Workshop editor manual

Workshop is where you arrange a Rift, change objects, add gameplay, test your work, and publish versions. It saves editor-only organization separately from the game players run, so hidden panels and editing helpers never become game objects by accident.

Project dashboard and saves

Enable cloud drafts creates or restores a signed guest identity. Project dashboard lists only that identity's projects. Local autosave is a device fallback; cloud autosave is the durable draft and uses optimistic revisions so stale tabs cannot overwrite newer edits.

An unlisted publish copies the exact draft revision into an immutable snapshot, runs headless validation, builds an integrity-checked Rift bundle, and creates a stable version. Make active rolls back the project pointer; it does not edit an old version.

Scenes and objects

An object is one thing in your game: a platform, player, pickup, trigger, decoration, or interface controller. Objects appear in the Objects panel and in the world view. Select from either place. Shift-select adds or removes one object from a group. Drag an unlocked object or enter exact coordinates in Object.

Use the search box to find an object by name or ID. The group filter finds objects that contain Appearance, Physics, Gameplay, Player, Interface, Logic, or basic components. Each result also shows its layer and whether that layer makes it hidden or locked. Change an object's creator-facing name from its Object panel; its stable ID stays unchanged for scripts and project data.

A project can contain several scenes. Open World to:

• switch scenes;
• make an empty scene using the current scene's size and gravity;
• duplicate a whole scene;
• rename a scene;
• choose the scene players enter first; or
• delete a non-final scene after confirmation.

Deleting the current start scene automatically chooses a remaining scene as the new start. Scene creation, duplication, renaming, start selection, and deletion are undoable. An empty scene is allowed while building, but Checks will explain what it still needs before it can be a playable start.

The Pieces panel exposes optional square tile blocks. Tile tools snap to a 20-unit grid and create or remove schema-valid solid block entities on the Tiles layer. Every stroke is undoable; locking Tiles prevents both painting and erasing.

Common commands:

Action	Control
Undo / redo	Toolbar, Ctrl/Cmd+Z, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z, or Ctrl+Y
Copy / paste	Toolbar or Ctrl/Cmd+C / Ctrl/Cmd+V
Delete	Toolbar, Delete, or Backspace outside a form field
Multi-select	Shift-click
Duplicate selection	Ctrl/Cmd+D
Select all objects	Ctrl/Cmd+A
Select / Pan tool	1 / 2
Frame selection	F
Nudge selection	Arrow keys; hold Shift for one grid step
Clear selection	Escape
Find a Workshop command	Ctrl/Cmd+K or Commands

Paste creates collision-free entity IDs and offsets transforms by 20 units. Commands update the runtime project and editor metadata atomically.

The scene toolbar has a saved Snap option and grid-size selector. With Snap enabled, dragging one object or a group places the group's top-left position on that grid. Exact X and Y fields remain exact and do not silently round typed values. Grid choices travel with the cloud draft but are not part of the published game.

For two or more selected objects, the Object panel can align left edges, horizontal centers, right edges, top edges, vertical centers, or bottom edges. With three or more objects it can distribute centers evenly across either axis. Locked objects are not changed. Each alignment or distribution is one undoable command.

Open Commands or press Ctrl/Cmd+K to search navigation and common actions without remembering where a panel lives. The palette includes Undo, Redo, Pieces, Objects, Layers, Object settings, World settings, Publish, Checks, Test Rift, and Return view to start. Disabled actions remain visible so their availability is understandable.

Layers

Layers are editor folders for organizing objects. Eye controls hide a layer in Workshop; lock controls prevent transforms. Rename a layer directly in the Layers panel. Removing a layer moves its objects into a remaining layer rather than deleting them, and every scene must keep at least one layer. The Object panel moves the selected object between layers. These properties do not currently change runtime draw order.

Assets and prefabs

Curated assets are validated building blocks. Platform, Slope, Terrain block, Diggable earth, Collectible, Checkpoint, Respawn hazard, Launch pad, Dialogue trigger, Inventory pickup, Loot crate, Crafting station, Round controller, Team A/B spawns, Patrol enemy, Chase enemy, Damage zone, HUD panel, and Scenery marker are available. Checkpoint and hazard behaviour is documented in Checkpoints and respawn hazards, bounded directed movement in Launch pads, text and choices in Dialogue triggers, deliberate actions and objective graphs in Interactions and quests, authoritative fighting in Combat and enemies, visual feedback and room transitions in Presentation and scene flow, material surfaces and environment rules in Terrain and world settings, session items in Session inventory and pickups, gear, drops, and recipes in Equipment, loot, and crafting, shared matches in Multiplayer teams and rounds, controlled NPC movement in Patrol AI, safe objective overlays in Creator HUD, and server-owned state in Persistent saves.

A prefab is a reusable source for one object or a selected group. Select what you want to reuse, enter a name in the Object panel, and choose Save object as prefab or Save group as prefab. PixelRifts stores positions relative to the group's top-left corner, so the prefab can be placed anywhere from Pieces. Prefabs cannot contain other prefab instances, which keeps their contents predictable.

Objects added from a prefab stay linked as an editor-only Prefab instance. Select any linked object to see the source prefab and any changed names, components, or component properties. Moving an instance does not count as an override, so Revert overrides restores its source appearance and behavior while keeping its placed location. Unpack deliberately removes the link and leaves ordinary scene objects behind. Deleting a source prefab also unpacks its existing instances instead of deleting placed objects. Each action is undoable. Official prefabs may expose safe choices such as color before placement; those choices appear as visible overrides after placement.

Workshop offers seven curated starting points in the Pieces panel:

• Platformer Starter uses horizontal movement, jumping, platforms, collectibles, and a finish portal.
• Top-Down Starter uses gravity-free four-direction movement in an open arena.
• Puzzle Starter uses the same controlled four-direction capability in a bounded rune maze.
• Arena Survival Starter combines moving patrol hazards, respawn, score shards, and an objective HUD.
• Checkpoint Racing Starter uses a bounded circuit, three one-time scored checkpoints, and checkpoint respawns. It does not claim a race timer or opponent system.
• Incremental Garden Starter demonstrates a 1/2/4/8 active scoring ladder. It does not grant offline or background earnings.
• Social Hangout Starter is a bounded explore-and-talk room using platform-owned dialogue. It does not enable player chat or claim larger-room capacity.

Choosing Use template replaces only the current local world after confirmation. It does not delete cloud projects or published versions. Starters with a prefab expose that prefab's color and an Add … prefab action; the resulting entity has a unique ID and ordinary runtime components. Incremental Garden intentionally starts without a reusable prefab.

The Player controller's Mode field selects Platformer or Top-down movement. Top-down test sessions use WASD or all four arrow keys and ignore world gravity. Platformer sessions retain A/D or horizontal arrows plus W, Up, or Space to jump.

Direct collider and animation editing

Select an object's collider outline in the world view to make that collider the active edit target. Drag its center only while holding the primary pointer button, drag bounds handles to resize, and use the rotation handle to turn it. The same values remain available numerically for exact work. Ctrl can temporarily prioritize collider picking where artwork overlaps the outline. Every completed gesture is one undoable command.

Appearance can build an animation from several built-in or uploaded sprite frames. Choose a standard behavior such as Idle, Run, Attack, or Death, or choose Custom and enter the name RiftScript should play. Each frame has its own X/Y correction, rotation, and scale so mismatched source artwork can share one stable object anchor. The preview and runtime apply those transforms without changing the collider or authoritative transform.

Object components, details, and checks

The Object panel edits exact position, assigns a layer, and lists components. Open Add component and search for what you want the object to do. Every result explains its purpose. Unavailable results stay visible and explain the rule—for example, Inventory belongs on a player, and a scene can have only one HUD panel.

Open Manage components to remove optional behavior. Workshop blocks removal when another component depends on it and explains what must change first. Removal is undoable. See the generated Object component reference for every current building block.

Checks identifies project failures, missing players/transforms, out-of-bounds transforms, and sensors with no behavior. Selecting a check focuses its source object when one exists.

Red errors block publishing. Warnings and informational items explain potentially unintended states but do not block the headless gate.

Test mode

Test Rift constructs a fresh pinned-Rapier runtime from the current schema-valid snapshot. Keyboard and touch controls cover movement, Jump, Dash, Interact, and Attack, so a complete combat or quest loop can be tested without leaving Workshop. Named effects and crafting milestones use the same readable feedback adapter as Play. Tick, score, deterministic state hash, and mapped RiftScript failures remain in the test panel. Stopping disposes the runtime and returns to the same editor session.

The header always provides Play, Rifts, and Docs destinations. Public creator foundations remain available to every creator. Complete official game sources appear only for an explicitly allowlisted PixelRifts owner or administrator account; creator trust and moderation access do not grant this permission. They are platform projects, not public remix templates.

Creator VM errors include entity, program, and event context. The test inspector links back to that source. Runtime state is never written into the draft.

Phase One boundaries

• Curated artwork and rights-attested creator image/audio assets are available through the Assets workflow; public use still follows moderation and publishing policy.
• Layers are editor organization, not runtime tilemap draw layers.
• Visual logic exposes the minimal event/condition/action set documented in Visual logic.
• Add RiftScript opens a foreground controlled-language editor with live source ranges, canonical formatting, registry-driven Ctrl+Space suggestions, cursor symbol explanations, go-to-definition, and parameter hints. New source uses RiftScript 1.1 typed locals, expressions, and bounded creator functions. Typed capability checks, expansion limits, bytecode verification, byte-budget feedback, and an atomic Compile & attach action all run before the project changes. Source stays in editor-document v3; the runtime snapshot receives only validated bounded instructions and declared defaults. Test-mode runtime failures identify the exact handler/instruction and focus the mapped source line. Representable Visual behavior converts to RiftScript and back only when exact bytecode equality holds; unsupported text remains unchanged. See the RiftScript guide.
• Verified-account collaboration supports owner, editor, and viewer roles plus consent-based handoff for unpublished private drafts. See Project collaboration. Live co-editing and uploaded asset moderation remain later work.