KappaDuck.Quack 0.5.0-alpha.20260211124240

Quack! 🦆

A modern .NET game framework built on SDL

Overview

Quack! is a modern, lightweight and fast game framework built on top of SDL and its extensions (image, mixer, ttf). It targets .NET 9+ desktop apps and games, providing a clean and flexible API that hides the complexity of SDL.

Features

• 2D/3D rendering using the GPU rendering API
• Cross-platform support (Windows, Linux)
• Window and display management
• Input handling (keyboard, mouse, gamepads, etc...)
• Audio management
• Event system
• System utilities (power management, clipboard, etc...)
• Native UI integration (Context menus, dialogs, etc...)

Installation

You can install Quack! via NuGet

dotnet add package KappaDuck.Quack -v 0.5.0

or via the .csproj file:

<PackageReference Include="KappaDuck.Quack" Version="0.5.0" />

You can also install via the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio or JetBrains Rider.

Usage

using KappaDuck.Quack.Events;
using KappaDuck.Quack.Windows;

using Window window = new Window("Quack!", 1080, 720);

while (window.IsOpen)
{
    while (window.Poll(out Event e))
    {
        if (e.RequestQuit())
        {
            window.Close();
            return;
        }
    }
}

More examples can be found in the examples directory.

Cross-Platform Support

Quack! currently supports Windows and Linux platforms thanks to SDL's abstraction layer, making porting to other platforms easier in the future.

The framework may have platform-specific implementations or limitations depending on the underlying SDL support. Using theses platform-specific features will have a warning in the editors saying that the code may not be portable.

ℹ️ Other platforms such as Android or WebAssembly may be supported in the future, but there are no immediate plans.

SDL compatibility

Quack! is shipped with precompiled SDL binaries for Windows and Linux which are built from quack.runtimes.

Below is a compatibility table for the SDL libraries used in each Quack! release.

⚠️ During active development, SDL dependencies may be updated frequently.

Development & Sandbox

You can build Quack! from source and running quick experiments by creating C# file as sandbox or examples provided in the repository.

Prerequisites

• .NET 9.0 SDK
• .NET 10.0 SDK

The SDK includes everything needed to build and run .NET applications.

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/KappaDuck/quack.git
cd quack

2. Install SDL and its extensions

Windows

dotnet ./SDL3/deps.cs

Linux

chmod +x ./SDL3/deps.cs
./SDL3/deps.cs

The file deps.cs installs SDL and all required extensions. On linux, you only need to make it executable once.

Build & Run

Open the solution in your preferred IDE (e.g., Visual Studio, Rider, VS Code).

⚠️ Most IDEs do not support running single-file scripts directly, so you'll need to run the sandbox file from the command line.

VS Code provides intellisense but cannot run the file directly.

Sandbox file (quack.sandbox.cs)

The sandbox allows you to experiment with windows, input, rendering, and more without modifying the main source code.

Create a file named quack.sandbox.cs at the root of the repository with the following content:

This file is ignored by git, so it's safe to use for your experiments.

#!/usr/bin/env dotnet

#:property TargetFramework=net10.0
#:property IncludeBinaries=true
#:property NoWarn=IDE0073
#:project KappaDuck.Quack

using KappaDuck.Quack.Events;
using KappaDuck.Quack.Windows;

using Window window = new Window("Quack!", 1080, 720);

while (window.IsOpen)
{
    while (window.Poll(out Event e))
    {
        if (e.RequestQuit())
        {
            window.Close();
            return;
        }
    }
}

Run the sandbox

Windows

dotnet ./quack.sandbox.cs

Linux

chmod +x ./quack.sandbox.cs # only needed once
./quack.sandbox.cs

🙌 Credits

Built with inspiration from

• SDL
• SDL_image
• SDL_ttf
• SDL_mixer
• SFML
• LazyFoo
• Sayers.SDL2.Core
• SDL3-CS