Documentation for TBE - The Button Engine

1. TBE is an RPG engine

The Button Engine [TBE] provides a data-model and implements a runtime for RPG creation in Unity.

  • It is aimed at Desktop. (the Techdemo is also proven to work with web deployment)

  • It is NOT a "no coding" solution.

When creating a game engine, one quickly gets to a point where the solution is extremely opinionated.

To counter this, TBE only provides modular, rather low level features that I think are usable in many different scenarios. Also, the TBE Data Model is heavily inspired by the Data Model of Starcraft2 which is production-proven to be suitable for a wide range of game scenarios.

Another philosophy is to use as much functionality from Unity itself as is possible and practical.

2. Disclaimers:

in-game/scenery images in this documentation are taken from my own (work in progress) game. They contain assets that are not part of TBE. Please allow this little bit of marketing.
If I will ever stop or significantly slow down development of this engine before it is feature rich and polished, then I will not hesitate to open source it.

3. Features:

  • Data Model: An entry point to reading about the TBE Data model is the Data Base Model.

  • Core Data: When using TBE, users can - but do not have to - configure the CoreData to their liking.

  • Runtime: The TBE Runtime is designed to run what we call a simulation of a scenario.

  • Uses Unity Localization.

3.1. Non Features for Version 1

See: Not Yet Implemented [NYI]

4. Dependencies:

(For details also see the TBE Assembly Definition)

4.1. Required Paid Assets:

TBE depends on the following PAID Unity Asset(s) which you must own to use TBE:

  • Odin Inspector

4.2. Required Free Assets:

TBE depends on the following FREE Unity Asset(s) which you must own to use TBE:

  • DOTween (HOTween v2)

4.3. Required Free/Open source material:

4.4. Required Unity Packages:

TBE depends on the following Unity packages that are not installed by default:

  • Cinemachine 3

  • Localization

  • Input System

  • TextMeshPro

  • AI Navigation

  • Behavior

4.5. Integrated:

TBE brings its own version of Quick Outline 🔗 and has called it Hoverable Outline

4.6. Optional Integrations:

Quantum Console:

TBE has optional integration for Quantum Console.

To use it:

  • Import Quantum console into your project

  • add the Scripting define symbol: TBE_QFSW.

  • Then, when in play mode, press ESCAPE to show and hide the console. TBE does not (yet?) provide any Console commands, but you can create your own if you want.