Getting started

You need a recent stable Rust (rustup update stable). On Linux, also the headers for sound and gamepads: sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev libudev-dev (Debian, Ubuntu).

Run the examples

Clone the repository and run any example:

git clone https://github.com/ponkoengine/ponko
cd ponko
cargo run --release --example boids

Example	What it shows
`window`	The smallest game: a window, input, one sprite
`sprites`	Drawing many sprites with tint, rotation and scale
`ecs`	Entities, components and systems, with sim controls
`bunnymark` / `bunnymark_ecs`	Sprite throughput, immediate mode vs ECS
`boids`	Flocking with a spatial grid on all cores
`ants`	Ant colonies: pheromone trails, foraging, growth; up to millions of ants
`headless`	A million agents with no window or GPU
`examples/cpp/boids.cpp`	The boids example in C++ (build with CMake, see C and C++)

Always use --release for anything with many entities; debug builds are 10–50× slower.

Your first game

Add the engine to a new project:

cargo new my_game && cd my_game
cargo add ponko

Then in src/main.rs (Rust) or main.cpp (C++, see C and C++ for building):

use ponko::*;

fn main() {
    Game::new("My Game", 800, 600).run(|ctx| {
        let crab = ctx.load_texture("crab.png");
        let mut pos = vec2(400.0, 300.0);

        move |ctx: &mut Ctx| {
            if ctx.key_down(Key::Right) { pos.x += 200.0 * ctx.dt(); }
            if ctx.key_down(Key::Left)  { pos.x -= 200.0 * ctx.dt(); }
            if ctx.key_pressed(Key::Escape) { ctx.quit(); }
            ctx.draw(&crab, pos);
        }
    });
}

static void my_game() {
    crabby::texture crab{};
    crabby::vec2 pos{400, 300};
    crabby::game("My Game", 800, 600)
        .system([&](crabby::ctx& ctx) {
            if (ctx.key_down(CRABBY_KEY_RIGHT)) pos.x += 200 * ctx.dt();
            if (ctx.key_down(CRABBY_KEY_LEFT))  pos.x -= 200 * ctx.dt();
            if (ctx.key_pressed(CRABBY_KEY_ESCAPE)) ctx.quit();
            ctx.draw(crab, pos);
        })
        .run([&](crabby::ctx& ctx) { crab = ctx.load_texture("crab.png"); });
}

setup runs once and returns a closure that runs every frame. In C++, the per-frame code is a frame system and the state lives in variables it captures. Variables you create in setup and move into the closure are your game state. For small games that’s all you need; when things grow, move to entities and systems.

Everything comes in with use ponko::*;: Game, Ctx, Vec2, Color, Key, the ECS types and the built-in components.

Keyboard shortcuts

Ponko

Getting started

Run the examples

Your first game