Changelog

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning when possible.

[1.7.3] - TBA

Added

• tilemap.Map constructor now accepts an optional path to load on creation.
• Camera rotation is now supported by modifying its transform.angle property.
• Added two camera move helpers: move_world and move_screen.
• Added storage_buffer_sizes to Shader constructor.
• New Shader.set_storage_buffer_data method for uploading data to a storage buffer binding.

Changed

• Instead of the highly confusing camera world_pos and local_pos properties, position has been moved to a transform property.

Fixed

• Improved UI context management.
• Improved Texture move semantics.
• Fixed segfault relating to shaders by correcting backend move semantics.
• Fixed bug with mouse.is_pressed function where left clicks counted as both left and right clicks.

[1.7.2] - 2026-04-20

Added

• New shaders.Sampler class.
• New WrapMode enum for shader sampler addressing modes.
• New TextureUsage flag enum for specifying how a texture is intended to be used.
• Texture read-only .usage property for checking a texture’s usage flags and .has_usage(usage) helper method for checking specific usage flags.
• camera.get_active_angle() function for getting the angle of the active camera.
• Tilemap draw APIs now accept optional angle and pivot parameters.
• Added angle property to the Camera class.
• New Shader.set_texture_sampler method for sampling multiple textures in a binded shader.
• log submodule now has explicit enable and disable functions.
• More cli tools:
  • init for quickstarting a pykraken project
  • docs for opening the documentation in the default web browser.
• Polygon.set_centroid method for setting an exact position of a polygon.

Changed

• All Texture constructors now use FilterMode and have an additional usage parameter.
• PixelArray constructor accepting a Vec2 size parameter changed to accept separate width and height integer parameters for type safety.
• Camera API was refactored to explicit world/local semantics (world_pos, local_pos) with new local/world movement helpers.
• renderer.draw(texture, dst) now supports optional angle and pivot parameters for screen-space rectangle drawing.
• renderer.set_default_scale_mode / renderer.get_default_scale_mode renamed to renderer.set_default_filter_mode / renderer.get_default_filter_mode.
• Shader creation now uses the Shader constructor directly rather than a factory function.
• Renamed TextureScaleMode to FilterMode for ambiguity with the shader API.
• UI drawing is now unaffected by any active world camera.
• “kraken-clean” font renamed to “kraken-modern”
• Polygon rotation and scaling methods use its centroid now instead of a specified pivot point.

Removed

• Removed pykraken.shader_uniform helper module and its ShaderUniform class in favor of native buffer-like data.
• Removed Camera constructor asking for a default position as they’d be ambiguous.

Fixed

• Fixed tilemap tileset GID range handling by avoiding TMXLite getLastGID() for tileset bounds resolution.
• Fixed shader baker error handling for failed SPIR-V/MSL compilation.
• A lot of UI stuff now has docstrings.

[1.7.1] - 2026-04-15

Added

• New renderer.draw_9slice function for drawing 9-slice textures.
• New ui submodule for designing and rendering user interfaces:
  • Direction enum for specifying layout direction.
  • Align enum for specifying alignment within containers.
  • Style class for defining reusable style properties.
  • root, stack, row, and column container functions for structuring UI elements.
  • button, label, and image functions for common UI elements.
• Physics World class now has a debug_draw method with extra configurable options for visualizing physics bodies and joints.
• New Polygon constructor for creating regular polygons by specifying the number of sides and radius.
• Added restart method to the Timer class for resetting and starting the timer in one call.
• Tween has a new current_pos read-only property for getting the current interpolated position.
• fx.Effect class now has a clone method for creating a copy of an effect with the same properties.
• The pykraken package now comes with a cli tool for:
  • Building exe files from Python scripts (with PyInstaller as a dependency).
  • Baking HLSL scripts into SPV, MSL, and DXIL shaders.
• renderer submodule now has a set_render_backend function for manually setting the rendering backend instead of relying on automatic selection.
• New RenderBackend enum for specifying rendering backends.
• camera.unset() function for unsetting the active camera.
• New fx.scale_by function for scaling an effect by a factor instead of to a specific size.
• New gamepad.get_type function for getting the type of a connected gamepad.
• Loading a shader moved from Shader constructor to a new shaders.load function that returns a Shader object.

Changed

• Renamed Align enum to TextAlign for specificity.
• Physics World constructor’s gravity parameter is now optional and defaults to zero gravity.
• fx.Effect objects are now stateful, single-use objects to be consumed by an Orchestrator timeline, rather than reusable templates.
• Rename ShaderState class to Shader for simplicity.
• Orchestrator constructor only accepts Transform objects now.
• fx.scale_to function’s scale property enforces the Vec2 type for type safety.

Removed

• Physics Body types no longer have a debug_draw method.
• Tween class no longer has a step method as timing is handled by the engine.

Fixed

• Orchestrator objects were copied upon calling parallel and then methods, causing effects to not be added to the original orchestrator timeline. Now returns reference to the original orchestrator.
• Some images wouldn’t render when drawn while a shader was binded. This was due to unpredictable pixel formats when loading images that shaders didn’t like. Solved by forcing an RGBA32 format on all loaded images.
• PyInstaller builds were broken since moving to Nanobind due to different naming conventions. They’ve been fixed and tested to work again.
• Fixed bug with tilemaps regarding tile id’s not being mapped correctly to their tileset, causing wrong tiles to be drawn.
• Isometric, hexagonal, and staggered maps render correctly now.
• Tile rotation and flipping bug fixed.
• Fixed colorkeyed PixelArray → Texture sometimes not retaining the colorkey transparency.

[1.7.0] - 2026-04-07

Added

• New diameter and edge position properties for the Circle class; left, right, top, and bottom.
• More Line methods:
  • moved for non-mutating version of move.
  • get_midpoint for the line’s midpoint.
  • get_perpendicular for a line’s perpendicular bisector.
  • get_angle for the line’s angle in radians.
  • get_closest_point for finding the closest point on the line to a given point.
• More Polygon methods:
  • rotated for non-mutating version of rotate.
  • scaled_by for non-mutating version of scale_by.
• More Rect methods and properties:
  • pos property as a clearer alias for top_left.
  • moved for non-mutating version of move.
  • clamped for a non-mutating version of clamp.
  • scaled_by for non-mutating version of scale_by.
  • scaled_to for non-mutating version of scale_to.
  • get_corners for getting the positions of all four corners as a list of Vec2 objects.
  • get_edges for getting the edges of the rectangle as a list of Line objects.
• New renderer functions for more advanced configuration:
  • unset_virtual_resolution() for unsetting a previously set virtual resolution and returning to using the actual render target resolution.
  • get_virtual_resolution() for getting the currently set virtual resolution.
  • get_output_resolution() for getting the actual output resolution of the renderer.

Changed

• Polygon’s transform method renamed to move and scale methods renamed to scale_by for consistency with other shapes.
• renderer submodule’s set_present_resolution function renamed to set_virtual_resolution for clarity.
• on_floor, on_ceiling, and on_wall properties of CharacterBody changed from read-only properties to regular methods: is_on_floor(), is_on_ceiling(), and is_on_wall().

Removed

• line and rect submodules removed in favor of non-mutating methods in the Line and Rect classes.

[1.6.5] - 2026-03-31

Added

• New renderer.Batcher class for batch draw memory preallocation and management.
• When debug mode is enabled, the engine now attempts to provide more detailed error messages and stack traces for segfaults using the faulthandler module.
• Log warning about excessive texture swapping in a single frame when using Direct3D 12.
• The list-based renderer.draw_batch function now accepts an optional list of Rect objects for per-instance clipping.
• About the ndarray-based renderer.draw_batch function:
  • 9-column arrays now accepted for per-instance clipping (x, y, width, height).
  • Optional Batcher parameter for using preallocated memory for batch drawing, significantly improving performance.
  • Manually batch draw all transformed textures instead of relying on SDL’s backend, improving performance.

Changed

• Vulkan is now the default rendering backend on all platforms, falling back to the system’s default graphics API if Vulkan is not supported.
• Functions with parameters for file or directory paths now accept PathLike objects in addition to strings for improved flexibility and type safety.

Fixed

• When drawing multiple different textures excessively within a single frame (swapping) on Windows, the engine would segfault likely due to descriptor heap exhaustion on Direct3D 12. The engine now uses Vulkan on Windows by default, if available, which in turn also improves performance.
• MP3 files were not loading due to a missing decoder in the backend. Fix should also encompass FLAC and OGG files.

[1.6.4] - 2026-03-23

Added

• CharacterBody additions:
  • MotionMode enum (GROUNDED, FLOATING) and corresponding motion_mode property.
  • Movement properties: max_speed, acceleration, friction, stop_speed, and air_steer.
  • Collision state properties: on_floor, on_ceiling, and on_wall.
  • Shape property: capsule_shape.
• Math & Vectors:
  • math.move_toward(current, target, max_delta) function.
  • Vec2: Added in-place rounding methods (floor, ceil, round) and surface sliding methods (slide, slid).

Changed

• Map and PixelArray set_at / get_at methods now require two integers (x, y) instead of a Vec2 for improved type safety.

Fixed

• Passing an empty rect to renderer.read_pixels now correctly reads the entire render target instead of crashing.
• CharacterBody.move_and_slide now uses Box2D’s Mover API, utilizing a geometric solver to eliminate snagging on floor seams and provide smoother sliding along complex surfaces.
• Event.type now returns an EventType enum type instead of an integer (for built-in event types; user events still return integers).

Removed

• CharacterBody removals:
  • floor_max_angle and floor_snap_distance properties.
  • is_on_floor(), is_on_ceiling(), and is_on_wall() methods (replaced by the new properties mentioned in “Added”).

[1.6.3] - 2026-03-17

Fixed

• Tilemap objects with polygon shapes were not being transformed to their correct world positions, causing them to render and collide in the wrong place.

[1.6.2] - 2026-03-17

Added

• New Vec2 non-mutating methods: .floored(), .ceiled(), and .rounded() for coordinate manipulation.
• Rect constructor for accepting only a Vec2 size parameter.
• New draw_batch function for efficiently drawing a texture with many varying transforms.
  • Comes with an override for passing an ndarray of transforms for even faster drawing - good for particle sims.
• Texture.get_rect() method for getting the dimensions of a texture as a Rect object.
• Debug info messages now show GPU driver information.
• Some more pytest scripts for important functions and objects.
• New renderer.set_present_resolution function for setting the resolution at which the final rendered image is presented to the screen.
• math.DEG2RAD and math.RAD2DEG constants for converting between degrees and radians.
• Added optional handle_close parameter to window.create for whether the window should handle the window quit event and close itself, or leave it to the user to handle.

Changed

• Migrated the Python binding layer from pybind11 to nanobind for improved performance and smaller binary sizes.
  • In my testing, migrating the same engine API from pybind11 to nanobind increased transform-heavy sprite throughput by about 8–9× under the same Python script and workload.
• Wheels now build against the Python 3.12 stable ABI, allowing a single binary to work across future Python versions.
• Renamed EasingAnimation class to Tween to follow common terminology.
• renderer.get_target_resolution function renamed to renderer.get_current_resolution for clarity.

Removed

• math.to_deg() and math.to_rad() functions have been removed in favor of math.DEG2RAD and math.RAD2DEG constants for conversion.
• Removed lesser used renderer.clear function that accepted 4 separate color components.

Fixed

• input.get_direction() no longer stacks redundant bindings on the same axis, which caused biased directions after normalization. It also now preserves partial analog stick deflection instead of always normalizing to a unit vector.
• input.get_axis() no longer double-negates analog values for negative-direction bindings.
• input.is_pressed(), input.is_just_pressed(), and input.is_just_released() now respect the gamepad slot specified in each InputAction.
• A lot of physics bindings didn’t have docstrings, now they do.
• Color.hex property getter was writing raw int bytes instead of hex-formatted integers, producing invalid UTF-8 strings.
• log submodule functions were still logging even when disabled.

[1.6.1] - 2026-02-15

Added

• New mixer submodule for advanced audio management.
• AudioPriority enum for managing hardware track acquisition (MUSIC, UI, SFX).
• Support for polyphonic sound effects via the Sample class and max_polyphony attribute.
• Priority-based track stealing: high-priority sounds can now interrupt lower-priority ones if the 64-track limit is reached.
• Global master volume control via mixer.set_master_volume.
• draw.ellipses and draw.lines functions for drawing multiple ellipses or lines in a single call.
• Added is_convex and is_concave methods to the Polygon class for checking polygon convexity.
• Added Circle default constructor and another accepting just a radius.
• New physics submodule with a World class, bodies, and joints for basic 2D physics simulation.
  • Body abstract class for physics bodies:
    • RigidBody for simulating solid objects with mass, velocity, and forces.
    • CharacterBody for simulating character-like movement with floor detection and snapping.
    • StaticBody for immovable objects that can still collide with other bodies.
  • Joint abstract class for the following joint types:
    • DistanceJoint for maintaining a fixed distance between two bodies.
    • FilterJoint for filtering collisions between two bodies.
    • MotorJoint for applying a motor force to maintain a relative position between two bodies.
    • PrismaticJoint for allowing relative movement along a specified axis between two bodies.
    • RevoluteJoint for allowing relative rotation between two bodies.
    • MouseJoint for dragging a body with the mouse cursor.
    • WeldJoint for rigidly connecting two bodies together.
    • WheelJoint for allowing relative rotation and translation along a specified axis between two bodies.
• Collision class for representing collision information between two bodies. Provided via World.get_collisions() method.
• CastHit class for representing the result of a ray or shape cast in the physics world.
• Added Capsule shape class for physics bodies, defined by a line segment and a radius.
• Added draw.capsule and draw.capsules functions for drawing capsules.
• get/set_fixed_delta and get/set_max_substeps functions for managing physics stepping parameters.
• add_fixed_update and clear_fixed_updates functions and fixed_callback decorator for registering functions to be called at a fixed interval during the automatic physics update loop.
• Add Map.tile_layers, Map.object_groups, and Map.image_layers properties for easier access to specific layer types.
• Add Map.get_layer(name) method for retrieving a layer by name.
• Add World.from_map_layer(world, layer) method for creating physics bodies from a tilemap layer.
• Vec2 can be divided by another Vec2 element-wise using the / operator.
• New draw.bezier and draw.sector functions for drawing Bezier curves and circular sectors.
• Added draw.polyline for drawing connected line segments.
• world_to_screen and screen_to_world functions/methods for converting between world and screen coordinates.
• camera.get_active_pos function for getting the position of the currently active camera.

Changed

• Refactored the audio backend to use SDL3_mixer.
  • Renamed Audio class to Sample (for short sound effects).
  • Renamed AudioStream class to Stream (for long music files).
• Audio loading functions moved to mixer.load_sample and mixer.load_stream.
• Stream.looping is now an RW property instead of just a setter method.
• Stream playback position renamed from current_time to playback_pos.
• Circle drawing (and now ellipses) default segment count reduced from 36 to 24.
• Line drawing thickness can now be a float.
• Rename Map.layers to Map.all_layers
• Texture constructor involving a Vec2 size parameter changed to accept separate width and height integer parameters for type safety.
• AnimationController.add_sheet method Vec2 frame size parameter changed to separate frame_width and frame_height integer parameters for type safety.
• draw.rect and draw.rects functions now have parameters for corner radii.

Fixed

• Fixed a bug where textures wouldn’t render at all (hopefully). Likely related to the internal SDL2->SDL3 transition.

Removed

• Removed rewind method from audio stream class (use seek(0) or restart playback).
• Removed miniaudio dependency.
• Removed SGL_gfx dependency.
• Due to the new CharacterBody class, I’ve decided to remove the Sprite class as it become redundant.

[1.6.0] - 2026-01-29

Added

• Added Vec2.ZERO, Vec2.UP, Vec2.DOWN, Vec2.LEFT, and Vec2.RIGHT constants for common vector directions.
• Added the ability to multiply two Vec2 objects element-wise using the * operator.
• New transform submodule with compose and compose_chain functions for parenting transforms.
• New draw.circles function for drawing multiple circles in a single call (~3.5x faster than multiple draw.circle calls in testing).
• New draw.polygons function for drawing multiple polygons in a single call.
• Added texture.clip_area property for getting/setting the texture’s clipping area.
• Added draw.geometry function for drawing arbitrary vertex geometry, optionally with a texture.
• New Vertex class representing a single vertex with position, color, and texture coordinate attributes.

Changed

• Vec2 boolean conversion now checks for both components being exactly zero, rather than using a tolerance.
• fx.move_to function now requires a Vec2 for the pos parameter instead of accepting an optional argument of any object type.
• Greatly improved quality and performance of draw.circle and draw.polygon by switching to a GPU-based rendering approach.
• Animation controller’s load_sprite_sheet method renamed to add_sheet and clip property renamed to frame_area.
• renderer.draw function now accepts optional anchor and pivot parameters for specifying the drawing anchor and pivot points, both of Vec2 type.
• Both text and pixel array drawing functions now accept an optional anchor parameter of Vec2 type for specifying the drawing anchor point.
• Anchor enum changed to a class with static constants for common anchor points represented as Vec2 objects.
• Renamed tilemap layer render methods to draw for consistency with other drawing functions.

Removed

• Implicit conversians from sequences to Vec2, Rect, Line, Color, and PolarCoordinate have been removed for better type safety. Use explicit constructors instead.
• Removed src parameter from renderer.draw function.
• Removed clip attribute from Sprite class.
• Transform class no longer contains pivot, size, or anchor attributes.
• Removed most opaque list types except for tilemap related ones due to… uselessness.