Create Your First Game

A hands-on walkthrough — make a game, add an objective and a hint, add a display, then run it.

Published Jun 19, 2026

The best way to understand ARC is to build a small game and run it. This walkthrough keeps it simple — one objective, one hint, one display — so you can see the whole shape of things.

Create the game

  1. Open the Editor and select New Game.
  2. Give it a name (your room's name works well) and confirm with Create Game.
  3. On the General tab, set the game's duration (how long the countdown runs).
  4. Set the status to Testing while you build — runs in Testing aren't saved to your history.

Use Testing while you build

A game’s status can be Active (real runs, recorded), Testing (runs normally, nothing saved), or Retired (hidden). Keep it on Testing until you’re ready for real groups, then switch it to Active.

Screenshot to capture The Editor General tab for a new game, showing the name, duration, and status fields.

Add an objective and a hint

  1. Open the Objectives tab and create an objective. Give it a clear name, like "Open the safe."
  2. Add a hint to that objective — a short line of text players can be shown if they're stuck.
  3. Save your objective.
Screenshot to capture The Objectives tab with one objective created and a text hint added to it.

Add a display

  1. Open the Displays tab and select Add Display.
  2. Choose the Countdown template so players see the timer and any hints you send.
  3. Save the display. You can put it on a real screen later — see Displays.
Screenshot to capture The Displays tab with a new Countdown display added to the game.

Run it once

Now see it in action:

  1. Open the game's control page.
  2. Select Start and watch the timer count down.
  3. Send your hint to the display, then mark the objective complete.
  4. Select End, then run a Reset to return to the start.
Screenshot to capture The control page running the new game — timer counting down, the single objective listed, and the hint ready to send.

That's the whole loop

Build in the Editor, run on the control page. Everything else — more objectives, real devices, media, and automations — is just more of the same.

What’s next

Go deeper on running games in Control, or start connecting your hardware in Devices.