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GameLord provides a polished, native emulation experience with WebGL rendering, hardware-accelerated shaders, and precise frame timing.

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Launching games

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Starting a game

There are two ways to launch a game:
1

From the library grid

Click any game card to open its detail view, then click the play button.
2

Quick launch (current behavior)

In the current version, clicking a game card launches it directly.
When you launch a game, GameLord creates a dedicated game window with native rendering. The emulation loop runs in a separate utility process for optimal performance.

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Hero transition animation

When launching from the library:
  • The game card expands and morphs into the game window
  • Window animates from the card’s position to its final size
  • Boot animation plays once the window is ready
  • Window is automatically focused for immediate keyboard input

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Resuming from autosave

GameLord automatically saves your progress when you close a game:
If an autosave exists, you’ll be prompted to resume from your last session or start fresh.
Select your preference, and the game window opens with either:
  • Resume - Loads autosave state (slot 99) and continues where you left off
  • Start Fresh - Launches the game from the beginning

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Game window

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Window layout

The game window features:
  • Hidden inset title bar - macOS-style traffic lights in the top-left
  • Canvas rendering - WebGL2-powered display with shader support
  • Control overlays - Hover to reveal play/pause, settings, and save state controls
  • Aspect ratio locking - Window maintains the core’s native aspect ratio when resized

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Window sizing

GameLord intelligently sizes the game window:
  • Default height: 80% of your display height (or 3x base resolution, whichever is larger)
  • Width calculated from height using the core’s reported aspect ratio
  • Accounts for non-square pixels (e.g., NES outputs 4:3 despite 256×240 base resolution)
  • Minimum size: 2x base resolution
Window size and position are saved per-system, so NES and GBA windows remember their own sizes.

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Control visibility

The game window shows overlays when:
  • You move the mouse (controls appear at top and bottom)
  • You hover over the control bars
  • A dropdown menu is open
Auto-hide behavior: Controls fade after 1 second of inactivity, unless:
  • The cursor is over a control bar
  • A menu is open
  • The game is paused

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Keyboard shortcuts

GameLord provides fast keyboard shortcuts for common actions:
ShortcutAction
SpacePause/Resume
F5Quick save (current slot)
F9Quick load (current slot)
TabToggle fast-forward
Cmd+FToggle fullscreen
Keyboard shortcuts only work when the game window is focused and you’re not typing in an input field.

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Input mapping

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Keyboard controls

GameLord captures keyboard input from the renderer and forwards it through IPC to the emulation worker:
  1. Keyboard events captured in renderer (game window)
  2. Mapped to libretro joypad buttons
  3. Forwarded via game:input IPC to main process
  4. Sent to utility process worker
  5. Applied to emulation core
Input mapping uses the libretro RetroPad abstraction, so controls work consistently across all cores and systems.

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Gamepad support

GameLord includes experimental gamepad support using the Gamepad API:
  • Automatically detects connected controllers
  • Polls gamepad state in requestAnimationFrame loop
  • Forwards button/axis state via the same game:input pipeline as keyboard
Gamepad configuration UI is planned for a future release. Current mappings are hardcoded.

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Playback controls

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Pause and resume

Pause the emulation at any time:
  • Keyboard: Press Space
  • UI: Click the play/pause button in the top control bar
When paused:
  • Emulation loop stops (no frames advance)
  • Audio playback halts
  • “PAUSE” badge appears on screen
  • Controls remain visible
Pausing is instant and doesn’t affect save states - you can pause/resume freely without losing progress.

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Reset

Reset the game to its initial state:
  • Opens the reset confirmation dialog
  • Confirm to restart the game from the beginning
  • Does not affect save states or SRAM
Resetting clears all progress since your last save. Make sure to save your game first!

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Speed control

Adjust emulation speed for different use cases:
  • Normal speed (1x): Default, runs at the core’s native frame rate
  • Fast-forward: Press Tab or click the speed button to toggle
  • Custom speeds: 2x, 4x, 8x available in the speed menu
Fast-forward is perfect for grinding, cutscenes, or testing. Audio is muted during fast-forward to avoid distortion.

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Shutdown sequence

When you close a game window:
1

User initiates close

Click the close button or press Cmd+W.
2

Window state saved

GameLord saves the current window size and position before the shutdown animation.
3

Emulation paused

The emulation worker pauses to stop new frames.
4

Data saved

SRAM (battery saves) and autosave state (slot 99) are written to disk.
5

Shutdown animation

Renderer plays the CRT power-off animation, then signals ready-to-close.
6

Window closes

OS window fades and shrinks, then destroys.
7

Worker shutdown

The utility process terminates cleanly.
The shutdown animation has a 2-second safety timeout - if something goes wrong, the window will force-close to prevent hanging.

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Performance

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Frame pacing

GameLord uses a hybrid sleep+spin approach for accurate frame timing:
  • Emulation loop runs in a dedicated utility process
  • Hybrid timing: sleeps until near the deadline, then spins for precision
  • Typical jitter: 0.1-0.5ms
  • Frames are synced to display vsync via requestAnimationFrame

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Video rendering

Zero-copy frame transfer for maximum performance:
  • SharedArrayBuffer - Double-buffered video + SPSC audio ring buffer
  • MessagePort bridge - Direct channel between utility process and renderer
  • Fallback - IPC transfer when SharedArrayBuffer is unavailable
  • Vsync alignment - Renderer draws frames in requestAnimationFrame loop

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FPS monitoring

Enable the FPS counter to monitor performance:
  1. Open the settings menu in the game window
  2. Toggle “Show FPS counter”
  3. FPS overlay appears in the corner (EMA of rAF timestamp deltas)
  4. Setting persists in localStorage
GameLord targets 60 FPS for most systems. The FPS counter helps identify performance bottlenecks or frame drops.

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Troubleshooting

  • Verify the ROM file still exists at its original path
  • Check that the required libretro core is downloaded
  • For Saturn games, ensure BIOS files are in <userData>/BIOS/
  • Look for errors in the console (Help > Toggle Developer Tools)
  • Close other applications to free up resources
  • Try disabling multi-pass shaders (use “Sharp Bilinear” or “Nearest”)
  • Check FPS counter - if below 60, performance is bottlenecked
  • Restart GameLord to clear any accumulated overhead
  • Audio buffer overflow/underflow can cause crackling
  • Usually caused by frame drops or CPU spikes
  • Try closing background apps or disabling shaders
  • Check system audio settings for sample rate conflicts
  • Ensure the game window is focused
  • Check that you’re not typing in an input field
  • Try clicking the canvas to focus it
  • Gamepad support is experimental - try keyboard first

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