Saga2D

A small Python framework for 2D games where the developer writes game logic, not engine plumbing. It renders sprites and simple shapes on the GPU through pyglet, lays out a small UI toolkit, runs a scene stack, hosts online matches and packages standalone builds. Game code never touches the backend.

Three games prove it, each in its own repository: Tribes (turn-based, Polytopia-style), Warband (real-time strategy) and Shardbound (an Eador-inspired campaign). Procedural assets — sound synthesis and a software low-poly renderer — live in sagaforge; the hosted server and website in saga-online.

Install

Requires Python 3.12 or newer. Pin the engine in a game so engine development cannot change that game's build:

uv add 'saga2d==0.3.0'
# or: python -m pip install 'saga2d==0.3.0'

Commit the game's pyproject.toml and lockfile. Upgrade the pin deliberately, then run that game's tests before committing the upgrade. See the release guide for compatibility policy, publishing and testing a local engine checkout.

Develop the engine

uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest -q          # headless suite on the mock backend

Set SAGA2D_SILENT=1 to keep any pyglet-backed script off the speakers (SAGA2D_HEADLESS=1 implies it and also hides windows).

A complete game

This example needs no image or sound files:

from saga2d import Anchor, Button, Column, Game, Label, Scene


class World(Scene):
    background_color = (18, 20, 30, 255)
    controls = {"escape": "close"}

    def on_enter(self):
        self.gold = 0
        self.ui.add(Column(
            Label(lambda: f"Gold: {self.gold}", text_style="heading"),
            Button("Collect a coin", shortcut="Space", on_click=self.collect, width=220),
            Label("Esc closes the window.", text_style="caption"),
            spacing=16, anchor=Anchor.TOP_LEFT, margin=24,
        ))

    def draw(self):
        self.draw_circle(360, 220, 32, (230, 190, 90, 255))

    def collect(self):
        self.gold += 1

    def close(self):
        self.game.quit()


Game("My Game", resolution=(640, 400)).run(World())

What you get

• Two coordinate spaces. "world" is transformed by the scene's Camera (pan, zoom, shake) on the GPU; "screen" is for UI. Sprites default to world space; draw_rect, draw_circle, draw_line, draw_polygon, draw_text and draw_image take space=.
• Measured text. Scene.layout_text(text, width) returns wrapped lines and height; Scene.draw_paragraph draws the same layout. Both accept max_lines, and Scene.fit_text fits a single line with ellipsis. See the text layout cookbook.
• Hex boards. HexGrid supplies centers, corners, picking, neighbours, weighted movement ranges and shortest paths; the game supplies terrain costs. See the cookbook.
• Sprites with a logical size. Sprite("name", size=(64, 64)) draws any texture at that size, so procedural textures rendered at the display's pixel density stay crisp on HiDPI screens.
• Declarative input. controls maps keys and chords to methods; bind_key does the same at runtime; mouse events carry world coordinates and modifier keys.
• A scene stack with transparent overlays, deferred push/pop, and per-scene ownership of sprites, timers and particle emitters.
• UI: reactive Label, Button with keycap shortcuts, KeyHints, Panel, Row, Column, ProgressBar, Minimap, anchors, flow layout, wrapped text and a Theme. Text is measured by the backend, so layout fits. See wrapped labels, measuring a tree and button shortcuts. Opt-in keyboard focus, custom activation and pointer capture work across the same tree; blocks_pointer=True keeps HUD clicks out of the world. See focus and pointer handling.
• Actions, tweens, timers, particle emitters, frame animation, transient effects, audio with master/music/sfx channels and a silent driver, JSON save slots and persisted settings.
• Multiplayer. MatchHost/MatchClient for LAN, OnlineClient and the shared MatchMenu/MatchLobby for hosted rooms, and saga2d.server, the authoritative room server any game registers with through a GameSpec. Follow the counter-room tutorial and the transport notes.
• Packaging. saga2d.packaging builds, verifies and installs standalone games with PyInstaller from a ten-line tools/package.py.
• Testing. A mock backend that records every draw call, render_scene for offscreen screenshots you can look at, a CPU budget for long checks, paced native frames, and a counter test game for the server.

See DESIGN.md for the architecture and the reasoning behind the cuts. The September 2026 engine review prioritizes game extractions and proposed improvements beyond the current genres.