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s&box is a game engine and platform that may seem large at first, but is built to be approachable. Follow the steps below to get up and running quickly.

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Install s&box

1

Get access

Head to sbox.game/give-me-that, log in with your Steam account, and click the button to add s&box to your Steam library. Access is available to everyone through the developer preview.
2

Install both apps

Open Steam and navigate to the Library tab. Search for s&box and install both:
  • s&box — the game itself
  • s&box editor — the development environment
3

Launch the editor

You can launch the editor in any of the following ways:
  • Launch s&box editor from your Steam library
  • Run sbox-dev.exe directly from its install folder
  • Open a .sbproj file, which will launch the editor and load that project automatically

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Explore Testbed

Before you start building, take a few minutes to play Testbed — the built-in showcase game that demonstrates core engine features.
1

Launch s&box (not the editor)

Start the s&box game from Steam. On the main menu, find and join the game called testbed.
2

Browse the scenes

When you enter Testbed you’ll see a menu of scenes. Each scene demonstrates a different engine feature. Click any scene to enter it, explore it, and press Escape to return to the main menu. Hold Escape to exit the game entirely.
What you just experienced: the menu uses the s&box UI system, which is HTML-like with C# code — similar to Blazor. When you clicked a scene, you entered a Scene, which is a JSON file on disk. Scenes load and switch near-instantly, which is a core design goal of the engine.You can download the Testbed source code on GitHub. Open its .sbproj file in the editor to browse and edit the scenes in the Asset Browser.

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Create your first project

The best way to learn is to build something yourself.
1

Open the editor and create a project

Launch the s&box editor. On the welcome screen, click New Project and select Minimal Game from the project templates.
2

Create a GameObject

You’ll start with an empty scene. Right-click the hierarchy tree on the left side of the editor and select an object type to create your first GameObject.
3

Add a Component

Select your new GameObject. In the Inspector panel on the right, click Add Component and type a name for a new component. The file will open in Visual Studio.
4

Read player input

Use the Input documentation to learn how to read key presses. Update your component to change WorldPosition based on which keys are pressed.
5

Control the camera

Once movement works, try controlling the camera as well. You can parent the camera to your GameObject, or set its position directly:
Scene.Camera.WorldPosition = myPosition;
You’ve now learned the fundamentals of GameObjects and Components — the building blocks of every game made in s&box.

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Get help

If you get stuck or something doesn’t make sense, ask for help: The more questions you ask, the better the documentation and engine become.