Introducing PixelCore
We’re building a free game engine and studio that teaches you as you build, treats 2D and 3D as equals and runs from a phone to a desktop. This blog is where you’ll watch it happen.
Today we’re sharing something we’ve been planning for a long time: PixelCore, a game engine and a set of studio tools built by SeriousPixel, the company behind SeriousPlay Games.
Why we’re building it
SeriousPlay makes strategy, simulation, sandbox and learning games, and we want them on every screen people play on: phones, tablets, Apple TV, Steam Deck and desktops. The tools we tried were built for something else first, usually big 3D games on powerful PCs, with 2D, phones and TVs added later and the learning material scattered across forums and videos. We kept fighting their defaults.
So we’re building the engine we wanted. SeriousPlay’s own games ship on it first. When it’s proven on real games, it’s yours.
What we’re building
- PixelCore Engine, the runtime that ships inside your game, written in modern C++ and designed to look great on a phone first, then gain quality on stronger hardware.
- PixelCore Game Studio, one fast app for macOS, Windows and Linux that opens a project, edits a scene, runs it and ships it to a device.
- PixelScript, a friendly, typed language for games, with a visual graph that compiles to readable script.
- PixelCore Learn, lessons, guided projects and docs built into Studio, working offline.
- The PixelCore MCP server, so AI assistants such as Claude can read the docs, build scenes, write scripts and check their own work, with you in control.
Our promises
Free, with no royalties, ever. The engine, Studio and PixelScript are free for any game at any revenue, and that promise goes in the license in writing. We earn our living from optional content packs and genre starter kits, not from a cut of your game. The one condition is a short “Powered by PixelCore” badge in your game, which Studio adds for you.
Learning comes first. Our goal is a first-time developer going from install to their own game running on a phone in about 30 minutes.
Small and fast. A small download, a studio that opens in seconds, and hot reload for scripts and assets so you see every change the moment you save.
Honest about where things stand. Every post here will say what works today, on which devices, and what’s still a plan.
How we’ll build it in the open
We’ll post here regularly as we build: short dev diaries on what we worked on and what we learned, sneak peeks with screenshots, clips and the occasional interactive preview, and design notes on the decisions behind the engine.
PixelCore is built in stages, and each one ends with a real SeriousPlay game running on more devices. Every time we reach one of those milestones, we’ll write a bigger post showing what’s working.
Everything you see here is in development. Features, names and dates may change, and we’ll say so when they do.
What’s next
First up: the foundations. We’re proving the core of the engine and Game Studio on every platform we support, so everything we build after stands on solid ground. We’ll share progress as it happens, and the first milestone post will bring the first real screenshots from the engine.