default project asset file will be automatically selected (found at Assets/Gaming Is Love/_Data/Project.asset). Clicking on Add Game Starter again will create a new game object and add the game starter component.
Otherwise, you can add a game starter component to a game object through the components menu (Makinom > Scenes > Makinom Game Starter).
Quick Game Testing #
Since you’ll often just want to test a scene you’re currently building, you’ll also need to add a game starter to that scene as well. Otherwise, you’d need to go through your start scene where you’ve added the game starter.
Having multiple game starters in your game isn’t a problem – the first game starter that’s used will initialize Makinom and load the project. Once Makinom is initialized, other game starters wont be started.
In case you’re using game states to only display HUDs or run machines in a running game, you can enable Start Game in the game starter’s inspector to start a new game when initializing Makinom – otherwise this’ll only happen when using a New Game node in a schematic.
You can also execute a schematic when Makinom is initialized, select it in the Start Schematic Asset setting of the game starter.