/ktx

LibKTX: Kotlin extensions for LibGDX games and applications

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KTX

Kotlin extensions for libGDX.

Table of contents

Introduction

KTX is a Kotlin game framework extending libGDX. It aims to make libGDX as Kotlin-friendly as possible without completely rewriting the API. It provides modular utilities and extensions for selected parts of libGDX with poor Kotlin support.

Examples of Kotlin language features used to improve usability, performance, and readability of libGDX include:

  • Operator overloads for collections and mathematical operations.
  • Extension methods expanding and improving the original libGDX APIs without the use of inheritance.
  • Inline methods with reduced runtime overhead for various listeners, builders, and loggers.
  • Nullable types which improve typing information of selected interfaces and functions.
  • Default parameters reducing boilerplate code and providing sensible defaults for various operations.
  • Type-safe builders for GUI, interface styling, ECS, and physics engine setup.
  • Default interface methods simplifying their implementation.
  • Coroutines context providing concurrency utilities and non-blocking asset loading.
  • Reified types simplifying usage of methods normally consuming Class parameters.

See the Choosing KTX article for pros and cons of this framework.

Modules

KTX was designed to be modular from day one. In fact, some of its libraries consist of just a single Kotlin file. You can include the selected KTX modules based on the needs of your application.

Module Description
ktx-actors Scene2D GUI extensions for stages, actors, actions, and event listeners.
ktx-ai Type-safe Kotlin builders and utilities for gdxAI.
ktx-app ApplicationListener implementations and general application utilities.
ktx-artemis Artemis-odb entity-component-system utilities.
ktx-ashley Ashley entity-component-system utilities.
ktx-assets Resources management utilities.
ktx-assets-async Non-blocking asset loading using coroutines.
ktx-async Coroutines context based on libGDX threading model.
ktx-box2d Box2D physics engine utilities.
ktx-collections Extensions for libGDX custom collections.
ktx-freetype FreeType fonts loading utilities.
ktx-freetype-async Non-blocking FreeType fonts loading using coroutines.
ktx-graphics Utilities related to rendering tools and graphics.
ktx-i18n Internationalization API utilities.
ktx-inject A dependency injection system with low overhead and no reflection usage.
ktx-json Utilities for libGDX JSON serialization API.
ktx-log Minimal runtime overhead cross-platform logging using inlined functions.
ktx-math Operator functions for libGDX math API and general math utilities.
ktx-preferences Improved API for accessing and saving preferences.
ktx-reflect Utilities for libGDX reflection API.
ktx-scene2d Type-safe Kotlin builders for Scene2D GUI.
ktx-script Kotlin scripting engine for desktop applications.
ktx-style Type-safe Kotlin builders for Scene2D widget styles extending Skin API.
ktx-tiled Utilities for Tiled maps.
ktx-vis Type-safe Kotlin builders for VisUI.
ktx-vis-style Type-safe Kotlin builders for VisUI widget styles.

Installation

New projects

New projects with support for KTX can be generated with the gdx-liftoff tool. In contrary to the official gdx-setup tool, gdx-liftoff provides greater support for libGDX extensions and a wider set of platforms, as well as custom project templates. You can download the latest release of the tool here.

Click on the sections below for instructions on how to set up a new KTX project with gdx-liftoff.

General

Fill the basic information about your project such as its name, root package or main class name. Provide an empty folder to generate the project into. If you want to target the Android platform, define the path to the Android SDK.

The following sections describe each tab of the setup tool available below the basic project info.

Platforms

KTX supports the following platforms:

  • Core: mandatory shared module.
  • Desktop: the default desktop platform based on LWJGL3.
  • Android: native Android mobile platform.
  • iOS: mobile platform using RoboVM to support iOS.
  • HTML (TeaVM): unofficial experimental web platform using TeaVM.
  • Headless: a desktop platform without a graphical interface.
  • Server: a separate server application without libGDX APIs.
  • Shared: a module for sharing code between the Server and Core.

The following platforms are unsupported or untested:

  • HTML: the default web platform. Supports only Java projects.
  • Desktop (Legacy): legacy desktop platform built upon LWJGL2. Might not work with modern JVMs.
  • iOS Multi-OS Engine: an alternative iOS platform. Untested.
Languages

You can select the Kotlin language support to ensure it is correctly set up in the generated project. If a Kotlin project template is selected, it will automatically add the necessary Kotlin libraries and plugins.

Extensions

This section includes the official libGDX extensions. Each of these should be compatible with Kotlin projects. However, some extensions might be unavailable on specific platforms. In particular, the TeaVM backend might be unable to compile libraries relying on native code or reflection.

Third-party extensions

This section contains all verified third-party extensions for libGDX. All KTX modules are listed in this tab.

To include a KTX module, scroll down to the KTX libraries list and click on the corresponding checkbox. This will ensure that the module is properly installed and includes all of its dependencies in the latest available versions.

The gdx-liftoff tool will also set up a Gradle property named ktxVersion that will be shared across all KTX libraries. To upgrade your project after a KTX release, update to the latest version in the gradle.properties file.

Templates

Choosing a template for the project determines the initial implementation of the libGDX ApplicationListener, as well as the application launchers on each platform. Some templates also showcase specific parts of the framework, such as the Scene2D GUI or event handling. You can generate several projects and check out various templates, but for working with Kotlin and KTX these are the best starting points:

  • Kotlin: a basic project template that generates Kotlin application launchers.
  • Kotlin Logo: a simple project that generates Kotlin application launchers and draws the libGDX logo on the screen.
  • Kotlin + KTX (recommended): a project template that generates the ApplicationListener using KTX utilities. When launched, the application draws the KTX logo on the screen. Some modules that require additional setup, such as ktx-async, are properly initiated by the template if selected.
Advanced

This section can be used to specify versions of core dependencies. If you are just starting with libGDX, these settings can be mostly left untouched. However, if you wish to have a basic Scene2D GUI Skin that you can use to test the available widgets, mark the Add GUI assets checkbox.

Example KTX projects:

  • ktx-sample-project: includes all KTX modules and the official libGDX extensions. Targets the desktop and mobile platforms.
  • ktx-sample-web-project: includes most KTX modules that are at least partially supported by the web platform, as well as the official libGDX extensions. Targets the desktop, mobile and web platforms.

When using the official gdx-setup tool instead of the recommended gdx-liftoff, generate a project with Kotlin support and refer to the next section.

Existing projects

KTX libraries can be added to existing Kotlin libGDX projects. Please refer to the libGDX wiki for more information on how to add Kotlin support to a libGDX application.

All KTX modules are uploaded to Maven Central and are fully compatible with the Gradle build tool, which is used in libGDX projects by default.

The libraries are published under the io.github.libktx group and are named with the ktx- prefix. You can find a complete list of KTX modules in the previous section. As an example, including the app module with the ktx-app identifier would require the following changes in your build.gradle or build.gradle.kts file:

build.gradle Gradle Groovy DSL 
// Groovy DSL:
ext {
  // Update this version to match the latest KTX release:
  ktxVersion = '1.12.1-rc1'
}

dependencies {
  api group: 'io.github.libktx', name: 'ktx-app', version: ktxVersion
}
build.gradle.kts Gradle Kotlin DSL 
// Update this version to match the latest KTX release:
val ktxVersion = "1.12.1-rc1"

dependencies {
  api(group = "io.github.libktx", name = "ktx-app", version = ktxVersion)
}

KTX modules should generally be added to the dependencies of the shared core module of your libGDX application.

You can find the latest KTX version on Maven Central:

Maven Central

Platforms

KTX currently supports the following platforms:

Platform Status Description
Desktop Complete All major desktop platforms are supported by the official libGDX LWJGL3 backend.
Android Complete Supported natively by the official libGDX Android backend.
iOS Complete Supported by the official libGDX iOS backend using RoboVM.
Web Experimental Partially supported by the unofficial web backend using TeaVM.

Note that platforms other than desktop might provide limited support for features such as reflection, coroutines or Java standard library emulation. In particular, mobile platforms might not support the entire Java standard library including the newer additions, while the web platform currently does not support Kotlin coroutines or more advanced reflection features. Please refer to the documentation of the respective libGDX backends, as well as the tools that they are based on.

Versioning

Each KTX version is based on the matching libGDX release. KTX uses suffixes to differentiate multiple releases made against a single libGDX version. The -rc suffix is reserved for stable releases.

Unfortunately, libGDX does not follow the semantic versioning guidelines. Both minor and patch versions can introduce breaking changes. Please read the libGDX and KTX change logs before updating. When choosing the appropriate KTX version, always pick the latest release matching your current libGDX version.

You can browse through our official releases on Maven and on GitHub.

Although KTX technically uses beta release tags, the official releases are considered suitable for production use. All modules are thoroughly tested with comprehensive test suites.

Latest changes

The master branch is the default branch of the repository. It represents the latest stable release of KTX. It ensures that the documentation in the repository is in sync with the latest released version.

The newest changes can be found on the develop branch instead.

The preview snapshot releases with the latest changes are uploaded automatically to the https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/ repository. To use them in your application, add the following Maven repository, and change the suffix of the KTX version to -SNAPSHOT:

build.gradle Gradle Groovy DSL 
repositories {
  // Include your other repositories here.
  maven { url 'https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/' }
}

ext {
  // Update this version to match the latest libGDX release:
  ktxVersion = '1.12.1-SNAPSHOT'
}
build.gradle.kts Gradle Kotlin DSL 
repositories {
  // Include your other repositories here.
  maven("https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/")
}

// Update this version to match the latest libGDX release:
val ktxVersion = "1.12.1-SNAPSHOT"

The full version of the latest snapshot release can be found on the develop branch, and usually matches the latest stable libGDX release. Snapshot releases for the nightly libGDX builds are not available.

Note that even the snapshots are rather stable, as the libraries are not pushed to Maven Central unless they pass their extensive test suites. However, the public APIs in snapshot libraries might be changed prior to a stable release.

Documentation

Official guides

Each module contains a README.md file with a list of all its features and a guide with useful code snippets. Browse through the directories in the root folder to find out more about each library.

Source documentation

All functionalities are documented with Kotlin KDocs. You can access the source documentation by:

  • Viewing the generated Dokka files hosted on the project website.
  • Extracting the doc folders with Dokka files from the release archives.
  • Reading the sources directly.

Links

KTX wiki lists some useful resources that can help you get started.

Most official guides and code examples in this repository assume that the reader is at least a bit familiar with the libGDX API. If you are just getting to know the framework, it might be helpful to go through the official libGDX wiki, and convert some Java examples to Kotlin.

Contribution

Suggestions, questions, typo fixes, documentation improvements and code contributions are always welcome.

Do not hesitate to start a discussion with questions about the framework. Feel free to advertise your KTX project, propose new features, discuss game jams, or even create a personal devlog.

If you would like to contribute, please read the contribution guideline, and browse through the active issues. The develop is the active development branch. When creating pull requests, make sure to choose develop as the target branch.

You can check the list of the contributors via GitHub insights or the contributors list.

Licensing

This project is dedicated to public domain.

Working from sources

See this section of the contribution guideline to get started.