This guide is designed to help creators build engaging, smooth-running, and visually polished games on Astrocade. It is divided into three main sections: Visual Guide, Tips & Tricks, and Performance Improvements.

Getting Started Tutorials

Absolute Beginner Creation Tutorial

Looking to get started as fast as humanly possible? Check out our absolute beginner tutorial to learn the basics in a matter of minutes:

Creating Your First Astrocade Game in Six Easy Steps

Top Creator Tutorial

Want to make games like our top creators? Learn every step it takes to make games that look, feel, and play great.

Creating an Astrocade Game from Start to Finish

Creating 3D Games

If you want to experiment with the frontier of 3D creation on Astrocade, check out this overview.

Making Procedurally-Defined 3D Games in Astrocade

Visual Guide

<aside> 👉🏽

Detailed Doc: https://www.notion.so/astroblox/Astrocade-Game-Design-Guide-2636eca6308f80d091daced341a29cba?source=copy_link

</aside>

TL;DR (from Astrocade Game Design Guide)

• Backgrounds: Replace photo-like backdrops with tiling ground textures (no seams). Ensure the ground scrolls exactly with the foreground.
• Scale & spacing: Make core actors larger and use the screen boldly. Tune relative scales (e.g., characters vs. trees) and space objects to avoid overlap.
• Orientation & camera feel: Disable odd rotation; flip sprites horizontally on direction change. Keep scroll speeds matched across layers.