README.engine.md
1# Flare
2
3Flare (Free Libre Action Roleplaying Engine) is a simple game engine
4built to handle a very specific kind of game: single-player 2D action RPGs.
5Flare is not a reimplementation of an existing game or engine.
6It is a tribute to and exploration of the action RPG genre.
7
8Rather than building a very abstract, robust game engine,
9the goal of this project is to build several real games
10and harvest an engine from the common, reusable code.
11
12The Flare engine, which is purely a runtime, is written in C++.
13
14Flare uses simple file formats (INI-style config files) for most of the game data,
15allowing anyone to easily modify game contents. Open formats are preferred (png, ogg).
16For creating maps, we also support [Tiled](http://www.mapeditor.org/) with the Flare plugin.
17
18Originally the first game to be developed using this engine was part of this
19repository. As the engine became mature, the game content was moved to an
20extra repository and is now called [flare-game]. (happened around sept. 2012)
21
22[flare-game]: https://github.com/flareteam/flare-game
23
24## Copyright and License
25
26Most of Flare is Copyright © 2010-2013 Clint Bellanger.
27Contributors retain copyrights to their original contributions.
28
29Flare's source code is released under the GNU GPL v3. Later versions are permitted.
30
31Flare's default mod (includes engine translations) is released under GNU GPL v3 and CC-BY-SA 3.0.
32Later versions are permitted.
33
34The default mod contains the Liberation Sans font which is released under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1.
35
36The GNU Unifont font is released under GPL v2, with the exception that embedding the font in a document does not in itself bind that document to the terms of the GPL.
37
38
39## Links
40
41The following links are specific to the engine
42
43* [Homepage](http://flarerpg.org)
44* [Source](https://github.com/flareteam/flare-engine)
45* [Forums](http://opengameart.org/forums/flare)
46* Email clintbellanger@gmail.com
47
48## Games made with flare
49
50* [flare-game] A medival fantasy game. In the first days of the engine this game influenced most design decisions a lot. The art is 3d rendered 64x32 px isometric perspective.
51* [polymorphable] A game made for "The Liberated Pixel cup", which was a competition about game art and making a game thereof. The pixel art is 32x32 orthogonal perspective featuring a medival setting. The development has finished.
52* [concordia] Another game using the art created during "The liberated pixel cup". While this started without stress regarding the timeline for the pixel cup, this story is more thought through and the content is more organized.
53
54[flare-game]: https://github.com/flareteam/flare-game
55[polymorphable]: https://github.com/makrohn/polymorphable
56[concordia]: https://github.com/makrohn/concordia
57
58## Building from Source
59
60Flare uses SDL2, SDL2\_image, SDL2\_mixer, and SDL2\_ttf. Please see the [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.engine.md) file for instructions.
61
62## Settings
63
64Settings are stored in one of these places:
65
66### Linux/Mac OS X/Unix
67 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/flare/
68 $HOME/.config/flare/
69 ./config
70### Windows
71 %APPDATA%\flare\config
72 config\
73### Linux (Snap)
74 $HOME/snap/flare-rpg/current/.config/flare/
75### Linux (Flatpak)
76 $HOME/.var/app/org.flarerpg.Flare/config/flare/
77
78Here you can enable fullscreen, change the game resolution, enable mouse-move, and change keybindings.
79The settings files are created the first time you run Flare.
80
81## Save Files
82
83Save files are stored in one of these places:
84
85### Linux/Mac OS X/Unix
86 $XDG_DATA_HOME/flare/
87 $HOME/.local/share/flare/
88 ./userdata
89### Windows
90 %APPDATA%\flare\userdata
91 userdata\
92### Linux (Snap)
93 $HOME/snap/flare-rpg/current/.local/share/flare/
94### Linux (Flatpak)
95 $HOME/.var/app/org.flarerpg.Flare/data/flare/
96
97
98If permissions are correct, the game is automatically saved when you exit.
99In addition, there is a `mods` directory in this location, which can be used to override system-wide mods.
100
101## Command-line Flags
102
103| Flag | Description
104|-------------------|----------------
105| `--help` | Prints the list of command-line flags.
106| `--version` | Prints the release version.
107| `--data-path` | Specifies an exact path to look for mod data.
108| `--debug-event` | Prints verbose hardware input information.
109| `--renderer` | Specifies the rendering backend to use. The default is 'sdl\_hardware'. Also available is 'sdl', which is a software-based renderer.
110| `--no-audio` | Disables sound effects and music.
111| `--mods` | Starts the game with only these mods enabled.
112| `--load-slot` | Loads a save slot by numerical index.
113| `--load-script` | Execute's a script upon loading a saved game. The script path is mod-relative.
114| `--safe-video` | Launches with the minimum video settings.
115
README.md
1# Flare
2
3Flare (Free Libre Action Roleplaying Engine) is a simple game engine
4built to handle a very specific kind of game: single-player 2D action RPGs.
5Flare is not a reimplementation of an existing game or engine.
6It is a tribute to and exploration of the action RPG genre.
7
8Rather than building a very abstract, robust game engine,
9the goal of this project is to build several real games
10and harvest an engine from the common, reusable code.
11
12The Flare engine, which is purely a runtime, is written in C++.
13
14Flare uses simple file formats (INI-style config files) for most of the game data,
15allowing anyone to easily modify game contents. Open formats are preferred (png, ogg).
16For creating maps, we also support [Tiled](http://www.mapeditor.org/) with the Flare plugin.
17
18Originally the first game to be developed using this engine was part of this
19repository. As the engine became mature, the game content was moved to an
20extra repository and is now called [flare-game]. (happened around sept. 2012)
21
22[flare-game]: https://github.com/flareteam/flare-game
23
24## Copyright and License
25
26Most of Flare is Copyright © 2010-2013 Clint Bellanger.
27Contributors retain copyrights to their original contributions.
28
29Flare's source code is released under the GNU GPL v3. Later versions are permitted.
30
31Flare's default mod (includes engine translations) is released under GNU GPL v3 and CC-BY-SA 3.0.
32Later versions are permitted.
33
34The default mod contains the Liberation Sans font which is released under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1.
35
36The GNU Unifont font is released under GPL v2, with the exception that embedding the font in a document does not in itself bind that document to the terms of the GPL.
37
38
39## Links
40
41The following links are specific to the engine
42
43* [Homepage](http://flarerpg.org)
44* [Source](https://github.com/flareteam/flare-engine)
45* [Forums](http://opengameart.org/forums/flare)
46* Email clintbellanger@gmail.com
47
48## Games made with flare
49
50* [flare-game] A medival fantasy game. In the first days of the engine this game influenced most design decisions a lot. The art is 3d rendered 64x32 px isometric perspective.
51* [polymorphable] A game made for "The Liberated Pixel cup", which was a competition about game art and making a game thereof. The pixel art is 32x32 orthogonal perspective featuring a medival setting. The development has finished.
52* [concordia] Another game using the art created during "The liberated pixel cup". While this started without stress regarding the timeline for the pixel cup, this story is more thought through and the content is more organized.
53
54[flare-game]: https://github.com/flareteam/flare-game
55[polymorphable]: https://github.com/makrohn/polymorphable
56[concordia]: https://github.com/makrohn/concordia
57
58## Building from Source
59
60Flare uses SDL2, SDL2\_image, SDL2\_mixer, and SDL2\_ttf. Please see the [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.engine.md) file for instructions.
61
62## Settings
63
64Settings are stored in one of these places:
65
66### Linux/Mac OS X/Unix
67 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/flare/
68 $HOME/.config/flare/
69 ./config
70### Windows
71 %APPDATA%\flare\config
72 config\
73### Linux (Snap)
74 $HOME/snap/flare-rpg/current/.config/flare/
75### Linux (Flatpak)
76 $HOME/.var/app/org.flarerpg.Flare/config/flare/
77
78Here you can enable fullscreen, change the game resolution, enable mouse-move, and change keybindings.
79The settings files are created the first time you run Flare.
80
81## Save Files
82
83Save files are stored in one of these places:
84
85### Linux/Mac OS X/Unix
86 $XDG_DATA_HOME/flare/
87 $HOME/.local/share/flare/
88 ./userdata
89### Windows
90 %APPDATA%\flare\userdata
91 userdata\
92### Linux (Snap)
93 $HOME/snap/flare-rpg/current/.local/share/flare/
94### Linux (Flatpak)
95 $HOME/.var/app/org.flarerpg.Flare/data/flare/
96
97
98If permissions are correct, the game is automatically saved when you exit.
99In addition, there is a `mods` directory in this location, which can be used to override system-wide mods.
100
101## Command-line Flags
102
103| Flag | Description
104|-------------------|----------------
105| `--help` | Prints the list of command-line flags.
106| `--version` | Prints the release version.
107| `--data-path` | Specifies an exact path to look for mod data.
108| `--debug-event` | Prints verbose hardware input information.
109| `--renderer` | Specifies the rendering backend to use. The default is 'sdl\_hardware'. Also available is 'sdl', which is a software-based renderer.
110| `--no-audio` | Disables sound effects and music.
111| `--mods` | Starts the game with only these mods enabled.
112| `--load-slot` | Loads a save slot by numerical index.
113| `--load-script` | Execute's a script upon loading a saved game. The script path is mod-relative.
114| `--safe-video` | Launches with the minimum video settings.
115