What a level needs
The minimum is a track. Everything else is optional, and nearly all of it you bring yourself
What a level can use
| What | Details | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Audio | at least one track, there can be several | the level folder |
| Images | when a shape is not enough | the level folder |
| Fonts | ttf, otf, ttc | the level folder |
| Shapes | 497 built-in ones and any drawn in the Shape editor | built into the game or into the level |
| Themes, effects, prefabs | data, not files | inside level.json |
Audio, images and fonts are real files. Only they add weight to the folder, need a record of their origin before publishing and can get lost in a move
With no font of its own, text is drawn with whatever the system has
The game ships no textures at all. Built-in shapes are geometry, not pictures. They have no pixels, they weigh nothing, and there is nowhere to load them from
Reach for a shape before an image, always. An image is a file you can lose in a move, memory at load time and a line in the licence record. A shape costs none of those
The weight of the folder
There is no hard limit. But a level travels by copying, and the person receiving it sees the folder's weight
A 4-minute track in ogg weighs 4-6 MB. The same track in wav is around 40 MB
Several sources for one resource
A resource can have a list of places to fetch it from: a file next to the level, an absolute path, a direct link. The game goes down the list until something loads
Keep a link as an addition to the file, not instead of it. A site can go down, move or start serving something else. A file in the folder sits where the level does
Rights to the files
If the level leaves your disk, every file in it needs a licence that allows it. That is settled by the resources you pick at the very start
More - Rights