ColumbaEngine

Website: columbaengine.org | Discord: Join our community

About

ColumbaEngine is a completely free and open source game engine built with modern C++ and a pure Entity Component System (ECS) architecture. Whether you're building 2D games, prototyping ideas, or learning game engine development, ColumbaEngine provides a solid foundation without any licensing fees or royalties.

Why ColumbaEngine?

• 100% Free and Open Source - No hidden costs, no royalties, no licensing fees. Ever.
• Pure ECS Architecture - Built from the ground up with data-oriented design for maximum performance
• Cross-Platform - Deploy your games to Linux, Windows, and the web (with more platforms coming)
• Transparent Development - All development happens in the open with community input
• No Vendor Lock-in - Your project is yours. Use any tools, modify the engine, distribute freely
• Modern C++17 - Clean, maintainable codebase using modern C++ best practices
• Built-in Editor - Visual scene creation without external dependencies
• Lightweight - Pay only for what you use - unused systems have zero overhead

Quick Start

One-Line Installation (Linux/macOS)

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Gallasko/ColumbaEngine/main/scripts/install/install-engine.sh | bash

Or clone and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/Gallasko/ColumbaEngine.git
cd ColumbaEngine/scripts/install
./install-engine.sh

Manual Installation

<details> <summary>Click for detailed manual installation steps</summary>

Prerequisites

• C++ compiler with C++17 support (GCC, Clang, or MSVC)
• CMake 3.18+
• Git

Dependencies

The installation script will handle these automatically, but for manual installation:

• SDL2 (libsdl2-dev)
• SDL2-TTF (libsdl2-ttf-dev)
• OpenGL (libgl1-mesa-dev on Linux)

Build Steps

Linux/macOS:

# Install dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian example)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake libgl1-mesa-dev libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev

# Clone and build
git clone --recursive https://github.com/Gallasko/ColumbaEngine.git
cd ColumbaEngine
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
cmake --build . -j$(nproc)

Windows (MinGW):

# Ensure MinGW-64 and CMake are installed and in PATH
git clone --recursive https://github.com/Gallasko/ColumbaEngine.git
cd ColumbaEngine
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
cmake --build . -j

WebAssembly (Emscripten):

# Install Emscripten first: https://emscripten.org/docs/getting_started/downloads.html
cd ColumbaEngine
mkdir build-web && cd build-web
emcmake cmake ..
cmake --build . -j
emrun ./ColumbaEngine.html

</details>

Documentation

Full documentation is available at: columbaengine.readthedocs.io

• Getting Started Guide
• API Reference
• Tutorials & Examples
• Contributing Guide

Features

Core Features

• Pure ECS Architecture - Data-oriented design with efficient component management
• Complete 2D Rendering - Production-ready 2D graphics pipeline
• 3D Support - Coming soon
• Built-in Scene Editor - Visual scene creation and management
• Custom Scripting (PgScript) - Flexible scripting language for game logic
• Pay-for-what-you-use - No performance overhead for unused systems
• Event System - Efficient inter-system communication
• Taskflow Integration - Parallel system execution with profiling support

Platform Support

• Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch)
• Windows (MinGW-64)
• WebAssembly (Emscripten)
• macOS (Community contributions welcome)

Who is it for?

ColumbaEngine is perfect for:

• Indie developers looking for a lightweight, performant engine
• Students learning game engine architecture and ECS patterns
• Hobbyists who want full control over their game engine
• C++ developers seeking a modern, well-structured codebase
• Anyone who believes in open source and wants to contribute to a growing community

Examples & Games

• Full Tetris Clone - Complete implementation showcasing engine capabilities
• Game Examples & Blog Posts - Visit columbaengine.org for tutorials, blog posts, and game examples
• More Examples - Available at pigeoncodeur.itch.io

Development

Installation Options

The installation script supports various options:

# Install specific version
./install-engine.sh --version v1.0.0

# Custom installation directory (no sudo required)
./install-engine.sh --prefix ~/.local

# Specify number of build jobs
./install-engine.sh --jobs 4

# All options
./install-engine.sh --version main --prefix ~/.local --jobs 8

Verify Installation

After installation, verify everything works:

# Run validation script
./scripts/install/validate-installation.sh

# Or test manually
cd ~/ColumbaEngine-install/test-app
./build.sh
./ColumbaEngineTestApp

Profiling

Enable Taskflow profiling to analyze system scheduling:

# Linux/macOS
export TF_ENABLE_PROFILER=profile.json
./ColumbaEngine

# Windows PowerShell
$env:TF_ENABLE_PROFILER="profile.json"
.\ColumbaEngine.exe

Contributing

We're actively seeking contributors to help build a thriving community around ColumbaEngine!

Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/un4VtehX3W

Current Priorities

1. Documentation - Help us improve tutorials and API documentation
2. Platform Support - Test and improve cross-platform compatibility
3. System Stabilization - Help stabilize and optimize existing systems
4. Editor Enhancement - Contribute to the built-in scene editor
5. Examples & Tutorials - Create sample projects and learning resources

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Follow our coding style guide
4. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
5. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
6. Open a Pull Request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

Project Status

Stage: Early Development - Expect breaking changes (with migration guides)

This project is under active development. While the 2D pipeline is production-ready, APIs may change as we refine the engine architecture. We provide migration guides for breaking changes.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

<details> <summary>Installation script fails</summary>

• Ensure you have sudo privileges for system installation
• Try installing to user directory: ./install-engine.sh --prefix ~/.local
• Check detailed installation guide

</details> <details> <summary>Build errors</summary>

• Verify all dependencies are installed
• Check CMake version: cmake --version (requires 3.18+)
• Review build logs in the build directory

</details> <details> <summary>Performance issues</summary>

• Build in Release mode: cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
• Enable profiling to identify bottlenecks (see Profiling section)

</details>

For more help, please:

• Check the documentation
• Open an issue
• Join our Discord community

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• SDL2 team for the excellent multimedia library
• Taskflow team for the parallel execution framework
• All contributors and community members

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Ready to build something amazing? Get started with ColumbaEngine today!

# Start your journey
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Gallasko/ColumbaEngine/main/scripts/install/install-engine.sh | bash

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