Game Configuration

What game configuration is#

A project carries two small configuration files at its root, and "game configuration" is everything that ends up in them:

• game_config.json is the player-facing file. It is packed into the data pack and uploaded alongside every build, so whatever it says is what the game ships with: title, description, developer, website, genre, tags, the starting map and the spawn tile.
• project.vastopia is the editor-facing file. It records the same starting map and spawn tile for the editor's own use, plus things a player never sees: the template the project came from, which gameplay systems are enabled, the platform game id, branding paths, export options, and the machine-specific server and client checkouts.

The layout of both files is documented in Project structure. This page is about the places in the editor where you change them.

There is no single "game config" screen. The settings are spread across the surfaces where they make sense:

The Game Settings tab#

Game Settings is a button in the top bar of the main window. It is also the screen the project hub opens when you choose Open Game Settings from a project card's menu. Every change on it is saved the moment you make it; the footer reads "Changes are saved automatically." and flips to "Saved" after each write.

World#

Selecting a map writes its name (just the folder name, not a path) to starting_map in game_config.json and to [game] starting_map in project.vastopia. Changing a spinner writes start_x and start_z to both files in the same way. game_config.json is treated as the authoritative copy; the project.vastopia values are a mirror the editor uses itself, for example to pick which map's thumbnail to show on the project card in the hub.

To set where players start:

1. Click Game Settings in the top bar.
2. Under World, choose the map in Starting map. If you just created the map, click Refresh first.
3. Set Spawn X (tile) and Spawn Z (tile) to the tile the player should appear on. Use the Map Editor's Regions mode to read tile coordinates off the grid (see Regions and elements).
4. Confirm the footer says "Saved". No separate save step is needed.

Development#

The Development section holds two folder paths used by Dev Test and Play Local (see Test your game):

Each has a Browse... button, and a hint line under the server path tells you whether the folder checks out: "Server project found", "Folder not found: ...", "RealmServer.csproj not found here — point at the Server/ folder of the server repo", or "Not set — Dev Test can't launch the local server without it."

These two paths describe your machine, not your game. They are stored only in project.vastopia ([server] project_path and [client] project_path), never in game_config.json, and they are re-stamped with the local checkouts whenever a project is created or downloaded from the cloud. New projects are pre-filled from the editor-wide defaults under Settings ▸ Editor ▸ Source Checkouts, which auto-detect a sibling checkout the first time.

Identity and store listing#

The text a player reads about your game is set on the New Project page and shipped in game_config.json:

• Basics step: the game name becomes title. A logo chosen here is copied to assets/branding/game_icon.<ext> and recorded as [branding] icon_path in project.vastopia (with icon_cdn_url left empty until it is uploaded).
• Presentation step, Store Listing card: a description ("What is your game about?"), a Genre dropdown (Adventure, RPG, MMO, Survival, Sandbox, Action, Puzzle, Social, Other), Tags (comma separated), Developer and Website. These land in description, genre, tags (as an array), developer and website. version keeps the template's 1.0.0.

After the project exists, the platform listing players browse is edited in the Creator Dashboard, which also covers cover art, screenshots and the loading screen: Game details and branding. The file in the project is edited with the update_game_config MCP tool or by hand.

Tabs and HUD#

The in-game tab bar and the HUD's stat orbs are game configuration too, but they are authored visually:

• The Tabs step of the New Project page lays out the two rows of tabs and their per-row width and spacing, written to assets/data/tab_config.json. Tabs belonging to a gameplay system you switch off are removed from the file; the inventory, equipment and skills tabs are built into the client and always stay. See Tabs.
• The Presentation step's HUD Stat Bars card picks which orbs sit beside the minimap: Health, Stamina, Mana and Energy, with Health and Stamina on by default. The choice is written as progress_bars in assets/data/map_area_config.json, leaving the template's bottom buttons alone. See Game screen and HUD.

Both can be changed later in the GUI editor's Game Screen mode, which edits the same two files.

Gameplay Systems#

Which gameplay systems a project ships is decided on the Systems step of the New Project page and applied while the template is copied: the files of a system you left off are never in the new project. The editor has no screen for revisiting that choice afterwards. The result is recorded in project.vastopia [systems] enabled and in server/data/systems.json, which is what stops a game server running a module the project no longer carries. The full list of systems, what each owns, and the server-enforced ones are on Templates and gameplay systems.

Project settings#

Settings ▸ Project Settings... opens the editor's settings dialog on its Project tab (the same dialog also holds the Editor and Keybinds tabs). With no project open the tab only says "Open a project to edit project settings." Otherwise it has three sections:

Changes here apply immediately, the same as the Game Settings tab.

Reference: what lands where#

game_config.json#

project.vastopia#

With AI (MCP)#

• update_game_config - edit title, description, version, developer, website or starting_map in game_config.json; only the fields you pass change, and dryRun previews the diff.
• set_starting_map - set the starting map, validating that it exists and syncing project.vastopia [game] starting_map with game_config.json.
• get_project_config - read every section of project.vastopia.
• set_project_paths - change [paths] entries (maps_dir, data_dir, interface_dir, ui_dir) without touching the rest of the file.