ConArtist

C++ Console/Terminal graphics library. Decouples graphics code from OS code, and provides performant and easy-to-use systems.

Features

• Unicode support (recommended to use only monospaced characters).
• Full ANSI color support, with fallback to lower color depths: 4-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit "Truecolor".
• Framerates as high as 1000's per-second, thanks to smart rendering routines (lazy updating, color-batching).
• Automatic centering of graphics within terminal window.
• Windows support (support for Linux and MacOS are planned).

Setup (Windows)

1. Open Visual Studio.
2. Create a new project.
3. Filter the templates by "C++" language, and "Windows" platform.
4. Choose the "Empty Project" template for Windows.
5. Name your project, choose a save location for the project, and then create the project.
6. Download ConArtist's latest release and extract the contents of the .zip file into your project's folder.
7. Add the ConArtist source files to your project via Project > Add Exisiting Item...
   • Note: The files in the utfcpp folder of the ConArtist library do not need to be added. Adding them will not hurt anything though, other than your project explorer becoming cluttered with a few more files.
8. Create your program's main C++ file via Project > Add New Item...
9. Choose "C++ File (.cpp)", and name the file whatever you like (recommendation: "main.cpp").
   • At this point, your Project folder should look something like this (plus a few extra files Visual Studio creates automatically):

Project Folder
├ conartist (folder containing .h and .cpp files, plus the "utfcpp" folder)
├ main.cpp
└ Project.sln

10. Include the ConArtist library, and create the main function, where you'll write your program.

#include "conartist/ConArtist.h"

int main() {

}

11. You're ready to create games with ConArtist!

Examples

Here is a simple "Hello World" program for Windows.

#include "conartist/ConArtist.h"

using namespace std::chrono_literals; // allows writing "5s" (five seconds) in this_thread::sleep_for()

int main()
{
	// Create a display buffer 60 cells wide, and 15 cells high, where we will draw our graphics.
	// Also create a display output, which will push our graphics to the terminal.
	ConArtist::CADisplayBuffer caDisplayBuffer(60, 15);
	ConArtist::CADisplayOutputCMD caDisplayOutputCMD;

	// Set the text and background colors to a 4-bit white and 4-bit blue, respectively
	caDisplayBuffer.fillColor(0, 0, 80, 25, ConArtist::CAColor(ConArtist::ANSI_4BIT_WHITE, ConArtist::ANSI_4BIT_BLUE));

	// Place a string into the center of the screen buffer
	std::u32string hello = U"Hello ConArtist!";
	int xCoord = caDisplayBuffer.width / 2 - hello.size() / 2;
	int yCoord = caDisplayBuffer.height / 2;
	caDisplayBuffer.drawText(xCoord, yCoord, hello);

	// Display the screen buffer to the terminal
	caDisplayOutputCMD.pushOutput(caDisplayBuffer);

	// Show the terminal for 5 seconds before the program finishes and closes automatically
	std::this_thread::sleep_for(5s);
}

• The SNEK project is built using ConArtist.

Notes & Requirements

• ISO C++11 Standard or higher is required. This is due to this library's use of the optional C++11 API from the UTF8-CPP library.
• Doesn't currently play well with non-monospaced characters (e.g. full-width Katakana). Monospaced alternatives should be used instead (e.g. half-width kana)
• When working with Unicode ASCII-style graphics, the use of UTF-32 encoded u32string is recommended over UTF-8 encoded string, as it simplifies character indexing operations. ConArtist uses u32string internally, and converts UTF-8 encoded string and UTF-16 encoded u16string to UTF-32 encoded u32string when these datatypes are passed as parameters to ConArtist class functions. Despite this, ConArtist's memory & performance footprints are very minimal. The choice of UTF-32 encoding simplifies Unicode ASCII-style game development and reduces potential bugs significantly.

Dependencies / Credits

• The UTF8-CPP library is used to convert between string encodings.