01 Overview

This section adds watch mode to the engine built in the Play section. Complete Play through chapter 22 before continuing: the watch implementation reuses its layout, buckets, score, life, skin, effect, particle, and option definitions.

The project template already contains a minimal watch-mode configuration. Do not recreate its files. In the following chapters, you will replace its debug behavior, draw the stage and notes, add audiovisual feedback, and reproduce recorded judgments during replay.

Scripted Video

Think of watch mode as a dynamically generated scripted video. Players can pause it or seek in either direction, so entities must respond to changes in the playback position instead of assuming that time always moves forward. Watch mode is configured with the WatchMode class.

Testing Watch Mode

With the development server running, reopen the guide level and select Watch. The watch output is intentionally incomplete until you finish this section.