Editor Workflow

This guide explains how the Sendama editor is structured and how to move through the most common authoring loop.

Mental Model

The editor has three main jobs:

• manage scene hierarchy and scene metadata
• manage project assets such as prefabs, textures, tile maps, scripts, and events
• inspect and edit object, scene, prefab, and file properties

The usual loop is:

1. select something in Hierarchy or Assets
2. inspect and edit it in Inspector
3. place or preview it in Main
4. save when the change affects a scene

Panel Overview

Hierarchy

Shows the active scene and its object tree.

Use it to:

• inspect the scene root
• add objects
• select objects
• duplicate or delete objects
• export objects as prefabs
• reorder objects
• parent and unparent objects through drag and drop

Important hierarchy behaviors:

• dragging an object onto another object parents it under that object
• dragging an object onto the scene row makes it a root object
• dragging an object onto empty hierarchy space also unparents it back to the root

Assets

Shows the project asset tree rooted at Assets or assets.

Use it to:

• browse folders and files
• create scenes, prefabs, scripts, events, textures, and tile maps
• inspect files
• open textures and tile maps in the Sprite tab
• open prefabs in the Inspector

Main

This is the work surface and has three tabs:

• Scene
• Game
• Sprite

Console

Shows the current project logs:

• logs/debug.log
• logs/error.log

It is most useful while playtesting or when you want to confirm that a recent edit is producing the behavior you expect.

Inspector

Shows editable controls for the current target.

It can inspect:

• the scene root
• hierarchy objects
• prefab files
• files and folders in the asset tree

The inspector automatically chooses suitable controls for common value types such as:

• text
• numbers
• booleans
• paths
• prefab references
• Vector2 values

Main Panel Modes

Scene Tab

The scene tab is where you visually select and place visible objects.

It has three modes:

• Shift+Q: select mode
• Shift+W: move mode
• Shift+E: pan mode

In select mode:

• arrow keys cycle through visible objects
• Enter reloads the selected object in Inspector

In move mode:

• arrow keys update the selected object's position

In pan mode:

• arrow keys move the viewport without changing the object's data

Game Tab

The game tab is the play-oriented editor state. Use Shift+5 to toggle it.

This is useful for:

• keeping the editor in its play layout
• auto-refreshing the console panel
• monitoring logs while the game runs elsewhere

Treat it as a support view, not as the main game runtime surface.

Sprite Tab (a.k.a. Sprite Lab)

The sprite tab edits:

• .texture files
• .tmap files

Open one by selecting it in Assets and pressing Enter.

• Shift+2 opens the character picker, which lets you insert Unicode characters by name or code point. It is especially useful for pixel art that uses special symbols.

Core Shortcuts

Global

• Shift+1: cycle panel focus
• Shift+5: toggle play state
• Ctrl+S: save the active scene
• Ctrl+C: quit the editor

Hierarchy

• Enter: inspect selected item
• Shift+A: add object
• Shift+D: duplicate selected object
• Shift+E: export selected object as prefab
• Delete: delete selected object
• Q: select mode
• W: move mode for hierarchy reordering

Assets

• Enter: inspect asset or open it in the correct surface
• Shift+A: create asset
• Delete: delete selected asset

Sprite

• arrow keys: move the cursor
• printable character: draw
• Space: draw a blank cell
• Backspace: erase current cell
• Shift+2: open the character picker
• Ctrl+Z: undo
• Ctrl+Y: redo
• Shift+R: reset to the loaded state

Save And Persistence Rules

Scene work and asset work do not save the same way.

Saved On Ctrl+S

• scene root edits
• hierarchy additions and deletions
• hierarchy parenting changes
• transform edits made against scene objects
• scene object component edits
• scene path updates caused by asset rename

Saved Immediately

• prefab edits
• texture and tile map drawing
• file renames
• file deletions
• exported prefab files

A Reliable Session Pattern

1. Select the scene root and set up scene-level values.
2. Add or select objects from Hierarchy.
3. Edit exact values in Inspector.
4. Place them visually in Main -> Scene.
5. Create or update related assets in Assets.
6. Press Ctrl+S when scene data changed.
7. Use sendama play for a full runtime check.

The next guide, Scenes, Prefabs, and Assets, goes deeper into the content model behind that workflow.