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authorDanny Holman <dholman@gymli.org>2024-10-25 01:49:29 -0500
committerDanny Holman <dholman@gymli.org>2024-10-25 01:49:29 -0500
commite38d94416f705aa4ddd32e1c51199b45b58d6093 (patch)
tree88f19d0f17aed3ff5004d28d7c4fa49e28ad08b8 /doc/introduction.rst
parent28e27060274591fe13d5a1a226216fb01141e2f7 (diff)
doc: add introductory documentation files
Add documentation files that act as the starting points for the rest of the documentation and introduce a beginner to Rune. Signed-off-by: Danny Holman <dholman@gymli.org>
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+Introduction
+============
+
+Welcome to the official documentation of the Rune Engine, the free and open
+source 2D and 3D game engine. This engine, being licensed under the terms of the
+very liberal zlib license, allows game and application developers to create any
+kind of game, for any platform and with no usage restriction whatsoever.
+However, as the engine's focus is on Quake-style shooters, it may be more
+difficult to create a different type of game (e.g., a top-down city builder) in
+this engine. Developers are free to make their own modifications to Rune to
+support their game and are encouraged to submit their changes to the mailing
+lists.
+
+This page gives a broad overview of the engine and this documentation, so that
+you know where to start if you are a beginner or where to look if you need more
+information about a particular feature.
+
+Before you start
+----------------
+
+Please note that much of the engine is still under heavy development, and some
+APIs have yet to be stabilized and documented. The ones listed in this
+documentation have been stabilized and nothing should be removed or changed,
+however, some functions may be added in the future should the need arise.
+
+About the Rune Engine
+---------------------
+
+A standard, "off the shelf" game engine is designed to provide a developer with
+an IDE-like interface with an editor, a publication platform, scripting engine,
+etc. Rune is designed to be just another library that a developer can use. There
+is no editor outside of the one you provide yourself. The engine is designed to
+stay out of the developer's way as much as possible, allowing the developer to
+realize their vision without distractions and fluff. Rune is built on POSIX and
+Unix principles and abstractions, so Linux and macOS developers should feel very
+at home working with Rune. The engine considers Linux a first-class citizen, so
+any code that calls engine APIs and primitives should run *unmodified* on a
+Linux system, given the application developer is only using Rune APIs.
+
+Rune is completely free and open source under the permissive zlib license. No
+strings attached and no royalities required. Users' games are theirs, down to
+the last line of engine code. Rune's development is fully community-driven,
+giving users the ability to shape the engine to meet their needs.