# megamarc/Tilengine

Free 2D graphics engine with raster effects for retro/classic style game development

Repository: https://github.com/megamarc/Tilengine
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/tilengine
Homepage: https://www.tilengine.org
Language: C
License: MPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-08-26T12:36:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4014, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1048, forks 105 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:22.364297+00:00)

## What it is
Tilengine is a free, open-source, cross-platform 2D graphics engine written in portable C99 for creating classic/retro-style games with tilemaps, sprites, and palettes. Its scanline-based rendering algorithm makes raster effects a core feature, mimicking real 2D console graphics chips, and it offers bindings for C#, Python, Pascal and more.

## Use cases
- create a retro 16-bit style platformer game
- render tilemaps and sprites with SNES-like raster effects
- build a Mode 7 style rotating and scaling background
- add CRT emulation and mosaic effects to a 2D game
- embed a 2D renderer inside an existing game engine
- develop a retro game that runs on Raspberry Pi

## When to choose
- you want authentic retro 2D rendering with scanline raster effects
- you need a lightweight, easy-to-learn C library with bindings for other languages
- you target cross-platform including embedded boards like Raspberry Pi
- you want permissive licensing (MPL-2.0) allowing commercial and console use

## When to avoid
- you need 3D graphics or modern shader-based rendering
- you want a full-featured game engine with editor, physics, and audio built in
- you prefer working in a high-level engine like Unity or Godot

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: game-engine, graphics, image-processing
- domain: graphics, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cross-platform, python, cpp
- tags: retro-games, 2d-graphics, tilemaps, sprites, raster-effects, sdl2, c99, game-development, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- megamarc/Tilengine (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:22.364297+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:00:45.290044+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/megamarc/Tilengine (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:22.364297+00:00, sha 7b582f634397)
  - homepage: https://www.tilengine.org (fetched 2026-08-29T13:02:14.976668+00:00, sha e198f8ae807f)
  - site_page: https://www.tilengine.org/index.htm (fetched 2026-08-29T13:02:14.986158+00:00, sha e198f8ae807f)
  - site_page: https://www.tilengine.org/changelog.htm (fetched 2026-08-29T13:02:14.988524+00:00, sha 1c8ee8ea30a0)
  - site_page: https://www.tilengine.org/doc/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T13:02:14.991719+00:00, sha 747423de6ff2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.