BloxWorks

Warning

This document is a work in progress!

New in version 0.7.

BloxWorks is OpenBlox’s scene editor [1], and thus as of OpenBlox 0.7 the primary tool for making OpenBlox games.

Introduction

Before OpenBlox 0.7, the primary (and only) method of creating games with OpenBlox was by directly editing each game’s XML + Lua sources. BloxWorks, on the other hand, lets users modify games by visually dragging/editing bricks and other elements around.

This is much easier for non-technical users to get up to speed with, plus, BloxWorks’ approach provides faster turn-around due to its WYSIWYG-like building methodology.

Getting started

To start BloxWorks, you should do one of three things:

  • On Windows, go to Start > All Programs > OpenBlox > BloxWorks
  • On Linux (with GNOME), go to Applications > OpenBlox > BloxWorks
  • On Mac OSX, execute the file tools/bloxworks/main.py located inside the directory you extracted OpenBlox in

Once you’ve started BloxWorks, you’ll be greeted with a window not unlike the following:

../_images/bloxworks.png

The first thing you’ll notice is that nothing is displayed on-screen. This isn’t a mistake; it’s just BloxWorks’ keep-the-interface-out-of-the-way philosophy at work. Now, let’s make a new game: Move your mouse to the center+top of the window, and a toolbar will appear (we’ll use it again later on). Click the little page with a “+” symbol; that button creates a new game.

In the dialog that appears, enter the name for your game (be careful not to press Enter!), and then enter your OpenBlox username for the author field.

Now, go back to the Name field and press Enter. The dialog will disappear, and you’ll be greeted with an empty game, containing only a skybox. Congratulations!

Cheat sheet

Adding a brick

Once you’ve opened BloxWorks and created a new project (or opened an pre-existing one), adding a brick is simple: Move your mouse to the left corner to reveal a panel. Click the first icon, the one that looks like:

../_images/add-brick.png

Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a gray 2x4x1 brick appear in the center your world.

Removing a brick

This is a relatively simple task:

  • Click on the brick you want to remove
  • Click the Remove brick button

Warning

Deletion of bricks can currently not be undone!

Controlling the camera

To rotate the camera, hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse. To move the camera, hold down the right mouse button and use the arrow keys to move the camera in the X-Y plane.

Moving a brick

Move your mouse to the bottom-center of the screen. You’ll see a panel be revealed. Click the button with the icon that looks like:

../_images/move.png

Now, click on the brick you want to move. Here’s how to actually move it around:

  • Moving the mouse across the screen moves the brick in the X-Y axes
  • Moving the scroll wheel moves the brick in the Z axis (i.e, up and down)

To stop moving the brick, click the left mouse button again. To disable the Move tool, just click on its icon again.

Resizing a brick

Reveal the lower panel, as you did in the “Moving a brick” section. Now, click the button that looks like:

../_images/scale.png

Just like with the Move tool, click on the brick you want to resize. Here’s an explanation of what to do next:

  • Moving the mouse across the screen re-sizes the brick in the X-Y axes
  • Moving the scroll wheel re-sizes the brick in the Z axis

To stop resizing the brick, click the left mouse button again. To disable the Resize tool, click on its icon.

Repainting a brick

To repaint a brick, click on the brick you want to repaint. In the Color textbox, type in the RGBA (Red Green Blue Alpha) color you want to brick to have, with the various values separated by commas. When you want to brick to take on that color, press Enter.

Since OpenBlox lets you use raw RGBA colors instead of simple named colors, you can use/create a lot of different color combinations - 4,228,250,625, to be exact.

Note

For a really comprehensive table of RGB colors, see: http://web.njit.edu/~kevin/rgb.txt.html.

Also note that that site doesn’t list A values - the A (4th number) value controls transparency (255 being completely opaque, 0 being invisible), so that is left up to you to decide.

Footnotes

[1]A scene editor is a program (or possibly a group of programs) that provides a higher-level (usually WYSIWYG) approach to making a game or 3D scene.