Manual install

Windows only, for now

The regular Play button downloads a small installer and hands off to it automatically. That installer is the one piece of Gizlo that talks to the internet before you've decided to trust it - it's also usually what makes antivirus tools flag something as new and unfamiliar. Once Player or Studio is actually installed, they're ordinary apps and don't behave any differently.

This page skips that installer entirely. Player and Studio are both portable - there's nothing to install in the traditional sense. You download the app and its assets straight from GitHub, put them in a folder together, and run the app directly from there.

The trade-off: installing this way means updates aren't automatic. When we ship a new version, you'll need to come back and re-run the same commands to pull the newer release - app and assets both, since they're versioned together. The regular launcher handles that for you; this path trades that convenience for being able to see and verify every version yourself.
Gizlo Player
Lets you launch and play games shared on Gizlo. Ships as gizlo-player.exe plus an assets.zip - no installer.
Reporocklungs/gizlo-player Releasesview assets & hashes
Step 1 · Open a command prompt

Press Win + R, type cmd, hit Enter.

Step 2 · Make a folder and download into it
:: creates a folder to hold the app, and drops you into it
mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\GizloPlayer" 2>nul
cd /d "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\GizloPlayer"

:: pulls the app and its assets straight from GitHub's latest release
curl -L -o gizlo-player.exe https://github.com/rocklungs/gizlo-player/releases/latest/download/gizlo-player.exe
curl -L -o assets.zip https://github.com/rocklungs/gizlo-player/releases/latest/download/assets.zip
Step 3 · Verify both files
certutil -hashfile gizlo-player.exe SHA256
certutil -hashfile assets.zip SHA256

On the releases page, click the small copy icon next to each file's sha256: value under Assets to get the full hash, and check it matches what the command above printed for that file. If either one doesn't match, delete it and download again rather than running it.

Step 4 · Extract and run
:: unpacks assets.zip into this same folder
tar -xf assets.zip

:: launches the app
gizlo-player.exe

The app expects a folder named assets sitting right next to gizlo-player.exe. If tar extracts the zip's contents loose instead of into an assets folder, move them into one named exactly that before running the exe.

  1. Windows will very likely show a "Windows protected your PC" SmartScreen warning - expected for a new publisher without a long download history yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.
  2. Head back to Gizlo and hit Play on any game - it'll now hand off to this copy of Player directly.
Gizlo Studio
The visual node-scripting editor for building and publishing your own games. Ships as gizlo-studio.exe plus an assets.zip - no installer.
Reporocklungs/gizlo-studio Releasesview assets & hashes
Step 1 · Open a command prompt

Press Win + R, type cmd, hit Enter.

Step 2 · Make a folder and download into it
:: creates a folder to hold the app, and drops you into it
mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\GizloStudio" 2>nul
cd /d "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\GizloStudio"

:: pulls the app and its assets straight from GitHub's latest release
curl -L -o gizlo-studio.exe https://github.com/rocklungs/gizlo-studio/releases/latest/download/gizlo-studio.exe
curl -L -o assets.zip https://github.com/rocklungs/gizlo-studio/releases/latest/download/assets.zip
Step 3 · Verify both files
certutil -hashfile gizlo-studio.exe SHA256
certutil -hashfile assets.zip SHA256

On the releases page, click the small copy icon next to each file's sha256: value under Assets to get the full hash, and check it matches what the command above printed for that file. If either one doesn't match, delete it and download again rather than running it.

Step 4 · Extract and run
:: unpacks assets.zip into this same folder
tar -xf assets.zip

:: launches the app
gizlo-studio.exe

The app expects a folder named assets sitting right next to gizlo-studio.exe. If tar extracts the zip's contents loose instead of into an assets folder, move them into one named exactly that before running the exe.

  1. If SmartScreen warns you it's from an unrecognized publisher, click More info → Run anyway - normal for newer software and fades as more people install it.
  2. Sign in with your Gizlo account once Studio opens. Your projects sync the same way they would through the automatic installer.
A couple of things worth knowing
Why curl instead of just clicking a download link?
This way the file comes straight from GitHub's servers with a URL you typed or pasted yourself, rather than through a redirect on gizlo.com you'd have to trust blindly. It also means you can read the command before running it.
Why does Windows warn me at all if this is legitimate?
SmartScreen bases its warning mostly on how many people have already run a given file, not on whether it's safe. A brand-new exe starts at zero reputation no matter who made it - that's why checking the hash matters more than the warning does.
Do I need to redo this every time?
Yes - installed this way, Player and Studio won't self-update. Check the releases page linked above when you know an update shipped, and run the same commands again to pull the newer exe and assets together (they're versioned as a pair, so don't mix an old assets.zip with a new exe or vice versa).
Can I switch back to the automatic launcher later?
Yes. The automatic launcher just downloads the same app to its own folder behind the scenes - the regular Play button will find and use whichever copy it installed, separately from this one.