cerlib

cerlib is an easy-to-use 2D game library for C++.

• Homepage
• Getting Started
• Online Demo

What it provides

• Simple and lightweight cross-platform library focused on 2D game development
• App framework
  • Based on SDL
• Content management system
  • Images: .png, .jpg, .bmp, .dds, .hdr, .tga, .psd, .gif
  • Generation of mipmaps
  • Fonts: .ttf, .otf
  • Sounds: .wav, .mp3, .ogg, .flac
• Efficient, GPU-based sprite and UTF8 text rendering
• Custom sprite shading
  • Simple & safe shading language that transpiles to native shading languages
• Integrated linear math library with first-class support
• First-class support for ImGui
  • Automatically available in your game, simply #include <imgui.h> and use it
• Compatibility with graphics debuggers such as RenderDoc

What it does not provide

cerlib does not provide

• A full-fledged 2D game engine experience
• A level editor
• An entity-component-system or any kind of scene representation
• A physics library
• Networking functionality (candidate for future versions)
• 3D rendering (candidate for future versions)

In short, cerlib lets you define your game architecture however you desire. It does not impose a strict model on the game's code. It provides every basic audiovisual aspect necessary to develop a 2D game.

Example

#include <cerlib.hpp>
#include <cerlib/Main.hpp>

struct MyGame : cer::Game {
  MyGame() {
    window = cer::Window{"My Game Window"};
  }

  void load_content() override {
    image = cer::load_image("MyImage.png");
  }

  bool update(const cer::GameTime& time) override {
    // Update game logic. Use the time parameter as a reference point for
    // how much time has passed since the last update:
    // ...
    return true;
  }

  void draw(const cer::Window& window) override {
    // Draw game content into 'window':
    // ...
    cer::draw_sprite(image, {100, 200}, cer::white);
  }

  cer::Window window;
  cer::Image image;
};

int main() {
  // Create & run our game.
  return cer::run_game<MyGame>();
}

Quickstart

This is for those who want to get started quickly. It assumes that you have a working C++ 20 toolchain and editor / IDE already.

First, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cemderv/cerlib
cd cerlib

The easiest way to start is to open the mygame folder in the editor / IDE of your choice. It must support CMake-based projects. You should then be able to select a preset such as debug and directly hit play and run your game.

Building from the command line

cd mygame
cmake --workflow --preset debug

For a detailed introduction and tutorials, please visit the Getting Started page.

Platform support

	OpenGL	OpenGL ES / WebGL	Metal
Windows	✅ (≥ 3.0)
Linux	✅ (≥ 3.0)
Android		✅ (≥ ES 3.0)
Web		✅ (WebGL 2)
macOS	✅ (≥ 3.0)		Planned
iOS			Planned
visionOS			Planned

Architectures

	Windows	macOS	Linux
x64	✅	✅	✅
x86	✅		✅
ARM64	✅	✅	✅
RISC-V			✅

Supported compilers

cerlib has been tested and is confirmed to work with the following compilers:

• MSVC 2022
• Clang ≥ 16.0.6
• GCC ≥ 13.3
• Apple Clang ≥ 15

Contributing and Feedback

Please see Contributing for further details on how to contribute to cerlib.