Derive

Status

Important: Derive is pre-alpha. It is not yet production-ready, so please only use it for evaluation purposes. Major parts of the code may (and will) change without warning or backwards compatibility until the project reaches alpha.

What is derive?

Derive is a flash-like cross-platform SDK and tool set for developing games. Derive was designed with Rive vector animations in mind, but of course you can also use Derive to make pixel-based games, include raster images, text, audio and more (and mix all of these!).

Derive uses the Rive c++ runtime and is rendered with ThorVG. QuickJS is used for javascript scripting support.

License

Derive is distributed under the MIT license (free for commercial and personal use). The dependencies use a variety of licenses, but are all compatible with the MIT license.

Usage

There are two main ways to use derive - either develop a native C++ application using it, or write your entire game in JavaScript (and compile it to an executable).

Native C++

Include the derive code in your project and extend from the Player class. Example:

#include "Player.h"
#include "display/Rive.h"

class Main : public Player {
public:
	Rive* juice;

	Main() : Player( 800, 800, "Application name", false ) {
		juice = new derive::display::Rive( "juice.riv" );
		juice->fit( stage()->bounds(), FitMode::Contain );
		stage()->addChild( juice );
	}
};

int main( void ) {
	Main* main;
	try {
		main = new Main();
		main->run();
	}
	catch ( ... ) { }
	delete main;

	return 0;
}

Javascript (currently disabled - work in progress)

Write your code in JavaScript and launch the Derive debugger tool to run it. When you are happy, compile your JavaScript code to a standalone executable with qjsc (the QuickJS compiler). Example:

class Main extends Player {
	juice;

	constructor() {
		super(800, 880, "Hello world", false);

		this.juice = new display.Rive("juice.riv");
		this.juice.fit(this.stage.bounds, FitMode.Contain);
		this.stage.addChild(this.juice);
	}
}
main = new Main();
main.run();

Build instructions

Currently derive is supported on windows only. It uses a combination of MSVC and Clang-cl, and the meson build system (for dependencies).

Make sure you have the following installed:

• Visual Studio
• LLVM Visual Studio extension
• Python
• Meson and Ninja

Tip: We recommend installing python, meson and ninja by using the chocolatey package manager.

To get Derive running:

• Clone this repository (for example, to C:\projects\derive)
• Open the native command prompt for Visual Studio (hit windows search and start typing "native command prompt")
• Change directory to the dependencies folder.
  • For example, cd C:\projects\derive\dependencies
• Build the dependencies by running the following two scripts:
  • build-all-debug.bat
  • build-all-release.bat
• Now, open the solution in Visual Studio and hit build!
  • Example, open C:\projects\derive\solution\Derive.sln

Dependencies

Derive would not be possible without the fantastic work of others. Derive requires:

• Rive-CPP. By Luigi Rosso and Guido Rosso. C++ Runtime for the Rive animation format. MIT license.
• ThorVG. By the ThorVG team. Open-source vector graphics engine. MIT license.
• QuickJS. By Fabrice Bellard. ES2020 JavaScript engine for scripting. MIT license.
• quickjspp. By FTK. C++ wrapper for QuickJS. COO license.
• GLFW. By Marcus Geelnard and Camilla Löwy. For window and events. ZLIB license.

The Derive repository will, over time, attempt to provide a pre-compiled static library for the main platforms, but in the meantime these dependencies need to be compiled for your target platform.