Simple

What’s Simple?

Simple is an editing tool, language, and runtime for creating gameplay. Using a mouse-driven scripting tool, users of any technical level can prototype and build anything they might imagine with 3D physics and logic, and it supports network play without creators having to even think about it. Gameplay is experienced by way of a viewer - which can support fancy visuals, audio, and UI - but our included viewer only represents collision shapes and a limited subset of UI.

Compared to other tools available, we think it's a much simpler way to approach scripting gameplay without needing to know how to program.

What kinds of gameplay can I make with Simple?

We hesitate to say "anything," but Simple excels at making pretty much any physical gameplay. Platformers, a racing game, or our own top-down space game are all great candidates (and making them multiplayer is easy). What you probably wouldn’t want to create in Simple is something that relies heavily on assets like text or UI to make sense of what’s going on.

What do I need to use Simple?

Simple currently is only being developed for and running on Windows 10 devices. We have had some success running it via WINE and in virtual machines, but your mileage may vary. A mouse and keyboard are required to use the scripting tools, and a keyboard is required for the game runtime. There is likely a minimum CPU/RAM requirement, but we don’t know what it is. Since the viewer doesn’t do anything graphically intensive, we expect many GPUs to work. Also, since there’s no sound, you don’t even need a sound card! Woo!

What is the development status of Simple?

Simple is in very active development and has many, many loose ends. We expect users to encounter problems, especially in places like the tool UI, and we wouldn't be surprised if we break certain functionality as we go. The team working on Simple is also working on our primary goal - completing The Ur-Quan Masters 2 - so some things may be left by the wayside and will certainly not be as nice as they could. We are using and improving our tools too, and we'll be posting updated builds over time.

Are there any tutorials or documentation?

If you're just getting started, watch this quick start video.

The best way to learn will be to look at the example data, but we have some introductory documentation. You will learn a lot if you watch our live streams where Simple is used to build things for UQM2. If you have questions or encounter any issues, come visit our Discord.

Is Simple free for me to use?

The Simple binaries (simple.exe, Simulation.dll, viewer.exe) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License. If you like what we're doing by providing our tools for all to use, all donations help fund our ongoing development of both Simple and UQM2.

Other Questions

Check the expanded FAQ!