Introduction

👋🏽 Greetings, fellow humans!

Mantra

Mantra is a revolutionary game development framework, unlike any other solutions on the market. Mantra removes the complications of implementing graphics, physics, entities, and high-performance netcode, allowing you to begin coding your game's logic and design instantly using your favorite libraries. We promise you will say Mantra each day once you try it out!

The quickest way to start up a Mantra is by including this snippet on any HTML page:

<script src="https://yantra.gg/mantra.js"></script>
<script>
  document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => {
    let game = new MANTRA.Game();
    // optionally use plugins like Bullet
    game.use('Bullet');
    game.start();
  });
</script>

This will create a new Mantra.Game instance using default settings. You customize the game instance by using Plugins and registering event emitters.

To jump straight into the interactive examples, see the following:

Demos

View all Demos on Yantra.gg

Online Demos

Libraries	Demo Link
Matter.js + Babylon.js	Yantra
Matter.js + Phaser 3	Yantra

Offline Demos

Libraries	Demo Link	CodePen Link
Matter.js + Babylon.js	Yantra	CodePen
Matter.js + Phaser 3	Yantra	CodePen
Matter.js + CSS Graphics	Yantra	CodePen
NVIDIA PhysX 5.3.0 + Babylon.js	Yantra	CodePen
RenderPlex - Matter.js + Babylon.js + Phaser 3	Yantra	CodePen

Using the CodePen links you can view these examples in the browser and begin modifying game code immediately.

Yantra

Yantra is the world's first Serverless Physics hosting platform. Yantra allows developers to deploy their Mantra Game class directly to the cloud. Powered by Hathora, Mantra games hosted on Yantra can auto-scale to thousands of concurrent players in all major global regions

To get started with Yantra install the CLI tool with the following command:

npm install -g yantra-core/cli

Your system will now have access to the yantra command. Run yantra login to create a new account.

Section 1: What is Mantra?

At its core, Mantra can be considered an Entity Component System with an extensible plugin system. Mantra works both on the server and in the browser using the same code.

Everything in Mantra is a plugin, and Games are created by creating and combining plugins called by game.use(pluginInstance).

Mantra works 100% offline from the ground up while seamlessly transitioning to a serverless hosted environment.

Mantra is highly configurable while using a convenient set of conventions for all default settings.

Section 2: What is Yantra?

Yantra is a serverless hosting platform where you can deploy Mantra games. Don't be concerned; you can always deploy your Mantra games to any standard hosting solution using mantra-server. It's also possible to deploy your Mantra Game class directly to Cloudflare Edge workers using mantra-edge.

One of the key benefits of using Yantra is Yantra's ability to host your game's authoritative backend serverlessly, ensuring that you will only pay for the actual usage. Yantra is capable of auto-scaling your game's backend to thousands of players across the entire globe. All of this, without any special coding or esoteric configuration options. Yantra's specialized serverless physics hosting cloud ensures your game will always have low latency, fast response times, and global scalability.

Section 3: Getting Started with Mantra

Currently, Mantra is still ALPHA software and is currently under active development. Features are being added and refined. Your feedback and contributions at this stage are invaluable and will shape the future of this framework.

The simplest way to start with Mantra development is to clone the starter-blueprint which includes both a server and several clients.

git clone [email protected]:yantra-core/starter-blueprint.git
cd starter-blueprint
npm install

Start Local Development Server

From here, you can start your game using:

npm start

This command will start a local development server at http://127.0.0.1:8888. From here, you can pick any one of the offline examples in the ./client/examples folder and begin modifying the code and extending the Game object.

Authoritative Server / Online Client

In order to test connect to the local websocket server use the client found at: http://127.0.0.1:8888/online.html

Section 4: Building Your First Game

When building your first game using Mantra, you will first decide which Physics and Graphics engines you will use. The current default settings are 2D Physics with 3D Graphics using Matter.js and Babylon.js.

let game = new MANTRA.Game({
  width: 2000,
  height: 2000,
  physics: 'matter', // enum, 'physx', 'matter
  collisions: true,
  graphics: ['babylon'], // array enum, 'Babylon,' 'phaser,' 'CSS,' 'three.'
  camera: 'follow'
});

Now that we have a game instance, we will add some of the default Plugins to extend functionality:

let Plugins = MANTRA.plugins;

// Adds projectile Bullets to the game
game.use('Bullet')

// Adds destructible Blocks to the game
game.use('Block');

// Adds a nice StarField background
game.use('StarField');

// Adds a controller input legend
game.use('ControlsGUI');

// Shows the current frames per second
game.use('CurrentFPS');

Now your game has bullets, destructible blocks, a StarField, and two GUI components showing Inputs and Current FPS.

The game will use the default player creation logic if we do not provide a custom player::joined event handler. Let's customize our game to have custom players and not use the default player creation logic:

function getRandomCoordinate() {
  // Random number between -1000 and 1000
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * 2001) - 1000;
}

// custom player::joined handler, this is optional
// without setting a player::joined, the default event is used
game.on('player::joined', function (playerData) {
  // Generate random starting positions for players
  let randX = getRandomCoordinate();
  let randY = getRandomCoordinate();
  console.log('player joined', playerData)
  let player = game.createEntity({
    type: 'PLAYER',
    position: {
      x: randX,
      y: randY
    }
  });
  console.log('player created', player)
  // make sure to emit the player::created event
  game.emit('player::created', player);
});

Now that we have customized our game with plugins and registered a custom player creation event, we can call game.start(), which will start the local offline gameloop. Once our game starts, we will create a single destructible block.

// start the game loop
game.start(function () {
  // Creates a single Block; since we have used Block plugin, this will be a destructible Block
  game.createEntity({
    type: 'BLOCK',
    width: 500,
    height: 500,
    depth: 200,
    position: {
      x: 0,
      y: -500
    },
  });
});

Section 5: Deploying with Yantra

The easiest way to deploy your Mantra game is using the yantra cli tool.

Configuring your Game for Deployment

First, make sure you have installed the yantra-cli

npm install -g yantra-core/cli

Now, create a new directory on your local system:

mkdir my-awesome-game
cd my-awesome-game

Now run yantra init:

yantra init 

From here, you will be prompted ( press ENTER for all values if you wish )

Then you should see the following:

ReadMe.md
client
package.json
server.js
my-awesome-game initialized successfully!

Now, your game is almost ready to deploy!

You must run npm install after the project initializes. Once you install the required dependencies, you can run npm start to test the game locally at http://localhost:8888

Login with Email

If you haven't already created an account, simply run:

yantra login

You will be prompted to authenticate with an One Time Password sent to your email.

Deploying your game

Once you have successfully initiated your game, you can deploy it with the following command:

yantra deploy

It's that simple! Your game will zip itself up and deploy to Yantra. In return, you will receive a shareable game link and you will receive a game link that looks like this:

https://yantra.gg/mantra/hathora?world=my-awesome-game&owner=Marak

This static link will now host your Game. Your servers will remain idle until a player connects at which point they will quickly boot up to meet the demand.

Region is determined by a ping test and may be optionally overriden using the region query parameter.

Available Regions: /yantra-api/available-regions

Section 6: Entity Input and Movement

So far, we've been using the default Entity Input and Entity Movement systems. These default systems provide an input mapping for your input devices ( keyboard, gamepad, mouse ) and a corresponding movement system to match the inputs.

Inside these systems, you can implement chainable Strategies based on the design of your game. This simple yet elegant design allows for unlimited customization of entity control, allowing for 2D, 2.5D, or 3D control systems all within the same game.

If you want more advanced ways to customize your Mantra game, please drop by our Discord to say hello!

Section 7: Community and Support

Mantra is an open-source project and under active development. Features are being added and refined. Your feedback and contributions at this stage are invaluable and will shape the future of this framework.

The main Mantra Github Repository:

https://github.com/yantra-core/mantra

Get in touch by joining the AYYO Discord:
https://discord.gg/bbyjf6MXC2

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Conclusion

In conclusion, Mantra stands out as an innovative and highly versatile game development framework that drastically simplifies the game creation process. Its seamless integration with Yantra makes deploying games a breeze, catering to both novice and experienced developers. The framework's focus on removing complexities in graphics, physics, and net code implementation allows developers to concentrate more on the creative aspects of game design.

With its extensible plugin system and compatibility with various libraries, Mantra provides an adaptable environment that supports both offline and online game development. The incorporation of serverless technology through Yantra further enhances the game development experience by offering auto-scaling capabilities and global reach, ensuring that your games perform optimally regardless of the number of concurrent players.

Mantra's open-source nature and active development community make it a continually evolving platform, inviting contributions and feedback from its users. This collaborative approach ensures that Mantra stays relevant and up-to-date with the latest gaming trends and technologies.

Get your Mantra on Yantra!

We invite you to dive into the world of game development with Mantra and Yantra. Whether you're a seasoned game developer or just starting out, these tools offer an exciting opportunity to bring your gaming ideas to life with ease and efficiency.

• Explore Mantra: Visit the GitHub repository to explore the framework's capabilities and get started with your first project.
• Join the Community: Become part of the growing community by joining the AYYO Discord. Here, you can connect with other developers, share ideas, and get support.
• Stay Updated: Sign up for updates to stay informed about the latest developments in Mantra and Yantra. Your feedback and contributions are invaluable in shaping the future of these tools.

Start your game development journey today with Mantra and Yantra, and be part of a community that's redefining the boundaries of game creation. Happy coding!