Ebitengine — A Dead Simple 2D Game Engine for Go

What it is

Ebitengine (formerly Ebiten) is a 2D game library for the Go programming language created by Hajime Hoshi. It offers a tiny API surface that takes minutes to learn. The engine handles rendering, input, audio, and window management while compiling to desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), mobile (iOS, Android), WebAssembly, and Nintendo Switch.

Ebitengine is ideal for game jams, indie titles, and educational projects where developers want Go's simplicity and type safety without the complexity of larger engines.

How it saves time or tokens

Ebitengine's API consists of three methods: Update(), Draw(), and Layout(). There is no entity-component system to learn, no scene graph to configure, and no editor to install. You write standard Go code, run go build, and get a working game. Cross-compilation to WASM or mobile requires only a build flag change, not a separate toolchain.

How to use

1. Initialize a Go module and install Ebitengine.
2. Implement the three-method Game interface.
3. Run with go run . for immediate feedback.

go mod init mygame
go get github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/v2
go run .

Example

A complete Ebitengine program that opens a window and renders text:

package main

import (
    "github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/v2"
    "github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/v2/ebitenutil"
    "log"
)

type Game struct{}

func (g *Game) Update() error { return nil }
func (g *Game) Draw(screen *ebiten.Image) {
    ebitenutil.DebugPrint(screen, "Hello, Ebitengine!")
}
func (g *Game) Layout(ow, oh int) (int, int) { return 320, 240 }

func main() {
    ebiten.SetWindowSize(640, 480)
    ebiten.SetWindowTitle("Hello")
    if err := ebiten.RunGame(&Game{}); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}

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Common pitfalls

• Ebitengine is 2D only. There is no 3D rendering support. For 3D games in Go, consider G3N or Raylib Go bindings.
• Audio playback requires careful sample rate management. Mixing audio sources at different sample rates causes distortion.
• WASM builds need a specific HTML wrapper file. The Ebitengine docs provide a template, but missing it causes a blank browser page.