A place to start.

Create, play and export a 2D game

1. Open Aether Studio, choose Game Engine, then Create a 2D game.
2. Add sprites or shapes. Give objects static or dynamic physics bodies and author input actions with the Blueprint controls.
3. Choose Play to run the game. Click inside the play area for keyboard control; choose Stop to edit.
4. Choose Web · HTML, then Export game. Aether downloads aether-2d-game.html containing your saved scene, embedded images, Blueprint runtime and 2D physics engine. No Windows app or account is needed for this browser export.
5. Open the HTML in a browser or host it on a static website. Keep a separate project JSON backup if you want to keep editing.

Build a desktop game

In the export selector choose Desktop build project. The ZIP contains a complete game build project, not an executable yet. Follow BUILD-DESKTOP.txt: run npm install, then npm run package:windows or npm run package:linux. Share the entire generated platform folder. These apps use the same selected renderer and gameplay runtime. WebGPU is experimental; see the coverage section below.

Export a 3D browser game

1. In Game Engine, use Gameplay to author executable rules for your own 3D game, choose an adventure or squad game, open a shared-engine project authored with MCP, or configure a 3D scene with dynamic bodies and actions in 3D physics.
2. Use Play game to run its real gameplay. Edit terrain, actors, materials, objectives and supported mission Blueprints in the editor.
3. Choose Web · ZIP and the WebGL2 renderer, then Export game to download a ZIP containing the same 3D player runtime and the scene’s required models and textures.
4. Extract the ZIP and upload the entire folder to any static HTTP(S) host. Open index.html on that host. No desktop Aether app, account or Aether server is needed to play the exported game.

2D HTML and 3D ZIP are playable exports. Project JSON is the editable backup. The legacy Logic sequence is an event preview, and export rejects it as gameplay. Native actor Blueprint graphs, exact CAD, Vulkan GI and native virtualized geometry require their matching desktop runtime.

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Author your own 3D gameplay

The Gameplay panel defines reusable behavior as project data. The same runtime executes it in browser Play and in exported games. You can edit it directly or through MCP; a game-specific engine tool is not required.

1. Open Game Engine, create a blank project, then choose Gameplay. For an editable starting point choose New Jump & collect, New Three switches or New Lane runner. These replace the current scene, so save existing work first.
2. Open Gameplay again. In Variables, add named numeric values such as speed, score, health or state. In Rules, choose start, tick or key events, a condition, and ordered assignments. Expressions support declared variables, keyboard input, arithmetic, comparisons and math functions. Example: x + (input.KeyD - input.KeyA) * speed * dt.
3. In Objects & attachments, bind actors to position, rotation, scale and visibility expressions. Assign a parent for a local transform, such as a wheel, door or moving platform component. Positions use metres; rotations are radians in YXZ order; scale multiplies the actor’s saved scale.
4. Set the camera target and offsets. Add Start menu choices that initialize variables, HUD values, conditional messages, optional on-screen buttons and an end condition. Rules run at 120 fixed steps per second, in the order listed; assignments see earlier assignments. Escape pauses; Restart resets the program and its selected menu choices.
5. Choose Validate & apply gameplay, then Play game. Applying rules replaces the old Logic preview sequence. Save project JSON or save back to your MCP cloud project. Choose Web · ZIP and Export game to package the same program, models and player.

Compose model builds geometry from boxes, convex polygon faces and elliptical lathe profiles. Select a mesh to replace, or create a new mesh with no selection. The engine stores the editable construction recipe and regenerates its geometry in Play and export. Existing mesh, material, terrain and import tools remain available.

Collision boxes use [minX,minY,minZ,maxX,maxY,maxZ]. The expression hitBoxes(oldX,oldY,oldZ,newX,newY,newZ,radius) checks a swept path against expanded boxes; author the response in rules. This is a conservative collision query, not an automatic rigid-body solver. Timers and state transitions use variables and conditions.

Physics, spawning, audio and skeletal clips

1. Configure sphere or box bodies in 3D physics. Add rule actions in Gameplay → Rules to apply a force, torque, impulse or angular impulse. In Physics & object sensors, write a body’s world position, linear velocity or angular velocity into a declared variable. Rules can use those values for decisions, HUD and end conditions. A body cannot also have a rule transform binding.
2. In Spawn prefabs, choose a source actor and a unique prefab ID. Enable physics to copy that actor’s configured body. Add a spawn action with world position, rotation, initial velocity, lifetime and a result variable. Later actions address that numeric instance handle. Use despawn to remove it early. The source remains in the scene; clones have independent skeletons. If the live-instance limit is reached, spawn returns handle 0.
3. In Sounds, add a sound ID and import WAV, MP3 or OGG. Add sound_play actions with that ID and a voice name, volume, rate and loop option. Attach a scene actor or spawned handle for positional sound, or leave the target unset for music/UI. Reusing a voice name replaces its previous sound. sound_stop ends that voice. Start game unlocks browser audio; Pause suspends it, and Menu/Restart/Exit stop old voices.
4. Import a GLB containing a rig and animation clips. The Rules panel lists embedded clip names. Add animation_play with a target, clip name, speed, once/repeat/pingpong and a crossfade duration. Use animation_stop to stop or fade out. Clips animate the imported bones and skin; this release does not add rig creation, retargeting or blend trees.
5. Save and play the project. Choose Web · ZIP, WebAssembly · ZIP or Desktop build project to include the same program, native solver, embedded sounds, models and clips. WebAssembly exports require configured 3D physics; rendering and rule evaluation remain JavaScript.

Order: sensors refresh before each fixed tick, rules run their assignments then actions, body commands enter the native solver, and sensors refresh after physics. Missing or expired instance handles read as alive=0; actions targeting them do nothing. Spawns expire by simulation time, so pause freezes their lifetime. Imported animation playback advances by the same simulation clock. A play action restarts its clip or named sound voice; trigger it on a key or state transition to avoid restarting every tick.

Current boundaries: rules and native WASM physics now combine. Adventure, squad and 2D still have separate controllers. Native collision uses spheres and axis-aligned boxes with rotational state, not oriented-box or terrain-mesh collision; no joints are exposed here. Despawning reconstructs the bounded native world while preserving transforms and linear/angular velocity; sleep/contact caches reset. Networking and full native-engine parity are not included. WebGPU remains experimental and lacks physical-GPU visual qualification.

New resource limits: 32 prefab definitions, 128 live instances in total, 128 original native bodies, 2 million spawned mesh vertices, and lifetimes up to 3600 seconds. Audio: 24 embedded WAV/MP3/OGG files, 4 MB per imported file, 16 MB encoded total, at most 180 seconds per decoded clip and 64 MB decoded total, with 32 simultaneous named voices. GLBs support up to 256 clips. Cloud request/storage limits may require smaller assets.

Program limits: 256 variables, 200 rules, 150 bindings, 3000 collision boxes, bounded expression size and workload, local position components within ±10,000 metres and positive scale factors up to 1000. Division/modulo by zero returns zero. Model recipes allow 900,000 generated vertices per actor and 2,000,000 per project. Public request and storage limits also apply.

Start in the browser

1. Open the web workspace on a desktop browser with WebGL enabled. A mouse and keyboard are recommended.
2. Choose Terrain Generation, 3D Modeling, or Game Engine. The workspace picker changes which tools are shown.
3. Use the workspace switcher in the editor header to change tools without closing your current project. The question-mark button opens the Editor guide.

Reference capture from the CP106 desktop editor. Browser chrome and available tools differ.

Create your first model

1. Choose 3D Modeling. Use the mesh tools to add a primitive or an editable curve. Select your object in the scene list.
2. Adjust the object’s dimensions, transform and material in the inspector. Try a modifier such as taper, twist or bend.
3. Press Ctrl+S (⌘S on macOS) to save in this browser. Open the project-name menu and choose Export project JSON to keep a separate backup.

Reference capture from the CP106 desktop editor. Browser chrome and available tools differ.

Shape a landscape

1. Choose Terrain Generation from the initial workspace picker to start a terrain project. If you switch from an existing project, that project stays open.
2. Choose a landscape recipe to add terrain if your project does not have any, then explore sculpting, materials and world lighting. Existing models are retained; Undo reverses the recipe change.
3. Save locally, export project JSON, or use the export tools for a terrain heightfield and scene mesh. The native high-detail terrain pipeline remains separate. Shared browser WebGPU export is experimental and does not imply native terrain or rendering parity.

Reference capture from the CP106 desktop editor. Browser chrome and available tools differ.

Compose a scene

1. Choose Game Engine, then Blank project or one of five editable templates: Northwatch Valley, Silver Coast, Dune Outpost, Alpine Crossing, or Blockout Arena. Name your project and choose Create. Use Continue current project to return to your saved scene.
2. Use World → Terrain surface to change terrain shape and mesh detail; use the Terrain tab to sculpt. Select a landscape or object, then Material → Surface texture to apply a pattern or import an image. World → Water surface controls level, ripples, reflections and opacity. Changes are saved in your project.
3. Use Animate for transform keyframes. Use Gameplay for executable variables, input rules, transforms, menus and HUD, or configure an adventure, squad mission, or supported 3D physics bodies and input actions, then use Play game. The separate legacy Logic sequence previews local events; it is not an executable gameplay graph and cannot be exported as one.
4. Save project JSON as an editable backup. Export supported 3D gameplay with Web · ZIP and Export game, or follow the 2D HTML workflow above. A Desktop build project export needs a separate packaging step. Full native-engine projects and exact CAD still require the desktop runtime.

Reference capture from the CP106 desktop editor. Browser chrome and available tools differ.

Save, export and reopen

Every newly exported 2D and supported 3D game shows Created with Aether for two seconds of visible tab time before play. This also applies to WebGPU, WebAssembly and desktop build-project exports. Shared-web 0.10.146 fixes a missing splash in the shared 3D exporter; re-export older games to receive the fix. The splash is engine branding, not a digital signature; exported files remain editable.

1. Use the project-name menu → Save in this browser for local persistence. This is device/browser storage, not account sync.
2. Choose Export project JSON to download a portable project backup. Choose Open project JSON to restore that file. Keep backups before clearing browser data.
3. Use Export game for a playable HTML or ZIP package. Use GLB for visible scene geometry or a selected mesh; use OBJ for a selected mesh. Geometry-only exports omit gameplay, water, atmosphere and timeline animation.
4. To work with your AI on a cloud project, sign in through Connect MCP, then open MCP projects in Game Engine. Cloud projects and local browser saves are separate; save changes back to the cloud project to share them with your agent.
5. The mesh import tool accepts self-contained GLB or OBJ files up to 5 MB. Complex scenes can be demanding; start with a small asset.

Exact CAD on desktop

1. Exact solid CAD operations require the desktop runtime. The browser can display cached geometry from a saved CAD project, but it cannot evaluate exact CAD operations.
2. In the desktop modeling workspace, create dimensioned sketches or use a CAD recipe. Set units intentionally, then create solids with features such as extrude, loft and Boolean cut.
3. Validate the solid before export. STEP can preserve exact curves and assembly metadata. Edited meshes require watertightness checks and may export as faceted solids.
4. For print workflows, check dimensions and validation before exporting. A successful geometry export does not replace a fabrication or engineering review.

Reference capture from the CP106 desktop editor. Browser chrome and available tools differ.

Simulation is now a separate product

J Simulation has its own installer and study files. Existing .aesim studies can be opened there. Visit J Simulation.

Play a browser game or a native project

1. In Game Engine, choose Play game for the current supported browser game. This runs gameplay in the browser. Scene preview is a separate camera and local-event preview; it is not the game player.
2. For a desktop native-engine project, choose an existing native project or enter a name and select a playable demo: Verdant Relay (3D exploration), Skyline Courier (2D platformer), Vector Siege (first-person arena), or the collectible scene.
3. Choose Create and play. The native player opens separately. Use Stop in the editor header to return to editing.
4. To work with shared scene geometry, use Send scene to native engine and choose a destination project. Textures, water effects, animations and gameplay logic are not converted automatically.

The browser runs 2D games and supported 3D rule programs, adventure/squad games and native WASM rigid-body scenes. It exports standalone 2D HTML and static-host 3D ZIP packages. Native-only projects still use the matching desktop runtime.

Connecting the engine

Connect now opens a project chooser when no native project is selected. A shared editor project and a native .aproject are separate. If the engine still fails after selecting a project, keep the displayed error for diagnosis.

If something does not work

If the viewport is blank, enable WebGL and try reloading in a desktop browser. Export a JSON backup before clearing site data. Reduce scene complexity if interaction becomes slow.

The beta is best on a desktop-sized screen. Exact CAD and native build controls need the desktop runtime.