Choose Your Path

You do not need to learn every Portals tool before you begin. Pick the path that matches the result you want, finish one small version, and add more only when it helps the player.

I want to make a place players can explore

Start with a template, then use Build mode to place scenery, set the player start, and shape a route through the world. You can make a good first experience with standard items and settings alone.

Go to Build Your Game.

I want something to happen when a player acts

Use Interactive Studio. A task listens for a trigger such as a player entering an area or clicking an item, then runs one or more effects such as showing an object, playing a sound, updating a score, or moving a player.

Start with Interactive Studio, then build one small interaction with User Enter Trigger and a visible effect such as Show Object.

I want a game loop: collect, score, finish

Use a value for the score, update it from the thing the player interacts with, and connect a leaderboard when you want players to see results. Keep the first loop short enough that you can complete it yourself in a few minutes.

See Leaderboard, Update Value, and Post Score to Leaderboard.

I want my own models, images, sound, or generated assets

Bring prepared assets into your creator library, then add them to a game from Build mode. The web AI Lab can help create assets for a project; review each result before you use it in a published game.

Go to Assets & AI.

I want a custom HUD or more advanced behavior

First make the interaction work in Interactive Studio. Then move to Code & Custom UI when you need behavior that the visual tools do not cover. The JavaScript guides explain the supported bridge functions and the limits of the in-game runtime.

Go to Code & Custom UI.

I want to write my own game in HTML and JavaScript

Build a web game instead of a room. Portals hosts the project and supplies the signed-in player, saved progress, leaderboards, multiplayer and voice, Coin products, and Guardian avatars through its SDK, so the game does not need a backend of its own.

Go to Web Games.

I want to automate a creator workflow

The MCP and API are for workflows outside the game: managing content, working with room data, and connecting approved tools. They are not required for normal building.

Start at MCP & API or read MCP and API help.

I am stuck

Do not keep changing several settings at once. Reproduce the issue in the smallest possible setup, note what you expected and what happened, then use the Help & Reference guides.

Go to Help & Reference.