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The editor in the browser

· 2 min read
Dragos
Balaur

The editor is a Balaur project, and the engine compiles to WebAssembly. So the editor on the web is the same module the examples play on, with a canvas under it and somewhere to keep the files.

What landed​

  • Play. The examples run in the tab — WebGPU, nothing to install.
  • The editor. balaurengine.org/editor opens on one of them, or on a folder from your machine, and gives the project back as a zip.
  • Projects that survive a refresh. Kept in IndexedDB, textures and sounds included, rather than filling a localStorage quota.
  • Export in a tab. A .bpak, and a web bundle zipped beside the module the page is already running. Native targets still need a linker.
  • A lazy shell. The browser editor spent 7.2 ms of every frame rebuilding a shell nobody had touched. ui::set_lazy runs the pass only when input, a log line, a reload or an animation asks; an idle frame is 4.8 ms now.

What is not in the tab​

An account and a project kept on Gamend rather than in one browser, native export — a linker and a signing toolchain — and the debugger. PLAN-web-editor.md has the order. Build size is what the module weighs and how to make a smaller one.