Auto-start build and web server

[kittykatattack]

Hello!

I'm just writing to point out what may be a significant usability issue with the current version of the editor. When a new user downloads and installs, they will receive an error in the browser when then press the "Play" button. That's because the packages have not been installed, the game has not been built and the web server has not been started.

I had a few (experienced) developers who gave up on the Editor quite quickly because they believed it was broken by a bug because nothing happened when they pressed the Play button. I also did not know what was wrong, when I first tested it, and it was only when I watched an old Ourcade video did I notice that oh, of course, you need install and compile manually. Probably this explained is in the user documentation somewhere, but it's nowhere near the beginning where users would be looking for it.

I'm worried however that many new users will give up on the Editor without giving it a fair chance just because they don't know this. My suggestions are:

• Automate the install and compile step when the user pressed the "Play" button.
• If that can't be done easily, explain to the user in a dialogue the steps they need perform.
• In the official documentation, the first thing should be a simple "Hello World" which describes these steps on the first page.

I hope this help! The Editor is great but I'm worried you may be losing many potential users because of this small but significant usability issue. :)

All the best, kk.

[photonstorm]

Thank you for this feedback. We have received almost this exact same comment from some users who canceled their subscriptions, so believe us, it's something we definitely need to look at urgently.

[kittykatattack]

Awesome, thanks!

[PhaserEditor2D]

Done.

Now when you create a project, it shows a dialog to install dependencies automatically. And when you hit the play button, it checks if the game dev server is running, if not, it shows a dialog to install dependencies (if required) and start the game dev server automatically.