Getting Started

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• Composer
• php-vio extension (recommended) or php-glfw extension

Recommended: php-vio

php-vio auto-selects the best GPU backend for your platform (Metal on macOS, D3D12/Vulkan on Windows/Linux) and provides Unicode font support with a 4096x4096 multi-range atlas. Install via PIE: pie install phpolygon/php-vio

Installation

Create a new game project and require PHPolygon:

mkdir my-game && cd my-game
composer init
composer require phpolygon/phpolygon

Minimal 2D Game

<?php

use PHPolygon\Engine;
use PHPolygon\EngineConfig;
use PHPolygon\Rendering\Color;

$engine = new Engine(new EngineConfig(
    width: 1280,
    height: 720,
    title: 'My First Game',
));

$engine->onRender(function (Engine $e, float $interpolation) {
    $r = $e->renderer2D;
    $r->drawRect(100, 100, 200, 150, Color::blue());
    $r->drawText('Hello PHPolygon!', 120, 160, 24, Color::white());
});

$engine->run();

Splash Screen

The engine displays a splash screen on startup showing the PHPolygon logo and active renderer info (e.g. "Vio 2D - Vio 3D"):

• Fade in: 0.4s, hold, fade out: 0.5s, total: ~2.5s
• Logo loaded from resources/branding/logo.png
• Skipped automatically in headless mode

Disable or customize it via EngineConfig:

$engine = new Engine(new EngineConfig(
    title: 'My Game',
    skipSplash: true,           // disable the splash screen entirely
    splashDuration: 2.5,        // total duration in seconds (default)
));

Minimal 3D Game

<?php

use PHPolygon\Engine;
use PHPolygon\EngineConfig;
use PHPolygon\Component\Transform3D;
use PHPolygon\Component\MeshRenderer;
use PHPolygon\Component\Camera3DComponent;
use PHPolygon\Component\DirectionalLight;
use PHPolygon\Geometry\BoxMesh;
use PHPolygon\Geometry\MeshRegistry;
use PHPolygon\Math\Vec3;
use PHPolygon\Rendering\Color;
use PHPolygon\Rendering\Material;
use PHPolygon\Rendering\MaterialRegistry;
use PHPolygon\Rendering\RenderCommandList;
use PHPolygon\System\Camera3DSystem;
use PHPolygon\System\Renderer3DSystem;

$engine = new Engine(new EngineConfig(
    width: 1280,
    height: 720,
    title: 'My 3D Game',
    is3D: true,
));

$engine->onInit(function () use ($engine): void {
    // Register geometry and materials
    MeshRegistry::register('box', BoxMesh::generate(1.0, 1.0, 1.0));
    MaterialRegistry::register('red', Material::color(Color::red()));

    // Register required 3D systems
    $commandList = $engine->commandList3D ?? new RenderCommandList();
    $engine->world->addSystem(new Camera3DSystem($commandList, 1280, 720));
    $engine->world->addSystem(new Renderer3DSystem($engine->renderer3D, $commandList));

    // Camera
    $engine->world->createEntity()
        ->attach(new Transform3D(position: new Vec3(0, 2, 5)))
        ->attach(new Camera3DComponent());

    // Sun light
    $engine->world->createEntity()
        ->attach(new Transform3D())
        ->attach(new DirectionalLight(
            direction: new Vec3(-1.0, -1.0, -0.5),
            color: new Color(1.0, 1.0, 1.0),
            intensity: 1.2,
        ));

    // A red box
    $engine->world->createEntity()
        ->attach(new Transform3D(position: new Vec3(0, 0, 0)))
        ->attach(new MeshRenderer('box', 'red'));
});

$engine->run();

Project Structure

my-game/
├── composer.json
├── game.php              ← entry point
├── src/
│   ├── Scene/            ← scene PHP files
│   ├── Component/        ← custom components
│   ├── System/           ← custom systems
│   └── World/            ← procedural geometry
├── assets/               ← sounds, UI layouts
├── resources/
│   └── shaders/source/   ← custom GLSL shaders
└── build.json            ← build configuration (optional)

Using Facades

PHPolygon provides Laravel-style facades for convenient static access:

use PHPolygon\Support\Facades\World;
use PHPolygon\Support\Facades\Input;
use PHPolygon\Support\Facades\Shader;
use PHPolygon\Support\Facades\Events;

// Create entities
$entity = World::createEntity();

// Check input
if (Input::isKeyPressed(GLFW_KEY_SPACE)) {
    // jump
}

// Switch shaders for performance testing
Shader::use('unlit');