LillyQuest.Engine 0.4.0

LillyQuest

LillyQuest is a C# engine for building roguelike/roguelite open-world games. It is built on Silk.NET and currently ships with an OpenGL renderer, with room to evolve the rendering backend in the future.

This is a hobby project. A core goal is to keep momentum by publishing a weekly devlog article on https://orivega.io.

Goals and Features

• Data-driven engine design using JSON.
• AOT-friendly architecture (aspirational).
• Planned Lua scripting for gameplay logic.
• Modular engine structure split across core, rendering, and engine layers.

Tech Stack

• C# / .NET (net10.0)
• Silk.NET
• OpenGL renderer (current)
• JSON-driven data pipeline
• Lua scripting (planned)

Project Structure

The codebase is organized into modular layers:

LillyQuest.Core

Foundation layer providing low-level engine primitives:

• OpenGL rendering abstractions (shaders, textures, sprite batching)
• Asset management (textures, fonts, tilesets, audio)
• Audio system (OpenAL with MP3 and Ogg Vorbis support)
• Input abstractions and data structures
• Embedded resource pipeline

LillyQuest.Engine

High-level engine layer built on Core:

• Feature-based Entity architecture
• System pipeline (Update, FixedUpdate, Render)
• Screen and UI management (stacking, focus, pixel-perfect rendering)
• Scene lifecycle and transitions
• Animation and tween system
• ImGui integration for debug tooling
• Windowing and bootstrap orchestration

LillyQuest.Scripting.Lua

Lua scripting integration via MoonSharp (planned for gameplay logic).

LillyQuest.Game

Executable game application demonstrating engine capabilities:

• Game-specific scenes and entities
• Tileset editor and surface rendering examples
• Debug panels and development tools

LillyQuest.Tests

Comprehensive test suite covering Core and Engine components.

Build and Run

Prerequisites:

• .NET SDK 10.0

Build:

dotnet build LillyQuest.slnx

Run (game project):

dotnet run --project src/LillyQuest.Game/LillyQuest.Game.csproj

Project Board

• Trello: https://trello.com/b/XvjwuWqE/lillyquest

Devlog

Weekly updates are published on:

• https://orivega.io

Feedback in the comments helps keep momentum.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome, but please open a discussion first since this is a hobby project and priorities may change.

Philosophy / FAQ

Why a custom engine? Learning, long-term flexibility, and the joy of building the stack end-to-end.

Is this production-ready? No. This is an experimental engine under active development.

Will other renderers be supported? OpenGL is the current backend; other renderers may be explored later.

Development Philosophy

On AI-Assisted Development

This project uses AI tools (Claude, Codex, etc.) with intentionality and restraint. AI assists with:

• Planning and architectural brainstorming
• Test generation and coverage analysis
• Bug discovery and code review
• Documentation drafting

However, core implementation is hand-crafted. Programming is an art form. The discipline of thinking through problems, making deliberate design choices, and writing clean, maintainable code cannot be delegated. AI is a tool for augmenting human judgment, not replacing it.

The code you read here reflects human reasoning and intentional design, not automated generation.

License

GPLv3. See LICENSE for details.