# First Steps

Welcome to Codecks! This guide introduces the core concepts and shows you how to get started with a production tool built specifically for game development. Whether you're a solo developer or part of a large studio, you'll learn how Codecks helps you organize assets, track work across disciplines, and ship your game.

> **Built for Game Development**
>
> Codecks is built around [Scope-Driven Production](https://manual.codecks.io/scope-driven-production/), a methodology designed for how game studios actually work:
>
> - Organize around **assets** (weapons, enemies, levels), not abstract tickets
> - Track **effort by discipline** (art, code, design) separately
> - Use **relative complexity** to estimate based on shipped work
> - Support **parallel pipelines** where multiple disciplines work simultaneously
> - **Control scope** through data instead of guesswork
>
> The tool is playful and accessible, but the structure underneath is built for production at scale. You don't need to master this methodology to start using Codecks, but it explains why certain features exist and how they fit together.

## Cards: Your Atomic Work Units

Codecks uses a trading card game metaphor where every task, [document](https://manual.codecks.io/doc-cards/), or bug is represented as a card. Unlike traditional Kanban where cards only exist in columns, each Codecks card is self-contained with its own [workflow](https://manual.codecks.io/workflow/) state, properties, and [conversation](https://manual.codecks.io/conversations/) threads. The card is the source of truth, not its position in a column.

![Card workflow states](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/intro.E5XtdLp9_ZFvo31.webp)

Cards move through a built-in lifecycle: Unassigned → Assigned → Started → Review → Done. You can organize them by any dimension you need: [owner](https://manual.codecks.io/owner/) (who's working on it), [milestone](https://manual.codecks.io/milestones/) (when it ships), [priority](https://manual.codecks.io/priority/) (how important), [effort](https://manual.codecks.io/effort/) (how big), or custom [tags](https://manual.codecks.io/tags/).

> **The Big Advantage:** View the same cards multiple ways without duplication. A Task Deck shows coding work, while [Hero Cards](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/) organize those same tasks by asset. Switch views freely; the card's state stays intact.

## Decks: Your Organized Backlog

Cards are organized into [decks](https://manual.codecks.io/decks/), with each card belonging to exactly one deck. The Decks tab serves as your backlog, containing all the tasks, ideas, and bugs you might tackle in the future. Codecks offers four [deck types](https://manual.codecks.io/decks/#deck-types) optimized for different kinds of content:

- **Asset Decks** - Game content like enemies and weapons (cards become [Hero Cards](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/))
- **Task Decks** - Discipline-specific work queues
- **Knowledge Decks** - Documentation and meeting notes
- **Mixed Decks** - For when you need flexibility

You can group related decks into [Spaces](https://manual.codecks.io/projects/) to keep your project organized. A typical game project setup includes a GDD space containing your Asset Decks, a Tasks space with decks organized by discipline (Art, Code, Animation, Audio, Design, QA), and a Knowledge space for documentation. This structure gives you both an asset-oriented view for producers and a discipline-oriented view for individual contributors.

## Milestones and Runs: Time-Based Planning

Codecks helps you break work into manageable chunks through two complementary systems.

- **[Milestones](https://manual.codecks.io/milestones/)** are collections of cards tied to specific delivery dates like "Alpha Build - Dec 2025," "Vertical Slice Demo," or "Early Access Launch." They answer the question "what are we shipping by when?"
- **[Runs](https://manual.codecks.io/runs/)** are recurring work cycles (weekly, biweekly, or monthly sprints) that help you commit to specific work in the near term. They answer "what are we doing this week or this sprint?"

> **Pro Tip:** A card can be in both a milestone AND a run. Track "shipping this enemy by December" while committing "finishing concept art this week." Your massive backlog filters down to focused commitments.

## Hand: Your Personal Queue

Your [hand](https://manual.codecks.io/hand/) is a personal queue of cards you plan to tackle next, like a hand of cards in a card game. The Hand tab serves as your home base in Codecks, showing your cards, conversations, runs, due dates, and team activity all in one place. The hand creates healthy WIP (work in progress) limits - when your hand feels cluttered with too many cards, it signals that it's time to finish something before starting more.

![Quick Hand View](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/CardHand.BzSAPC1D_1dJd40.webp)

You can think of a card's lifecycle as a commitment funnel with increasing levels of urgency:

1. Cards start in a Deck ("we should probably do this"),
2. get assigned to a Milestone ("we're shipping this by December"),
3. pulled into a Run ("we're doing this in the next sprint"),
4. added to your Hand ("I'm tackling this today or tomorrow"),
5. and finally marked as Started ("I'm working on this right now").

This funnel works for larger studios with formal planning, but smaller teams or solo devs might skip straight from Deck to Hand. Codecks adapts to your scale.

## Community Features

Codecks includes unique integrations built specifically for game studios who want to engage with their community. The [Discord integration](https://manual.codecks.io/discord/) lets you collect bug reports directly from your Discord community, while [Open Decks](https://manual.codecks.io/open-decks/) allow you to publish and maintain a public roadmap that updates automatically from your internal Codecks project. You can also use [User Reporting](https://manual.codecks.io/user-reports/) to collect bugs and feedback directly from your game through Unity, Unreal, or the API, making it easy for players to report issues without leaving your game.

## Setting Up Your Project

When you set up your organization, Codecks asks "What stage are you in?" for your first project and offers a set of templates keyed to the phase of your game: **Conception**, **Pre-Production**, **Production**, and **Post-Production**. Each provides an initial scaffolding with sensible decks, spaces, and sample cards appropriate for that stage. There is also a **Software Project** template for studios using Codecks beyond game development, plus a **Blank** template and a **None** option if you'd rather start from scratch. Projects you create later offer genre-based templates instead (see [Project Setup](https://manual.codecks.io/project-setup/#starting-point-templates-vs-blank)). The templates are designed as inspiration — customize them to match your specific game and team structure.

When you create your very first project, Codecks also sets up an **Inbox** Deck and assigns it as the [Default Inbox Deck](https://manual.codecks.io/decks/#default-inbox-deck) for everyone on your team. This means any Card you create without picking a Deck lands in the Inbox automatically, giving you a frictionless place to dump ideas while you figure out your project structure.

The [Project Setup guide](https://manual.codecks.io/project-setup/) walks you through a battle-tested structure: a GDD space for assets, a Tasks space for discipline-specific work, and a Knowledge space for documentation. Using [Journeys](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/#journeys), you can define repeatable asset pipelines that automatically generate the right tasks for each new asset. This structure gives you dual perspectives that stay in sync - producers can track asset completion status while individual contributors see their discipline-specific work queues.

## Onboarding Quests

As you start using Codecks, you'll find a list of **Quests** in the navigation — small guided tasks that walk new teams through key features (creating a Card, setting up a Run, inviting a teammate). Quests are grouped into chapters. Every finished chapter stays open, along with up to three unfinished ones; the next chapter opens once one of those is complete. Within an open chapter you can do the Quests in any order.

Quests are tracked at the **organization level**: when one team member finishes the "Create your first Run" Quest, that step is marked done for everyone. This avoids the situation where every new hire is asked to re-do the same setup steps on a project that's already up and running.

If you've invited people who shouldn't be poked to change project structure (e.g. external collaborators or seat-courtesy staff users), you can switch the **Quests for staff users** setting under Organization Settings > General to **Simplified**. The Simplified mode hides any Quests that would modify org-wide data and keeps only the read-only "get oriented" ones.

## What's Next?

Now that you understand the basics, explore the rest of the manual to deepen your knowledge. The [Scope-Driven Production](https://manual.codecks.io/scope-driven-production/) page explains the methodology behind Codecks and why it's designed the way it is. The [Project Setup](https://manual.codecks.io/project-setup/) guide provides a detailed walkthrough for structuring your project with GDD and Task spaces. Learn how to create repeatable asset pipelines in [Hero Cards & Journeys](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/), understand day-to-day card mechanics in [Workflow](https://manual.codecks.io/workflow/), [Conversations](https://manual.codecks.io/conversations/), and [Hand](https://manual.codecks.io/hand/), or discover power user features like [Shortcuts](https://manual.codecks.io/shortcuts/), [Bulk Actions](https://manual.codecks.io/bulk-actions/), and [Tags](https://manual.codecks.io/tags/).

The system adapts to what you need. Small teams can skip structure and work from the hand. Large studios can build complex pipelines with dependencies and forecasting. **Welcome home.** You've found a project management tool built by game developers, for game developers.

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVb0AXD3Sm8)