Hi there

Snap is a game engine on top of SFML.NET proving a lot of utility and an architectural proposal to make a 2D game. Written in C# .NET Core 3.1, this library is multiplatform.

0. Setup
1. GameWindow
2. Scenes
3. Grids
4. Pathfinding
5. Textures
6. Maps
7. Animations
8. Fonts
9. Lightning
10. Physics
11. Collisions
12. Network
13. Sounds
14. Serialization
15. Utils
16. Extensions
17. GUI

Setup

• Start by creating a console project in .Net Core.

• In the nuget package manager, run the command : Install-Package SFML.Net -Version 2.5.0

• Add Snap as a reference of the project (no nuget distribution for now)

• Create an entry point for your program and initialize the content in the desired directories :

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    FontManager.Initialize("Fonts/");
    TextureManager.Initialize("Sprites/");

    VideoMode mode = new VideoMode(1920, 1080);
  
    GameWindow window = new GameWindow(mode, "MyWindow");
        
    window.SetScene(new MyScene());

    window.Open();
}

Alright ! Your project is ready 😊

GameWindow

• The GameWindow class is a parent node of your game. It manages the render window (or the targeted handle) and the gameloop. GameWindow is derived from the SFML.Graphics.RenderWindow class. Game window does not have any direct drawable objects. However, it contains a current scene whose role is described in the section below.

Scenes

• A scene represents a set of drawable object. It can represent a level, a menu, or any type of context in a 2D game. This is an abstract class, so you will need to implement it.

public abstract void Draw(GameWindow window); 
public abstract void OnCreate(GameWindow window);
public abstract void OnDestroy(GameWindow window);

• The Draw() method allows you to draw your objects. It is called at each frame.
• The OnCreate() method is called when the scene is associated with a window. All objects must be instantiated here.
• The OnDestroy() method is called in two situations: either when the scene is replaced by another scene, or when window is closed. Properly free the resources it contains if necessary.

Grids

• Grids can be used to represent worldmaps (Maps) and perform path find calculations (Pathfinding)
• For each grid, there are events dealing with user inputs. The constructor parameter of Grid handleEvents disables the handling of these events, this increases performance on large grids.

public delegate void MouseEvent(T cell);
public event MouseEvent OnMouseEnter;
public event MouseEvent OnMouseLeave;
public event MouseEvent OnMouseRightClick;
public event MouseEvent OnMouseLeftClick;

• In order to improve performance, cells are drawn using OpenGL primitives (SFML.Graphics.VertexBuffer).
• There are several methods for performing geometric calculations in order to recover cells according to their relative position, their position on the world, or even to cast ray in a given direction.
• In order to use the grids properly, we must call Grid.Build() after its instantation.

Orthogonal Grid

• Namespace : Snap.Grids.GridOrthogonal

• Represents a two-dimensional orthogonal grid. Used to map tiles in a side scroller or top down game.

Isometric Grid

• Namespace : Snap.Grids.GridIsometric

• Represents an isometric grid. (The three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and the angle between any two of them is 120 degrees.)

Pathfinding

• Namespace : Snap.Paths.Pathfinder

• Snap contains a pathfinder, working with Snap.Grids. This pathfinder is an optimized implementation of AStar Algorithm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm)

• Pathfinder constructor takes two arguments. public Pathfinder(Grid grid, ICellMetaProvider cellMetaProvider).

• ICellMetaProvider is an interface that you will need to implement. It provides information on obstacles.

• This pathfinding algorithm assumes that there are eight possible cell-to-cell directions. This parameter can be reduced to 4 depending on the diagonal parameter of the Pathfinder.FindPath() method.

Textures

Texture Manager

• Namespace : Snap.Textures.TextureManager

• TextureManager is a singleton allowing to manage the textures of all renderers. This class works as a cache during program execution. . The class must be initialized when the program is started. The path to the textures must be specified in parameters of the TextureManager.Initialize(String path,bool pixelInterpolation = false) method.

• It is possible to retrieve all the textures thanks to the TextureManager.FindAll() method

• The TextureManager.GetRecord(String name) function loads a texture into memory if it has not been loaded and returns the result. It is also possible to unload it using the TextureManager.Unload(String name) function.

Maps

• Namespace : Snap.Maps.Map

• As the name suggests, Maps are a way to map tiles onto a grid.

• In Snap, a map is built from a grid. (Isometric or Orthogonal) and is divided into several layers. The layers drawn one on top of the other. LayerEnum is used to enumerate them. It is possible to add up to 8 layers to a 2D map.

• It is possible to add a tile to the map using the Map.AddElement(LayerEnum layer, Cell cell, ElementRecord element) method. The element is automatically placed in the center of the cell but will not be resized. You can perform resizing operations beforehand on the affected sprites.

Utils

Camera2D

• Namespace : Snap.Utils.Cameras.Camera2D

• Camera2D is what you need if you want to scroll, rotate or zoom your world. They are also the key to creating split screens and mini-maps. you can use Camera2D.Move(Vector2f delta) to move the camera and Camera2D.Zoom(float delta) to zoom.

• The View (SFML) field is public and allows you to perform additional calculations if necessary.

KeyboardCamera

• Namespace : Snap.Utils.Cameras.KeyboardCamera

• KeyboardCamera is an extension of Camera2D. It allows you to quickly map keys to camera movements. the mapping can be defined using the KeyboardCamera.KeysMapping field.

FPSCounter

• Namespace : Snap.Utils.FpsCounter

• FPSCounter simply allows you to count the number of frames per second for the current execution. The FpsCounter.Update() function must be called at each frame and the result can be accessed using the FpsCounter.FPS field.