Top-down arena

A complete small game as pure data — no setup module at all.

The reference for how far scene data alone can take you. scene.json declares kinematics, the move command, WASD input binding, and four sandboxed scripts (control, spawner, chaser, combat). There is no setup.mjs: an agent can produce this entire game by writing JSON, which is the engine's central design bet.

Play it

Play Top-down arena in your browser. Nothing to install.

Make it yours

The sample ships inside @bendyline/molen-tooling as a template, locked to the engine version you install. Copy it into a standalone npm project (no clone of the engine repository needed):

npx @bendyline/molen-tooling new my-top-down-arena --template top-down-arena
cd my-top-down-arena
npm install
npm run dev

The copy keeps the sample's scene, scripts, commands, checks and headless tests, plus its replay fixture; npm test runs them.

What it teaches

• Scene-data scripts
• Input bindings
• Kinematics
• Typed project registry

The scene at a glance

Read straight out of the sample's scene.json:

Format	molen/scene@3
Tick rate	30 Hz
Entities	6
Prefabs	0
Scene scripts	control, spawner, chase, combat
Commands	move
Declares	camera, input, physics

Run it headlessly

Every sample is also a headless fixture, so no browser is needed. From your copy:

npx molen validate scene.json
npx molen sim run scene.json --ticks 60 --hash
npx molen shot scene.json --ticks 60 --out top-down-arena.png

Source

examples/top-down-arena. A walkthrough README ships alongside it and in every copy.

Read next

• Scripting
• Projects & types