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Ancient Machines creator reference
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Explore 65 guides and learning resources to the editor, object settings and the systems that make your machines work. Search for a feature or the name of a control.
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65 guides and learning resources
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Art & effects
Destroy Effects & Real Fragments
Combine a visual destruction effect with real physics fragments that carry pieces of the destroyed object's artwork.
Open guideArt & effects
Draw Image Editor
Create your own artwork for a level with 78 brush types, painting and smudging tools, gradient fills, editable vector lines, textures, stamps and a layered canvas.
Open guideWorld & physics
Dynamic Tree
Dynamic Tree guide for Ancient Machines: tree and bush generation, branch levels, per-level controls, branch texture, leaves, whorls, save data, and workflows.
Open guideEditor workflows
Undo, Redo & Editor History
Review recorded edits, undo a change or jump to an earlier state. Level edits, line-point edits and drawing edits have their own histories.
Open guideArt & effects
Group MovieClip Animation
Detailed Ancient Machines guide for turning grouped objects, including all-vector frame groups, into MovieClip-style animations controlled by frames, transitions, trigger zones, chips, and library saves.
Open guideWorld & physics
Materials & Spiked Objects
Choose material textures for supported shapes and tune the inner body and outer spikes of composite objects independently.
Open guideEditor workflows
Controls That Change By Object Type
Detailed Ancient Machines guide for the selected-object bottom toolbar, including color objects, advanced paths, joints, physics lines, force fields, groups, and solve-mode changes.
Open guideArt & effects
Particle Editor & Playback
Design your own particle effects inside the game, including their graphics, emission, movement, colour, size and fading. Save them in Particles and use them in your own level as placed effects or object events.
Open guideWorld & physics
Physics Bodies & Collision Groups
Tune the body behind an object, use a simpler collider where appropriate, and configure collision, render and joint groups separately.
Open guideArt & effects
Rainbow & Electricity Objects
Configure procedural rainbow shapes and branching electricity with their own geometry, textures, animation and glow.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
RagDog Characters
Create a four-legged physics character with separate front and rear leg chains, a neck, head and articulated tail.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
Ragdoll Characters
Create an articulated physics character, dress it in one of 15 skins, choose weapons and shields, set its pose, and configure balance, walking and independent hand controls.
Open guideEditor workflows
Right Side Level Menu
Ancient Machines right-side level menu guide covering level loading, level settings, library objects, saving clusters, grouping, copy and paste properties, import, export, debug, and view tools.
Open guideWorld & physics
Scene Layers & Parallax
Organize foreground and background art, control visibility and editing locks, and make scene layers move with the camera to create depth.
Open guideArt & effects
Animation Settings
Animation Settings control visual state, frame changes, movie behavior, and gameplay-driven appearance updates.
Open guideWorld & physics
Bomb Settings
Bomb Settings configure explosive or particle-based destruction behavior and which objects can be affected by it.
Open guideEditor workflows
Builder Settings
Builder Settings define how an object participates in Build To Solve levels and player-created machines.
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Camera Settings
Camera Settings decide when the game camera should follow an object or focus on important movement.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Chip
Chip settings make an object process values and events, then send the result to other objects or systems.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Clone Object Settings
Clone Object Settings define how an object can create copies or spawned versions during the level.
Open guideEditor workflows
Collect Settings
Collect Settings define collectible objects, collectors, stars, and point rewards.
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Connection Settings
Connection Settings control how the selected object can connect to joints, chips, and other machine systems.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Deactivation Settings
Deactivation Settings control whether an object starts inactive, becomes active later, or is disabled by gameplay.
Open guideWorld & physics
Destruction Settings
Destruction Settings define damage, object breaking, destroy-on-contact rules, and fail or score consequences.
Open guideArt & effects
Filter Settings
Filter Settings control the visual filters applied to an Ancient Machines object, including alpha, blend mode, glow, blur, CRT, pixelate, sine wave, and other effects.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Follow Object Settings
Follow Object Settings make one object track another object, including smart-follow style behavior.
Open guideWorld & physics
Gun And Bullet Settings
Gun And Bullet Settings let any configured physics object fire another preview object as a projectile.
Open guideWorld & physics
Laser Object Settings
Laser Object Settings configure beam-like object behavior, contact rules, filtering, and damage-style interactions.
Open guideWorld & physics
Physics Properties Settings
Physics Properties Settings expose gameplay-facing physics modifiers for selected objects.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
Platform Settings
Platform Settings configure platform-level behavior such as main character, ground, jump, and left-right movement.
Open guideEditor workflows
Position Settings
Position Settings configure object placement, movement-related references, offsets, and directional behavior.
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Propulsion Settings
Propulsion Settings configure thrust-like behavior for objects that push themselves or emit movement force during play.
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Scene Settings
Scene Settings handle decorative or environment objects that belong to the level scene rather than the player-built machine.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Shape Shifter
Shape Shifter settings transform the physical properties of another object when contact or configured gameplay conditions happen.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Time Settings
Time Settings control delayed creation, repeated intervals, restore delays, and other time-based object behavior.
Open guideEditor workflows
Touch Settings
Touch Settings control what happens when the player taps, drags, or directly interacts with an object.
Open guideLogic & behavior
Trigger Zone
Trigger Zone settings turn an object into an event area or event controller that can start other gameplay changes.
Open guideWorld & physics
Teleport Objects
Move eligible objects to a connected teleport destination and decide how mass, connected bodies, momentum, damage and animation are handled.
Open guideEditor workflows
Advanced Path
Appears for objects that can move along an advanced path, especially kinematic non-scene objects. It opens path speed, loop, reverse, wait, rotation, activation, and path-completion trigger options.
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Bezier Point
Enables or disables bezier behavior for the selected physics-line edit point, allowing curved line segments instead of only straight segments.
Open guideArt & effects
Color Detail Filter
Appears in create mode when the selected color object has detail layers. It controls which color details are included, filtered, or edited for the current state.
Open guideArt & effects
Color Detail
Opens the detail-layer settings for a color object, including overlays, texture/detail styling, and per-state visual detail configuration.
Open guideArt & effects
Color Object
Appears for color objects. It opens the main color-object editor for fill, stroke, alpha, labels, and visual state setup.
Open guideEditor workflows
Delete Edit Point
Removes the currently selected physics-line edit point without deleting the entire line object.
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Force Field Direction
Force-field objects expose direction controls so the field can push, pull, or apply custom directional behavior to bodies inside it.
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Game Settings
Appears when the object supports gameplay behavior. It opens object rules such as touch, trigger zone, chip, collect, platform, camera, filter, animation, gun, or propulsion settings.
Open guideWorld & physics
Add Or Choose Joint
Shows the joint list for the selected object. From here the player can add revolute, prismatic, distance, weld, or rope style connections.
Open guideWorld & physics
Joint Settings
Appears when the selected object has a configurable joint. It exposes motor, limits, loop, pin-to-wall, frequency, and damping settings.
Open guideEditor workflows
Multiple Selected Objects
When several objects are selected, the toolbar focuses on group operations, copying properties, moving, deleting, and other actions that apply to the current selection.
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Object Settings
The default settings button for most selected objects. It opens the physics/body settings for the selected object.
Open guideWorld & physics
Physics Line
When a physics line or one of its points is selected, the toolbar switches to line-editing actions for points, segments, curves, and line skins.
Open guideEditor workflows
Segment Editing
Controls segment-level editing on physics lines, useful when a single line needs different movement, material, or curve behavior per segment.
Open guideWorld & physics
Glass & Custom Tubes
Guide objects through transparent passages built from glass tube pieces or configurable procedural tubes.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
Vehicles & Wheel Drive
Build motor vehicles and light vehicles, choose which wheels receive power, and tune wheels, appearance, input and suspension.
Open guideEditor workflows
Ancient Machines Walkthrough
Complete Ancient Machines walkthrough covering controls, Dynamic Tree, right-side level menu options, object-type controls, level types, budgets, object settings, game settings guides, joints, trigger zones, advanced paths, and chips.
Open guideWorld & physics
Water & Impact Waves
Create a water object with flow and drag, then tune the visual surface response to impacts.
Open guideArt & effects
Turn your drawing into particles
Paint a small graphic, give it motion in Particle Editor and place your own effect in a level.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
Dress a character and make it walk
Choose a skin, set up walking and connect left/right input on a simple flat platform.
Open guideArt & effects
Make sparks on impact
Save a short spark burst and trigger it when a physical object hits the floor.
Open guideEditor workflows
Examples & Small Projects
Build a custom particle, a dressed walking ragdoll or sparks on impact with step-by-step Ancient Machines tutorials.
Open guideEditor workflows
Start Here: Make Your First Level
Create your first Ancient Machines scene with a floor, dressed character, walking controls, particle effect and a saved level.
Open guideEditor workflows
Creator FAQ
Answers to common Ancient Machines questions about particles on contact, drawing layers, brushes, walking controls, collisions and saving levels.
Open guideEditor workflows
What’s New for Creators
Explore new learning resources and the Ancient Machines creator toolkit: brushes, custom particles, character skins, contact effects and scene layers.
Open guideCharacters & vehicles
Animated Main Character
Build a playable character with walking, running, jumping and crouching animations. Choose its skin, customize its colors and equip a weapon.
Open guide →Characters & vehicles
Attach a Ragdoll to a Vehicle
Seat a ragdoll on a bicycle or attach it to a scooter, fit the character and vehicle sizes, and keep the rider connected during play.
Open guide →