k2py

Declarative 4k intro build system for Windows demoscene productions.

Motivation

• More Blade/Bazel, less cmake - declarative targets instead of .sln wrangling
• One script to build, package, and submit - no manual mistakes at deadline
• Switch sound libs (4Klang, Sointu, Oidos, none) with a single flag

What it does

• Declarative Target dataclass: name, srcs, libs, flags, crinkler options
• Audio library switch: eNone, e4Klang, eSointu, eOidos
• Debug (windowed, console) and release (fullscreen, crinkler compressed) builds
• Shader minification via shader_minifier
• Shader hot-reload watch mode
• Release artifact zip packaging

Constraints

• Windows only, MSVC x86 32-bit toolchain
• 4KB demoscene size category
• Visual Studio 2019 or 2022

Prerequisites

1. Visual Studio 2019 or 2022 with C++ Desktop workload (x86 target)
2. Python 3
3. Crinkler - place crinkler.exe in project dir
4. Shader Minifier - place shader_minifier.exe in project dir

Quick Start

cd gfx4k
python targets.py

Examples

gfx4k/ - Minimal 4k gfx example, accumulation rendering. Debug build has shader hot-reload, FPS counter, screenshot capture.

New Project

1. Create folder next to build.py
2. Copy-paste gfx4k
3. Config in targets.py
4. Run py targets.py