create-nacatamalon

Start a game made with nacatamalon, the engine for games that look like 1997.

npm create nacatamalon@latest

With any package manager:

npm create nacatamalon@latest
pnpm create nacatamalon
yarn create nacatamalon
bun create nacatamalon

It asks for a name and a language, copies the template, and can install the dependencies and start the game for you. Nothing else to install first: you only need Node.js 20.19 or newer (Vite needs it too).

Without questions

Give the folder and the template on the command line:

npm create nacatamalon@latest my-game -- --template vite-ts
pnpm create nacatamalon my-game --template vite-ts
yarn create nacatamalon my-game --template vite-ts
bun create nacatamalon my-game --template vite-ts

With npm the options go after --, so npm hands them on instead of keeping them. Then:

cd my-game
npm install
npm run dev

(or pnpm install and pnpm dev, yarn and yarn dev, bun install and bun dev).

Templates

| Name | What it is | | --------- | ------------------------------ | | vite-ts | TypeScript with Vite (default) | | vite-js | JavaScript with Vite |

Both are the same small game, one file per thing:

index.html
AGENTS.md            ← for coding assistants: where things go, how to split, naming
CLAUDE.md            ← points Claude Code at AGENTS.md
public/              ← images, sounds and fonts, served as they are
src/
  main.ts            ← the game window and its scenes
  config.ts          ← the game's size in pixels
  scenes/game.ts     ← the first scene: start here
  objects/player.ts  ← a square you move with the arrow keys

The published game opens with "Made with NacatamalOn" (splash: true in src/main.ts). It never shows on localhost; set it to 'always' to see it while you work, or remove it.

A plugin

A plugin is a package other games import: a dialogue box, a health bar, a way to drag things. Answer "A plugin" to the first question, or name the template:

npm create nacatamalon@latest health-bar -- --template plugin

The folder gives its name, nacatamalon-health-bar, with its hook useHealthBar in src/use_health_bar.ts. npm run dev opens view/, the workbench to try it in; npm run demo the demo the store plays; npm test runs it in a game with no browser; npm run pack makes the .zip and .tgz to share. Its PLUGIN_GUIDE.md says how a plugin is made and the rules it keeps.

Options

| Option | What it does | | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | -t, --template <name> | vite-ts, vite-js, react-ts, react-js, or plugin | | -f, --force | use the folder even if it is not empty | | -i, --install | install the dependencies (and, at a keyboard, start the game) | | --no-install | only copy the template | | --no-interactive | never ask: take the defaults for anything not given | | --interactive | ask even when a coding assistant is running it | | -v, --version | print the version | | -h, --help | show the help |

With a coding assistant

An AI can run it too. With no terminal to ask in (a script, CI), or when it detects a coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Gemini...), it asks nothing, even inside a real terminal: it takes the defaults for anything not given, prints plain text and refuses a folder that is not empty. Its output says what to do next, that dev keeps running, and that the project's AGENTS.md is the guide. In one go:

npm create nacatamalon@latest my-game -- --template vite-ts --install

There --install installs the dependencies but never starts the dev server: a command that does not end would leave the assistant waiting.

Links

• Docs, tutorial and examples: nacatamalon.com
• The engine on npm: nacatamalon
• Questions and games: Discord

License

MIT © 2026 Francisco José Pereira Alvarado.