s&box/field-guide
 field-guide / guides
8 methods
method genre

Guides

Fixes answer “my thing is broken.” Guides answer “how do I build this system properly, in what order?” — long-form build-order runbooks that deep-link into the fix layer instead of duplicating it.

Agent test harness — MCP-driven in-editor playtest automation

Tooling & environment · AI-assisted workflow

The architecture for letting an agent (or CI) drive the live s&box editor: compile-gate, spawn, play, inject input, read telemetry, screenshot, assert, and gate a merge on the numbers — with no human at the keyboard.

#testing#mcp#agent-workflow#tooling

Delta-log save for deterministic procedural worlds

Writing gameplay

When the world is deterministically generated from a spec, a save is {version, spec, edits[]} — never a geometry snapshot. Load = validate → regenerate → replay edits. Same format works for save, co-op edit sync, and late-join replay.

#save-load#determinism#procedural#networking

Networking methods — spec replication + host-authority patterns

Writing gameplay

Two proven architectures on top of the engine networking primitives: replicate the generator spec (not the geometry) for deterministic worlds, and retrofit local-only gameplay systems to host-authority without breaking single-player.

#networking#multiplayer#host-authority#determinism

Parkour movement — the trace-mover traversal kit

Writing gameplay

The method for feel-first traversal on a kinematic trace-based character: coyote-time jumps, double jump, mantle, slide, wall run, node climbing, and rope swinging — plus the ground-contact quality work that makes all of it read smooth.

#movement#parkour#character-controller#gameplay

Part-kit assets — manifest-driven multi-part assembly

Getting art in · Writing gameplay

The higher-order asset layer for kits of parts (vehicles, procedural buildings): the generator emits a manifest next to the meshes, code consumes ONLY the manifest, pivots sit at joints, collision comes from metadata, and assembly is transactional.

#assets#pipeline#vehicles#assembly

Runtime terrain meshing — chunked greedy voxel/heightfield terrain

Writing gameplay · Making it perform

The method for large runtime-generated terrain in s&box: a persistent cell grid as the single source of truth, chunked greedy meshing (tops + skirts), collision decoupled from render grain, palette-atlas UVs, and dirty-chunk remesh for a live terrain brush.

#terrain#meshing#runtime-mesh#procedural

Standing up an agent-buildable s&box project

Getting set up · AI-assisted workflow

The build order for a fresh s&box project a coding agent can actually work in without corrupting itself on day one — skeleton, globals, compile gate, and the ownership discipline that keeps parallel agents from clobbering each other.

#setup#agent-workflow#tooling

Vehicle physics — the slip-curve raycast-wheel stack

Writing gameplay

The proven architecture for driving games in s&box: raycast wheels on a single chassis Rigidbody, substepped slip-ratio/slip-angle tire physics with peaked curves, a torque-curve drivetrain, layered assists, and arcade dials on top of a sim core.

#vehicles#physics#tuning#gameplay