A modern, lightweight and cross-platform engine that makes game development fun again.
The engine is currently in the pre-alpha stage and thus not fully functional. The latest version can be found in
the development
branch and stable versions will have their own branches in the future. If you'd like to try out the engine, you can
follow the steps below to build it from source. If you'd like to contribute, you're welcome!
Feel free to follow me on Twitter to stay up to date.
Yes, because they're fun to make. And time-consuming. But seriously though, I feel like all the engines out there are
missing something. Some lack a polished and modern user interface, while others don't work well on all platforms or are
just too heavy for simple games.
This engine tries to solve all of these problems while maintaining a good developer experience. Making quality games
is hard enough - especially for solo devs - so why make it even harder?
This engine is not in direct competition with Unreal, Unity, etc. and I'm not asking you to drop the engine you are using. If you need something that is cross-platform, lightweight on your disk, and fun to work with, then you should give Nightly a try. If you like it, you can continue using it, if not, you can freely switch back. The choice is yours.
The entire engine is open source, and will be, forever. This means that you don't have to pay a single cent to use it.
Absolutely! Whether it's on Steam, Itch.io, App Store or elsewhere. You don't even have to pay for any fees.
There is no splash screen.
There is no catch. Nightly Engine is open source, meaning that I can't restrict the usage by requiring some sort of payment. If you would like to support the development process in any way, you can do so by sponsoring this project on GitHub or following me on Twitter. Also, feel free to ⭐️ this repo! Your help is greatly appreciated.
Follow these steps to build Nightly from source:
- Clone the repo with its
submodules:
git clone --recurse-submodules -j8 https://github.com/Futureblur/NightlyEngine.git - Go to the engine directory:
cd NightlyEngine
After that, follow the specific instructions for your OS down below.
- Install Xcode and Homebrew.
- Open your terminal and navigate to the
Scriptsfolder:cd Scripts - Install all the dependencies
python3 ./InstallDeps.py - Generate your Xcode project files using:
python3 ./GenerateXcode.py - Launch the editor:
python3 ./LaunchEditor.py
Your project files will be written to Engine/Build/{Configuration}/Engine/Source, while the binaries will be stored
in Engine/Binaries.
If you get an error message telling you that the CMAKE_C_COMPILER or CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER could not be found,
run: sudo xcode-select --reset.
- Python 3 is required. If not already installed, do it now:
sudo apt install python - Open your terminal and navigate to the
Scriptsfolder:cd Scripts - Install all the dependencies:
python3 ./InstallLinuxDependencies.py - Generate and build the project:
python3 ./GenerateNinja.py - Launch the editor:
python3 ./LaunchEditor.py
Your project files will be written to Engine/Build/{Configuration}/Engine/Source, while the binaries will be stored
in Engine/Binaries. You can now open the project using an IDE like CLion.
- Download and install CMake here. In the installer, select the option to also add CMake into your PATH environment variable.
- Download and install python3 here and also add it to your PATH.
- Download and install the latest version of Visual Studio.
- Open cmd.exe and navigate into the
Scriptsfolder:cd Scripts - Generate and build the project:
python ./GenerateVisualStudio<2019/2022>.py, select the version you'd like. - Launch the editor:
python ./LaunchEditor.py
Your project files will be written to Engine/Build/{Configuration}/Engine/Source, while the binaries will be stored
in Engine/Binaries. You can now open the project using an IDE like Visual Studio.
Nightly Engine is distributed under the GPL-3.0 license. See LICENSE.md for more information.