Getting started
What happens on first launch
The first thing Stage Engine asks for is a sign-in. After that you land on an empty Projects screen with two ways forward.
The sign-in gate
The app opens on a card that says "Welcome back" and offers a single button, Sign In with Flockbay. Nothing else in the app is reachable until you are signed in.
Pressing it opens a secure tab in your default browser and the app window waits, showing "Continue in browser". You sign in there, the browser hands the session back, and the app carries on. There is a Cancel and a Try again on that waiting card if the browser tab goes wrong.
If your machine is offline the card says "You’re offline — signing in needs the network". Signing in is one of the things that genuinely cannot happen without a connection.
The Projects screen
Once you are in, you land on Projects. On a fresh install it is empty, and says "No projects yet — make one, or open a folder you already have."
There are two buttons in the header: New project and Open folder. New project asks for a name and a place to put it, and creates a folder there. Open folder points Stage Engine at a folder you already have.
There is no tour
Stage Engine does not run a walkthrough, a wizard or a tooltip tour on first launch. Make a project and you are in the app proper: a chat with Director 1 on one side, and Play, Arrange, Stop and Save in the header.
Making your first project generates a starting world for you — ground, sky, water and weather — so that Arrange has something to open and Play has something to run.