Status and limitations
MicroEngine SDK — Alpha, 0.x. MicroEngine is a working engine with four complete games, open source under the MIT License and used from its public repository (no published packages yet). It runs on six official targets, each validated to a stated level. Public APIs may still change incompatibly between Alpha versions (SDK status). This page states plainly what exists today, what does not, and what has and has not been validated, so you can judge whether it would fit your project.
What exists
| Area | State | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
Core engine (src/MicroEngine) |
Loop, scenes, input, graphics model, tile world, audio synthesis, UI, saves, achievements | Architecture, the engine’s test project |
SDL 3 platform (src/MicroEngine.Sdl) |
Window, 2D renderer (Direct3D, Metal, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan or software), audio, keyboard, gamepad, on-screen touch controls, phone lifecycle; the default on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS | Scripted captures on real Windows hardware, Linux (Mesa), macOS (CI), the Android emulator and the iOS simulator (Platforms) |
raylib platform (src/MicroEngine.Raylib) |
raylib window, renderer, audio, keyboard and gamepad; the browser platform and a desktop alternative (--platform raylib) |
Played on Windows; browsers (Platforms) |
| Platform selection | PlatformCatalog of named profiles, --platform, replaceable audio and extra input sources |
Backends |
| Browser builds | raylib compiled to WebAssembly; BrowserLauncher, localStorage saves, one shared host |
Automated browser tests and manual validation (Platforms) |
Phone hosts (platforms/) |
Android and iOS hosts running any of the games on SDL | Emulator and simulator runs (Platforms) |
Demo downloads (packaging/) |
Windows ZIP, Linux archive, macOS app, Android APK for each demo, each checked as the downloaded file and published with a release | Downloads, packaging |
| Games | Meadow Run, Courtyard Key, Trail Duel, Neon Rift, each with five achievements and saves | Each game’s test project; playable on the demos page |
| Sample | Hello Engine, the smallest complete game | Hello Engine walkthrough |
| Scripted runs and captures | --script, --hidden, --captures on every game; one visual reference per renderer kind |
Testing |
What does not exist
These are not implemented. Do not plan around them.
| Missing | Notes |
|---|---|
Published NuGet packages, project templates (dotnet new), an installer |
Prepared for SDK-1: dotnet pack produces the packages, nothing is published (SDK status) |
| Visual editor, level editor or asset pipeline tool | MicroEngine is code-first: content is authored in code (PixelImage.FromMap, TileLayer.Parse over ASCII rows) or loaded through ContentFolder. A visual editor is only a long-term vision on the roadmap |
| Touch controls in the browser; per-game touch layouts | The web demos have no touch controls; the phone apps share generic on-screen controls |
| An iOS download | Distributing to iPhones needs Apple signing (Downloads) |
| An ECS, physics engine, networking, scripting language or 3D | Not part of the engine’s design (Architecture). 3D is only a long-term vision on the roadmap |
| Cloud saves | Saves stay on the machine (files) or in the browser (localStorage) |
Platforms and validation
| Target | Status |
|---|---|
| Windows x64 | Played by hand with raylib; SDL (the default) checked on real hardware: 138 captures, audio device, the four downloads; hand play on SDL pending |
| Linux x64 | Checked automatically on every engine change (build, tests, rendering, keyboard and audio under a virtual display and sound server) and the download in Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 and Fedora 41 containers; no real GPU or person yet |
| macOS (Apple silicon) | Checked automatically on hosted Macs (tests, 138 captures on Metal, the downloadable apps); no person has played on a Mac |
| Android | All four demos checked on the x86_64 emulator from their release APKs (captures, audio device, keys, touch, background and back); no physical device |
| iOS | Two demos checked in Apple’s simulator (captures, audio device, background and back); no iPhone, no download |
| Browsers | The four demos verified with automated tests in Chrome and Firefox on desktop, plus manual validation; Safari not tested; phones not validated |
| Gamepads | Validated by hand in one Chromium-based browser with one controller, and with raylib on Windows; SDL’s gamepad support not tried with a physical controller |
Details per target: Platforms and the site’s compatibility matrix.
Known open items
- Neon Rift’s browser download is 11.9 MB with Brotli, mostly OGG music.
- raylib’s web audio uses the deprecated
ScriptProcessorNode; sound stops while the tab is hidden. - One Firefox scripted-capture run under heavy machine load diverged from desktop; repeated alone it matched. The cause was not found.
- Browser saves live in
localStorage(about 5 MB per origin, evictable, discarded by private windows). - macOS downloads are not notarized and Windows downloads are not code-signed: both systems warn on first launch.
The full list with evidence is in Known limitations.
Planned work
The roadmap lists planned work without dates: SDK-1 (NuGet packages, templates, versioned SDK releases), validation on real devices, engine robustness and research into the mobile experience. A visual editor and 3D appear there only as a long-term vision, not as available or committed features.
Stability of the API
MicroEngine is in Alpha (0.x): there is no 1.0 and no backward-compatibility promise. Types documented in Contracts are the ones the four games depend on; changes to them go through recorded design decisions and are listed in the migration notes.