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 the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

game

framework A framework is a generic term commonly referring to an essential supporting structure which other things are built on top of. Framework may refer to: Computing * Application framework, used to implement the structure of an application for an op ...

used to create 2D games that run both on mobile and desktop platforms. It recreates the traditional

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid ...

display list architecture on top of accelerated graphics hardware. Several commercial games have been built with Starling, including

Angry Birds Friends ''Angry Birds Friends'' (formerly ''Angry Birds Facebook'') is a puzzle video game and the fourth game in the ''Angry Birds'' series. It is developed and published by Rovio Entertainment. The game was originally an exclusive Facebook game called ...

and

Incredipede ''Incredipede'' is a physics-based puzzle video game by Canadian studio Northway Games. The game was released on 25 October 2012. Gameplay The gameplay of ''Incredipede'' focuses on the character Quozzle, an Incredipede with the ability to m ...

History

Starling was initiated in 2011 by

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) 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 used to refer to any kind of e ...

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 3D ...

API in their

AIR The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

and

run-time systems. Stage3D allows utilizing the GPU inside the

Flash Player Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...

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 Mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), also known as "backend as a service", is a model for providing web app and mobile app developers with a way to link their applications to backend cloud storage and APIs exposed by back end applications while a ...

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