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# Content packages
Gaming content must be packed into a package. A package can contains:
- characters, weapons and other objects
- backgrounds
- sounds
- stages
- etc
## distribution
#### on the web
A package can be deployed on a different domain than the main application is deployed. This allows third parties to distribute game content without hassles on fixes and updates of the game program.
#### offline use
A package can also be zipped and be distributed as a single file, and unzipped when use.
## package format
A package is a directory on the web or a folder on disk. Content files must be placed under the package directory, with no more than 4 levels of subdirectories
at the root of the package, there must be a file named `manifest.js`, containing a strict JSON structure surrounded by a `define()`, i.e. can be parsed with `JSON.parse()` without errors. this is the only JSON structure with strict requirement, other `.js` files can define _JSON like_ structures that are actually javascript object literals.
the JSON data in `manifest.js` is in the following schema:
```
{
"data":"string",
"resourcemap":"string!optional"
}
```
the entries are:
- `data` is the path to the data listing, corresponds to `data.txt` as found in LF2. F.LF extended its specification.
- `resourcemap` is the url to the file `resourcemap.js`, its format and usage is defined by F.LF/core. a resourcemap allows mapping a resource name (shorter and understandable) to an actual url (long and ugly), for example, consider an entry:
`'squirrel.png':'http://imagehost.com/FtvJG6rAG2mdB8aHrEa8qXj8GtbYRpqrQs9F8X8.png'`
all paths defined in the package are relative to the package root where `manifest.js` is located. __do not__ define a web resource like `http://some-imagehost.com/bandit.png`. if you want to host files on CDN to accelerate loading time _on the web_, define a resource map.
there is however no restriction on how the folders must be structured, the recommendation is:
```
bg/
data/
sound/
sprite/
manifest.js
resourcemap.js
```
## data listing
data files can be categorized but no nesting is allowed. each entry contains properties and an optional pointer to data file.
```
//example data.js
define({
character:
[
{name:'Dhip', file:'data/dhip.js'},
{name:'Cale', file:'data/cale.js'}
],
background:
[
{name: 'Forest', file:'bg/forest/bg.js'}
],
UI: {file:'UI/UI.js'}
});
```
## data file
data file must be a valid javascript file with `.js` extension. The script content must be a JSON data structure surrounded by a define call, like:
```
//example dhip.js
define({
name: 'Dhip',
type: 'animal',
species: 'chipmunk'
});
```
F.LF do not enforce the data structure to be strict JSON, that js style object literal is also accepted. This may change in the future.
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