Roadmap & Future

Table of contents

1. Current Status: 0.2.1-prerelease-7drl2026
   1. Recent Achievements
2. Immediate Milestone: 7DRL 2026
   1. Goals
   2. Pre-Jam Checklist
3. Completed Features
   1. Core Engine
   2. Grid & Entities
   3. Procedural Generation
   4. Developer Tools
   5. Documentation
4. Version 1.0 Target: Mid-2026
   1. Remaining Work
      1. API Stability
      2. Documentation
      3. Polish
   2. Success Criteria
5. Post-v1.0: Deferred Features
6. Not Planned
7. Development Philosophy
   1. Target Audiences
   2. Core Values
   3. Design Principles
8. Project Timeline
9. Contributing

Current Status: 0.2.1-prerelease-7drl2026

Recent Achievements

• HeightMap System - Complete procedural terrain generation toolkit
• BSP Dungeons - Binary Space Partitioning with room adjacency
• Alignment System - Reactive UI positioning (9 anchor points)
• Dijkstra-to-HeightMap - Pathfinding data for procgen
• Test Modernization - pytest integration with mcrfpy.step() pattern

For complete development history, see Project History.

Immediate Milestone: 7DRL 2026

Seven Day Roguelike Challenge February 28 - March 8, 2026

Goals

• Stable engine for jam participants
• Complete documentation and tutorials
• Performance validated for typical roguelike scope

Pre-Jam Checklist

• Documentation audit complete
• All tutorials use modern API
• Quick-reference verified accurate
• Example games runnable

Completed Features

The following major systems are implemented and functional:

Core Engine

• Scene System - mcrfpy.Scene() with children, activation, input handling
• Timer System - mcrfpy.Timer() with (timer, runtime) callbacks
• Animation System - Property animations with easing, callbacks, locking
• Input System - Keyboard/Mouse classes with state queries

Grid & Entities

• Grid Rendering - Chunk-based with dirty flags and RenderTexture caching
• Entity System - SpatialHash for O(1) queries, 5000+ entity benchmarks
• FOV System - Thread-safe field-of-view with configurable algorithms
• Pathfinding API - A* and Dijkstra with HeightMap integration

Procedural Generation

• HeightMap - Terrain generation, noise, thresholds, kernel transforms
• BSP - Binary Space Partitioning for dungeon layouts
• Noise Algorithms - Multiple algorithms with parameter control

Developer Tools

• Debug Console - ImGui-based Python REPL overlay (press `)
• Performance Profiler - F3 overlay with frame timing and metrics
• Headless Mode - mcrfpy.step() for synchronous testing
• Benchmark Logging - Performance analysis system

Documentation

• API Reference - Complete Python API documentation
• Tutorials - Multi-part roguelike tutorial series
• Cookbook - Practical recipes with screenshots

Version 1.0 Target: Mid-2026

Remaining Work

API Stability

• Finalize Scene/Timer/Animation APIs
• Complete deprecation of old patterns
• Comprehensive test coverage

Documentation

• All docs using modern API patterns
• Tutorial code verified runnable
• Video tutorials (stretch goal)

Polish

• Example games updated
• Error messages improved
• Edge cases handled

Success Criteria

Per the Strategic Direction:

v1.0 readiness is measured through performance targets, API stability, complete documentation, and tutorial completion—not feature completeness.

Post-v1.0: Deferred Features

These features are intentionally deferred until after v1.0 stabilization:

• Python Wheel Packaging - pip-installable distribution
• Shader Support - Custom GLSL effects
• Particle Systems - Visual effects
• Multi-window Support - Multiple render targets

Not Planned

The following have been evaluated and deemed misaligned with McRogueFace’s beginner-focused mission:

• Living world MMO features
• Full ECS architecture rewrites
• 50,000-tile ecosystem simulations
• Network/multiplayer support (removed from v1.0 scope)

Development Philosophy

Target Audiences

1. Newcomers to game development
2. Game jam participants
3. Researchers using games as environments

Core Values

1. Simplicity First - Easy things should be easy
2. Power When Needed - Complex things should be possible
3. Batteries Included - Useful defaults, removable when needed
4. Open Source Forever - Free as in freedom

Design Principles

• Minimal Boilerplate - Start coding game logic immediately
• Pythonic API - Feels natural to Python developers
• Performance Conscious - Fast by default, optimizable when needed
• Foundation First - Fix core systems before expanding features

Project Timeline

For detailed month-by-month history, see Project History.

Contributing

McRogueFace development happens at:

• Upstream: dev.ffwf.net/forgejo/john/McRogueFace
• GitHub Mirror: github.com/jasons-gh/McRogueFace

We welcome:

• Bug reports and feature requests
• Documentation improvements
• Tutorial contributions
• Example games