EN Create Rooms

Rooms

Français · Type: tutorial + reference · Audience: author · Context: engine repository, created project · Status: ready · Applies from: 4.3.0

A room is one file, rooms/<room>.ts: what it shows, what can be acted on, what happens. This page walks through a whole room, then lists its fields one by one. Where things stand is not here: it is the room's layout (geometry).

What you will write

One file per room in rooms/ (game/rooms/ in a created project, games/<id>/rooms/ in the engine repository), pure data: props and their states, actors, hotspots, exits, look lines, reactions (verb + target + condition + commands), talk topics, hints, an arrival script, the room's own scripts and listeners. Each room is listed in game.ts (rooms: [...]). In Claude Code, the repository's /new-room skill drafts one.

A room, step by step

import { defineRoom } from 'quest-n-click/content';

export default defineRoom({
  id: 'house',
  name: "Grandma's house",
  decor: 'decor/house',          // background image (see "Images")
  music: 'house',

  // Props: images placed on the background, which can change state.
  props: {
    lamp:     { name: 'lamp', states: { off: 'house/r1c1', on: 'house/r1c2' } },
    armchair: { name: 'armchair', states: { full: 'house/armchair_full', empty: 'house/armchair' } },
    table:    { img: 'house/side_table', name: 'side table' },
    stool:    { name: 'stool', states: { shelf: 'house/r1c5', pulled: 'house/r1c6' } },
    talkie:   { name: 'walkie-talkie', img: 'items/r1c1', visible: { not: { has: 'talkie' } } },
  },

  // Characters present.
  actors: {
    grandma: { char: 'grandma', facing: 'left' },
    cat: { char: 'cat', pose: 'sleep', visible: '!cat_awake' },
  },

  // Clickable zones of the background itself (nothing is drawn, only the zone counts).
  hotspots: {
    shelf:    { name: 'shelf' },
    cupboard: { name: 'cupboard' },
    door:     { name: 'garden door' },
  },

  // Look. A list = a different line each time, cycling.
  look: {
    shelf: 'The shelf. Too high without a step up.',
    cupboard: ['An old cupboard.', 'Still an old cupboard.', 'Someday I will check what is behind it.'],
  },

  // Written reactions. See "Reactions".
  on: [
    { id: 'pull.stool', verb: 'pull', a: 'stool', if: { prop: ['stool', 'shelf'] }, do: [
      { prop: ['stool', 'pulled'] }, 'There. A step up.',
    ] },
    { id: 'tie.rope', verb: 'use', a: 'rope', b: ['hook', 'bucket'], do: [
      { lose: 'rope' }, { set: 'tied' },
      'Tied. One end on the hook, the other on the bucket.',
      { id: 'house.open-door.l-careful-with-that', say: ['grandma', 'Careful with that bucket, dear.'] },   // the id: translations and the voice clip follow it
    ] },
  ],

  // Talk topics (2 to 4). "Bye" is added to every menu, "Hug?" too when the game sets globalTalk.hug.
  talk: {
    grandma: [
      { id: 'ask.basket', topic: "Grandma, what's in the basket?", do: [{ say: ['grandma', 'A surprise for everyone.'] }] },
      { id: 'ask.market', topic: 'Can I go to the market alone?', do: [
        { say: ['grandma', 'Alone?! With your scarf, your hat, your water bottle…'] },
        { say: ['grandma', '… Fine. Back by ten.'] },
      ] },
    ],
  },

  // Hints from the hint item (the walkie-talkie): the first one whose `until` condition is still false is given.
  hints: [
    { until: { has: 'rope' }, lines: ['Khhh… the armchair… eats everything.', 'Khhh… check the side of the armchair.'] },
    { until: 'tied', lines: ['Khhh… a rope… it ties to things.'] },
  ],

  // On every entry into the room.
  onEnter: [
    { once: [ 'The living room. Home base.' ], id: 'arrival.first' },
  ],
});

This is an excerpt of a larger game: the hook, the bucket, the rope item and the cat character are declared elsewhere. In the engine repository, room files import defineRoom from @engine/core/define or from quest-n-click/content; both resolve to the same function, which only types the object.

The same kind of room, complete and checked by the validator: a lamp, a stool to pull, Grandma with one topic, a hint, and its layout.

{
  "room": {
    "id": "house",
    "name": "Grandma's house",
    "decor": "decor/house",
    "props": {
      "lamp": { "name": "lamp", "states": { "off": "house/r1c1", "on": "house/r1c2" } },
      "table": { "img": "house/side_table" },
      "stool": { "name": "stool", "states": { "shelf": "house/r1c5", "pulled": "house/r1c6" } }
    },
    "actors": { "grandma": { "char": "grandma", "facing": "left" } },
    "hotspots": { "shelf": { "name": "shelf" }, "door": { "name": "garden door" } },
    "look": {
      "lamp": "An old lamp.",
      "stool": "A stool, under the shelf.",
      "grandma": "Grandma, knitting.",
      "shelf": "The shelf. Too high without a step up.",
      "door": ["The garden door.", "Still the garden door."]
    },
    "on": [
      { "id": "pull.stool", "verb": "pull", "a": "stool", "if": { "prop": ["stool", "shelf"] },
        "do": [{ "prop": ["stool", "pulled"] }, "There. A step up."] },
      { "id": "use.lamp", "verb": "use", "a": "lamp", "if": { "prop": ["lamp", "off"] },
        "do": [{ "prop": ["lamp", "on"] }, "Light."] }
    ],
    "talk": {
      "grandma": [
        { "id": "ask.basket", "topic": "Grandma, what's in the basket?",
          "do": [{ "say": ["grandma", "A surprise for everyone."] }] }
      ]
    },
    "hints": [{ "id": "house.stool", "until": { "prop": ["stool", "pulled"] }, "lines": ["The stool. Pull it."] }],
    "onEnter": [{ "once": ["The living room. Home base."], "id": "arrival.first" }]
  },
  "layout": {
    "walk": { "area": [[20, 300], [620, 300], [630, 395], [10, 395]] },
    "scale": [[300, 0.8], [395, 1]],
    "entries": { "default": [320, 360] },
    "hotspots": { "shelf": { "rect": [60, 80, 120, 60] }, "door": { "rect": [520, 150, 80, 200], "approach": [540, 360] } },
    "props": { "lamp": { "x": 200, "y": 330, "h": 60 }, "table": { "x": 260, "y": 340, "h": 40 }, "stool": { "x": 120, "y": 360, "h": 30 } },
    "actors": { "grandma": { "x": 420, "y": 350 } }
  },
  "characters": {
    "grandma": { "name": "Grandma", "color": "#f0c040", "height": 120, "kind": ["person"], "sprites": { "idle": ["grandma/idle"] } }
  }
}

The fields of a room

Field	What	Notes
id	the room's id	used by goto, exits, the map, { room } and { visited }
name	its display name
decor	the background image (a manifest id)	images
description	what the background shows, for the art prompts (npm run prompts)	not shown in the game
furniture	furniture drawn on its own sheet, so the engine can depth-sort it	read by npm run prompts only
music	the room's music track	music
props	images placed on the background, with states	below
actors	the characters present	below
hotspots	clickable zones of the background	below
exits	ways out, declared	exits
look	a line per thing, or a list that cycles	below
on	the written reactions	reactions
talk	conversation topics per actor	dialogues
hints	what the hint item says here	below
onEnter	commands run on every entry	below
scripts, events	the room's own scripts and listeners	scripts and events
hero	false for a room without the hero (a pure cutscene)
stage, renderer	layers, lights, particles, walk links; the painter	the stage, geometry
anchors	where Remix may place an item	Remix

Props

A prop is an image placed on the background. img gives one image, states one image per state (initial picks the first state, else the first key); the validator refuses a prop with neither. A prop with a name is interactive: it can be tapped, looked at, acted on. A prop without a name is decoration (table, chair, stall_left): use it to dress the scene. visible shows it only while a condition holds; kind gives it kinds for the reactions by kind; defaultVerb names the verb of a double tap; anims holds its animations (staging). Its position, and one per state if it moves, are in the layout.

Change a prop's state with { prop: ['stool', 'pulled'] }; test it with { prop: ['stool', 'pulled'] } in a condition. 'room.prop' reaches a prop of another room.

Actors

actors: { grandma: { char: 'grandma', facing: 'left' } } puts a character of the game in the room. pose is a lasting pose of its sprite sheet (sleep), facing its side, visible a condition, name a display name other than the character's, interactive: false makes it living scenery, neither clickable nor named (characters). The validator wants every actor placed in the layout, and warns about a person with no conversation topics.

Hotspots

A hotspot is a zone of the background with a name and nothing drawn: hotspots: { shelf: { name: 'shelf' } }. Its zone (a rectangle or a polygon) and its approach point are in the layout. A hotspot also takes kind, visible, defaultVerb and onTap (reactions). For a drawn thing that changes, use a prop with states instead (characters: multiple states).

Look

look: { shelf: 'One line.' }, or a list: a different line each time, cycling. Anything visible should have one: npm run validate warns about a named thing with no look line (the fallback answers instead). An inventory item's look line is on the item (items). A line can be { id, text } so its translation follows the id.

Hints

hints: [{ until, lines }]: talking to the hint item (hintItem in game.ts, the walkie-talkie of the demo) gives the first hint whose until condition is still false, its lines said in order by hintVoice (or the hero). When every hint is satisfied, the talk fallback answers. { hint: true } gives the current hint from a script. The validator warns about a room that has puzzles but no hints.

The arrival script

onEnter runs on every entry into the room, after the room is shown. Wrap what should happen only the first time in { once: [...], id }. A condition on a flag set by a listener lets a room react to something that happened elsewhere (flags, variables and events).

Rules of thumb

Element	Rule of thumb
Hotspots + named props + actors	8 to 15 per room. Fewer feels empty, more feels like pixel hunting. The demo's house has 11 named things.
Props with states	Only for things the story changes (armchair, tank, pantry).
Decor props	No name, not clickable (table, chair, stall_left).
Exits	One obvious way out, at the edge of the screen, named after where it goes (back_door: "Back to Grandma's house.").

• Logical space: 640 × 400, origin top-left, characters placed by their feet.
• The floor band. The walk area sits in the lower part of the background; floor (default 395) is its bottom. Keep it free of drawn furniture, so props and actors stand on it.
• Character heights are in units of that space: in the demo, Pixel is 36, Grandma 120, Grandpa (seated) 100. A human around 110 to 125 next to a 640-wide room reads right on a phone.
• Approach points: set them in the editor (?edit=<room>), so the hero walks next to a thing, not onto it. validate reports a walk target with no geometry.
• Exits are clickable things, not invisible edges. A locked exit still answers: the demo's house window says "Not yet. First, the key. Grandma knows things." until the garden is unlocked.
• One checkpoint per room in game.checkpoints, with the inventory, flags and props the player would have. The demo has house, garden, market, finale. Open ?dev&at=market to test that room alone.

Why these numbers, and how a room serves the puzzles: puzzle design.

Writing the rooms of a whole game

One file per room, pure data, then check:

# in the engine repository (in a created project: npx quest-n-click validate, npx quest-n-click solve)
npm run validate          # broken ids, missing look lines, unused flags
npm run solve             # a way to finish the game
npm run solve -- --prove  # it can always be finished, from every reachable state

What a proof covers, and what it does not: what the solver proves.

Where to go next

• Geometry: placing the room. Reactions, commands, conditions.
• Characters, items, dialogues, exits.

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