Get started

This path takes you from a Windows machine with nothing installed to a project of your own that builds against Labrador, runs, and shows a change you made. It has five steps, and each page ends where the next begins.

1. Install the toolsVisual Studio with the C++ workload, and Git.

2. Build LabradorClone the engine, build it, and run its tests.

3. Run the minimal sampleSee the smallest game on the engine, and know what you are looking at.

4. Start your own projectA repository of your own, with Labrador as a submodule and the minimal sample as its starting point.

5. Make a first changeChange what the game says and how it moves, rebuild, and see it.

What you need to know already

Some C++, and how to use a command prompt. The guide explains every command it asks you to type, but it does not teach the language.

What it was checked against

Every command on these pages was run on Windows 11 with Visual Studio’s x64 Native Tools Command Prompt, against the revision of Labrador shown at the bottom of each page. The project in step 4 was built from the public repository exactly as the page describes. If a step does not do what the page says, that is a bug in the page: report it.