A URL parameter is a chunk of text that can be placed into the url of a dotbigbang game to change its behavior. These can be very helpful while building your game and debugging issues.
The format for URL parameters is as follows:
? symbol. The ? symbol is the beginning of what is called the "Query String". The Query String contains all of the parameters and their values.& symbols.= symbol between the parameter and the value.true by default.Here are some examples of a URL with parameters. Note that these are just examples and the parameters don’t do anything.
A single parameter
https://dotbigbang.com/social?param1=trueMultiple parameters
https://dotbigbang.com/social?param1=hello¶m2=falseParameters with and without values
https://dotbigbang.com/social?param1¶m2=truemp=[string]
The mp parameter creates a multiplayer instance of your game that many people can join to play together. This is automatically added to your game URL when you click the Share button, but you can also manually add it. This parameter does require a value. The value ends up being the name of the instance and can be any valid string.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?mp=any_value_goes_here
safe_mode=[boolean]
This parameter will open your game in a stopped state. This is great for those times you accidentally program an infinite loop that locks your browser up when the game is playing. Just add this parameter to the URL and refresh the game so you can fix the issue. A value is not required since the default is true.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?safe_mode
kick_idle_players=[boolean]
By default a multiplayer game will disconnect players who are not actively playing the game for a 30 second period. This parameter can be used to disable that behavior and is a great tool to use when testing your game out in multiple tabs. It does nothing in single player instances though so it should be paired with the mp parameter above. You will need to assign a value of false to this parameter.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?mp=[something]&kick_idle_players=false
fix_cref=[boolean]
One issue that can occur when building a game is called a circular reference. This happens when one object contains a reference to another, but that other object has a reference to the first one. This results in an infinite loop in the loading process as the objects circularly load each other. This URL parameter will detect this situation and set one of the object references to null so you can load your game again. A value is not required since the default is true.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?fix_cref
gamerenderer_lowspec_mode=[auto, off, on]
A game can be set to render in normal or low spec mode. By default low spec mode is used when the average frame rate becomes too low. This will disable some effects like shadows to improve the frame rate. Setting this to off or on will let you force that mode rather than relying on the automatic behavior. This can be a good way to see how lower end devices are experiencing your game.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?gamerenderer_lowspec_mode=on
game_show_stats=[boolean]
This parameter will make the stats panel display in the lower right corner of the screen. You can also make this panel appear by pressing F9. These stats can be very useful when trying to track down inefficient scripts or seeing how many entities are in your game.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?game_show_stats=true
interactions_overlay=[boolean]
When this parameter is true a small panel will appear in the lower right corner that displays the user input for mouse and keyboard.
https://dotbigbang.com/game/[GAME_ID]/?interactions_overlay=true