Console Game Engine

A lightweight, educational C++ game engine that runs in the terminal using ASCII/Unicode characters and ANSI color codes.

Features

• Half-height pixel rendering - Achieves 2x vertical resolution using Unicode block characters
• Color support - 8 basic colors using ANSI escape sequences
• Raw terminal input - Non-blocking keyboard input with POSIX termios
• 60 FPS game loop - Smooth animation with frame rate limiting
• Clean API - Pico-8/Love2D inspired drawing functions

Quick Start

# Compile and run
g++ -o game src/main.cpp
./game

Architecture

The engine follows a 6-phase development plan:

1. Phase 1 ✅: Foundation (terminal control, buffers, input, game loop)
2. Phase 2: Core Classes (Engine, Renderer, Component system)
3. Phase 3: Objects & Scenes (GameObject, Scene management)
4. Phase 4: Input & Math (InputManager, Vector2, collision)
5. Phase 5: Advanced Features (Audio, GameState, Physics)
6. Phase 6: Optimization (Memory, performance, cross-platform)

Current Status

• ✅ Working pixel renderer with half-height blocks
• ✅ Color support and terminal control
• ✅ Basic game loop with player movement
• 🚧 Refactoring into Engine base class

Documentation

Comprehensive development documentation is available in the docs/ directory, covering each phase with C++ learning objectives and implementation details.

Platform Support

• Linux/macOS: Full support using POSIX termios
• Windows: Planned (Phase 6) using conditional compilation
• WSL: Works perfectly

Learning Focus

This project serves as a C++ learning exercise, progressively covering:

• POSIX system calls and terminal programming
• Object-oriented design and RAII patterns
• STL containers and modern C++ features
• Game engine architecture and design patterns