Starling is an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

game framework used to create 2D games that run both on mobile and desktop platforms. It recreates the traditional Flash display list architecture on top of accelerated graphics hardware. Several commercial games have been built with Starling, including '' Angry Birds Friends'' and '' Incredipede''.

History

Starling was initiated in 2011 by

Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

shortly after introducing the

Stage3D Stage3D (codenamed ''Molehill'') is an Adobe Flash Player API for rendering interactive 3D graphics with GPU-acceleration, within Flash games and applications. Flash Player or AIR applications written in ActionScript 3 may use Stage3D to render ...

API in their

AIR An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

and Flash run-time systems. Stage3D allows utilizing the GPU inside the Flash Player via a low-level API; Starling should simplify the transition for developers by providing an accompanying high-level API built on top of Stage3D. The framework has seen rapid adoption over the years, being utilized in many games from both independent and commercial developers. It is now a part of the Adobe Gaming SDK.

Library ecosystem

Since Starling's introduction, several Open Source libraries were published by 3rd party developers that depend on Starling and extend its functionality.
Feathers
allows the creation of light-weight user interfaces for both mobile and desktop games and applications.
Citrus Engine
is a game engine that is most popular for its Platformer starter-kit.
Dragon Bones
is a 2D skeletal animation solution, available as a plugin for Flash, exporting animations for Starling.
StarlingPunk
is designed for developing 2D Flash games, inspired by the popula
FlashPunk
framework.
Flox
is a

Backend as a Service Backend as a service (BaaS), sometimes also referred to as mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), is a service for providing web app and mobile app developers with a way to easily build a backend to their frontend applications. Features available ...

targeting especially Starling developers (and built by the same team).
GameBuilder Studio
is an Open Source Game Engine and visual WYSIWYG tool for creating professional cross-platform 2D games. Optimized for mobile and web using the Starling rendering engine. Platformer plugin , Isometric , Multiplayer via Plugin.IO, etc.

History

Library ecosystem

See also

References

Further reading

External links