Deki Engine brings Unity-style visual editor and C++ 2D engine to ESP32

Deki Engine is a new open-source C++ 2D game engine with a Unity-style visual editor designed specifically for embedded development on ESP32 hardware. The editor runs on Windows and Linux and includes a compiler that can flash directly to supported boards. Currently optimized for the LilyGO T-Deck Plus, T-Display S3 AMOLED, and soon the Elecrow CrowPanel Advanced 7″ ESP32-P4, the engine achieves 60 FPS on the ESP32-S3. It uses a package-based architecture for hardware abstraction, supports desktop testing through SDL3, and can run headless without a renderer. The project leverages C++26 static reflection for inspector field generation and is localized in four languages.

What Deki Engine offers embedded developers

• Visual editor workflow: The Unity-style editor allows building scenes with sprites, text, particles, tilemaps, state machines, and tweens, then selecting a target board and flashing directly from the Build panel.
• ESP32-S3 performance target: The engine achieves 60 FPS on ESP32-S3 hardware, with a demo shown running on the T-Display S3 Touch at that frame rate.
• Hardware package system: Dedicated packages abstract specific boards including the LilyGO T-Deck Plus (display, touch, keyboard, trackball, SD card, GPS, LoRa SX1262) and upcoming ESP32-P4 support.
• Software rendering capabilities: Beyond 2D, the engine includes a software 3D render pass package, though performance on ESP32 targets for 3D remains unverified.
• C++26 static reflection: Inspector fields in the editor are auto-generated using C++26 static reflection, reducing boilerplate for component properties.
• Cross-platform runtime flexibility: Games can run on desktop via SDL3 for development iteration, headless without any renderer for testing, or on Tactility OS for ESP32 deployment.

Why it matters

Deki Engine lowers the barrier for creating interactive software on ESP32-class hardware by providing a familiar visual editor paradigm from desktop game development, potentially expanding the pool of developers who can build embedded applications without deep microcontroller expertise. Its Apache 2.0 licensing and package-based architecture could encourage community contributions for additional boards and peripherals, while SDL3 desktop support enables proper development workflows before hardware deployment.