phoboslab/high_impact

high_impact is a C game engine created by phoboslab for developing 2D action games with a focus on pixel art. It is designed as a framework rather than a library, requiring developers to conform to a prescribed structure in code and file layout. The engine supports multiple platforms including Linux, macOS, Windows, and web (via WASM). Two platform backends are available: SDL2 and Sokol, along with two renderers: OpenGL and a rudimentary software renderer. high_impact is not a general-purpose engine like Godot or Unity; it is best suited for genres such as jump'n'runs, twin-stick shooters, top-down dungeon crawlers, and similar pixel-art action games. The codebase is compact at roughly 4000 lines, and documentation is currently minimal (primarily in header files). Assets are loaded in QOI (images) and QOA (audio) formats, with bundled tools for converting PNG and WAV files. Sound effects and music can also be generated via the integrated pl_synth system. Levels are defined in JSON and can be created using the included tile editor (weltmeister.html). Example games such as Biolab Disaster (a jump'n'gun platformer) and Drop (a minimal arcade game with generated content) are provided to jumpstart development.