Your First Project

A Lumina project is separate from the engine source. Each project is a small C++ module that links against the pre-built engine and loads at runtime. You do not copy template files by hand. The editor scaffolds the project, fills in its name and identifiers, and generates its Visual Studio solution for you.

The project browser

When the editor starts without a project, it opens the Open Project browser. This is what you see the first time you run the engine from Installation. From here you can create a new project, reopen a recent one, or open the bundled Sandbox sample.

Tip

Just want to look around first? Click Sandbox under Examples. It is the engine’s sample project and loads immediately, with no project creation needed.

Create a project

1. Click “Create New Project”

   This opens the New Project dialog.

2. Pick the template and name the project

   The only template is Blank Project (C++): an empty C++ module with Lua scripting wired up.

   Enter a project name. It becomes your module name and a C++ identifier, so it must start with a letter or underscore and contain only letters, digits, underscores, or hyphens (64 characters max). For example, MyGame.

3. Choose a location

   Set the folder the project will be created in, then click Create Project.

   The editor copies the Blank template into <Location>/<Name>, fills in the project name, a new GUID, and your engine path, then runs premake to generate <Name>.sln. Watch the editor’s output log for progress.

4. Open the solution

   When the Project Created dialog reports the solution is ready, click Open Solution. The engine editor closes and <Name>.sln opens in Visual Studio.

Build and run your project

1. Press F5 in your project’s solution

   The configuration defaults to Development and the platform to Editor.

   Note

   The first build of a project also builds the matching engine libraries if they are missing. That is a one-time cost handled automatically by a prebuild step; later builds reuse the cached libraries.

2. The editor launches with your project loaded

   F5 compiles your game module into a DLL and starts the editor with your project open. Breakpoints in your game module hit as soon as it loads.

From now on, F5 in your project’s solution is your full build-and-run loop. The engine’s own Lumina.sln is only needed to work on the engine itself.

Tip

Rider users: the template ships .run/Launch Editor.run.xml and .run/Launch Editor (Debug).run.xml. Pick one from the configuration dropdown next to the Run button.

Project layout

MyGame/
├── MyGame.lproject          Project descriptor (name, GUID, version, plugins)
├── premake5.lua             Build script, calls LuminaGameProject()
├── GenerateProject.bat      Regenerate the .sln after adding or removing source files
├── .run/                    Rider run configurations
├── Config/
│   └── GameSettings.json    Per-project settings (startup maps, Lua module)
├── Source/                  Your C++ module (MyGameModule.cpp/.h, MyGameAPI.h)
├── Game/
│   ├── Content/             Assets, mounted as /Game in the editor
│   └── Scripts/             Lua / Luau scripts
└── Tools/
    └── ReflectionRunner.bat Reflection prebuild step, runs automatically

A generated Intermediates/Reflection/ folder appears after the first build. It holds generated reflection code and should not be edited.

The editor

When the editor opens with your project, the main panels are:

• Scene Outliner lists every entity in the active world.
• Viewport is the 3D view of the world.
• Details shows the components on the selected entity. Every field is generated from the reflection system.
• Content Browser shows your project’s assets from Game/Content/. Toggle it with Ctrl+Space.
• Output Log shows engine and script logging. Toggle it with Ctrl+J.

Viewport controls

Action	Control
Fly the camera	Hold right mouse, then WASD
Adjust fly speed	Mouse wheel while flying
Frame the selection	F
Select an entity	Click it in the viewport or outliner
Add / range select	Ctrl-click / Shift-click
Move / rotate / scale gizmo	W / E / R (Spacebar cycles)
Toggle world / local space	X
Undo / redo	Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y

Use the toolbar’s Play or Simulate buttons to run the world. Simulate runs physics and scripts in place; Play duplicates the world and switches to it. Stop returns to the editor world.

Iterating

Change	What to do
Edit a .cpp or .h	Press F5. Visual Studio rebuilds the DLL and relaunches the editor.
Add a new .cpp or .h	Run GenerateProject.bat, then F5. Premake globs sources at generate time.
Edit a Lua script	Save the file. Scripts hot-reload in the running editor.
Import an asset	Drop the file into Game/Content/. It appears in the Content Browser.

Note

Prefer the command line? You can also scaffold a project by copying Templates/Blank/ yourself and running its GenerateProject.bat. The editor’s Create New Project does exactly this, so it is the recommended path.

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You have a project building and the editor running. Continue to the Manual to learn about entities, components, and scripting.