Colony Game (Windows-only)

A personal learning project: a colony-sim prototype built in modern C++ (C++23) with a Windows/DirectX/SDL2 toolchain.

Status

This repository is under active iteration and contains a mix of:

• the main game executable (ColonyGame)
• experimental tools / demos
• a modular “engine/core/platform” split in progress

Expect rough edges and refactors.

Build (Windows)

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• Visual Studio 2022 (or Build Tools) with Desktop development with C++
• CMake 3.27+
• Ninja (recommended)
• vcpkg (manifest mode; repo contains vcpkg.json)

Quick start (recommended)

From a Developer PowerShell (or regular PowerShell if VS is installed and on PATH):

# Bootstraps VS dev shell, resolves vcpkg, installs manifest deps, and configures a build folder
pwsh -File tools/setup-dev.ps1 -InstallMissingTools -InstallVSBuildTools -InstallVcpkg -ManifestInstall -Configure -BuildDir out/build/windows-msvc-x64

# Build
cmake --build out/build/windows-msvc-x64 --config Debug

If you prefer CMake presets in Visual Studio / VS Code, see CMakePresets.json.

Runtime controls (current prototype)

In the current window prototype (AppWindow):

• Esc: quit
• F1: toggle in-game panels (ImGui)
• F2: toggle in-game help (ImGui)
• F3: show runtime hotkey help (popup)
• V: toggle VSync (when off, frame rate is capped to avoid 100% CPU)
• F6: cycle FPS cap when VSync is OFF (∞ / 60 / 120 / 144 / 165 / 240)
• Shift+F6: cycle background FPS cap (∞ / 5 / 10 / 30 / 60)
• F7: toggle pause-when-unfocused
• F8: cycle DXGI max frame latency (lower = lower latency)
• F9: toggle raw mouse input (WM_INPUT) vs cursor-based deltas
• F10: toggle PresentMon-style frame pacing stats in the window title
• F11 or Alt+Enter: toggle borderless fullscreen
• Mouse drag (LMB/RMB/MMB): camera placeholder controls (debug title shows values)

Per-user settings

The prototype persists a small settings file at:

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\ColonyGame\settings.json
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\ColonyGame\imgui.ini (ImGui layout/state)
  • If the UI ever disappears or ends up off-screen, use Layout → Reset UI layout from the in-game menu bar, or delete this file and restart.
  • New: you can also run ColonyGame.exe --reset-imgui (deletes it for you) or ColonyGame.exe --safe-mode (ignores both settings.json and imgui.ini for that run).

New in this patch:

• runtime.pauseWhenUnfocused (default true): when you Alt+Tab away, the game pauses rendering/sim to save CPU/GPU.
• runtime.maxFpsWhenUnfocused (default 30): if pauseWhenUnfocused is false, this caps the background FPS.
• input.rawMouse (default true): enables WM_INPUT raw mouse deltas (better high-DPI + high polling stability).
• graphics.maxFrameLatency (default 1): limits DXGI render queue depth (lower latency, more stable pacing).
• graphics.maxFpsWhenVsyncOff (default 240): caps FPS when VSync is off (helps avoid 100% CPU).
• graphics.swapchainScaling (default "none"): DXGI scaling mode for the swapchain (none, stretch, aspect).
• debug.showFrameStats (default false): toggles PresentMon-style pacing stats in the title bar.

Example snippet:

{
  "graphics": {
    "maxFrameLatency": 1,
    "maxFpsWhenVsyncOff": 240,
    "swapchainScaling": "none"
  },
  "input": {
    "rawMouse": true
  },
  "debug": {
    "showFrameStats": true
  },
  "runtime": {
    "pauseWhenUnfocused": false,
    "maxFpsWhenUnfocused": 30
  }
}

Notes

• This project intentionally does not support Linux/macOS at the moment.
• If you hit CMake errors about missing helper commands, ensure you are configuring from the repository root (not a subfolder).