DragonRuby Game Toolkit
A downloadable game engine for Windows, macOS, and Linux
DragonRuby Game Toolkit is a commercial-grade, yet beginner-friendly, 2D game engine. It's tiny (~3MB), fast as hell, and cross-platform. The Standard License (this page) is a one-time purchase and includes support for PC, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and Web.
Made for Indie Game Devs that want a powerful game engine that's royalty-free, fast, productive, and easy-to-use.
Updated | Aug 15, 2024, Total releases (so far): 190 |
Inception | Apr 19, 2019 |
Status | Released |
Category | Game engine |
Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi |
Rating | ★★★★★(309) |
Author | DragonRuby |
Tags | 2D, dragonruby, Game engine, Moddable, ruby |
Tech Demo
Here is what's possible with just a Standard license.
Tour and Tutorial
Ryan put together a 5-minute intro to DragonRuby, to give you a whirlwind tour of the big ideas.
Try the Samples (150+ included in the download).
Features
- Dirt simple, data-oriented APIs capable of creating complex 2D games.
- Fast as hell. Powered by highly optimized C code written by Ryan C. Gordon, one of the juggernauts behind SDL (the tech that powers thousands of games, triple-A game engines, and the Steam client).
- Battle-tested by Amir Rajan, a critically acclaimed indie game dev with titles built with DragonRuby on mobile and the Nintendo Switch.
- Tiny. Like really tiny. The entire engine is a few megabytes.
- Hot loaded, real-time coding, optimized to provide constant feedback to the dev. Productive and an absolute joy to use.
- Turnkey builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux with seamless publishing to Itch.io.
- Cross-platform: PC, Mac, Linux, Raspberry PI, Web, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, XBOX One, and PS4 (mobile requires a Pro License, and console compilation requires a business entity, and NDA verification; contact us at support@dragonruby.org for more info).
The Standard license is a one-time/lifetime purchase. Indie and Pro licenses are subscription-based but come with some incredibly powerful features.
Free Unrestricted License
You are eligible for a free license if any of the following items pertain to you:
- Your income is below $2000 (USD) per month.
- You are under 18 years of age.
- You are a student of any type: traditional public school, homeschooling, college, boot camp, or online.
- You are a teacher, mentor, or parent who wants to teach a kid how to code.
- You work/worked in public service or at a charitable organization: for example public office, army, or any 501(c)(3) organization.
Just contact Amir at ar@amirrajan.net with a short explanation of your current situation and he'll set you up. No questions asked.
Standard Features |
MacOS |
Windows |
Linux/Steam Deck |
Raspberry Pi |
Web Builds |
In-Game Web Server |
Portrait Mode |
Sound Synthesis |
Pixel Arrays |
Itch.io Distribution: Streamlined |
Steam Distribution: Steamworks CLI |
Purchase Standard |
Indie Features |
All features from Standard |
Steam Distribution: Streamlined |
C Extensions |
Bytecode Compilation |
Triangle Primitives |
Purchase Indie |
Pro Features |
All features from Indie |
iOS Distribution |
Android Distribution |
HD Mode |
All Screen Mode |
MP4 Replay Export |
Oculus Quest VR Mode |
Purchase Pro |
Hello World is one file, three lines.
This is all you need to create a game. One file. One method called tick
. Here we render the current step value as a label:
def tick args args.outputs.labels << [100, 100, args.state.tick_count] end
That's it. If you know how to use the array
datatype in any language, you know everything needed to get started with DragonRuby Game Toolkit. Play around with the engine in your browser.
You can skim our documentation here if you need more details.
Output: Six rendering primitives are all you need.
Here are the six draw primitives you need to know: solids, sprites, labels, lines, borders, and sounds
. Here is how you use them:
def tick args # draw a blue square that's half way faded out args.outputs.solids << [100, 100, 50, 50, 0, 0, 255, 128] # draw a red label args.outputs.labels << [100, 100, "This is a label.", 255, 0, 0] # draw a sprite turned 45 degrees and half way faded out args.outputs.sprites << [200, 200, 50, 50, 'ninja.png', 45, 128] # draw a diagonal green line from bottom left to top right args.outputs.lines << [0, 0, 1280, 720, 0, 255, 0] # draw a black border (unfilled square) args.outputs.borders << [100, 100, 50, 50, 0, 0, 0, 255] # play a sound every second args.outputs.sounds << "ping.wav" if args.state.tick_count % 60 == 0 end
That's it. You now know the entire render API for DragonRuby.
Here's a more complicated example. This is how you create a nighttime scene, with a title, and a ninja:
solids
: A black background, and two hundred stars made of tiny squares.labels
: Display some smokey-white text.sounds
: Play a sound when the game starts up.sprites
: Render a sprite on the screen.lines
: Draw a line representing the floorborders
: Frame the entire scene with a white border.
def tick args # destructure args into local variables state, outputs, grid = args.state, args.outputs, args.grid # set some default values for the game state.colors.background ||= [0, 0, 0] state.colors.star ||= [128, 200, 255] state.colors.text ||= [200, 200, 200] state.colors.landmarks ||= [255, 255, 255] state.night ||= [grid.rect, state.colors.background] state.stars ||= 200.map do [rand * grid.w, rand * grid.h, rand * 2 + 2, rand * 2 + 2, state.colors.star] end # start up some background music outputs.sounds << "opening_fx.wav" if state.tick_count == 0 # render the background and stars outputs.solids << state.night outputs.solids << state.stars # set a title for the game outputs.labels << [grid.left + 50, grid.top - 50, "Ninja Game", state.colors.text] # set a sprite outputs.sprites << [50, 50, 50, 50, 'ninja.png'] # create a line that represents the ground outputs.lines << [grid.left, grid.bottom + 50, grid.right, grid.bottom + 50, state.colors.landmarks] # create a border to frame the game outputs.borders << [grid.left + 1, grid.bottom + 1, grid.right - 1, grid.top - 1, state.colors.landmarks] end
Input: Controllers, Mouse, and Keyboard.
This is how you move a sprite using your gamepad:
args.state.ninja.x ||= 100 args.outputs.sprites << [args.state.ninja.x, 300, 50, 50, 'ninja.png'] if args.inputs.controller_one.key_held.right args.state.ninja.x += 10 elsif args.inputs.controller_one.key_held.left args.state.ninja.x -= 10 end
This is how you move a sprite using your mouse:
args.state.ninja.x ||= 100 args.outputs.sprites << [ args.state.ninja.x, 300, 50, 50, 'ninja.png' ] if args.inputs.mouse.click args.state.ninja.x = args.inputs.mouse.click.point.x end
This is how you move a sprite using your keyboard:
args.state.ninja.x ||= 100 args.outputs.sprites << [ args.state.ninja.x, 300, 50, 50, 'ninja.png' ] if args.inputs.keyboard.key_held.right args.state.ninja.x += 10 elsif args.inputs.keyboard.key_held.left args.state.ninja.x -= 10 end
Game State: Entities and Collision.
Randomly create 500 ninjas on the screen. Create a lookup table that contains the alpha property of ninjas that have collided. Present all ninjas with their alpha properties set.
def tick args # destructure args into local variables grid, state, outputs = args.grid, args.state, args.outputs # use Game Toolkit's built in helper methods to create # adhoc entities state.ninjas ||= 500.map do state.new_entity(:ninja, rect: [grid.w.-(50) * rand, grid.h.-(50) * rand, 50, 50]) end # use Ruby's powerful apis to determine collision state.collisions ||= state.ninja .product .reject { |n, n2| n == n2 } .find_all { |n, n2| n.rect.intersects_rect?(n2.rect) } .map { |n, _| [n.entity_id, 128] } .pairs_to_hash #render everything to the screen outputs.sprites << state.ninjas.map do |n| [n.rect, 'dragonruby.png', 0, state.collisions[n.entity_id] || 255] end end
The developers behind DragonRuby Game Toolkit.
This is Ryan C. Gordon (Wikipedia), he is one of the juggernauts behind Simple DirectMedia Layer (Wikipedia).
Ya know...
SDL.
That low-level library that powers thousands of games, Triple-A game engines, and Valve's Steam client?
He's also worked on porting a number of games to Linux and Mac OS: such as Braid, Super Meat Boy, Dear Esther, and LIMBO.
And this is Amir Rajan, he is an indie game dev with titles on iOS, Android, desktop, and Nintendo Switch... amassing 3 million downloads and counting (Nintendo, Kill Screen, The New Yorker). And yes, all these games are built with the DragonRuby Runtime.
Both of these guys hate the complexity of today's engines. And as luck would have it, their paths ended up crossing. After six months and 50,000 lines of DragonRuby Runtime enhancements, Ryan and Amir now have a live/hot loadable, cruft-free, productive game engine that can target... well... any gaming device you can think of.
Updated | 4 days ago |
Status | Released |
Category | Tool |
Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (312 total ratings) |
Author | DragonRuby |
Tags | 2D, dragonruby, Game engine, Moddable, ruby |
Purchase
In order to download this game engine you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $48 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- 2023 Year End ReviewDec 25, 2023
- Mid-year Update: Quacks, Steam Distribution, Sound Synthesis, and Pixel ArraysJun 08, 2023
- DragonRuby 2023 RoadmapFeb 11, 2023
- DragonRuby + Steam DeckNov 12, 2022
- 3.0 RTM, Oculus VR, Indie Tier, and Black Friday DiscountsNov 22, 2021
- Oculus Quest and DragonRubyNov 10, 2021
- DragonRuby Game Toolkit 3.0 GM ReleasedOct 24, 2021
- DragonRuby Game Toolkit 3.0 Release CandidateOct 16, 2021