Documentation

Your project

Exporting your game

Export turns your project into a standalone application someone else can run without Stage Engine. There are two targets: macOS and Windows.

Exporting

  1. Open the project’s menu and choose Export, then For macOS or For Windows.
  2. Confirm that you can distribute every file in the build. Stage Engine asks this because a project can contain files you brought in yourself, and it cannot know what rights come with them.
  3. Choose where to save the build. You get an .app on macOS and an .exe on Windows.
  4. Wait. The first export to a given platform also downloads the export tools for it, which is a one-off; after that it is just the build, and that takes a few minutes.

You can export a Windows build from a Mac and a Mac build from Windows. The target you pick is independent of the computer you are working on.

Your exported game is not signed

Whoever you send the build to will see a security warning when they open it. This is normal for software shared directly rather than through a store, and Stage Engine tells you so at the moment the export finishes rather than letting you find out from a confused friend.

On macOS, tell them to right-click the app and choose Open. On Windows, tell them to click More info and then Run anyway.

A build that opens with no warning at all is what publishing gives you. Publishing to Steam is a separate action on the same menu.

When Export is greyed out

Export needs three things: a project that is open, a game folder the app can actually reach, and a project that is in a runnable state. The tooltip names which one is missing — "Open a game to export", "Reconnect the game folder before exporting", or "This game is not ready to export".

If the download of the export tools fails, the message says so and asks you to check your internet. That step is the one part of exporting that needs a connection.