The browser player guide

The player update brings the same shared browser tools to all fifteen games and labs. Open Details in any game, then scroll to Player tools. These tools run in the browser adapter; native hosts and simulation rules retain their documented behavior. See every change and the game catalog.

Controls and focus

Every canvas has a keyboard focus target, accessible name and linked instructions. Click or Tab to the canvas to play. Use Controls to view and remap keyboard, mouse, touch or gamepad bindings. The Game guide in Details loads the catalog description and default controls on demand; current custom bindings are listed in Controls.

Ctrl, Command and Alt shortcuts remain available to your browser. IME composition does not trigger gameplay actions. Page navigation, capture cancellation and focus changes clear held input. Controllers stop sampling while unfocused and resynchronize on return. These changes apply to all three browser adapters, including Courtyard and Orbit Breaker.

Screenshots and sharing

Save screenshot captures a PNG immediately after the next rendered frame. WebGL buffers are read before the browser discards them. The capture contains the game canvas, including its rendered overlays; browser dialogs and player controls outside the canvas are not included. Closing Details first is optional; the game remains paused while Details is open.

Copy game link includes the active palette and visual quality. It removes autoplay, development tools, URL fragments and multiplayer addresses. Resolution, player preferences and game progress are not embedded in links. If clipboard access is blocked, a selectable link appears.

Performance and power

The Performance overlay shows rendered FPS and framebuffer size. GPU hosts also report draw counts and vertices when available. Measurements describe the current device and scene; they are not a cross-device benchmark.

Frame rate limit offers display refresh, 60 FPS and 30 FPS. It limits rendering and host submission; existing fixed clocks still determine simulation timing. The first frame after a tab becomes visible resets its delta clock. Hidden pages skip rendering and simulation submission. Courtyard peer updates are also suspended in hidden tabs, so a background browser tab is not an always-on multiplayer server.

Quick performance preset combines lighting, resolution and frame limits:

Only settings supported by a game affect its rendering. 2D artwork retains authored lighting. Orbit Breaker keeps its fixed CPU framebuffer resolution. Per-setting controls above Player tools allow further tuning. Existing quality/look link overrides remain session overrides and may supersede saved presentation choices.

Keep screen awake requests the browser screen wake lock. It requires browser support and an allowed secure context; the browser may deny or revoke it. Hidden pages release it and visible pages attempt to restore the request. It is never enabled automatically or saved as a preference.

Accessibility options

Player contrast adds high contrast backgrounds, borders, text and focus rings to browser controls. Player text size enlarges the Details panel and its controls. These settings affect browser player UI; game art and in-canvas text retain their authored appearance.

Player UI motion follows the system preference by default and offers reduced or standard UI motion. This controls browser chrome transitions, not camera shake, gameplay effects or character animation. A reduced-motion system preference remains respected by the stylesheet.

Session and connectivity

Active session counts time while the page is focused and visible with settings closed. It is a session timer, not a speedrun or authoritative game timer. Reset session timer starts it over. It does not persist across reloads.

The connection status explains when the browser reports offline. A loaded single-player game can keep running. Loading a new game, fetching its guide and multiplayer can require a connection. This release does not install a service worker or promise offline reloads.

Saved preferences and backups

Overlay, frame cap, contrast, text and UI motion preferences are stored per game under ferravex.player.v1.<game-id>. Existing Rust presentation preferences, custom input profiles and game saves use separate storage. Storage denial applies choices to the current session and reports the failure.

Export player settings downloads version 1 JSON. Import player settings accepts at most 4 KiB and validates all known values before applying them. The backup can be transferred between games or browsers; it contains only player UI preferences. It excludes saved progress, multiplayer credentials and input remaps.

Reset player settings restores the five host preferences. Use Reset details for lighting/resolution/style. Neither action erases game progress or custom bindings. Screen wake lock and session timing are session controls and are not part of these backups.

Loading and troubleshooting

All games compile downloaded Wasm as a stream when supported. If MIME policy prevents that, the loader uses bytes from the same response. It does not download the game twice. Loading waits are bounded to 60 seconds, including stalled response bodies. Startup failures display Retry game, which reloads the game page.

Copy support details copies game ID, viewport, framebuffer, frame counters and player settings. It excludes full URLs, peer addresses and saved progress. If clipboard access is unavailable, the existing Export playtest CSV provides engine diagnostics. Share the artifact that is relevant to the problem.

Implementation and validation

The shared adapter is player.js, initialized by details.js. Input fixes live in input.js; startup recovery lives in loader.js. The renderer, Courtyard and Orbit Breaker call the same player frame hooks after drawing.

Each of the thirty changes has its own PR. The release catalog records implementation links. CI was held through the series and is run only after all thirty merges. See the validation guide for native, Wasm and browser checks. Platform support claims remain governed by Platforms.