Your First Game

Understanding the Game Hierarchy

PlayableLabs organizes content in three levels:

• Game — The top-level project (e.g., "Puzzle Quest Ad Campaign")
• Version — A snapshot of the game at a point in time (e.g., "v1.0", "v2.0-holiday")
• Variant — A customized copy of a version for a specific network or audience

This hierarchy lets you manage multiple campaigns, A/B tests, and network-specific builds from a single game project.

Creating a Game

The Create Game dialog offers two creation modes:

Manual Entry

1. From the Dashboard, click Create Game
2. Select the Manual Entry tab
3. Fill in the game details:
   • Game Name — A descriptive name for your project (required)
   • Game Logo — Optional square logo (JPEG, PNG, WebP, or GIF, max 5MB)
   • Game Category — Select from categories (Puzzle, Casual, Action, etc.)
   • Description — Optional context for your team
   • Visibility — Set as draft or published
   • Tags — Add tags for organization (press Enter to add)
4. Click Create

Store Import

Import game metadata from app stores:

1. Click Create Game
2. Select the Import from Store tab
3. Enter an App Store or Google Play URL
4. Review the imported metadata (name, description, logo, category)
5. Click Use This Data to populate the manual form
6. Edit any fields as needed and click Create

Tip: Use clear naming conventions like [Client] - [Campaign] - [Date] to keep projects organized as your library grows.

Creating a Version

Versions are created at the game level and contain your playable ad build:

1. Open your game
2. Go to the Versions tab
3. Click New Version
4. Fill in the version details:
   • Version — Semantic version number (e.g., "1.0.0")
   • Name — Display name for this version
   • Description — Optional notes about this release
   • Engine Type — Select the rendering engine (COCOS, PIXI, PHASER, CUSTOM, etc.)
   • Status — DRAFT, READY, or PUBLISHED
   • Parameters — Upload JSON parameters or use the editor
5. Upload your playable ad assets to this version
6. Click Create Version

Note: Assets are uploaded at the version level, not the game level. Each version maintains its own asset bundle.

Versions act as snapshots. You can always create a new version without affecting existing ones.

Exporting a Playable Ad

Exports are created from variants (customized versions):

1. Create a variant from your version (if not already created)
2. Open the variant you want to export
3. Navigate to the Network Upload section
4. Upload your playable ad build (HTML file or ZIP bundle)
5. Select the target ad networks from the network table
6. Upload network-specific builds for each network (or use the main build)
7. Track upload progress via real-time SSE updates
8. Download the verified builds once processing completes

Network-Specific Requirements

Each ad network has specific requirements. You must prepare builds according to each network's specifications:

PlayableLabs supports additional networks including Vungle, Moloco, Pangle, Chartboost, Snapchat, and more.

Note: PlayableLabs does not auto-generate network builds. You upload your prepared builds, and the system verifies and stores them for distribution.

Next Steps

Great — you've created a game, uploaded assets, and exported your first playable ad! Next, learn how to invite your team to collaborate.