Prefabs and Reuse

This guide explains how to stop duplicating object setup across scenes.

What A Prefab Is

A prefab is a reusable object template saved as .prefab.php in Assets/Prefabs.

Use prefabs when:

the object appears in multiple scenes
the object is spawned at runtime
you want one place to tune default values

Create A Prefab

You can create prefabs in three common ways:

Assets -> Shift+A -> Prefab
sendama generate:prefab enemy-bullet
export existing scene object with Hierarchy -> Shift+E

Prefab edits are written immediately.

Example Prefab Metadata

<?php

return [
  'name' => 'EnemyBullet',
  'type' => 'GameObject',
  'transform' => [
    'position' => ['x' => 0, 'y' => 0],
  ],
  'renderer' => [
    'texture' => 'Textures/enemy-bullet.texture',
  ],
  'components' => [
    [
      'type' => Sendama\MyGame\Scripts\EnemyBullet::class,
      'data' => [
        'speed' => 8.0,
      ],
    ],
  ],
];

Place A Prefab In A Scene

Typical flow:

author prefab
place an instance in scene or reference it from another component
save scene with Ctrl+S
run sendama play

Runtime Reuse Pattern

Prefabs are ideal for:

bullets
enemies
pickups
breakable props

This lets scene data and runtime spawning share the same object shape.

Rename Safety

When renaming prefab files:

file rename applies immediately
scene references may update in memory
save scene to persist updated paths