Getting Started

This page gets you from zero to a running Gondwana project with minimal ceremony.

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK (current LTS recommended)
• Visual Studio, Rider, or VS Code
• Comfortable with C# and basic game-loop concepts

No editor install. No asset pipeline ritual. Just code.

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Getting the Engine

Obtain the Gondwana source from its GitHub repository.

The repository contains the engine, adapters, and example projects in a single solution.

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Project Structure

The repository is organized into:

• Core engine libraries
• Rendering and platform adapters
• Example projects and test harnesses

The examples are intentionally small and direct. They exist to demonstrate engine usage, not to hide complexity.

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The Game Loop (At a Glance)

Each engine tick follows a predictable sequence:

1. Input polling
2. Fixed-step updates (movement and physics)
3. Variable-step updates (game logic)
4. Rendering
5. Backbuffer presentation

At any moment, you should be able to answer:

• Which phase the engine is in
• Which thread is executing
• Why something was updated or drawn

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What to Learn First

If you are new to Gondwana, learn these concepts in order:

1. Scene versus SceneLayer
2. View, Camera, and Viewport
3. World space versus Screen space
4. Refresh queues and dirty rectangles
5. DirectDrawing and when not to use it

Once these click, the rest of the engine becomes unsurprising.