Get smart!

Whether you are new to Defold or a seasoned code ninja, the learn center is your go-to place for all things Defold.

Tutorials

Our tutorials section is the perfect place to start from if you are new to Defold game development.

Side scroller

This tutorial is intended to give a taste of what making games in Defold is about. It goes through creating a new project, based on a simple side-scroller. You will then learn how to tweak the game to make it more fun. Finally you will add a new game object. The tutorial should only take about 10 minutes.

Walking astronaut

In this beginner's tutorial you learn how to capture player input and make a character move and animate. You will also learn about game objects, components and collections.

Movement

In this beginner's tutorial you learn how to make realistic movement using vectors and some simple vector algebra.

Manuals

Learn from our extensive collection of manuals. The manuals cover everything from basic setup and core concepts to advanced topics such as shader programming.

Installing Defold

Installation of the Defold editor is quite straightforward. Download the version built for your operating system, extract it and copy the software to a suitable location.

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Creating a project

You can easily create a new project from within the Defold editor. You also have the option to open an existing project already located on your computer.

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Building Blocks

At the core of Defold's design are a few concepts that are very important to get a good grip on. This manual explains what the building blocks of Defold consist of.

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More manuals

Videos

The Defold video tutorials are a great starting point if you are a visual learner.

How does Messaging and Addressing Systems work in Defold?

Unfolding Defold

This video explains the Messaging and Addressing system in Defold.

Defold Building Blocks - objects and components, editor and lifecycle overview

Unfolding Defold

This time we just familiarize ourselves with Defold - it's core principles and basic building blocks - game objects, collections of those and components.

Defold Components - generic overview, beginners tutorial

Unfolding Defold

This is a generic guide for Defold beginners and enthusiasts, but also for anyone interested in what components are used in video games.

Examples, API reference and FAQ

Learn from code samples, our extensive collection of manuals or browse the API reference.

Examples

A selection of code samples and examples to learn from.

API Reference

Reference documentation to all Defold Lua and C++ extension APIs.

FAQ

The FAQ contains the answers and solutions to common questions and problems.

Examples by Britzl

A large selection of Defold examples and games.

Games by Ben James

More than 20 complete Defold games with source code.

Examples by Jcash

A couple of Defold example projects.

Examples by JhonnyG

Misc rendering related Defold example projects.

Community

Learn from others, share your own knowledge, showcase your games and interact with the development team.

Forum

Stuck? Talk to the Defold team and our great Defold developer community.

Discord

Want to chat with other Defold users? Join our Discord server to start chatting!.

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