Introduction to Ironclad Engine

Welcome to the Ironclad Engine! We're excited to have you explore what this engine is all about and what it aims to achieve.

What is Ironclad Engine?

Ironclad Engine is a modular, data-driven 2D/2.5D game engine built with modern JavaScript (ES6+) and leveraging the power of the HTML5 Canvas for rendering. It's developed using Vite, ensuring a fast and efficient development experience.

The core philosophy behind Ironclad is to provide a flexible and extensible foundation for creating engaging 2D and "2.5D-style" games, with an initial focus on supporting RPGs like our testbed project, Tartu Legends.

Key Design Goals:

• Modularity: Core systems (rendering, input, audio, UI, ECS, etc.) are designed to be as independent as possible, allowing developers to use, extend, or replace parts as needed.
• Data-Driven: We emphasize the use of external data files (like JSON for asset manifests and entity prefabs) to configure and drive game content, making iteration and content creation more manageable.
• Developer Experience: Utilizing modern JavaScript and tools like Vite, we aim for a smooth and efficient development workflow.
• Extensibility: While providing a solid set of core features, the engine is built with the idea that game-specific logic will extend its capabilities.
• Learning & Prototyping: Ironclad Engine also serves as a practical learning project and a rapid prototyping tool for 2D game ideas.

Current Capabilities

As of its current development phase (Alpha, May 2025), Ironclad Engine offers a robust set of features to start building games:

• Core Engine: Game loop, scene management (stacking, overlays, data passing), asset loading (images, JSON, audio), and a global event system.
• Input System: Comprehensive support for keyboard, mouse, and gamepad, all integrated into a flexible action mapping system.
• Entity-Component-System (ECS): A functional ECS core with entity management, component handling, systems, and data-driven prefabs.
• Rendering: 2D sprite rendering, sprite-based animations, a 2D camera with target following, and an offscreen canvas pipeline for screen-level FX.
• Effects System: Support for screen shake, screen flash, and screen tint.
• Audio System: Loading and playback of sound effects and music with volume controls.
• UI Toolkit: A growing set of basic UI elements like labels, buttons, checkboxes, panels, value bars, and initial designs for scrollable panels and text input fields.
• Physics & Collision: Basic tile-based collision for both standalone player objects and ECS entities.
• Save/Load Framework: An initial, provider-based system for saving and loading game data using localStorage.

Who is this Engine For?

• Developers interested in understanding modern JavaScript game engine architecture.
• Indie developers or hobbyists looking for a flexible 2D engine to build RPGs or similar genre games.
• Those who want to learn about ECS, scene management, and other common game engine patterns in a practical context.
• Anyone wanting to quickly prototype 2D game ideas.

The Journey Ahead

Ironclad Engine is an evolving project. Our roadmap includes further enhancements to the rendering pipeline (especially for Tiled maps), a more comprehensive save/load system, an expanded UI toolkit, advanced audio features, and deeper support for RPG mechanics.

The development of Tartu Legends serves as the primary driver and testbed for these features, ensuring that the engine evolves based on real-world game development needs.

We hope you find the Ironclad Engine useful and inspiring. Dive into the "Getting Started" guide to begin your journey!