kitao/pyxel

Pyxel is a retro game engine for Python, a toolkit that makes it easy to build pixel-art-style games in Python with intentionally simple, old-school constraints. It is inspired by classic retro gaming consoles and enforces limits like displaying only 16 colors and supporting just 4 sound channels. These constraints are a feature, not a limitation: they make the creative scope manageable and give the output a nostalgic look and feel. You write your game logic in Python, and Pyxel handles drawing to the screen, playing sounds, and managing the game loop. It also includes built-in editors for images and tilemaps (grid-based level maps) as well as a sound and music editor, so you can create all your game assets within the same environment. Pyxel can run games in the browser as well as natively, and it supports HTML output. The engine itself is built in Rust for performance, while the user-facing API is Python. It is free and open source under the MIT license, available as a package via PyPI (Python's package manager). It suits beginners who want to learn game development without being overwhelmed by professional engine complexity, as well as hobbyists who enjoy the challenge and charm of pixel-art retro games. The README does not provide further detail about installation steps or the full Python API beyond what is described here.