🏡 Sanctuary Engine

A Portable Browser-Based 2D Game Engine with Experimental 3D Tools

Build games anywhere. Create faster. Experiment freely.

🌱 Welcome to Sanctuary

Sanctuary Engine is a lightweight browser-based game engine built around one simple goal:

Make creating games feel fast, visual, and enjoyable.

Everything runs from a single portable HTML application with no installation required. Open it in your browser and you're immediately inside a complete game creation environment featuring scene editing, integrated painters, asset management, scripting, live testing, and an expanding collection of creative tools.

Whether you're building a game jam prototype over a weekend, experimenting with mechanics, teaching game development, or simply enjoying making games as a hobby, Sanctuary is designed to help ideas become playable with as little friction as possible.

✨ Current Features

🎮 Complete visual editor

🖌️ Integrated painters for creating game assets

🧩 Reusable asset system

📂 Scene management

⚙️ Inspector-driven workflow

📜 Built-in SanctScript scripting language

🧱 Entity/component architecture

🎨 Texture & material workflow

🖥️ Live Play Mode with instant iteration

🌎 Browser-based portability

💾 Save and load projects

🧪 Early experimental 3D support

🌄 Dedicated 3D scene viewing and editing window

📚 Built-in command library and documentation

🚀 Built for Fast Development

Sanctuary tries to remove as much busywork as possible.

Instead of constantly switching between several programs, many common creation tasks happen directly inside the editor.

You'll spend less time configuring projects and more time building them.

That makes Sanctuary especially enjoyable for:

• 🕹️ Game Jam developers
• 🎨 Solo creators
• 👥 Small indie teams
• 🎓 Students
• 🏫 Educators
• 🧪 Prototype builders
• ❤️ Hobby developers

🤖 AI Friendly by Design

One of Sanctuary's biggest strengths is how approachable it is for modern AI assistants.

The engine is intentionally compact and easy to understand.

If you'd like AI assistance:

• Paste the engine HTML into your favorite AI.
• Paste the built-in Monitor command library.
• Ask it to generate SanctScript.
• Ask it to build components.
• Ask it to configure inspectors.
• Ask it to explain engine systems.
• Ask it to help design gameplay.

Because the engine is contained in a relatively small codebase with an integrated command library, an AI can quickly understand how everything fits together and become a surprisingly capable development partner.

Even if you're completely new to programming, AI can help you build features while you learn.

🏗️ Included Editors

The current release already contains a growing toolbox:

🎨 Sprite & Texture Painting

🧱 Tileset Editing

🖼️ HUD & UI Creation

📦 Asset Management

🗂️ Scene Editing

⚙️ Entity Inspectors

📜 SanctScript Editor

🌎 Experimental 3D Scene Tools

🧩 Components

📚 Built-in Reference Monitor

More systems are already in development, including a visual Node Editor coming in a future update.

🌎 2D First

Sanctuary is primarily a 2D game engine, and that's where most of its current tools are focused.

Alongside that, we're building an experimental 3D workflow that already allows creators to:

• Build 3D scenes
• Place models
• Paint textures
• Experiment with materials
• View and edit worlds through a dedicated 3D editor

It's still early, but we're excited about where it's heading.

📦 Recommended Download

The browser version lets you jump right in.

For the best experience, we recommend downloading the complete package, which includes:

✔ Sample assets

✔ Icons used throughout the interface

✔ Example projects

✔ Additional resources

✔ Future updates as they're released

Everything works inside the browser version, but the full package provides a more complete creative toolbox.

⌨️ Quick Tips

TAB → Toggle between Editor and Play Mode

Mouse Wheel → Zoom editor views

Right Mouse → Navigate 3D scenes

Left Mouse → Select, paint, and edit

Explore the top menus, right-click menus, and inspectors. Many tools are tucked away there waiting to be discovered.

Don't worry about breaking anything. Sanctuary encourages experimentation.

💬 Help Shape Sanctuary

Sanctuary is a brand new project.

That means every suggestion helps.

Inside the editor you'll find options to:

💡 Submit Suggestions

🐞 Report Bugs

📬 Contact Us

We actively read feedback and use it to guide development.

If something feels awkward, confusing, or missing, we'd genuinely like to hear about it.

🌲 A Community We Want to Build

We're not just building an engine.

We're building a creative workshop where people can:

🎮 Make games

🎨 Share assets

📚 Teach one another

🤝 Help new developers

💡 Exchange ideas

🌎 Build worlds together

Everyone starts somewhere, and we'd love Sanctuary to become a welcoming place for creators of every experience level.

🚧 Early Access

This is the beginning of Sanctuary's journey.

You'll find polished systems alongside experimental ones, and there are still rough edges we'll continue refining.

Updates are planned frequently, with improvements driven by real-world use and community feedback.

If you decide to join us now, you'll get to watch the engine grow from its earliest public releases and help shape what comes next.

Thank you for taking the time to explore Sanctuary.

We hope you enjoy building something wonderful. 🌿