Key Notes
- Dean Hall has released BRUTAL’s source code and challenged developers’ dependence on Unity and Unreal, while acknowledging that those engines still suit many projects.
- The C# framework underpins Kitten Space Agency and RimWorld’s new Waylith engine, but teams must build their own systems rather than rely on a complete editor.
- Commercial use carries no royalties, although the custom license requires credits, a BRUTAL logo and a notice file and has not received OSI approval.
DayZ creator Dean Hall has released the source code for BRUTAL, a C# game-development framework, alongside a sharp criticism of the industry’s dependence on major engine providers. The technology is free for commercial games without royalties, although its custom license includes attribution requirements.
“Our industry is rotting from its core, outwards in every direction,” Hall wrote in his Reddit announcement. His proposed response is practical: let developers use, modify and maintain foundations that would otherwise take years to build themselves.
BRUTAL comes from the teams behind RocketWerkz and Ahwoo. It already underpins RocketWerkz’s Kitten Space Agency and Waylith, the engine Ludeon Studios is introducing for RimWorld. It is a framework for programmers to build on, rather than a complete engine with an editor ready for every type of game.
Hall Challenges Dependence on Unity and Unreal
Hall’s central argument is that studios have ceded too much control to technology companies whose business priorities can diverge from developers’ needs. He worries that teams unable to switch tools may face increasing pressure from royalties, subscriptions or restrictive licensing.
He singled out Unity and Epic Games, and described becoming disillusioned with Epic chief Tim Sweeney, once a programming hero of his. In Hall’s account, public discussion increasingly centers on the metaverse and AI while developers continue wrestling with engine performance and stability.
Those are Hall’s criticisms, rather than evidence that either engine is unsuitable for all games. He explicitly said many projects should continue using Unity or Unreal and did not present BRUTAL as a universal replacement. His case is for having an alternative when a game’s requirements clash with an engine’s assumptions.
That makes the release a question of control as much as cost. Access to the underlying code gives a team the option to maintain a modified version itself, while also making that team responsible for engineering work a general-purpose engine would normally handle.
A Foundation Already Used by RimWorld and Kitten Space Agency
The repository describes a low-level layer connecting C# to native software interfaces, supported by libraries for mathematics, memory, parallel jobs, logging and other systems. Vulkan bindings provide access to graphics functionality, but BRUTAL does not supply a finished renderer, scene-management system or integrated editor.
Developers assemble the pieces their project needs. Published libraries are available through NuGet, the package system used by .NET developers. The repository currently says project files, a solution and build scripts are still coming, directing users to the packages while making the source available to inspect and fork.
RimWorld offers a concrete example of the approach. Ludeon’s announcement says update 1.7 moves the game from Unity to its own Waylith engine, with BRUTAL helping make the transition possible. The update is available on Steam’s unstable beta branch; the main branch remains on version 1.6.
Ludeon reports performance improvements of 2-4x in its own tests, including a 2.2x improvement in a late-game colony. It also says a 1,500-mod setup’s loading time fell from 14 minutes to six, with most existing mods remaining compatible. Those are developer measurements, and Ludeon cautions that results vary with hardware and mods.
RocketWerkz uses BRUTAL directly for Kitten Space Agency, a free pre-alpha spaceflight simulation. Its real-scale solar system illustrates the kind of specialized project the framework targets: developers can build coordinate, physics and rendering systems around their simulation’s requirements.
Free Commercial Use Comes With Credit Requirements
BRUTAL’s license permits use, modification and distribution, including in commercial products. It requires the copyright notice in the product’s credits or equivalent, the BRUTAL logo before gameplay or the software’s primary function, and distribution of NOTICE.txt. A product unable to display graphics is exempt from the logo provision.
Hall says developers can discuss a separate commercial license or request a logo waiver. He describes the project as open source but acknowledges that its MIT-based custom license has not been reviewed or approved by the Open Source Initiative. It should therefore not be confused with unmodified MIT terms.
We recently covered Defold’s free Xbox support, another development-tool announcement expanding studios’ options. The distinction is substantial: Defold provides an engine, while BRUTAL leaves developers to construct more of their own technology. Whether that trade is useful depends on what a particular game needs and the team’s ability to maintain it.
