kiln/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Project

kiln is a ZZT-inspired game-making system written in Rust (edition 2024). The goal is a system where players can create games using a scripting language, similar to the classic DOS game ZZT. It uses Rhai for scripting (WASM-compatible, sandboxed, pure Rust).

Code style

• Add /// rustdoc comments to every pub type, field, and function. The user reads rustdoc in their IDE to understand the code while making changes.
• Add inline // comments inside non-trivial function bodies to explain the why of each logical step — especially in update loops, rendering math, and conversion logic.
• Keep comments accurate: update them when the code they describe changes.

Commands

cargo build          # compile
cargo run            # build and run (loads maps/start.toml)
cargo test           # run all tests
cargo test <name>    # run a single test by name (substring match)
cargo clippy         # lint
cargo fmt            # format

Architecture

The game is a single Rust binary using eframe 0.33 / egui 0.33 for the GUI. eframe drives a retained-mode UI: the App::update method is called every frame and is responsible for both drawing and responding to input.

update is structured in phases:

• Input handling — arrow keys move the player (Play mode only)
• egui::TopBottomPanel::top — menu bar (File → Exit, Play/Edit mode toggle)
• egui::SidePanel::right — archetype palette panel (Edit mode only; declared before CentralPanel)
• egui::CentralPanel::default — game viewport; rendered with ui.painter(); click-to-paint in Edit mode

Modules

src/game.rs — all core game types:

• Glyph (Copy) — per-cell visual: ch: char, fg/bg: Color32. Glyph::player() is the only constructor used at runtime (colors for board tiles come from the map file).
• Behavior — plain data struct of runtime behavioral properties: passable: bool, opaque: bool. Returned by Archetype::behavior(); new properties added here require no match arms elsewhere.
• Archetype (Copy, PartialEq) — enum of named element types: Empty, Wall, Object, ErrorBlock. Each variant provides behavior(), name() (used in map files), and default_glyph() (used by the editor when stamping a cell). ErrorBlock is a sentinel for unknown archetype names — renders as yellow ? on red.
• ALL_ARCHETYPES: &[Archetype] — ordered list of valid editor choices (excludes ErrorBlock).
• Board — the complete game unit (ZZT-style "board"): width, height, cells: Vec<(Glyph, Archetype)> (row-major; each cell owns its visual and behavioral class directly), player: Player, objects: Vec<ObjectDef>, portals: Vec<PortalDef>. cells is pub(crate).
• Player — x: i32, y: i32
• ObjectDef / PortalDef — parsed from map files, stored on Board; not yet runtime-wired
• GameState — holds board: Board; try_move(dx, dy) checks passability before moving the player

src/map_file.rs — map file loading:

• MapFile and friends — serde Deserialize types for TOML map files
• impl From<MapFile> for Board — converts a parsed file into a ready-to-use Board
• pub fn load(path: &str) -> Result<Board, Box<dyn std::error::Error>> — reads and converts a .toml map file

src/main.rs — app entry point and frame loop:

• AppMode enum (Play | Edit) — gates arrow-key input; toggles the side panel and viewport mode
• App holds GameState, AppMode, and EditorState; update phases: input → menu bar → editor panel → board → glyph picker dialog
• Play mode: arrow keys move player; render::board_origin centers or player-tracks the viewport
• Edit mode: ScrollArea::both() wraps the board; click-to-paint stamps (editor.glyph, editor.selected); calls editor::show_editor_panel and glyph_picker::show

src/render.rs — cell rendering constants and drawing primitives:

• CELL_W = 14.0, CELL_H = 20.0 and window sizing constants (DEFAULT_WINDOW_W = 840, DEFAULT_WINDOW_H = 524)
• draw_glyph(painter, origin, x, y, glyph) — filled rect (bg) + centered monospace char (fg)
• draw_board(painter, origin, board) — draws all cells then player overlay
• board_origin(available, board_w, board_h, player) — centers board or clamps to player with no empty space
• pos_to_cell(origin, pos) -> (i32, i32) — pixel → cell coordinates via floor division; negatives signal out-of-bounds

src/editor.rs — editor state and side panel:

• EditorTab enum (Palette | Board | World) — which tab is active
• EditorState — holds selected: Archetype, glyph: Glyph, glyph_picker_open: bool, tab: EditorTab; selecting a new archetype resets glyph to that archetype's default
• show_editor_panel(ctx, editor, board) — resizable right-side panel (default 200 px); Palette tab shows archetype list and glyph preview button; Board/World tabs are placeholders

src/glyph_picker.rs — floating glyph picker dialog:

• show(ctx, open, glyph, board_cells) — takes open: &mut bool and glyph: &mut Glyph directly; no dependency on EditorState
• Three sections: board palette (unique glyphs, click to select), FG/BG color pickers, 16×6 printable ASCII character grid

Map file format (maps/*.toml)

XPM-inspired: a [palette] maps single characters to (Glyph, Archetype) definitions; [grid] content is a TOML multi-line string where each character indexes the palette.

[map]
name = "Room Name"
width = 60
height = 25
player_start = [30, 12]

[palette]
" " = { archetype = "empty", ch = " ", fg = "#000000", bg = "#000000" }
"#" = { archetype = "wall",  ch = "#", fg = "#808080", bg = "#606060" }

[grid]
content = """
############################################################
#                                                          #
############################################################
"""

[[objects]]          # optional; parsed but not yet runtime-wired
x = 10
y = 5
script = """
  on_touch(|| { send_message("open"); });
"""

[[portals]]          # optional; parsed but not yet runtime-wired
x = 59
y = 12
target_map = "cave"
target_entry = "west_door"

Colors are "#RRGGBB" hex strings. player_start is a header field — the player is not a board cell. The grid multi-line string's leading newline is trimmed by TOML; trailing newline is handled correctly by str::lines(). Unknown archetype names produce an ErrorBlock cell and a logged warning.

Key design decisions

• Behavior and Archetype are separate types — Archetype is the named class of a thing (Wall, Empty, Object); Behavior is its runtime properties (passable, opaque). Adding a new property means adding a field to Behavior, not a match arm at every call site.
• cells: Vec<(Glyph, Archetype)> — each cell owns its visual and behavioral class directly; there is no per-board element palette or integer indirection. Archetype is Copy so this is efficient.
• Archetypes are referenced by name in map files — so ALL_ARCHETYPES can be reordered or extended without breaking saved games.
• Board is the complete unit — grid, player, objects, and portals all live on Board, matching how ZZT treats a "board". No separate wrapper struct.
• Glyph (visual) and Archetype (behavior) are decoupled — each cell has its own Glyph (so colors can vary per-cell, e.g. fire flickering) while sharing an Archetype with other cells of the same type.
• File loading happens in main() before the window is created, so board dimensions are available for window sizing.

eframe runs on its own event loop thread; do not assume single-threaded execution.